Alex finally got through to Ryan, he quickly went to a quieter place to take the call.

     "What the hell man, where did you go?!" He whisper-yelled at his phone.

    "I can't talk right now, I'm on my way to Sophie's."

   "You've got to be kidding me. Ryan, get your butt right here, right now! Do you know how devastated Layla is?" Alex said to him.

    "I didn't mean for this to happen, don't worry I'll be back. Keep Layla company for me, will you?" Ryan said just as he hung up. 

     "My goodness." Alex sighed. "He has really lost it."
...................................................................
  
    Mia had just had a cool bath and wore fresh gray pajamas, she had a towel wrapping her hair as she had just finished washing it. While keeping her bed in order, she heard a slight tapping on her window. Mia glanced at her window and it seemed to be that something or someone was throwing pebbles at her window. She walked towards the window an peeped at whatever was making the sound. To her surprise, it was Ryan.

       She opened her window. "Ryan? Wh–what are you doing?" She yelled,  frowning at him.

     "Hi!" He waved at her.

   She moved closer to her window an looked down at him. "I mean what are you doing here?" She asked pointing at her apartment.

     "I came to see you!" He said to her, grinning from ears to ears.

     "You do know there's a door right?" She smiled at him.

     "Wanted the old fashioned way." He shrugged.

                Mia chuckled... "Reduce your voice, the neighbors might hear you." She told him still smiling.

     "Okay." Ryan said in a hush voice.

    "Wanna use the stairs or wanna climb the tree." She asked him jokingly.

     "Stairs will be just fine." He smiled.

   She jerk her head to the left. "Come on up." She said, inviting him in. She got rid of the towel from her hair, allowing it fall down her back.

    Mia opened the door, letting Ryan in. "Hi." She smiled sheepishly.

     "Hi." He smiled at her as he entered the house.

  She shut the door slowly. So many questions to ask!!! What was he doing in her apartment?! Why did he come? Shouldn't he be at his house? In his party?!

     "Is Andrew here?" He asked her.

    "No he isn't." Mia said turning to him. "Shou-shouldn't you be at your house? At your party? What are you doing here?" Mia asked, tucking her hair behind her ears as she looked at him. 

     "Well yeah, I should be. But I got bored and tired of it. Besides, you weren't there so there wasn't any use staying." He said to her.

     Mia nodded... "If you left because you were bored, you're gonna leave about now because I'll bore you to the core." She told him.

    "It's okay, I can take it." He paused. "You never told me why you ditched the party." He said, sitting on a couch.

    "You don't need to know." Mia suddenly blushed.

     "Why? Tell me, I'm curious." He smirked at her.

    "Don't look at me like that." She rolled her eyes. "Since you asked... It's that time of the month."

    Ryan looked a bit fluttered. "Oh." He cleared his throat when he realized what she just said. "I'm sorry. Do you still hurt, I remember you had really bad cramps back then and—"

     "Excuse me? Back when?" Mia frowned at him.

     "Err..." He stammered. "Ye–yes, back then.. Then, in California." He hoped he sounded convincing. 

     Mia gave him a weird look. "I don't think I remember being on my period then. Are you lying to me?" She eyed him.

    "Of course not! Maybe you didn't, I think you told me."

    "There's no way I'd —"

   "It might have slipped." He said to her.

   Mia stared at him for a while. "Possibly. So hey, what should I get you? Juice, tea, coffee?" She asked politely.

    "Beer?" He grinned.

    "Nice try. You're not having any alcohol here." Mia said to him before leaving for her room. She came back with her blowdryer. "Tell me, what's the real reason you came here?" Mia asked, sitting on the floor.

     "I wanted to spend the rest of the hours with you."

     "Really." She chuckled. "Why'd you wanna spend the few hours with me?"

      "I just want to." He shrugged.

  "Okay." She said, drying her hair.

   Ryan watched her dry her hair intensely. "I wanna help." He stood and sat behind Mia.

    "What... You wanna help?" Mia was stunned.

    "Yes, give it to me." He collected the blowdryer. Mia gave him the blowdryer.

   "Are–Are you sure?" She asked as she was still unsure. "Can you really hold a dryer?

     "Of course." Ryan held it to her head.

     It felt a bit awkward at first as he ran his fingers down her hair but soon she became comfortable with his touch.

    After a while. "I'm doing it right... Right?" He asked for confirmation, lifting her hair.

    "You're doing great actually." Mia told him. "Thank you."

    "You're welcome."

    "Are you always this... Helpful?"  She asked him.

     "Sometimes like now." Ryan smiled.

     The room suddenly became quite except the whizzing sound of the blowdryer. Ryan carefully held the dryer to the back of her hair as he moved her hair away from her shoulder. While blowdrying, he got so mesmerized by her fair, soft skin and so he leaned in and kissed the back of her neck.

