❁ We fall in love with people's flaws. The perfect person would be impossible to love. ❁

Unbuttoning my shirt, I rest my head on the headboard of my bed. It was a long day, not physically but mentally. First, the happiness of signing the contract paper.

Then, the nostalgia and pain in the conversation with Andrew which later followed by anger. And then finally, shocker of the day!

I think I need a break. Otherwise I'll get insane. What was I even expecting? Of course she has a boyfriend! It's been two and a half years.

I kinda already knew it but why did it come like a shocker to me? How stupid of me to bring sandwiches for her! She must be laughing at me for being so kind!

And that man, he looked like in his late 20s. What did she find attractive in him? Oh yeah, she's got a thing for tall men. Would've been so easy to replace me.

She even gave him a nickname. Mr. Lemonade. She never gave me a nickname.

I leave my bed to step into my workout room where my eyes just search for a punching bag to vent out all the wrath that is burning inside of me. Without having the patience to wear gloves, I start punching.

A sensation of sweat drops rolling down my bare chest encourage me to punch with more enthusiasm. The picture of that man keeps flashing inside my head.

Bloody Mr. Lemonade.

What kinda relationship they're in? How much time do they spend together? Do they do the things couples do? Has he kissed her? Do they sleep together on the same bed? Every night?

I punch and punch, with all the strength in my muscles as though it's that bastard's face. He thinks he can replace me! Only if he could, bastard.

If I see him around her ever again, I swear I'm gonna tear his throat out.

I still have some more fury to vent. However, I stop when I see blood on the prey of my anger. My knuckles are bleeding.

Punching is a bad idea when your hand is already injured. It didn't hurt this much on the night I broke the mirror. But it's actually killing me now.

I rush to find my first aid kit, and wrap a bunch of bandage, as best as I could when my hands are trembling. An alerting sound reaches my ear and I look behind, at my Ipad, which is the source of it.

It says something's wrong at the main gate of my house. My heart skips a beat and I open the front door security camera's live footage.

Noriana! At this time? With a baseball bat!?

Pulling a coat from the cupboard, I drape it around my bare chest and dash through the staircase to stumble upon my main gate, but I proudly handle myself.

“ Hans, tell this security guard that you know me, and ask him to let me in. ” she barks with her wide eyes gaze pinned on me, making me terrified enough that all I can think to do is to nod my head and follow what she says.

“ Yeah, I know her, let her in. ” I tell the gaurd, who immediately apologizes her. “ Sorry Madam, you can go in, but you have to leave this bat here for security purpose. ”

Bad move mate.

“ You bloody hell! I will gladly leave it here after knocking your and your boss's head off with it. ” she tightens her grip on the baseball bat and the other guards pull out their guns.

What's the matter with her?

“ Noriana love, calm down. Leave the bat here and come on in. We'll talk. ” she squints her eyes at me making me more nervous. However, later she reluctantly hands over the bat to the guard.

Observing her condition, it's better to handle things patiently. I've never seen her this mad before. Did I do something? Bloody hell, I do a lot of things, which one is she mad about?

Taking her inside the house, I ask her to sit, which is again a bad move!

“ What did you do with Josie? ” she questions aloud while grabbing my coat's collar with both her hands. Pulling me close, she stares directly into my eyes.

Wait, going through all of my deeds, I did nothing with her friend Josie Taylor. “ What do you mean? ”

“ Don't answer my question with another question! Where is she?”

“ I don't know. ”

She doesn't hear anything, just keeps on blabbing things, “ What did you do to her? Didn't I agree to your bullshit with Seth? Didn't I go on a date with him, when you asked me to? ”, her wide eyes slowly fills with tears while her voice becomes soften.

Why am I feeling guilty? I didn't do anything!

“ Calm down Love. Tell me what happened. ” I say in a patient tone holding both her hands. She loosens her grip over my collar as she closes her eyes, letting the tears roll over her cheeks and drop on my half bare chest.

She's not a person to cry that easily.

“ She hasn't come home. It's been 12 hours, her phone is powered off. No one has any idea where is she. ” she mumbles as more tears ooze out of her eyes. Her pale skin becomes a darker shade of red because of crying.

I just stare at her innocent face as I fall short of words. “ I will do everything that you say, please don't do anything to her. She has nothing to do with the decisions I took back in Manchester. I- I beg you. ” she sobs while looking at me with the most heart wrecking look.

