Mia fluttered her eyes open...

    "Why don't you just say it. You want me." Ryan whispered into her eyes in his sultry voice. His hand traveled up her hair and with a gentle tug, he pulled the rubber holding up her hair.

    Her hair fell to her back. "That's not true." Her voice betrayed her when he kissed her neck.

     Ryan placed his lips back on her lips, hugging her tighter. "I missed you." He kissed her hungrily, tasting every part of her mouth. Mia kissed him back with the same fervor, he tasted like vanilla. 

   He took her off her feet, carefully laying her on the bed without breaking their kiss. Mia raked his hair with her fingers, resting his weight against her. His hands crept up, beneath her button-up, moving up and down her bare thighs.

   "Wait wait wait wait!!" Mia's senses came back to earth as she panicked. She tried to push Ryan off but he held her down. "Oh God." She bit her lip when she felt nibble at her collarbone.

   Ryan was no where stopping. He loved what he was doing to her because he felt her shudder beneath him. "Universe..." He kissed her neck.

   Mia felt a tingling sensation coursing through her body, she let out a soft whimper. She had no strength to push him off. She wanted more and more and more and... No.

    "I can't." Mia said while catching her breath. She averted his lips, trying to pull his hands away from her thighs.

    "Princess what's wrong?" Ryan used his most seductive voice, placing a kiss in her forehead.

    "Please don't use that voice." Mia begged him.

     "Did I do something wrong?" He placed butterfly kisses on her temple.

     Mia sighed... "Let's talk." She felt vulnerable as Ryan laid on her.

     Ryan got off, sitting beside her. Mia too, sat up, trying to fix her hair.

     "Ryan, this isn't what I want. You're seducing me and—"

    "I'm glad it's working." Ryan said without any ounce of regret.

    Mia looked at him. "This isn't right. I can't believe I did this." Mia was regretting. "You wanna know why I've been avoiding you?"

     God! His eyes were too beautiful.

    "I'm beginning to feel something for you and I want to stop. There, I said it. Please don't make it harder for me." Denying what she felt for Ryan would only make her crazy.

     Ryan gave her a piercing look. "Why make it stop?"

    Mia stood up, facing him. "I like you but I'm gonna unlike you. I'm only telling you because I wanna get it off my chest."

                  "Do you really think I'm gonna leave now I know how you feel about me? It makes no difference."

   "But why? What do you want from me? You're in a committed relationship. I'm so mad at myself for falling for your tricks. We need to stop before it gets out of hand." Mia was confused. She'd watched this kind of relationship on TV and hell there's always an angry girlfriend in the picture, things end up bad. Mia wasn't ready to go through a cliched relationship.

    "Don't you wanna give us a try?"

    "No. There is no us. There will never be an us. Stop chasing me, I need my peace of mind. The last thing I need is drama in my life. Do you understand?" Mia said to him calmly.

     "Universe you can't ignore what you feel." He shook his head slowly. 

    "I can, if you stay away from me."

      "I already told you that isn't happening." Ryan frowned.

    "What's wrong with you?! You're not making things simpler for me. Leave. Go back to your girlfriend. Forget about me because nothing is gonna happen between us." Mia was getting frustrated.

   Ryan buried his face in his palms. "Can we not talk about Layla? You're making it seem like I'm unfair to her."

    "You are! Okay? She's your girlfriend. I'm not gonna be stuck in some stupid triangle."

     He looked up at her. "You want the truth? Fine. Layla and I aren't really together. We're basically just friends. We have a complicated relationship and now is not the right time to tell you."

  She scoffed... "Yeah right, Friends with benefits. I don't care if you're lovers or fiancés, I don't care about that part of your life. If I were to be in her shoes, seriously, I'll kill you for even looking at another woman." Mia said the whole truth. If she were Layla, she'd murder Ryan.

    "I'm not a bad person, I just know what I want. That's you."

    "I'm not what you want Ryan, stop saying that." Mia rolled her eyes.

   Ryan stood up. "I don't want to keep arguing with you. We'll talk over at dinner."

    "Huh? Dinner? What dinner?" Mia raised her brow.

    "I'm coming to pick you up by seven. We're going out."

    "Have you lost your sanity? Has everything I said, gone into the empty space?" Mia blinked at him.

    "It's a friendly dinner and I can't take no for an answer." Ryan walked towards the door.

    "Dude, I'm not going anywhere with you. Do you get it? Do you have selective hearing?!"

    "We're going out universe. I already said it's a friendly dinner." He said, reaching for the door.

   "I'm not going with you and you can't force me."

"I'm not asking, I'm demanding." He said with his bossy voice making Mia cringe. Ryan walked out of the room.

     "I'm not going anywhere! You hear me!" Mia yelled at him.

    "Bye sweetheart." Ryan waved at her before exiting the house.

   Mia groaned loudly... "That arrogant jerk!"

  Andrew stood by her door. "So who's the guy?"

      "That idiot is Ryan Webster." Mia clenched her fist.

