"Mel!" I shouted as I saw the sight before me.

There she was, lying in the bathtub with water overflowing. She was completely unconscious and was still wearing her clothes from before. I realized that she was drowning in the bathtub. The bathtub was huge, almost like a jacuzzi, and Amy was short girl so it wasn't impossible.

"Oh no. No, no, no." I yelled as I rushed to switch the tap off. I made sure I wasn't rushing too fast that I would slip. Not for me, but for her sake. I lifted her out of the water and laid her on the bed.

"Fuck. Shit. No, no. Amy? Mel? Wake up. Wake up, Mel, please. Please, wake up." I was continuously tapping on her face to wake her up. I checked her heartbeats which were really faint and her breathing was slow too. Oh god, please not this.

I realized that she might have consumed a lot of water. So, I tried to give her a CPR.

"Mel, please wake up. Mel, can you hear me?" I asked pressing her chest.

Oh no. This isn't working. What should I do? Should I go to the hospital? Yes, hospital. Hospital.

I picked Mel bridal style and rushed to the door. I placed her in the car and fastened her seat belt. I got on the other side and called Dan. I held Mel's hand.

"Wake up, Mel. Wake up. Open your eyes." I kept murmuring as I drove.

"What is it, bro? Have you seen the ti-" Daniel finally picked up after a few attempts.

"Dan, where are you?" I cut him off eagerly.

"What? I am home. What's wrong?" he asked completely alert now.

"Dan, it is Mel. I found her in the bathtub, drowning. I need you to rush to the J.K. City Hospital right now and make sure everything is ready for her when we reach. I am reaching in ten." I said rubbing Mel's hand. "Hang in there, darling." I murmured.

"Drowning?" Daniel yelled.

"I will talk later, Dan. Rush." I yelled back and hanged up.

I called Peter next.

"Boss?" he picked up in one go.

"Peter, go to my home and make sure the girl in there, leaves as soon as she wakes up. Lock the house and keep the keys with you." I instructed as I looked at Mel and then the road and then pressed on the gas.

"Got it, boss." I hanged up.

Please, help me, God. Forget me. Help her, she needs it.

"Stay strong, Mel. We are almost there." I said as a tear rolled down me cheek as my heart clenched looking at her.

We reached the hospital in another five minutes. The nurses were already out near the door with Daniel as helped me to take Mel in as soon as I got out of the car.

The nurse asked me a few questions about her name, age and other things as they took her in.

"Lastly, Mr. Kingston, umm...this may sound weird, but considering the situation, umm.. could it..could it be a chance of an.. an attempt to... to suicide?"

That hit me like a punch in the gut and knocked the breath out of me.

Suicide? Mel tried to commit a suicide? Attempt to suicide?

"You will loose me forever."

"I...I...I do..don't know", I said honestly and gulped. I took a shaky breath.

Suicide?

The nurse nodded and left.

"What is going on, Aaron?" Daniel asked slowly as I sat down. "Drowning? Suicide? Will you explain?"

"You are gonna kill me", I looked at him.

"Why? I don't believe the nurse, if that's what you are worried about. Amy has no reason to do so unless you do something to her. Why would you do anything to Amy that would-" he stopped and looked at me shocked. "Oh no."

I took a shaky breath and gave him a nod confirming his suspicion.

"You idiot! What did you do?"

Do you know that feeling when you sometimes get up in the morning and you feel your whole body slowly coming to life? Slowly, you feel every nerve getting its sense back? You can sense things around you, hear things, feel the air, but your body is too weak to react. That is exactly what I feel right now.

I felt every nerve of my body coming back to life. I can hear the beeping noise. I can feel the cold. But, I am too weak to open my eyes or move a hand or tell someone to raise the temperature. I can feel that my throat is dry and I need water. My head is aching and I am unable to think at all.

I tried to recall what happened to me but it only made my headache worse. I just felt like going back to sleep. But, that also didn't have as I felt like I just got up after having been asleep for ages.

Wake up Sleeping Beauty.

I took a breath and pushed my heavy eyelids open after a while. I stared at the white ceiling and frowned. How is it white? I remember my bedroom ceiling being grey. I closed my eyes again. Everything was too hazy and when I reopened them I could see someone looking at me from above. But, the face was still hazy. The figure did look familiar.

I shook my head and blinked. It became clear as I saw Aaron above me calling for the nurse. I tried to push myself up to a sitting position and Aaron helped me up. Just by looking at his face, it all came back and hit me like a truck. Anger rushed to my head and I gritted my teeth.

My throat felt drier and I reached out for water.

"Let me get that." He filled a glass and offered to me but I avoided him and continued to try and reach out to the jug.

"Stop and just drink it, Mel." I froze with shock realizing what he called me. Mel. He hasn't used that since we got married. He use to call me Mel lovingly when we started dating. He said that Amy was what my friends call me and he wanted to give me a different nickname that only he would use. He called me Mel so often that I had thought he had forgotten the names Amy and Amelia until he started calling me by those names again.

I was too shocked to react and so I just took the glass and gulped down the water in one go.

"Slowly." Aaron placed a hand on my shoulder before I shrugged him off.

