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Mateo stormed into his hospital room, his mask of indifference he had put on in front of Dr. Johnson and the people in the corridor, coming off.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Adam got up from the couch where he was seated with his laptop on his lap. "Did something happen?"

"Leave me be!" He thundered, glaring at his best friend.

Adam wanted to know what was going on but he decided this was not the right time. He knew his best friend – he was going to tell him everything eventually. But now he needed space and Adam was going to give him that.

Adam looked walked out the door with his laptop in his hand. He directed the bodyguards to ignore it if they heard the sound of something being smashed or broken.

Mateo stood there staring at a wall. She had kids. She was single but she had kids.

As much as he wanted her in his life, he knew he could not be so selfish. In the mafia, it was either marriage or blood relation. If he were to start a life with River, her kids would always be in danger. Unless River herself became a made woman of the mafia, and he knew that wasn't happening. The woman loved her job too much.

She had to let her go.

But how could he?

He had never felt the way he felt for her.

How was he going to bring himself to let her go?

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River spent her afternoon with her kids as planned. She helped her mother with the packing for the camping trip, and she was very surprised when she heard that one Mr. Peter Wilson was joining them. She didn't know her mother was seeing someone. Though her mother denied any such thing, River's grandmother, Lilith, told her that the old lady was very sure that something was up. And River was very happy for her mom. It had been pretty long since she lost her father to cancer and she believed that it was high time her mother gave herself a second chance at love. It would mean the world to her if her mother started over and was happy again.

"Have tons of fun and tone down on the mischief!" River exclaimed as she hugged her two bundles of fireworks, lifting them up and rocking back and forth on her heels as she did.

"Yes Mommy!!" They sang in unison.

"And stay safe, okay? Mommy will call whenever possible." She added.

"And you should eat and sleep along with saving people." Kiara said, an innocent look of concern on her face which melted River's heart.

"And please drink water. Granny said you are always dehyrated." Lucas put in.

"Dehydrated." River corrected with a smile before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "And yes I will drink more water."

She turned to her little girl and kissed her forehead too before setting them both on the ground so that they could climb onto the car.

She turned to her mother.

"Yes yes, I will take care of myself, and the twins and I will keep updating you. And no, I won't do any kind of office work while I am there." Susan Johnson rolled her eyes while River laughed. Her mom knew her like the back of her hand.

After settling the kids in and waving them goodbye, River drove her grandmother to her friend's house before getting back to her empty apartment to dress up for her date.

She went for a simple red dress which stopped just above her knees, about one-sixth of the skirt was see-through fabric. She didn't put on anything fancy. She just wore nude heels and silver purse and her smartwatch which she never took off except for showers and surgeries. She did a natural look with nude lipstick and a little mascara.

She was ready before time and so she decided to do chores so that she didn't have second thoughts.

With the children gone for a few days, she knew she was going to be extremely lonely in the apartment. She already was when they were at their grandmother's but now, she couldn't go see them as she wished.

And she also knew that going on this date was going to aggravate whatever strange feelings she felt towards Mateo Adesso and it was going to leave her feeling like shit.

You really are torturing yourself, River. She scolded herself but she just couldn't stop herself.

The doorbell rang, interrupting her train of thoughts.

Is there any way I could bail out now? She thought miserably as she quickly made her way towards the door and swung it open. Mateo stood there in a black dress-shirt and black pants.

Hot.

"Beautiful." He muttered.

"I am hoping that's a compliment." She smiled up at him as she closed the door behind her, locking it and putting the key in her purse.

"It is." He chuckled.

She didn't know what it meant. She had never tried to learn another language and she knew that would have gone for Latin if she did ever want to try out a new language so there was no use complaining.

They went to a small but beautiful Italian restaurant. It was all white with plenty of windows and green vines growing against the wall. It was breathtakingly beautiful, pleasant and brought peace to one's mind.

"Good evening." The young waiter said, smiling at the both of them. She seemed nice.