    Of course it startled Mia and she froze.

     "Sorry." He quickly apologized as soon as he leaned away. "I wasn't thinking straight."

    Mia moved away... "It's f-fine." She stood up.

      "Here," Handed over the blowdryer to back. "You should do it." He said turning it off.

     Mia ran her fingers through her hair. "I think my hair is quite dry. Thank you." She thanked him, before walking away. Mia had barely left when she turned back to him. "I um... I know I said no alcohol but... Would you like some champagne?" Mia asked him.

     "I would love that." He gave he a small smile while nodding.

    "Okay." She said, giving him a quick smile before leaving.

       Later, she appeared with a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes.

      "So my mom," Mia said seating beside him as she opened the bottle. "Got this Moët and Chandon Mciii when she went grocery shopping for me, she loves champagnes." She told him while pouring into his flute. 

    He nodded... "It's a fine champagne." He told her as he took a sip. 

     "Yeah." Mia too, took a sip from her flute before settling the champagne on a side table. "Tell me Ryan, does Layla know you're here?" She asked him.

     He stayed quiet for a while. "No."

    "You're not supposed to ditch your party, I'm sure Layla put in so much efforts into it. You just left? You left her all by herself? That's not fair." She frowned at him. "She must be so worried! What would the guests say? What kind of person are you?"

     "Hold on, I told Alex to help her out with the party." He said.

     "If you didn't want a party in the first place, you should have told her. No matter what your excuse is, you're still wrong." Mia scolded him. 

     "Isn't it enough I wanted to be here... With you?"

     "I didn't ask you to come here. Do not use me as an excuse. Have a little pity for the poor girl. You should call her and apologize for leaving her." Mia told him.

     "Layla and I are breaking up." He said plainly, refilling his glass.

    "What?"

     "We're splitting." He said again.

   "What? Why?" She frowned.

    "Because I don't want to hurt her and I don't want to lie to her. I also can't keep staying away from you, it's been hard. Layla knows there's another woman but she doesn't know it's you. Nothing you say would change my mind. I'm breaking up with Layla not only because of you but I wanna do what's right. You were right, Layla doesn't deserve what I'm doing to her so I'm going to end it, for my peace." Ryan said to her calmly.

     Mia exhaled.... "Ryan please don't do—"

     "I've made up my mind. And Mia, I'd understand if you want to go back to Italy but I'll keep fighting for us."

    Mia placed her flute on the side table and moved closer to Ryan. She hugged him tightly.

     "I'll miss you, I'll miss you so much Ryan." She whispered quietly. "I'm sorry it has to be this way." She said before pulling away.

     "You never know what tomorrow brings, you'll be surprised that you're mine." He placed a hand on her cheek.

     "Who knows." She shrugged, wrapping her arms around his neck. "It's still your birthday and I haven't any present for you, I'm really sorry." She smiled at him.

       "It's okay, you being here is more than all the gifts I could ask for." He said, resting his forehead against hers.

    "Okay, I have an idea!" She pulled away. "How about I grant you two wishes? It's your birthday so you get two." She held out two fingers.

     "Two? But Genie grants three wishes." He laughed.

     "I know. I'll grant any two wishes you ask.. Buhhhhht.." She stressed on the 'but'.  "I have rules. No monkey business, which includes kissing..."

    "What?!" His eyes widened.

   "Ah ah ah, let me finish. No touching, no asking for the impossible, no dates, no Ahem, no—"

   "What's Ahem?" He laughed heartily.

       "It means stuff." She laughed.

    "You're taking all the fun part away. A Genie doesn't choose what the wishes can be." Ryan pouted like a child making Mia laugh harder.

     "Jeez! Ryan your time's ticking."

   "What!" Ryan groaned. He then sighed. "Sing the happy birthday song for me." He told her.

   She chuckled. "As you wish." Then started singing. "#Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ryan, happy birthday to you.#" She sang with a big smile on her face. She received an unexpected peck on her cheek from Ryan.

     "Thank you." He thanked her wholeheartedly and she turned pink instantly. "I love it."

    She gave him a smile. "One down one to go. Your next wish?"

    He thought for a while before he answered. "It depends on you, if you can actually grant my last wish."

    "Are you kidding? A Genie is meant to grant all wishes, although, do not go against my rules." She giggled.

      After a moment of gazing intently into her eyes, he moved a stand of hair that fell to her face and he spoke so quietly. "All I wish for," he cupped her face. "All I want.... Is for you to love me. Mia love me, I want you to love. I want to be the only man you love. I want you to love me again, just like before. I know I'm asking for too much my universe but... But... But that's my one last wish." He said with so much emotions and intense passion.