"How did I get here?" I asked slowly looking at the wall in front of me.

"I found you in the bath...bathtub", he gulped looking at the ground.

"What were you doing lurking around my room? Making sure that I was crying alright?" I asked glaring at him.

"Mel, I-"

" Hello dear, good morning. How are you feeling?" the nurse cut him off as she walked in.

"Not dead." I replied blandly. Well, I was dead inside but yeah okay.

"Uh..umm...okay", she said nervously as she checked on me.

After she was done, she continued, "Mrs. Kingston, everything is okay and you are lucky your husband got you here just in time. The doctor will write some medicines that you have to take to help you recover better. We want to run some tests before you can go home. The doctor wants to ask you some questions in the meantime. Nothing serious okay. Just relax, okay", she gave me a reassuring smile.

"Amy, how are you? You gave us quite a scare", Daniel walked in as the nurse left.

He is here? Maybe Aaron called him. But, he doesn't know. Uh never mind, Aaron must have covered it up.

"Fine." I tried to pretend nonchalantly.

"Umm...we didn't tell mom and dad about this though. Too many questions to answer", Daniel said and I nodded.

"No worries, I am feeling okay anyways." I gave him a small smile.

"Don't scare us like that again, okay sister?", he ruffled my hair and I lightly chuckled.

The doctor walked in just then and suddenly the environment got tensed. Or maybe it was just me. Aaron suddenly got up on seeing the doctor. "I...I will look into the discharge formalities, in meantime", he said as he excused himself.

"It is already done, Aaron", Daniel gave him a look that I couldn't understand.

"I will make sure then", Aaron gritted an left.

What a selfish man he is! He doesn't even wanna stay to hear what the doctor has to say?

He. Doesn't. Care. Amy. Get that in your head. Stop expecting him to do anything.

But, why did he call me Mel and is acting nice since I woke up?

Are you insane? Daniel is here. Of course, he will act good.

"Hey, Mrs. Kingston, I am Dr. Jensen. I will just ask you a few questions okay?" the doctor was a young man. He started asking a few questions about how I was feeling. He started asking things like if I have anything to share that I am scared or depressed about. Well, my husband hates me, but I can't tell you that, can I?

"How did you land up in the bathtub, Mrs. Kingston? Anything stressful happened?" he asked. I pursed my lips as I recalled everything from last night.

"I...I...I went into the bathroom for a bath and I suddenly felt..felt dizzy. I think I...I fell..fell in the tub and...and hit my head." I answered avoiding his gaze.

"Okay, that's it, right? Nothing else that's wrong?" I shook my head in no. Well, a lot of things are wrong actually but I can't tell him that.

The doctor left saying that I was good to go and just prescribed some medicines that Daniel took care of.

"The doctor wanted to ask you questions as they suspect that you tried to commit suicide. They just wanted to make sure. You wanna talk about anything?", Daniel said as soon as the door shut.

Oh my god. Daniel isn't supposed to know anything. What do I tell him now?

"Daniel, actually-" I started but he cut me off.

"I know, Amy. Aaron told me everything last night. You don't have to pretend in front of me anymore."

I was shocked. Aaron told him everything? He told me not to tell anyone.

"My brother is an idiot, Amy. I have never had any serious differences with him so far. But, this time...this time I am not with him. I have warned him that if this happens again I will tell mom and dad. You can be rest assured, Amy. I got your back", he said seriously.

Is that why Aaron was suddenly acting all caring when I woke up? Because Daniel has warned him? What an asshole!

I gave him a small smile. I wanted to ask if he knew the reason behind all this but I knew Daniel better than that. He will never cross that line.

Soon, the discharge process was done and Aaron and I settled in my car to return home. Daniel had gone back to his apartment so we were alone right now. Aaron was constantly avoiding my gaze. Good for him. At least, he is ashamed of what he has done.

"Daniel, told me that you told the doctor that you slipped in the bathroom", Aaron broke the silence as we drove.

"Yes."

He is only trying to act nice because Daniel has warned him. He doesn't care.

"Mel, I am-" I cut him off before he could complete that sentence.

"You are nothing more than a cheater. The love I had for you died the first time you cheated on me. I was never gonna forgive you for cheating on me anyways, but last night.... last night was trauma. I hate you for it and will hate you until my last breath. I hate you more than anyone in this world. Congratulations, Mr. Kingston. You have finally managed to shatter me completely." I looked outside the window not wanting to hear anything that he has to say. No, there was no tear in my eyes. Not a single drop. I am done crying for him. If he doesn't care, I don't care either.

After that none of us spoke a word. I was happy because I do not have the strength to argue or take anymore of his fake concerns. He can go and die in hell.

About fifteen minutes later, we reached the penthouse. I unbuckled my seatbelt and was about to open the door.

"Wait." Aaron got off and came to my side and opened the door.

"Careful." He held my hand as I got off the car and took slow steps to the door. He opened the door with his keys. I took a step in the house and all the memories from last night came back again. Jasmine Trent.

"She is gone." Aaron answered the unasked question.

"Don't care." I said coldly.

