Before Benji could say anything else, Reuben looked at them with an awkward smile.

"Um… It was nice to meet you." He shook Benji's hand and then turned towards Lina.

"I have to go. I'll see you later." Without waiting for her reply, he walked away in a haste.

"Wait! What's the hurry?" She called out to him but he did not turn back.

'What was that all about?' Lina glanced at Benji who shook his head because he too did not know why Reuben had reacted that way.

"Forget about him. You still haven't told me what this fake boyfriend-girlfriend stuff is all about." Benji raised his brows at Lina.

"Benji… Uh.." She looked around to try and stall for time until she could find a valid explanation.

"Ah yes! We've been standing here for so long that my legs hurt. Let's go upstairs!" She complained and shook her legs.

Benji knew that she was just lying to divert his attention so he played along and led her towards the main door.

He had arrived in the country on the night of the auction, hence he couldn't come to help her out. He was supposed to be here last week but some things had delayed his coming.

This was the new place that he had rented because it was so close to Obsidia's building.

When the elevator reached the 8th floor, Benji led her to his door.

As they entered, Lina glanced around the house and was impressed with its layout.

"Tell me again why did you rent this place? Why can't you just stay with your brother?" She questioned him as she jumped on the couch.

Benji's brother had his own place in the city but he did not want to stay with him at all costs.

When he was told about this apartment building, he hurriedly booked a flat in it.

He was just returning from the manager's building after submitting his documents when he had met Lina downstairs.

"You want me to stay with that weirdo? No way!" He scowled at her and handed her a can of soda.

"I spoke to your mom. She asked me to remind you to eat your meals on time and brush your teeth before you go to bed." He chuckled when he thought of her mother's long list of reminders that she had sent through him.

Lina glared at him and shoved a pillow in his face.

"Did you get my stuff?" She asked in excitement and squealed when she saw him nod in response.

He showed her to his room and she ran to the suitcases placed on the floor.

Opening the bags, she found all kinds of candy in one and the other had a bag full of clothes. Her mother had packed the other half of her wardrobe and sent it through him.

When Benji had informed her that he had settled into his new place, Lina decided to have an inauguration sleepover with him.

She had already informed her uncles about it so that they might not get worried about her. With Benji by her side, obviously, no one would even think of messing with her.

They changed into comfy clothes and sat before the huge TV to watch a movie.

Benji made some popcorn and turned the movie on.

But before they could immerse in the fantasy of the horror movie, the doorbell rang twice.

Lina hopped up and opened the door, only to find Reuben standing outside.

Lina tilted her head and looked at him in confusion.

"Hi" He waved his arm at her and pointed his finger to the wine bottle in his hand.

"A welcome gift for moving into the apartment." He smiled at Benji and walked in.

---

When Reuben reached his penthouse, he took a moment to calm himself down.

'It wasn't Lina's fault that we were that close, now she must be thinking that I am someone who runs away all the time.' He went to change his clothes.

Wearing a black and grey T-shirt and tracks, he sat on his couch and thought about some things.

'That happened so long ago but why can't I just forget about it?' He clenched his jaw when a memory flashed in his mind.

"I need to apologize for my flaky behavior!" He stood up but then sat back down.

"I don't know where they are! Or even if Benji stays in this apartment or not!" He cursed himself for not getting more information from them.

After a few seconds, his eyes brightened and he dialed a number.

"This is me. Find out if someone had recently rented or bought an apartment in this building." He hung up after giving his instructions.

Within two minutes, his phone rang and he received two messages.

It was the information of two new tenants, one a forty year old woman and the other was Benji's.

"8th floor." He saw the other details about this man and then walked to the door.

"But what reason should I use for dropping in uninvited?" He glanced around and smirked when he found something that could be useful.

---

Lina followed after Reuben who entered as if he owned the place. He strode inside and handed the wine bottle over to Benji.

"What are you doing here?" Benji raised his brows at him.

'No one gets away with using that tone while talking to me but because he is Lina's friend I can let him go.' Reuben did not get angry at his behavior.