"Tell Chef Laviene that Mr. Adesso is here and that he wants two of her best three course meal." Mateo told the girl, who looked blank for a moment before nodding and walking away.

"The usual huh?" River giggled, keeping her purse on the side. Though she couldn't shake off the bitter feeling in her throat. And she found whatever she felt towards Mateo pathetic.

"Nah, the special, only for you." He said, taking her hand in his.

She smiled at him, looking at their entwined fingers. Gazing up at his caramel eyes, she didn't see the mischief and warmth it usually held. There was anger, sadness and an emotion she didn't understand. Had something happened? And did he come to the date only because he didn't want to stand her up?

"Did I say you look beautiful tonight?" He asked.

Zero originality. River thought and then scolded herself for being so bitter. What was her problem? She should have just said no! but she was being pathetic and not able to refrain herself and now she was complaining.

"I don't remember." River smiled at him, earning a chuckle.

"Well you do."

"Thanks." River shook off all her negative thoughts and just laughed.

They made small talk as they had their meal. It was mushroom soup followed by the most delicious pasta she had tasted and lastly apricots in hot chocolate sauce. She had declined the wine though. Because Dr. River Johnson didn't know when she would get an emergency call.

"How about we take this to my apartment?" He asked as they walked, holding hands.

Here we go. River thought. She wasn't going to pretend that she didn't see this coming.

She looked over at the man. Though he had a small smirk on his face, he looked sad and reluctant and something told her that he was mirroring her own expression. What was wrong with the both of them?

"I don't see any reason to decline." She said, looking ahead at the parking lot.

He let out an empty chuckle, his arm pulling her closer to him.

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They made love. Mateo knew that they did. It was not one of his casual sex. It was not about pleasure or making one another and themselves feel good. It felt as if they were trying to engrave the feel of each other's skin, lips, tongue on their own bodies. It was like they were trying to make themselves remember each other. It wasn't sex. Was this what making love feel like?

Mateo tightened his grip on his coffee mug. He had left River sprawled across his bed. She looked exhausted from yesterday's lack of sleep. And she looked so at home there, like she belonged in his bed, that he just couldn't bring himself to wake her up.

Also, he didn't know how he was going to face her. How was he going to pretend like that meant nothing to him? Like she meant nothing to him?

"Morning."

He felt his heart stop for a second. He wished he hadn't left the room, because she had now gotten out of his bed and he will never see her there again. He just wanted a light glimpse of her in his bed, to forever engrave in his mind.

"Coffee?" He held up his own mug as he turned around. She was not looking at him. She was busy checking her phone.

She looked up at him and said, "No thanks, there is an emergency. I need to go."

"I will drop you off." He said too quickly, not really thinking what he was saying.

"No no. I already called a Uber." With that she was out. Out of his life.

"Damn it!" Mateo growled, smashing the mug onto the counter, hurting his hand.

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"Mommy!!!!" Kiara screeched as River placed the twins' clothes back in their closet. They were finally back for good and their classes started in a week.

"Yes my pumpkin?" River asked, knowing very well what she was about to say.

"Let's get a house."

Exactly my thoughts. River thought. The kids were not very happy moving back to their apartment since they had had way too much fun at their grandmother's. It didn't help that River's best friend and Susan Johnson's favorite child; Sebastian Shane had gone to stay with them along with little Mia and that idiot had rebuilt the tree house which was once built by their fathers for him and River. Now they didn't want to come back even more.

"Yeah sure." The mother turned to her. "But you have to wait another year."

"But why???" She whined.

"Because money doesn't grow on trees." Lucas said gravely.

"How come you are the only one who knows all this?" River turned to her elder kid. "As far as I know, you both are attached at the hips."

"She zones out. Like you."

The doctor narrowed her eyes at him and she was proud to see that her daughter was doing the same.

The girls certainly did not zone out. They just always had too much on their mind that sometimes they tend to not pay attention to whatever was happening around them or being said to them.

