"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
                —Touchstone, As You
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The meeting was a disaster. I had never known that someone's mere presence could put me in such a foul mood, but here I was, hanging out with Aaliyah like we promised, chugging down alcohol like my life depended on it.

"So, he really had the audacity to say that to you? Damn, I feel like he's the first person to stand up to you like that," Aaliyah laughed about it merrily, making my mood spiral down further.

"Its not fucking funny. He's known to be the biggest dick to directors, and would do anything to make them listen to his wishes. God forbid if he does that to me, I'm gonna slap the shit out of him." I growled in frustration, which only made her laugh harder.

"Girl, we came here to cool down alright? Let's not be so worked up already. You gotta loosen up a bit so that you can enjoy life, why do you live like you have a stick up your ass?"

"Its called discipline, following a set of methods. If people are too lethargic and wanna name it as being easygoing, I'm not gonna let them. At least not when they're working with me. And if he tries to just waltz in and ruin the way I work, I'm going to finally lose it. That's all I'm saying."

"Okay I get you. But, you still haven't told me who this hotshot actor is? If he's in your field, there's no way I wouldn't know him?" She asked me with curiosity which made me wince.

She was gonna hear his name, go bonkers over his looks, and then give me a judgemental stare for not being sweet with a man like him. I knew the fucking drill, yet there wasn't another woman or man, ready to listen to my drunk incomprehensible ramblings at one in the morning. And I was, to some extent, grateful for that.

"His name is–" I hadn't even started when I rudely got cut off by a foreign voice intercepting mine.

"Excuse me ladies. I see you're having a wonderful night here, so I was wondering if my friend and I could– Aaliyah?"

At his exclamation, I looked up from my glass to find a tall, handsome man grinning at my friend. Looks like they already know each other.

"Levi? Wait, why are you here? This was never your favorite place?" Aaliyah asked him enthusiastically, confirming my suspicions.

"That is true, but you know I'm speechless whenever your brother drags me out somewhere."

"I know, but is he here tonight? Did he have a bad day?" She asked him again, making me curious.

"Wait a damn minute. Why don't I know that you had a brother?" I asked Aaliyah, still not grasping the situation.

"He's not my biological brother, he's a cousin. Anyway, I always wanted to introduce him to you, so this is the perfect opportunity. Levi, you guys can sit with us, its gonna be a fun night!!" She shouted loudly, making everyone's attention fall on us.

As this Levi gave her a nod and went off to fetch his friend, I gave her a questioning stare. "You know what tonight is for. I don't wanna meet up with new people right now."

"I know, but you need to have a distraction so that you can forget all about that asshole. You need new people, new conversations, new everything right now." She told me so happily that I almost considered it at one point, then cursed out loudly.

"Right, Ms. Social butterfly. You're way too happy for this."

"You know me girl." She winked at me, making a funny face which made me laugh abruptly.

"Oh, so the ice queen knows how to laugh too?" I heard someone behind me which made me stop laughing immediately.

The problem was not that I was interrupted, but that it was an eerily familiar voice. I just couldn't put a finger on it. Maybe I was too drunk already. I decided to turn around and see for myself, when Aaliyah exclaimed again,

"Isaac? You know her?"

I stilled in my seat. It couldn't be, right? There could honestly be so many named Isaac in this city, so I wasn't possibly running into the same person, right? But he did act like he knew me? What if....

I turned around abruptly, and the sight that greeted me made my eyes widen. There he was in flesh, the object of my problems, smirking at me like he had orchestrated this whole thing to torture me further. Clad in a black shirt with sleeves till his elbows, and matching trousers, he looked like the definition of perfect, but I couldn't admit it to his face. Hell, I couldn't even admit it to myself.

"Why the fuck are you here?" I growled at him, which made his smirk wider.

"Why? Afraid that I would ruin your night?" He drawled out in that deep voice of his, almost making me jump him. If only he wasn't so irritating.

"If you think you can ruin me so easily, you're mistaken. I just don't want your arrogant face in front of me." I told him and faced the front, which was apparently another blunder.

There Aaliyah was, her mouth hanging open, eyes wide. She was as bemused as the other man was, and they had every right to be. I just had no idea that fate would take such a ruthless turn all of a sudden, and threaten everything I had built up from scratch.

I also knew I needed all the patience in the world at this moment, but somehow, I couldn't help but get angry at this man.

This man had come in my life as a fucking test, to test all the composure I had left inside me.

And no matter how confident I seemed, I wasn't sure if I was still ready to face it all.

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