      "For real? He's the Ryan?" Andrew smirked at her. "Now I know where I met him. He was the one who bought your jigsaw puzzle for 100k. He looks hotter than the last time I saw him, he's dripping like hot —"

     "Don't even think about it." Mia shot him a glare.

  Andrew chuckled... "Why not?"

   "Because he's straight and into women. And he has a girlfriend." Mia frowned, remembering Ryan has a girlfriend. "You're sweet and kind and nice, you deserve someone better, someone who isn't arrogant, bossy, seductive and also a pervert."

    Andrew laughed... "Thank you. I know you mean well but you sound like a bitch."

  She gasped..  "What!"

    "I'm not taking him from you. He's all yours." Andrew shook his head.

     "I don't want him. I told you before, he's trouble. I really need to finish this project so that I wouldn't see his face again."

    "Afraid to fall in love?" Andrew cooed, wiggling his brows.

    "Ew, no. Love is not my thing." Mia told him. 

   "There's nothing wrong with falling in love. It's the most beautiful experience."

   "If love means being crazy like Ryan, I don't want it." She scoffed. "That guy is really stubborn. How can you love two women at the same time?"

     "You're right. But, there is a saying —if you love two women, choose the second because if you did love the first, there would never have been a second." Andrew told her.

   Mia stared at him. "That's a weird saying." She held her hair up. "Hey look, I've been searching for a quarter. It has a baby drawn on it. If you see it please give it to me, Danny would kill me if she found out I lost the coin." Mia turned her back, putting her hair in a high ponytail.

     "Sure I —what is that by the side of your neck?" He knitted his brows together.

   "What?" Mia turned facing him.

     Andrew gasped loudly, pointing at her neck. "Is that... Love bite?"

    "What?" Mia stared at him with a confused face.

     Ryan had left his marks around her neck and collarbone.
....................................................

     "This better be important." Ryan said, taking a seat across the table.

    Alex had asked for them to meet up in a restaurant as he wanted to disclose an information concerning Mia.

     "I've gathered files. I'm sure they're accurate." Alex handed Ryan the files.

    "What is this?" Ryan asked, opening the files.

    "Go through it first." Alex told him.

  Ryan scanned through the first page but couldn't make anything out of it. "They are just dates."

"Some of before you were born." Alex nodded.

    "We both know Sophie has a sister. I don't really remember her name." Ryan had seen a something about Sophie having a sister. "If I remember correctly, she was two years younger than Sophie. How come it says here that she's older than Sophie with at least six years? It makes no sense." Ryan kept on reading.

    "Sophie does have a sister. But I don't think it was just a sister."

  Ryan looked at him, arching his brow. "What do you mean?"

   Alex collected the file, opening it to a page. "Long before Sophie was born, her mom had a daughter. It says here that the child was given up for adoption and no trace after that. Then again, after Sophie's death, her mom moved to Italy. Reuniting with her long forgotten daughter who grew up with some rich man in Italy."

    Ryan frowned... "Mia. Mia is Sophie's forgotten sister." Ryan sighed. This wasn't what he thought it would be. Mia was Sophie's sister all along. What kind of trick was this?!

   "What are you thinking now?" Alex asked him.

    "I never thought it would be her sister." Ryan rubbed his forehead. "Don't you think fate is playing some trick on me?"

    Alex chuckled... "You've fallen for her already."

     "I'm destined to be with her. Just her."

      "Are you ready to face Sophie's mom? She is Mia's mom after all."

     "I haven't thought about that yet." He shook his head. "Did you find out anything about Mia's accident?" He suddenly remembered that Mia had told him she was in an accident.

     "Mia was in an accident?" Alex frowned.

     "She was. Infact, she can't remember anything from seven years ago, according to her, she lost all her memories."

    "Wow." Alex was surprised.

   "I want you to find out. I know Mia, she doesn't plan on telling me anything."

    "Okay. I'll see if I can get any information about her accident." Alex nodded slowly. "Strange."

    "What is?"

    "Mia was in an accident seven years ago. Seven years ago..." Alex knew Ryan didn't like talking about Sophie's death a lot. "Sophie was too."

   Ryan leaned against the chair. "Find out everything. I want every detail of the accident."

    "Okay." Alex nodded.

    "I feel something's off. Mia told me, she and her mom stayed in America for a while before going to Italy." Ryan told him. "She has no Italian accent so I think she was born here, I'm sure she spent her childhood and possibly her teenage days here."

    "You might be right. How then does her bio contradict everything she says?" Alex frowned.

     "That's what you're gonna find out. I find it strange that she talks like she grew up with her mom." He placed his finger on his jaw.
✴✴✴✴

    "Aren't you gonna prepare for your date?" Andrew asked a half sleeping Mia.

    "What date?"

    "Your dinner with the rich guy?"

     "I'm not leaving the house." Mia yawned. "He can go to hell for all I care." She sat up.

     Then they heard the doorbell...

"Do you think it's your lover boy?" Andrew asked.