That is exactly what zoning out means. River rolled her eyes at her own pathetic justification.

It had been a couple of weeks since the date and the ground-breaking sex... River didn't want to call it mere sex but she knew that was what it was and she was not allowed to be a pathetic sappy heroine and pretend that it was something more.

He hadn't contacted her ever since that day and she too had refrained herself from doing it. She had caught herself multiple times with her finger hovering over the call button next to his name. She always made an excuse to herself that she wanted to know if he was doing well and if his leg was better now that he had resumed his ordinary life. But there was this other self-loathing side of her which was pointing the truth out to her which was that everything she said to herself was just an excuse she was making to contact him and have another go at him.

River felt pathetic and she came to realize that her hunch was right all alone and that date though seemed sweet and one of the best nights of her life at that moment, it had had a disastrous impact after it ended. She was unfocused and sometimes frustrated. She was just glad that she always detached emotion in the operation room and she loved her twins way too much more than she loved herself or the attraction she felt towards the Italian man to ever act in any way that would affect them.

Other than her internal battle and the babies coming back from their grandmother's, nothing exciting was going on in her life. And she hoped that though she wanted to see him again badly, he never came back. Because she was scared she would do something very stupid if that ever happened.

"Alright little soldiers, change into your pajamas and we will order some Chinese."

The kids squealed happily and got on with the task as she walked out of their room, ordering the food on the phone.

Mrs. Marley wasn't coming back till the next day evening and River was hoping she didn't get any emergency calls before her grandmother came over to babysit the little monsters the next day.

River sighed as she placed her phone on the coffee table and sat down. It was a hectic life and she really did not need to be making it any more complicated. She really didn't have the time or space in her schedule to squeeze in more drama.

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Mateo sighed when he realized that he was thinking about her again. It had been weeks. It had been weeks since he locked himself up in a room in one of his hotels because he could not stand to be in his apartment anymore. And he was afraid that he would drive straight to the hospital or her apartment if he moved around a lot.

Mateo was a mess right now. And he really hoped that he quickly recovered from this phase because he was starting to worry his family.

"Who wants Chinese?"

Mateo groaned as soon as his annoying best friend's voice reached his ears. He cursed himself for giving the man-child the spare key to his suit.

"Not me." He sighed.

"Oh come on, Matty-poo. How long are you going to be like this?" Adam spoke in childish sing-song tone though Mateo knew that Adam was being dead serious and he knew why.

Adam was having to deal with all the physical appearance because Mateo was being a stuck-up and refused to leave his room. And it was taking a toll on poor Adam. At least when Mateo was bedridden, Adam had to do only his share of work but with Mateo too working, he had to take care of everything physical with both their works and it was just too much for him.

"I check out Friday." He said finally. He didn't want to put his best friend through any of this because of his weak ass.

"That's more like it!" Adam smacked him on his back only to jump back when Mateo looked up at him with a deadly glare.

"Let me unwrap the food." He said nervously as he made his way to the kitchen aisle.

Mateo resumed typing on his laptop while his ears were trained on Adam opening the wrappers and walking around the kitchen, taking out plates and other utensils.

Mateo let out another deep breath and looked up, stumbling back, his chair always falling over when he saw the woman leaning against the window, watching him.

She let out a chuckle as she walked forward, her blond waves in a neat tight top-bun.

"Missed me?" She asked, her eyes showing all the madness within.

"Alessia.." Mateo sighed, taking in the appearance of his little sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Let's just say, I have something that you want and for you to have it, you will have to get something for me." She smirked as she sat down on top of the desk.

"Dinner is served!" Adam called out as he walked over, stopping when he saw the most irritating and dangerous woman he knew.

"Let's talk business after dinner." Mateo suggested, hoping his sister would stay.

"Hmm.." She hummed as if she was contemplating whether to eat with her brother or not. She finally nodded. "I love Chinese."

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