But Benji had noticed the fierce glint that had just passed through his eyes.

'Who exactly is this man?' He wondered and looked at Lina who was busy opening the bottle of wine.

"I was wondering what had happened when you suddenly ran away. It was to get him a welcome present, right? That's so sweet of you!" She handed the men a glass of wine each before she poured one for herself.

Though that most definitely wasn't the reason that he fled away, he could just nod to not get asked any other questions.

"Wanna hang out?" Lina offered cheerfully.

'This girl just makes friends with anyone with a beautiful face!' Benji rolled his eyes and led Reuben to his couch.

"You like horror movies?" He asked Reuben and pointed to the screen which showed a cemetery scene.

Reuben's eyes widened but he quickly controlled his facial expressions.

"I don't have a problem." He shrugged.

Just when Lina was about to press the play button, he spoke up again.

"But I thought you would want to talk about the fake boyfriend matter." He smirked.

'Anything is better than watching this nightmare.' He turned to Lina when he heard her choking on the wine.

Her expressions showed that she was extremely pissed off.

'I just managed to divert Benji's mind off that topic and this guy brought it right back!' She glowered but it had no effect on either of them because they were busy staring at each other without blinking.

Despite Lina's signals to shut up, Reuben narrated the story of what had happened.

"So to save myself from another woman, I blackmailed her to pretend to be my girlfriend." He took a deep breath after he was done.

Lina too had the exact same reaction after hearing his story because he had not mentioned a single word about what had happened inside that hotel room.

Reuben and Lina shared a glance at each other and smiled.

'I've got your back, kitten!' He playfully winked at her.

'You would have gotten another kick if you had revealed everything to Benji.' She gave him the exact sweet yet vicious smile that he was famous for.

Reuben chuckled and pulled at her soft cheeks when he saw her adorable glare.

'Just like a kitten trying to scratch someone with its tiny claws.' He only felt amused when he saw her angry face.

Lina swatted his hands away and pouted while rubbing her red cheeks.

"But what exactly did you use to blackmail her?" Benji was fed up with their secret eye signs.

'If I wanted to be fed with dog food I wouldn't take an apartment to myself!' He glowered at them.

The sweet moment that they were enjoying was destroyed when they heard his question.

"Sorry. Can't answer that." Reuben straightaway rejected.

This made Benji misunderstand that he was blackmailing Lina with something serious.

"He somehow found out that I am LY." Lina answered to stop whatever thoughts were inside his head.

'So he knows? He is her assistant, of course, he'll know.' Reuben shook his head when he realized this fact.

"How? We never let anyone know and we are so careful about it." Benji narrowed his eyes at him and tried to find any traces of guilt or malice from him but failed.

"Yes. Now that you've reminded me about it, how exactly did you come to know about my secret?" She turned from Benji to Reuben and asked with her brows raised.

'Dammit! I promised that I'll reveal how I discovered her secret if we met again but I never thought that it would happen this soon.' He conceded defeat.

Searching something through his phone, he pulled up an image and showed it to them.

"This is how I found out that you are LY." He nonchalantly declared.

The image on the screen was the gaming center design that she had made for Wayne and Wade's friend who always bullies them.

"But how did you know that I designed them?" She was still confused about how a building layout could connect to her jewelry.

"Look at the watermark, genius!" Benji pointed to the watermark signature 'LY' that was at the bottom right of the screen.

When she had made this sketch she had used her usual laptop and every design she created would have that watermark to prove that it was LY's original design.

"At first, I only remembered the sketch I saw on the flight that day. I hadn't really connected you to Obsidia's LY. But when I saw the same tulip jewelry in the auction, I finally realized that you and the designer LY were the same person." He explained how he had come to that conclusion.

Lina and Benji nodded and said nothing else.

'So he's the one who bullies my brothers?' She gave him a nasty look and scoffed.

With this new information, her good impression of him fell a little lower.

Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, his phone that was in Lina's hand rang.

*Mother*

Seeing the caller ID, she hurriedly passed it back to him.