It's already been a week since I had my last heart to heart conversation with either Uncle Marcel or Ella. The lady is still mad at me because of course, I didn't comply to what she asked me to do. She wanted me to apologise to Aaron but that hasn't happened yet.

To be honest, I don't see the point of apologising. I made it pretty clear to him that I don't want to see his face and he told me that he would make sure that never happens either. We don't even spare a glance at each other anymore, let alone talk.

My life has been going smooth for once but Ella was still on the edge with me, disrupting my mood drastically. She believed that Aaron didn't deserve the slap and I did agree with that partially except, he did bitch me out to his brother. And his brother, Derek Fucking McCall! I'm glad I haven't seen his dumb face in a while because if I had, he would get even worse treatment than his brother. I don't sound fair, I know! But this is who I am and I wouldn't like to make exceptions to anyone.

"Mommy!" I hear a shriek, breaking me from my thoughts and I look at the table beside me. A little guy is strangling and crying in his mother's lap and I involuntarily smile at the sight in front of me.

"Fond of kids, are we?" I hear a masculine voice and I startle in my seat, caught off guard.

The man standing in front of me is wearing formals, as if coming down just from a meeting and I would be lying to myself if I say he wasn't attractive.

"You're not very observant I must say," I brush him off and he smiles.

"Do you mind I join you?" He asks, withdrawing the chair and I give him a look.

"Yes, I would. Why don't you find another fish in the sea? I'm sure there are plenty here."

As if he never heard me in the first place, he takes a seat in front of me while I continue having my lunch. I got free from office an hour earlier today so I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time with myself but this man didn't seem to enjoy that wish of mine.

"Oh, I'm sure there are but no one's as beautiful as you!" He smirks and I immediately scoff at his words.

"What do you want?" I snap and he looks taken aback with my tone.

"Oh, aren't you the sweetest of them all." He tries to joke and I give him a forced smile.

"Really, Sir, you're wasting your time here." I inform, telling him the truth.

"Is having a lunch with nice company considered a waste of time?" He tilts his head a little and I laugh.

I'm sure if some other girl was in my place, she would've been sitting on his lap by now, he's really trying to charm me off.

"Okay, let's get this straight. I don't know what game you're playing here, but I don't want to play. So would you mind leaving me alone?"

This time my tone is harsher but I don't care, after all, when have I?

"You're pretty hard to catch, but I'm sure my looks will allure you."

If I wasn't only having a miserable month, I would've flirted with him as well, playing along this game and eventually, he would be my new fuckbuddy but I ain't in the mood for now. Because I know where these looks and flirting lead to - bed, nice sex and that's all.

"Hey Diana, I'm sorry I'm late," I hear a familiar voice and I go rigid in my seat.

I turn around to find Aaron standing in a blue button down. His eyes are fixed on the man sitting in front of me but then he glances towards me and passes a comforting smile.

"I can see why you were resisting me. Your man must be really good in bed if you could not be impressed with this face." I hear the stranger say and I laugh at his words.

"Yeah," I flip him off and he smirks before leaving the table and I sigh.

Aaron comes to stand in front of me and I eye him. "What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I came here for bowling, wanna join?" He says in pure sarcasm and I can't help but smile at his response.

It's pretty obvious he's here for lunch, hence my question was totally invalid. "Why did you pretend like you came here to meet me?"

"To get you rid of that dickhead?" He raises an eyebrow and I laugh at his language. He doesn't curse much so hearing such words from him seems kind of amusing to me.

"In case you're forgetting, I'm capable of taking care of myself. Worst case scenario, he would be my new fuckbuddy." I smirk and he cringes at my words.

"Yes, you looked really comfortable in his presence after all. I'm sorry that I interrupted in between." He snaps and then crosses me to leave but I take ahold of his wrist.

My own actions shock me but I don't retrieve my hand back to myself. "Care to join me for lunch?" I hear myself say.

What am I doing exactly?

"No Diana, I'm not in the mood for insulting myself anymore." He says in a harsh tone and I loosen the grip from his wrist.

"Thank you," I barely whisper at him, intending towards what just happened and his eyes go wide for a second.

Yes, I don't do thank you's and apologies with anyone.

He nods and then take a seat in front of me, "What do you want to talk about?" He asks and I frown.

"Why do you think I want to talk about something?" I look into his eyes and he smiles a little.

Before he can respond, the waiter who took my order joins us after he notices my new company. Aaron orders food for himself and then looks at me.

"His palms were sweating because you were staring at him." He points out and I laugh.

