His strikingly deep dark eyes opened slowly as the hot water dripped down his chiseled face.

He gave me an annoyed look.

"What?" I asked innocently.

He closed his eyes again, but I wanted to provoke him. I wanted to get a reaction out of him.

I splashed him again.

He ignored it.

"Do something! You're like a robot."

"If I were a robot I wouldn't be able to go into the water."

"English lesson: that was figurative speech. It's called a simile. That's where–"

I was hit with a huge amount of hot water, going into my mouth and eyes.

"Now I know how to shut you up."

I had a coughing fit trying to get all the water stuck in the wrong pipe out. Mr Robot just sat back watching smugly.

When I was finally able to breathe again, I said, "I knew you were bringing me out here to kill me."

"Too bad I wasn't successful."

"Meanie." I instantly regretted saying that because it made me sound like a three-year-old.

"What are you, five?" he echoed my thoughts.

"Three," I corrected him and he looked at me, confused.

"Why would you feel the need to correct me for a two-year difference which is based solely on opinion?"

"I am very precise if you hadn't noticed."

"I hadn't. Based off what I've seen, I would have guessed the opposite."

"See? How could I not call you a meanie when you have an attitude like that?"

"Stop talking, Talia."

"Don't tell me what to–"

"Please. Just stop talking."

"I've never heard you be polite before. That's progress. Maybe you're not a robot after all."

"We already established that I'm not a robot."

"Did we though? Because robots can be waterproof, but they can never really have feelings."

"Being polite isn't a feeling."

"You're missing the point."

"No, you are. The point was that you were considering I wasn't a robot because I was being polite and because robots don't have feelings yo–"

"Okay fine shut up I was wrong and you were right as usual."

"It's nice to hear you finally admit it." He smirked.

"I thought you wanted peace and quiet? We can do that now."

He laughed and closed his eyes again. He was so still that I was sure he had fallen asleep, although he was too still to be asleep.

Maybe that's just how robots slept. He was on his "off" mode.

I sat back against the surprisingly smooth surface of the natural spring, letting the warmth of the water envelop me. It was so calming and relaxing, I couldn't help but feel... happy? That was something I hadn't experienced in a while.

I glanced over at my 'husband', sitting there motionless but still looking like a Greek God. I wonder what this whole marriage thing is like for him.

He wasn't happy about it, that was for sure, but was there any way we would ever come to be okay with it? To be able to live harmoniously without the constant bickering and ignoring each other (mostly on his part)? Would we ever live to be friends?

The best-case scenario was that we would learn to tolerate each other. The worst-case scenario... well, I couldn't think of a much worse scenario than what we had started off with. Although I will admit that it did get better with time, there wasn't nearly enough progress for me to feel hopeful about any future together. I mean, we only started talking to each other three months after our marriage. I hadn't even seen him for most of that time, and the interest he showed in potentially getting to know me was minimum to none.

But sometimes he was nice and sometimes he was fun. Sure, he was mostly an asshole, but it was kind of in a funny way. Or I didn't mind it too much. It's not like I could see us ever just hanging out and going shopping and going to dinner where it wasn't super awkward and forced, but living in the same house and being like roommates wouldn't be too bad.

Then there was the fact that our parents expected us to fall in love and stay like this forever. That seemed impossible. There was no way I would ever develop feelings with someone like this, and on top of that I wasn't even close to being over Jason. In fact, I didn't think I ever would be over him. So on that basis alone, nothing romantic would ever develop. Not to mention that Tobias had shown no signs of any sort of attraction to me, so it's not like me not being into him was the only problem. He was equally un-into me.

I closed my eyes and decided to go to sleep; the water was too relaxing for complex thinking.

As I was about to doze off, I heard his voice.

"Talia?"

Should I ignore him as he would do to me? Or should I be the better person and answer?

I went with ignoring him.

"Talia?" he repeated. "Are you asleep?"

Of course I was asleep. What did it look like you idiot?

"Wake up."

Was he kidding me?

I felt a slight shake. "Talia."

Is this man serious? Why the hell was he waking me up? Not that I was actually asleep or anything but he didn't know that.

He shook me a little harder and I lost patience.

"Gosh, what do you want?"

"Were you asleep?"

"Why the hell does that matter?"

"It's not safe to fall asleep in water."

"What?"

"It's not safe. You could drown."

"As if you wouldn't throw a party if I did."

"Regardless, I don't want to be held responsible for your death so don't fall asleep."

"You were asleep."

"No I wasn't."

"Yeah you were. There's no way you could just sit that still and unmoving."

"There is a way because I was doing it."

I shook my head. "I bet you were just on your 'off' mode."

"Are you really going back to the robot thing?"

I nodded my head shamelessly.

"I knew I shouldn't have woken you up," he sighed.

"Well you did so now you have to deal with the consequences."

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly, a tone of seriousness in his voice.

"Twenty-two. Why?"

"Because somtimes I am honestly convinced that you are a child."

"If I was a child then you would have married a child which would make you a pedophile."

He frowned, giving me one of his signature looks. Okay, maybe I deserved that one.

"You're just proving my point. No fully developed adult would say something like that."

"Well I did."

I felt Tobias's hand slide my arm and grasp my hand.

My breath caught in my throat. What was going on? Was he holding my hand? Why? Why was he even touching me?

"Let go of my hand."

He lifted our entwined hands out of the water.

"You're pruning up."

I looked at the shriveled parts of my fingertips. Ew.

"Of course I am. We have been in here for half an hour."

"We should get out," he said, making no move to get out.

"Yeah." I nodded, staying where I was as well.

He didn't let go of my hand. So we just sat there hand in hand, not speaking, not looking at each other.

A few minutes later he finally stood up and let go of my hand, putting his... area directly in my line of sight.

I looked away, blushing. Don't turn back, Talia. He's already caught you staring before.

Tobias pushed himself out of the spring and this time I couldn't look away from his back muscles as they contracted and flexed.

Damn him.