    "If he's the one, tell him I'm sick." Mia said to him.

   Andrew rolled his eyes before leaving to open the door.

    "Oh, it's you again." Andrew didn't smile as he stood, facing Ryan.

    "Where is Mia?" Ryan asked coldly. He didn't like Andrew and he wasn't hiding it either.

     "Mimi is sick. She can't go out, so now you can leave." Andrew returned the same cold response as Ryan.

   Ryan didn't believe. "I'll see her myself." Ryan raised his brow. "I wanna make sure she's okay."

   Andrew sighed before letting him in. It wasn't hard for Ryan to get to Mia's room.

Mia heard a faint knock and something told her it wasn't Andrew. She threw the blanket over her head quickly, pretending to be asleep. The door opened and Ryan walked in.

     "Universe?" He called her, looking at the blanket move.

    Mia let out a fake cough, slowly pulling the blanket away from her head. "What are you doing... Here?" Mia faked a croaking voice. She was surely gonna pretend to be sick hoping Ryan would buy her acting.

    "What's wrong with you?" Ryan eyed her. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

    "I'm so sorry, I don't... (Cough) think I can go with you." She groaned as if she was in pain. "I'm not feeling too well." Mia coughed again.

   Ryan raised his brows... "Is this another one of your facade?"

    "Why would you think that?" Mia frowned at him. She fakes a cough, hugging the blanket close to her body.

   Ryan softened his gaze, moving closer to her. "You're... Sick? For real?" He was confused.

    "I can't joke about my health." Mia closed her eyes as if she was in pain.

   Now he felt like an idiot. "I'm so sorry." He squattered beside her bed. "I didn't think you'd be sick." Ryan placed his hand on her forehead to feel her temperature. "You're not burning up." He sat on her bed. "Have you seen a doctor?"

     "Not yet." Mia bit her lips from laughing.

     "Do you have headaches?" He asked her.

    "Headaches." She coughed again, only it was louder. "Body pains and cough. I don't think you should stay here, you might catch the cough." Mia told him using her soft, believable voice.

    "If you're sick then I'm staying with you. I feel bad for not believing you are actually sick."

   Mia rolled her eyes inwardly... "No, there's no need for you to be here. I'll be fine." She sat up to convince him to leave.

     "I want to be here." Ryan said to her.

    "But you're busy." Mia frowned at Ryan for ruining her plans.

     "For now no. Let me stay with you and keep you company." He placed his hand on her cheek, caressing it with his thumb.

    "I want to be alone." Mia sighed. "I want to rest... Alone?" Mia said to him.

    Ryan smiled... "Okay. Just give me a call if you need anything." Ryan was being all sweet and caring.

    She nodded... "I will."

     He inched forward, pecking her forehead. "You're gonna have get used to me kissing you." He said after pulling away.

    Mia blushed, holding the hand he placed on her cheek.

    "Goodnight universe." He gave her a small smile before standing.

    Mia watched him walk towards her door. "Ryan?"

     He turned around... "Yes?"

    Mia was feeling guilty as she watched him. She had a feeling that he was looking forward to having the dinner with her. "Let's have lunch together tomorrow."

   Ryan's eyes lit up. "Really?"

    "Sure. A friendly lunch. That's if you're not busy with—"

    "I have spare time for you. Do you want me to pick you up somewhere?" Ryan was happy.

    "I'll be at Van's Events. Lunch is by 2."

     "Okay." He nodded not hiding his happiness. "I'll be there. Focus on getting better, okay?"

   Mia nodded before watching him leave.

     Some seconds after Ryan had left the house, Andrew threw her door open.

    "Some talent you got there. I can't believe you actually pulled it off." He smirked at her. "I'm impressed."

    Mia slouched... "I feel guilty. He kept on looking at me with those cute puppy eyes of his." She frowned, looking at Andrew. 

    "Mimi sweetheart, you hate men. What had gotten into you?!" Andrew gave her a confused look.

    "Shut up Andrew, I don't hate men. You're a man and I love you." Mia fell to her bed, sprawling her arms out.

     "Face it, you're falling in love. You can lie to yourself but not to me, tsk, tsk, tsk." Andrew smiled at her.

    "Stop teasing me. I like not love." Mia groaned loudly. "Ryan already has a girlfriend, I'm not ready to become a relationship wrecker."

    "Let's have a talk." Andrew shut the door behind him, walking towards Mia's bed.
✴✴✴✴✴
  
   "You're home early." Bee said to Ryan immediately she saw him enter the house.

   Ryan looked up at her. She was seated on the staircase alone.

    "Yeah." He nodded.

    "What's with the face? You looked so happy and excited an hour ago. What happened?" Bee questioned him.

     "Nothing." He climbed up, walking past her.

     "Dony told me something today. She said you've finally found the girl of your dreams." Bee turned to look at him.

   Ryan is forced to turn to her. "What on earth as Dony been telling you?" He frowned.

    "She didn't go into details." Bee shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanna know something, are you cheating on Layla?" She asked without plainly.