"Yeah, because I'm that hot." I wink and he smiles.

I know till now I was finding ways so that I will get away with it without apologising but Ella was right. I need to do the right thing for once.

"I'm sorry," I blurt out and Aaron chokes on the water he was drinking.

He takes a minute to regain his composure and I wait for him to say something. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Oh, c'mon! Don't make me say it again," I whine.

"What are you apologising for?" He asks, sounding genuinely curious.

"For overreacting that day and slapping you? Basically for everything." I sigh and he hesitatingly covers my hand on the table with his. I immediately look away, I'm not used to such gestures and that makes me feel incredibly weird.

"It's okay! I'm sorry too, for everything." He says and I nod.

The waiter gets back with Aaron's food and we spend next few minutes in silence while devouring down our food but then I ask him about his office and he tells me all the stuff he has been given to work on.

When he's busy talking, I observe his features for once. His eyes are blue and seem as deep as ocean and whenever he talks, there's this constant frown on his forehead just above his trim eyebrows. And his lips, his lips look sensual and plump. I try to keep my gaze away from his mouth when he talks, but it's hard to resist. After a lot of inner debate, I finally look into his eyes and he's looking at me but not really paying attention. When did he stop talking? I can tell his mind is elsewhere as he runs a hang through his dark brown hair which fall just above his forehead.

"Is everything okay?" I ask and he nods.

"Yeah."

I shrug at his response and then finish my lunch. A part of me is well aware of the fact that Aaron is one of the most decent person I've ever come across in my whole life. His personality speaks a lot about him and he often fails to give himself enough credit. But I cannot let him come closer than he already has. I have kissed him twice, with my own will and that's saying a lot where the limits are concerned.

It makes me laugh how almost a month ago I despised even the sight of him, yet here I am, having lunch with him. Though, I apologised to him only for the sake of Ella but still, I did and that counts. Funny how I was so furious with the idea of mingling my personal and professional life together that I was ready to quit my job. But it works for me, simply because I don't care.

But, there's no harm in being friends with him, right? After all, this is pretty much how Ella ended up in my life. Ella and Aaron are similar in some ways and that's why my best friend feels so compassionate towards him. I know her better than she thinks. Also, Aaron works in the same place as I do so it will be impossible to ignore him. He cannot do me any harm and unlike Derek, he seems to be nicer.

Speaking of which, Derek and I are done for good.

'Whatever you say, lady.' I can hear my subconsciousness mocking at me but I clear my head as I pay attention to Aaron.

"Hey, I've to go. I'll catch you later," he speaks in a hurry and I frown.

"Sure." I try to keep my rude tone aside.

If no one has noticed yet, I'm only rude with people who annoy me but I'm getting used to Aaron's company for once - I'm agreeing to at least adjust. It will be hard, but not impossible, I think.

"Do you want to come along?" He asks and I frown.

"Where are you going?"

To be honest, I'd rather go home because that's where I need to be right now. Ella will certainly like the idea of me hanging out with Aaron and wouldn't curse me out, which would've been the case if I were with someone else.

Things I have to do to make sure my best friend remains pleased.

"I need to pick up Lizzy from her friend's place and then I was going to go home and hang out with Derek. I thought you might like that?" He sounds unsure and he should.

He's going to pick Lizzy from her friend's place? What is he, her driver? And hanging out with Derek? Since when do both of them get along?

"I'll pass." I tell him and he frowns.

"Are you and Derek not talking yet?"

"Nope!" I say.

"If you can resolve issues with me, you can solve issues with him. C'mon!" He gives me an encouraging smile.

"Not happening."

"But he told Lizzy that you eventually come around, what changed this time?" He scowls at me and I scoff.

"The fact that he behaved like a complete dick! Aaron, if you haven't noticed by now, my self respect is something I hold dear to." I tell him but then his words finally register in my mind, "Did you mention something about Derek and Lizzy?" I frown and he nods.

"Yeah, they talked once when I was late from office and she was waiting for me."

I smirk, "And you're okay with that?"

"Yes, why shouldn't I be okay with it?"

I nod my head in understanding before I pay the bill which of course, we split up and then grab my purse. "Let's go meet Derek." I grin at him and he frowns but nods nonetheless.

Well, I can let my ego slip away this time.

When we step out of the restaurant, I start walking towards where my car is parked and Aaron towards his but then calls out to me.

"I can drop you back here when you want to leave, you don't have to drive all the way to my place." He suggests and I battle inside my head whether it's a good idea or not.