He helped me to settle in my room. "I will get something to eat. You are supposed to take your medicines", he said as I sat on my bed.

"Sorry, your maid isn't well", I said sarcastically.

He didn't say a word in reply and just left. He returned after sometime with waffles. I glared at him. What is he trying to prove? That he knows me well? I already know that he knows everything about me. I told him all of that.

"I don't want to eat this."

"Stop being difficult, Mel. Waffles are your favorite. Eat it and take your medicines. Doctor has said you are supposed to rest well. At least for a week." There. He has finally dropped his act of being ashamed and is back to his normal rude self.

"What if you added poison in it?"

"You honestly believe that?" he asked looking at me with a straight face and I shrugged.

"Eat it, Mel and take the medicines. I have a few calls to make to Peter. I will do so in the meantime. Daniel will send Martha from his apartment soon."

"Martha? You hate having maids around. They gossip too much, remember?" I asked reminding him of his words.

"Yeah, but you need someone to take care of you. I can not miss office for a week. I have to go during the daytime", he explained.

"Why would you miss office for me? Besides, I can take care of me."

He looked at me and then shook his head, "Martha will be here in one hour. Eat the food before it gets cold." He left to make those calls.

"Uh.." I groaned.

I still hate you. You will just act all caring for sometime and then go back to your whole revenge plan. This is all because of Daniel. But, why does he have to call me Mel? Why ruin such a beautiful memory?

Aaron has finally got me to be his girlfriend after months of begging. How he got me to go out on the first date is a different story for another time. But, here we are. Officially boyfriend and girlfriend. It has been almost three months since we started dating and six months since he became my friend. Aaron is supposed to meet me today at a coffee shop near his office. I have been waiting for about thirty minutes now. He is not always punctual, but he is never this late. I have already texted him thrice.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sweetheart. I got caught up in work." Aaron said as he approached me.

"Aaron..."

"Sorry, sweetheart."

"Why are you working on a Saturday anyways? How many times do I have to tell you don't call me sweetheart?" I asked as we went into the café.

"A big project. Too much work. I had to overlook it. What's wrong with sweetheart?" he asked as we sat at a table near the window.

"Hmm, so you are over working and pushing your poor employees to overwork with you too. Sweetheart is just so cheesy." I said as I opened the menu.

"Don't worry, I have already asked them to take a leave on Monday instead. So, what do I call you if not sweetheart? How about shortcake?"

"So you are not one of those 'If I pay you salary, you are my slave.' bosses. You have traces of humanity in you. No, not shortcake. I am not even that short."

The waiter came just then. "What can I get for a cute couple like you?"

"Two caramel lattes and one chocolate waffle." Aaron answered her as she left.

"How did you know I want caramel latte and chocolate waffle?" I asked surprised.

"You always order caramel latte and you love waffles. I don't even know why you open the menu." he scoffed. The waiter smiled and left.

"How do you know me so well?" I pouted.

"Well, I told you. I am very observant. And about being short, yes you are."

"I can't even guess what you are thinking. No I am not short, so try another name. Why do you need a name anyways? You can just call me Amy."

The waiter came back with our orders.

"Well, you not being able to guess my thoughts works in my benefit. So, no complains there. And Amy is what your friends call you. I want to call you something that is unique. Just for your boyfriend to use."

"You need to give me a new nickname then. Sweetheart, shortcake, darling are not unique."

"You said no to Lia, so let me think another nickname then." I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

"How about Caramel? You love caramel latte." Aaron laughed.

"Eww. No, that is so...so...sugary" I laughed too.

"Well, from Amelia, Amy and Lia both are not possible. So basically, nothing out of your name is left." he said with a chuckle making me giggle.

"Amelia. Amy...Lia. A..mel..ia. Caramel. Cara...mel. Mel! Yes, I will call you Mel!" he exclaimed.

"What? Why?"

"See, Amy and Lia are off the list, but the middle part of your name is not taken. Mel is unique and you love caramel latte. So, Mel it is."

"That's such an illogical statement, Aaron"

"Yeah, but the outcome is great. From now on, I will call you Mel. That's final, Mel."

"From now on, I will call you Aaron. That's final, Aaron." I said making us both laugh.

Present

I smiled at the memory. We were always like this. Talking about two completely different topics simultaneously, teasing each other with our wits and making each other laugh with our stupid PJs. This was our kind of romance. Funny, sweet, teasing and smart. It was not like the passion wasn't there. It was after our first kiss months later. I am the one to blame for that of course. I didn't want to rush it and Aaron was understanding.

But, now thinking about all of it and realizing how it was fake made me sad again. Now, I just thought I was so stupid to fall for all his charms. I was just like one of those stupid girls in those romcoms who fall for the wrong guy. It is a movie so they get their happy endings, but this is real life so I will never get one. I rubbed my arms as I looked at the plate with the waffle and medicines on my bedside table with narrowed eyes.

If Aaron thinks he can fool me again, he's got another thing coming. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. I will find a way out of this. If not, I will make him leave me by his own free will. I will not use his weaknesses against him unlike him. I will make him weak enough to comply.

Aaron Kingston, the game is on.