Mia had to wait for twenty additional minutes as she is told that Ryan was attending to some business meeting. She was finally allowed to go into Ryan's office after some men in formal attire stepped out.

    "You're back... Again." Ryan had even forgotten about her.

     "Yes, I am." She sat across the table. "I won't take much of your time, I promise." Mia was already having a throbbing headache, she was finding it difficult talking for too long.

    "Go ahead." Ryan nodded.

   Mia wasted no time starting, she felt like all her energy had drained out.

     "Ms are you okay? You seem to be sweating?" Ryan asked her when he noticed her wet face. The office was with full air-conditioning, so it was odd that she would sweat.

    "I'm fine." Mia continued talking about her presentation but Ryan was long distracted as he could tell she was not all right.

    "So, is this proposition better?" She still managed to smile.

    "I'm afraid this isn't exactly what I was looking for. Can you—"

      Mia had had enough of him... "This isn't easy Mr Webster and if you think I'm not good enough, I suggest you find someone more capable. I can't do this anymore, that's it! Excuse me!" Mia had said her piece of mind. To hell with this man!! She didn't even want this in the first place!!

    She stood up immediately, grabbing her laptop... "Good luck in finding your perfect design." Mia hissed angrily as she walked away from the table.

    "What the —where are you going?" Ryan asked, standing up. He was utterly confused.

    "I'm quitting!" She was furious as she walked, but she turned back at him. "You can shove the stupid..."

    Mia slumped to the floor... Blacking out. Ryan practically ran over to her unconscious body, panic ran down his spine as he stooped to pull her closer to him.

          "Mia..."
✴✴✴✴✴✴

       Ryan stood beside the bed in which Mia laid in the hospital. She was placed in a private room as she slept peacefully dressed in an inpatient outfit. She had passed out and hadn't woken up for the past thirty minutes.

   Ryan kept staring down at Mia. The truth was that he was afraid that it was his fault it happened, she was there because of him, but still, he was really shocked when the doctor had said some things about Mia to him.

    "I'm sorry." Ryan was really sad. He would die if anything serious had happened to her. They had just met each other and Ryan was planning on keeping her.

   Just then, his phone rang. It was Olivia.

     "Yes?"

    "Sir, you have a meeting with the executives, I'm calling to remind you."

     "I know."

    "Are you on your way?"

    "I'm busy Olivia."

   "Sir, this meeting is important. Can you please —"

    "Do I have to do everything myself? If you cannot handle a group of men while I'm away, tell me why I pay you as much as I do. Handle the meeting." Ryan was pissed. His voice sounded scary.

     "Yes, I understand. Take your time."

    Ryan cut the call, he was irritated. But once he saw Mia was steering up, he calmed down and was very relieved.

    Mia carefully opened her eyes slowly.

    Ryan stepped away from the bed in order not to scare her. Mia finally got herself, and leaned forward.

     "Where is this?" She frowned, not remembering how she got into a bed.

    "You're at the hospital. You fainted." Ryan spoke calmly with his hands in his pants pocket.

    She turned to Ryan. "I did?"

    Ryan smiled... "You did. How do you feel now?" Ryan asked her.

     "I feel... I feel... Great. Better than ever." Mia nodded. She removed the blanket over her body and reached for the needle inserted into her hand but Ryan quickly stopped her.

     "What are you doing?!" He went forward, stopping her hand.

    "Don't touch me." Mia glared at him, removing her hand from his grip.

    "You wanna hurt yourself?" Ryan asked her.

    "It's absolutely none of your business. Stay away from me." Mia reached for the needle again but her hand is gripped by Ryan again.

     "Stop it." He gave her a warning look.

    "Don't you dare touch me." Mia forcefully yanked her hand away.

    "Fine." He put his hand in surrender. "But I'm only trying to help."

    "You've helped enough. What are you even doing here anyway? I thought I told you I quit. Isn't that what you wanted?" Mia glared at him.

     "Mia I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did, it was stupid and—"

    "Don't explain, I don't need your explanation." Mia sighed. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and she groaned.

    "Are you alright?" Ryan asked her.

    "I'll be fine if you leave me alone. What do you want from me?" Mia frowned at him.

     Ryan shook his head... "There are a lot of things I want from you Mia, this isn't the right time to talk about it. What matters now is your health." Ryan's voice was soft and relaxed.

    "I don't want to talk to you." Mia gently pulled the needle from her hand. "I just wanna go home, that's all."

   She stood up from the bed, trying to leave but Ryan held her arms.

     "Mia I can't let you leave, not yet." He made sure to keep eye contacts. "Let me help you."

      Mia removed his hands. "Help me? Help me by leaving." Mia glared at him. She walked away, reaching for the door knob.

     "Mia, I had the doctors scan you, he found Benzodiazepines in your system."