     Her heart was beating as if it was gonna jump out of her chest. She was even getting teary because of emotions too. "I... I... I... I..." She badly wanted to tell him she loved him but she couldn't. It wasn't right.

     "Universe, you don't need to make up your mind now. Love takes time, we've been there before, okay?" He gave her a weak smile, wiping away the single tear that threatened to slip down her eye.

     She hugged him tightly. Why was it that Ryan was always speaking in words she never ever understood? Most times, he talked like they had known each other from past lives. He'd said he wanted her to love him again, what did he mean by that?

   Was it difficult to love him back? Ryan sighed... If she could love him before then she could do it again, he just need to give her more time to realize that they are a perfect made-in-heaven's-match.
✴✴✴✴✴✴

Mia had fallen asleep in Ryan's arms, and carefully, he carried her off to bed.

    The next morning, Mia woke up in her bed, but Ryan was already gone. She'd seen a note he'd written and placed on her table.

     Sleeping beauty, didn't want to wake you to say goodbye. Thank you for the wishes. —Ryan.

      Just then, Andrew walked out of his room.

    "Oh Andrew!"

    "Hey there Mimi." He said a bit groggily. 

    "When did you get back?" She asked.

    "Not too long ago. Please, can I get a cup of coffee?" Andrew requested.

   "Hmmm." She nodded, carefully folding the note Ryan wrote to her.

    "What's that?" He pointed to her hand.

     "It's a note Ryan wrote." She answered.

     "Really? What does it say?" Andrew asked her.

      "Nothing." Mia said rolling her eyes.

    "He's not trying to woo you again is he?" He frowned at her.

    "Stop asking questions, you want the coffee or not?" She headed to the kitchen.
✴✴✴✴✴
 
     Layla walked down the grand staircase in her nightdress, she walked straight to Ryan's study. With a small knock, she opened the door.

   "Oh, I see you're dressed already." She said folding her arms over her chest as she watched him gather some papers into his briefcase.

    "I'm meeting with some important investors at eight this morning." Ryan said without sparing her a glance.

  "I was hoping we could talk about last night?" Layla said to him.

    "When I get back okay?" He said. He didn't seem interested on what she had to say. 

  "No we have to talk now, this can't wait."

   Ryan finally looked at her. "I just said I have something to take care of and when I get back, we'd talk about it." He said firmly.

     "And I said we're talking about it now, like right now." Layla said looking at him squarely.

     Ryan narrowed his eyes at her searching for a trace of retreat, he saw none. "Fine. Let's talk."

    "You left the party, ran off to God-knows-where, left me to take care of everything, came back two in the morning and stayed here all night. What is going on?" She asked him.

      "You want to know? I was getting bored of the party and so I left."

    "Why didn't you tell me? You made me look like an idiot in front of all the guests. What is wrong with you? You're being so insensitive! You only care about yourself. Whatever you feel is right for you, you just do it not thinking about others and that's selfish, I have feelings too, I get hurt too! It's not fair that you always treat me this way." Layla said with all frustrations.

    Ryan frowned... "Where're all these coming from? I respect you, I see to it that you're given everything, I appreciate everything you've done for me. Layla, what's this really about?"

     "Everything?" She scoffed sarcastically. "You make me sound like a kept woman... Worse your personal whore." She said with the signs of anger on her face, before turning to leave.

    He was absolutely shocked she could say that. "Jesus! Layla what are you... Layla come on." Ryan tried to stop her from leaving. It was the first time in two years that she'd spoken to him like that.

    Even Layla herself didn't know she was capable of saying those things but it was high time Ryan knew what she was truly feeling.
..................................................................

       "Do you think we should tell him about our plans?" Natalie asked Alex who was seated in a restaurant.

     "Who David? Are you sure he won't blabber it to Layla?" Alex said to her.

     "I'll make sure he won't. Okay, latest headlines, guess what." Natalie looked keen on telling Alex something.

    "What is it this time?"

   "Bee told me something. She told me that Ryan and Layla have been having misunderstandings for a while now." She told Alex.

    "Really? For how long?" Alex frowned.

    "Since four days. It started right after his birthday, you know, after he left to see Mia."

    "Do you think it's that bad?" He asked.

    "I don't know. Layla didn't even tell me about it. Each time I brought up Ryan, she acts cool like every other time. If she's having problems with Ryan why didn't she say anything?"

    "What did Bee actually say?"

    "She said first it started with arguments, now they talk to each other in mono-syllables." Natalie said to him.

    "God I hope it's not so bad." Alex sighed. "And I also hope this isn't about Mia."

        "Then we can use the vacay as a means for them to make up without getting involved."

     "You're right. Just me, you, Layla, Ryan and David." Natalie said to him. "Remember we are having our shoots okay?"

    Alex nodded, leaning against the chair.