Of course it's a good idea, it's New York! The less cars you can bring on the road, the better.

"Sounds good to me." I shrug and start walking towards his car as well.

When he stops in front of his car, I wait for him to unlock his Ford Taurus so that I can hop in already. I don't like taking drives with a company unless it's with someone I absolutely adore. Well, Aaron doesn't fits the list.

After five minutes of the drive, the car is filled with extremely uncomfortable silence as I fidget in my seat. I feel relieved to realize that we're just fifteen minutes away from his place. To be honest, right now, it feels like it would have been a better idea to drive myself.

"Do you live by yourself?" He asks and I frown.

"Huh?"

"Do you live alone in your apartment?" He asks.

I look away from him and outside the window before giving him a subtle nod and reply, "Yes."

He's trying to kill the awkwardness and I appreciate the effort but I'm trying my best here not to turn into a rude bitch - which is basically my personality.

"Did you live by yourself in California?" I ask him, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice when I mention that horrendous place.

"Yes, I did. I tried having a roommate but it sucked a big time so I decided I'll rather live on my own than have someone jeopardise my privacy." He explains and I nod in understanding.

It humours me how similar our thoughts are where this situation is concerned despite the fact that we are opposites.

"Have you always lived in New York?" He questions and I shake my head.

"No, I lived in California four years back." I hear myself say and end up surprising myself.

Why did I tell him that? This fucking slip of tongue! I don't mention such things in front of anyone. I don't think even Derek knows that I lived in California.

"Really? Woah, I didn't know that." I can hear the excitement in his voice which makes me frown. "Why did you move though? You said you didn't have interest in college and stuff. California is peaceful than here."

I feel myself getting uncomfortable at his questions so I choose to response to only one of the things he said. "I like it better here."

He nods when he notices how strained my voice sounds. Well, I didn't mean it to sound that way.

When we reach his place, I immediately get out of the car and breathe down fresh air to let my nerves settle down. California has always been a topic I avoid discussing with everyone, even with Ella.

"Diana!" I hear Derek's surprised voice as he stares at me from the porch of his house.

When he finally realises that I'm really there, he comes down and squeezes me in a tight hug. Despite the fact we fuck each other, Derek's my sort of friend and I did miss his company as well.

"Someone was talking about being done with him not even two hours ago," my subconscious taunts.

"Get the fuck away from me, I can't breathe!" I blare in his ears and he laughs as he steps away.

"Listen, I'm sorry for whatever happened that day. You know my manly ego is bigger than anything and I don't do apologies but I am still sorry." He pleads and I laugh.

With a slight nod, I make my way inside his house while Aaron informs us that he's going to pick Lizzy from her friend's place.

"When you jerked my hand away, that was a dick move." I frown as I tell Derek who's sitting besides me on the couch.

And it really was, that was the only thing that made me so angry at him. Otherwise, I was aware of the fact that it was my fault entirely.

"Having pot in my guest room wasn't a great idea either." He retorts back.

"Fine, let's not go there." I point out and he nods as he rests his hand on my thigh and I immediately know what's going on in his head.

However, I try my best to ignore his intentions as I carry out the conversation with him further, catching up on the lost time.

After we are done telling all the boring stories, I finally start an interesting topic. "A little birdy told me that you've been hanging out with Lizzy." I give him a mischievous smile and he laughs.

"Aaron cannot keep his mouth shut around now, can he?"

I fake a pout as I keep a hand on my chest, mocking hurt. "Consider my feelings wounded my dear friend. I didn't know we were supposed to have secrets."

At that, he chuckles as he finally move closer than I would allow 'just a friend' to move. He captures my lips with his and I don't stop him when he pushes me back on the couch and lies on top of me. The bottom lining of my office skirt slides us as he does that.

"I missed this." He moans against my lips and I smirk.

My tongue swirls around his bottom lip as he presses himself against me and I wrap my legs around his waist. "I'm sure you did." I respond back with a hint of sarcasm and seduction.

He groans as my hips move above to meet his and almost immediately, he deepens the kiss. My hands stay above my head, refusing to touch his skin because I know how much he hates when I do that.

Just when he's about to pull over his shirt, we hear someone coughing loudly and Derek stumbles away from me. I sit up straight on the couch, pulling my skirt down as I run my fingers through my hair.

Well, Derek's mother is looking at me like I just asked her to sell me her house for free and behind her stands Aaron, a look on his face that I cannot quite decipher. My eyes lock down on the hand wrapped around his and a strange feeling sets in the pit of my stomach, making me look away immediately.