   Mia's hand dropped from the knob and she turned to him. "What are you talking about?" Mia's head started spinning.

        Ryan turned to her... "What the hell are you doing to yourself?"

   Mia dashed at him... "How could you! How could you! You have no right to intrude on my privacy!! How dare you?!" Mia began hitting him with her fist.

    "I'm sorry." Ryan grabbed her wrists. "But why? Do you know what Benzodiazepines does to you? For crying out loud, it's already messing with your brain!"

   Mia snatched her wrists away. "Shut up! Don't talk like you know me." Mia suddenly became afraid of what else Ryan might have found out.

    "Do you know what it does? It can kill you!! What are you trying to do huh? Lose your senses? Because from what the doctor said, you're an addict and it's no longer for the purpose it was made for. Why?" Ryan asked her. He wasn't smiling anymore, his expression was cold.

    "Stop saying nonsense, you have no idea of what you're saying." Mia stepped back.

    "If you keep taking those pills, you'd lose all your memories due to dementia." Ryan narrowed his eyes at her. "Except you're hiding something you don't want to remember."

    She fluttered... "W-w-what? I don't know what you're talking about." Mia turned away. "Why are we even talking? Shouldn't you be working or signing business deals? What do you want with someone like me? We don't even know each other." Mia faced him. "And I hate you!" She said to him, she was furious.

   Ryan shook his head... "But I don't."

     "I'm leaving, I have nothing else to say to you." Mia walked towards the door. "I really hope this would be the last time we meet." Mia opened the door.

     "Our lives are more tangled than you can ever know." Ryan watched her leave. Mia was so stubborn and it made it difficult for Ryan to see through her.

     "Hello Olivia?" He decided to call Olivia.

      "It's good you called I was —"

  He cut her off... "I need all the informations you can get on Mia Simpsons, our interior designer. Every detail. Report directly to me. Understood?" Ryan said to her.

    "Yes sir."

      Ryan walked out to stop Mia from leaving. They really had to talk and she hating him was not going to help at all.

  So many things were going on in her head. She felt more scared than ever. A total stranger was an inch away from finding out things she had hidden for as long as she could.

      Why couldn't he just leave her alone? What else did he want?

       "Mia wait!"

   Him again?! What the hell?!!

   Mia increased her pace, trying to avoid Ryan. "Stop following me dammit!!" Mia saw the elevator but stopped moving when the pain in her stomach increased.

    "I don't want to hurt you. Hear me out first." Ryan finally got to her. "Stop running from me.. Please?"

     "Leave me alone. I can handle myself, I don't need your help." Mia tucked her hair behind her ear.

   Ryan stared at her for a while and chuckled softly... Exactly the same thing Sophie would say, but at that time he found it annoying. Hearing Mia repeat those words only got him more amused.

     "I'm not being funny. Just go, you don't need to pretend that you care. You're just saying you wanna help me to save your skin because you're the reason this happened to me. You wanted to mentally drain me, admit it."

     "You still wouldn't believe me if I told you that wasn't my intention. I am truly sorry." Ryan said to her.

     "There's no way I'm coming back to work for you. You're a whole lot of trouble and that's bad for me and my health." Mia said to him.

    "Speaking of health, let's get the doctor to have a last check on you so we can be sure you're perfectly fine."

          "I'm fine. I know when I'm fine." Mia looked away.

     "I promise I wouldn't bother you again but only if the doctor sees you." Ryan said to her. A promise he knew he would never keep.

    "Ever again?" Mia eyed him.

  "Ever again." He nodded with a smile.

     This was a bad idea but she needed to get rid of Ryan... "I'll follow right behind you." Mia said to him.

  "No. I need to make sure you don't run away. Preferably, carry you so you won't leave." Ryan raised a brow.

     "My legs are fine! I don't even want you close to my hair, much more my whole body!" Mia snapped at him. "See? I'm not running away." Mia walked in front of him. She reluctantly headed back to her room.

     "Thank you." Ryan said to her.

    "Why do you want to help me?" She asked him.

     "Because you're now part of my staff and I do care a lot." Ryan lied.

   "Are you always so concerned about all your staffs well-being that you stay with them in the hospital? And wait for them to wake up?" Mia asked again.

     "Not always. You were with me that is why I'm taking full responsibility and also, you were right, I drained you mentally. It's partially my fault."

     "Of course it is all your fault!"
✴✴✴✴
  
   Mia sat on the bed with Ryan and the doctor standing beside her.

    "It's high time you stopped taking those pills, you could drop dead anytime." The male doctor told her. "The amount of Benzodiazepines found in your body proved that you've been taking it for over five years now. I'm really surprised that you haven't experienced the most severe side effect, most patients don't last long." The doctor told her plainly. "It's normal to feel symptoms like anxiety, restlessness, you might have trouble sleeping. In some cases,  nightmares, tremors —"

    "Thank you doctor." Mia cut him off.