Hey, don't cry!

I cup her face while wiping her tears with my thumbs, to which she closes her eyes, “ Hey listen, look at me. ” I order more like plead and she looks up at me with her brown eyes. “ I swear I did nothing with your friend and I have no idea where is she. ”

“ But I will help you find her okay. Just don't cry. ” I tell as I wrap my arms around her, which is the first thing that comes to my head. I'm not good with handling such situations. To my surprise she hugs me back more tightly like she wants to cry her heart out.

She pulls back with a sudden flinch as she realises she's hugging the monster of her story. Her body still shivering. “ Give me her phone number. ” I ask and she replies in a snap, “ Seriously? I've called her a million times, her cell is constantly powered off. ”

Silly Nerd!

“ I don't think it's a situation for sarcasm so just give me her number before I throw off a sarcastic comment. ” I say calmly while she looks at me with so much focus. Defeated, gives me Josie's number.

In search of my phone, I reach my bedroom upstairs where my gaze immediately catches my phone which is lying on the bed. Grabbing it, I dial Brandon Wesley's number. He manages our company's software and security systems.

He can easily track someone's location through the SIM card, even if the phone is powered off.

After ending the call with Brandon, I look around to find Noriana towering beside me with wonder waiting eyes stuck on my face, “ He'll update us shortly.

“ So what are we gonna do now? ”

“ Wanna do Salsa? ”, being annoyed with her constant silly questions, I roll my eyes, to which she winces at me, “ Have you gone nuts? ”

“ Not sure about myself, but you surely have. We're supposed to wait until he calls. ” Moving to the other side of the bed where the first aid kit was, I grab a new pack of bandage and again try to dress my wounds, because I ruined the last one.

“ What were you even doing? ” she raises her brow as she walks across the distance and again stands beside me.

Pretending my punching bag as your boyfriend.

“ Hey, you're doing it the wrong way! ” she exclaims as I wrap the bandage around my knuckles. No wonder she has OCD.

“ No! Don't you dare touch me! ”

“ I wasn't even going to! ” she shrugs making me want to face palm myself. But that's rude, can't she see I'm having trouble here, with this stupid bandage when both my knuckles are wounded.

“ Not that I really care, but you sure you don't need my help? ” she says as she sits down on my bed with a peculiar expression on her face.

Should I say yes?

“ No, I don't. ”

“ You sure? ”

“ Yes. ”

“ You sure sure? ”

Rolling my eyes, I give up. I pass her the first kit and she firstly takes the ointment, which I totally forgot to put. Blood just drives me crazy.

She holds my hand in her fragile ones, and softly applies the ointment. Honestly speaking, inspite of my hurting knuckles I can still manage to grin, only because of the expressions she's making.

No one can detect a particular feeling behind them. She slightly contracts her eyebrows above her nose line, maybe because of the fear to hurt me. She crunches her nose in disgust when she sees her finger which has some ointment on it.

And now it's more harder to hide my grin as she sticks her tongue out while wrapping the bandage around my palm. Like she's painting some Picasso level painting and my hand is her canvas.

“ What's so funny? ” she questions and I realize she has done my hands' dressing while I'm still smiling. “ Nothing, I was just thinking, you're actually good at this. ”

“ Quite obvious, my friend is a doctor. And... Shit! My friend! Josie! Where is she? ” she stands straight with a flinch and I look at my phone. Brandon has already texted Josie's current location two minutes ago.

“ Found her location, let me call my driver. ” I tell while grabbing a random shirt and sweater to wear beneath my coat. Chicago's winter can actually be challenging for a pure Brit too.

“ Where is she? And you're gonna wait for your driver? Just get the keys, lift your arse straight to your car! ” she orders in her original English accent, and I stare at her for a second before following her.

Is she the same person who was making weird faces a moment ago?

❤❤❤

Bonjour, sweet homosapiens. ٩( ᐛ )و

❁ How's life? Mine is exhausting.

❁ Are you trying some new hobbies? I'm trying to learn guitar. And my pinky finger still hurts.

The amount of trust you don't need in yourself. I made dinner the other day. And I didn't even taste it and went to bed with empty tummy, because I trust my ability to cook the worst food on earth.

By the way, it didn't even look good. ╥﹏╥