week passed. And I could feel Althea growing closer to me.

Now she doesn't protest when I cuddle with her every night, sometimes she is the one who shifts closer to me and rests her head on my chest and pretends to fall asleep immediately not wanting to see my reaction.

I never say anything to her about that because I don't want to embarrass her causing her to go back to her cold self. So, I simply pull her closer and kiss her forehead and we both fall asleep in each other's arms.

But still...she argues with me, tries to defy me at every moment but if that's what it takes to make her talk to me then so be it.

It was Saturday and I watched Althea train in the garden, trying to perfect herself even though she was fucking perfect. She wasn't made the team's captain for nothing. She was an amazing batter, her every shot is a beauty, be it be cover drive, pull shot, straight drive, cut shot or whatever. Her every stroke is perfect.

Uncle had been the captain of the Men's Cricket Team and she grew up watching him and got inspired by him and uncle trained her himself and when a legend trains someone, they ought to be another legend. I can already see her name going in the ICC Hall Of Fame.

The only reason I installed a TV in my office was because of her, because I didn't want to miss any of her matches. And I love watching her being a captain, how everyone looks up to her.

Overall, I fucking admired her. And I was so proud of her that I could kiss the ground she walks on.

I am damn sure she is going to win the World Cup too which was taking place in England soon.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice that the ball suddenly hit her on her jaw over the helmet making her fall down on the ground.

I immediately ran to her and switched off the bowling machine and crouched down next to her and took off her helmet. "Hey, are you okay?"

Cupping her cheeks, I inspected her jaw and thankfully there was no bruise or anything, she just looked rattled.

She nodded. "Yeah..." And chuckled nervously. "I got distracted."

I frowned. "You can't afford to get distracted, baby. What if something happened to you?"

"I know...I just..." And then she blushed and broke the eye contact with me.

That made my frown deeper. "What were you thinking about?"

She gently shoved at my chest and got up. "You don't need to know everything, idiot."

I got up too and followed her inside. "Were you thinking about me, baby?" I teased her.

"Fuck off, Calix. You are too full of yourself."

"I can make you full though." I flirted as she was about to climb the stairs.

She paused and threw me a horrified look. "Calix! Shut up!"

I grinned on seeing the way her cheeks reddened and shaking her head, she climbed upstairs and I followed behind her.

She paused once again when she noticed the mannequin standing in the middle of the room with a ball gown over it.

"Calix?" She pointed to the dress in confusion.

"That's for you, baby. We have to attend an event this evening. I hope you liked the dress." I explained to her.

She went forward and ran her fingers over the dress. "I think I have seen this dress somewhere..."

"Yup, Anna wore it for Elsa's coronation in Frozen. It's inspired from that." I told her standing beside the dress.

She raised a brow. "You have seen Frozen?"

"More than ten times." I answered proudly. "It's my favourite movie."

"You don't look like the guy who would watch Frozen."

"Ouch. Why would you say that? It's such an awesome movie."

She chuckled softly. "If you say so. But you could have told me about the event...I would have bought a dress myself...you didn't have to."

"Shut up, there's no way I was going to let you buy a dress. Anyway, be ready by 6:30. And try the dress, if you want to have any alterations in it, let me know." And I kissed the side of her head before moving out of the room.

.

.

.

My arm snaked around Althea's waist, she looked fascinated by the decorations in the banquet hall and kept looking around with a smile on her face.

She was enjoying it thankfully.

All the businessmen and women were present at this charity event and honestly no one cared, they all were just here to develop acquaintance with the other business men or women.

I had already made a hefty donation and I was just here for the sake of media. I don't need to make any new acquaintance, I already knew everyone.

Adrian accompanied us lurking in the shadows, out of everyone's sight. Carsten must be here. He has to. He never misses any events, he just loves these things.

"You are late." That deep and smooth voice could only belong to one person and that was my best friend.

Althea turned around before I could, facing Lucian who as usual was without a date. With his hair styled back perfectly and his famous all black suit, he looked ready to take on the world.

"And you are alone as usual." I commented back.

"Says the one who also used to be without a date everytime until you got married." And he turned his attention to Althea and nodded curtly. "Althea."

"Hi, Lucian." She greeted back with a smile.

"You look divine, Althea." And saying that, he lifted her hand upto his mouth and brushed a kiss on her knuckles.

I pulled Althea closer to me and glared at Lucian who was subtly smirking at me. "Fuck off, Lucian."

She frowned at me before saying to Lucian, "Thank you."

"How are the preparations going for the World Cup?" He proceeded to ask.

"They are going okay...this is my first World Cup as a captain, so, yeah I am nervous."

"I'm sure you will be wonderful as ever."

"That's enough." I interrupted. "Stop flirting with my wife, Lucian."

"Flirting? I am merely asking her some questions as a huge fan of cricket. It's not everyday you get to meet your captain, do you?"

It's not his first time meeting Althea. He has met her on my birthdays and other events but this time, he is just riling me up.