     "Listen young lady, you might not know how serious this is. But if you continue, you will die." The doctor got a hint that Mia was no where stopping.

    "She will stop." Ryan said to the doctor.

    "Okay then." He turned to Ryan and whispered into his ear. "Please try as much as possible not to let her remove the drip."

     "Okay." Ryan nodded.

    Mia would be in grave danger if she does not stop taking those pills, worse was that she had no clue what damage had been done. She looked like someone who would not heed the doctor's advice.

     "Doc, why are you whispering to him and not me? It's my body, isn't it?" Mia frowned at the doctor.

     He smiled... "I'm only telling him to take good care of you, since you're his fiancée." The doctor smiled.

     "Wait wait wait, what? What do you mean fiancée?" Mia frowned at the doctor. What on earth was he talking about?

     "You're his—" The doctor is unable to complete his sentence.

    "You can be excused doctor." Ryan quickly dismissed the doctor.

     Doc, you have to explain what's going on or I'm gonna lose my freaking mind." Mia could snap at anytime.

    "Lose your mind? Sweetheart what are —" Ryan is interrupted.

    "Sweetwhat?" Mia's eyes widened, as she stared at Ryan.

  "I better get going. Excuse me." The doctor was so confused but he wasn't surprised she was acting weird due to the intake of pills. He quickly left them to sort whatever issues.

      "Mia listen to me." Ryan could see her fuming.

    "What the hell did you tell the doctor?" Mia narrowed her eyes at him.

     "That was the only way I could to scan you. When I brought you here, they couldn't find what was wrong so they said they needed to scan you. I only lied about the two of us being engaged in order for them to allow them perform the scan."

    "You must be out of your damn mind! You sicko! That explains how the doctor got an approval to scan me." Mia was raging. "We barely know each other and you think you can take decisions regarding my life?!"

    "Mia I didn't mean it the wrong way. What's wrong trying to help you? Can't you see that I mean no harm? Mia I just... I'm sorry." Ryan felt tired. They just kept fighting and fighting.

    Mia laid back against the bed, keeping quiet and staring at Ryan, who was looking at the floor. 

    "Wow." After some minutes of silence, Mia spoke.

  Ryan looked up at her...

    "Have we met before? I don't mean two days ago... Before that?" Mia asked him. It wasn't just now, she had been feeling drawn to him since they met.

    Ryan smiled... "I don't know. Do I look familiar?" Ryan asked her.

   Mia gazed intently into his icy blue eyes searching for a clue or something to remind her. The eyes were so familiar but she couldn't recall where she had seen it.

           "Blue eyed gazer."

   Her instincts spoke to her.

      "Blue eyed gazer." Mia whispered loud enough for Ryan to hear.

    Ryan frowned, his eyes seemed lost. "What?" Maybe he didn't hear her.

    "What?" Mia saw that he was looking confused.

  He moved closer to her... "Mia you said something, I want to hear it again."

     "Blue eyed gazer?" Mia sat up, she did take her eyes off him because he seemed to be taken by surprise.

     "Where—where did you hear that from?" Ryan asked her, 

    "I don't know." Mia furrowed. "It just popped into my head."

   "It did?" Ryan would be going crazy if she didn't speak up. "Are you sure?"

    "I-I don't know. I must have heard it from a movie or someone? I don't know." Mia shook her head.

    Ryan leaned closer to her face, that's when he noticed something different in her eyes.

     "Are those lens?" He asked her, squinting to get a clearer view of her eyes.

  Mia shut her eyes immediately... "You're being too curious on everything about me."

     "Every part of you is very intriguing." Ryan whispered to her face. She could feel his breath on her skin.

    "Okay! That's the closest you get." She used a finger to push him away. "Even until now, your perverted mind is active." Mia opened her eyes but his face hadn't moved.
 
   Her breathing quickened as she was fixed, looking at his lips. She suddenly wanted him to kiss her. What?! Mia wanted him to kiss her? That was impossible to believe. The normal Mia would have given him some karate and pushed him off, but now she was staring at him wondering what it felt like to kiss and taste his lips. It's been a long time she'd felt that way for anybody... Very long time. It was like she was longing for him, body and soul. What was happening to her?!

    "What are you doing to me?" She whispered unconsciously. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought she might have anxiety attack.

    "Same thing you're doing to me." Ryan slowly inched his lips closer that he could feel her warm breath.

   "Please... Please..." Mia begged softly, closing her eyes. Was she begging for him to stop or for him to kiss her. What was going on with her?! She'd never felt like this.. So vulnerable and wanting.

   Ryan placed his lips tenderly on hers, kissing her slowly and Mia kissed him back.