I scowled at him. "Like I said, fuck off."

"That's rude." Althea scolded me which only made his smirk widen.

Lucian was about to comment something but something caught his attention or someone as he looked over my shoulder and he smiled coldly at me. "Look who's coming, Calix. Good luck." And he turned around and left.

What the--

"Calix." Someone called me from behind and I recognised that voice immediately.

Fuck me.

Oh God. Not her. Not infront of Althea.

Not having any option, we both turned around to face her. "Meira." I forced a smile to my face.

She looked the same with her long raven hair and slightly darker skin and beautiful brown eyes. My first and the only girlfriend I ever had.

Althea's eyes narrowed at her and she smiled but anyone could tell it was a fake one. "Oh, hi, Meira." Of course she knew her too, I took her to the family dinner once and it was the most awkward dinner of my life.

When Althea begged me to leave her alone and get myself a girlfriend at the age of twenty one, I finally considered having one hoping that my obsession with Althea would fade away.

Meira was my classmate and once when we were in school, Meira had admitted having a crush on me and asked me out on a date. Which I refused politely for obvious reasons.

Years later, I happened to run into her and after a chat, I asked her out for coffee.

She was happy and said yes immediately but weeks later, it became evident that we weren't meant to be together. And our breakup might not have been a very mutual one...I was the one who ended it and I guess she is still kinda bitter about it.

"Oh, Althea." For the first time, her eyes shifted to her and she seemed to look suprised. "I heard about you two getting married, congratulations."

I have never heard such a fake congratulations in my life.

"Thank you." I answered.

An awkward silence descended upon us and I kept glancing between Althea and Meira and Althea's eyes sparked with jealousy.

"What are you doing here, Meira?" Althea asked her, pressing herself closer to me.

"Oh, I started my own fashion company recently. I am a businesswoman now too."

"Right, congratulations."

"Yeah... congratulations..." I added to Althea's sentence.

"Why did you keep your relationship such a secret?" Meira all of a sudden asked and my fake smile faded away. "I was quite surprised when you got married considering how you both used to argue all the time."

She had no right to question that. And I was about to answer her back but Althea beat me to it, "And I was surprised when your relationship lasted even for two months considering how you both had no chemistry." And she gave her a tight smile.

I tilted my head towards Althea, my mouth parting in surprise and shock. Damn. That was fucking smooth.

Meira's face turned red and she shot Althea a glare before turning around and leaving us alone.

"Why did you even date her? I could have introduced you to someone better." She muttered to her, annoyance visible in her tone.

The amount of jealousy in her tone fucking turned me on. She was jealous over me, she claims to not like me yet she was jealous.

Before I could reply to her, my gaze clashed with someone across the room. Nah. No fucking way. And that said someone excused himself and started to make his way to us. Nope. I am definitely not in a mood to deal with him.

And I am sure I am going to punch this fucker tonight but there were too many cameras around. One wrong move and it's over.

"Is that..." Althea trailed off.

I nodded. "Carsten King? Yes."

His electric blue eyes seemed to burn my soul as he maintained the eye contact while walking to us and he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, sweeping it back. He was an year older than me and we never got along. Never.

With his handsome looks, he was a fucking playboy in school as well as now. And the man who tried to kill me according to that boy.

"Carsten." I acknowledged him as he paused infront of me.

And he smiled like we were old friends but it was an act because of all the cameras that were around. "Calix! How are you?"

I tried not to grit my teeth. "Fine."

His eyes shifted to Althea and I felt the need to hide her from his predatory gaze as he eyed her from head to toe. This fucker is begging for me to kill him.

"My, my...your wife is quite a beauty. You finally married her, congratulations!" He remarked.

I finally dropped the act and gave him a blank look. "What do you want, Carsten?"

"What? Can't I meet an old friend?"

"No." I said flatly. "And you already met me, now fucking leave."

"Whoah, calm down, Calix. You don't want to create a drama here, do you?"

"If you keeping eyeing my wife like that then I won't hesitate gauging your eyes out. So, I suggest you leave." I threatened in a low, cold voice. We always had a cold war, we never threatened each other so openly, it was always subtle. But not today.

His eyes slightly widened before he masked his shock and gave me a small smile. I gave him a deadly glare and he finally took the cue to leave not wanting to cause any drama which might ruin his reputation.

I sighed and glanced down at Althea who was listening to us curiously and fortunately, she didn't say anything or else that fucker might have started a whole conversation with her. He just don't know how to shut his mouth.

I felt relieved when we reached home later that night and just as we stepped inside, Althea took off her heels and sighed. "It was an exciting night though. We had a lovely reunion with your ex girlfriend." She rolled her eyes.

And I remembered how savagely she pissed her off.

I leaned closer to her and trailed my knuckles down the side of her face and very gently sweeped my thumb over her lower lip.

And my control snapped. "Your jealousy is fucking adorable, baby." And I didn't think twice, I was too high on emotions to consider anything as I pressed my lips firmly to hers.