"Allow me to show you how beautiful life is."

"Allow me to teach you how to live happily."

"Allow me to teach you how to stay positive even in intense situations."

I stared at him in perplexity. He was totally opposite to the playful and joyous Daniel I met days ago. How can he be so optimistic? His way of thinking is a lot more different and I never met a person with this type of thinking ever before. His thoughts portrayed his way of living. It seemed like his life was like a smooth slide whereas mine was engraved with a grater.

Positivity; that's what my father said is lacking in my life. And now Daniel confirmed it too. I thought my life is full of lights and it was just the brightness blinding me but I never knew that my life was so monotonous.

The most important thing bugging me was why I told all this to him? I always keep everything to me then why I shared it with him? He even didn't force me to say anything but I blurted out everything as he'll understand my worries and surprisingly he did. And he didn't even laugh at me instead he offered his hand for help that too willingly.

Should I grab it? What if he's bluffing and just wants something in return?

"No, Eloise, don't go there, Daniel is not like that, you have seen it yourself." I scolded my inner self. If he could help me to bring positivity in my life then why not? I needed it. But will he be able to do that? If yes? Then how? Isn't he a busy man? Why would he spare time for me?

"Don't overthink, Eloi. It will lead you to nothing. It will only bring wrinkles on your face and will cause hair to fall. And I don't want that, I like your hair." His bright, smiling face pulled me out of the reverie. I chuckled at his explanation.

"You talk like you're a doctor," I asked mockingly.

"I am not. But if you allow, I can be a teacher." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Aren't you a busy man? Do you have time for all this?" I teased him a little but his reply made my mouth shut.

"I always make time for my dear ones. I'm never busy for them."

Dear ones? Does he consider me his dear one?

"Yes! I do consider you my dear one. You're my friend, after all."

Yes, Friend.

"So will you?" He asked looking at me.

"Yes, I will." I smiled warmly. I wanted to see where all this will take me.

"Then it's confirmed. I'll teach you the ways of living; ways to self entertain yourself. I'll show you how beautiful life is." He surprised me by coming down on his knees in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I backed away in my seat when he put his hands on my knees. I couldn't ignore the increase in my breathing rate.

"Sealing the deal with a kiss, what else?" He didn't give me a chance to protest and kissed me on my cheek. A flutter of butterflies erupted in my stomach instantly.

It wasn't the first time he kissed my cheek, he did kiss my cheek on the first day we met and at that time I was annoyed by his action but this time it felt different. The soft-touch of his lips circulated warmness in my body.

I didn't know that his lips were still on my cheek until the doorbell rang. We abruptly pulled apart.

"Our food has arrived." He stood up and briskly walked away leaving me there; stunned, baffled, and giddy.

We ate our dinner in not-so-silence as Daniel didn't stop talking about random things especially, about food. I feel annoyed when someone speaks so much but strangely, this time it felt good.

A thunder roared indicating the extreme weather condition. It felt like the rain was in no mood to stop anytime soon.

"It's still raining heavily. Guess you have to spend the night here." Daniel commented looking in the direction of the window.

Spend the night? Uh oh!

Suddenly his phone went off. He looked at the screen and smiled broadly. "Excuse me, I have to take this otherwise I'll be a dead man." Saying that he stood up and started walking away.

"Hey, Princess..."

Princess? A female? Who it might be that made him smile so broadly? Family? No. Girlfriend? Yeah, it must be his girlfriend. But I never heard anything about his love life or affairs, not even the media ever showed anything. Then who was it?

Suddenly, Claire Wilson's face flashed in front of my eyes. Yes, it must be her. They did go on a date. Wait... Why am I even thinking about it? It has nothing to do with me. It's his life and he can have whosoever he wants in his life.

But why was I disturbed at that thought? I don't know why, but since I have met Daniel, I have been feeling weird. Especially when he's close to me.

The ringing of my phone pulled me out from my strange train of thoughts. It was Evan. Damn! I forgot to inform him. I'm gonna get a scolding.

I walked towards the adjoining roof garden area and stood under the shed to save myself from rain then I picked up the call.

"Where the hell you think you are, Eloise? I have been trying to call but it didn't connect. Why did you leave without saying anything? Did you see the weather? It's getting worse. I was so worried. Tell me where are you, crazy woman." Evan roared from another side of the phone.

"Evan, calm down. I'm okay." I tried to calm him down but I knew he won't.

"Are you seriously asking me to calm down? I was about to go to the police. I thought Rick did something wrong to you." He replied maddeningly.

"Hey, hey, I'm perfectly fine and I'm staying in a hotel." I lied. It's not that he would have gone mad but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that I was spending the night in Daniel's house because I didn't know why I agreed to come here.

"Which hotel? Tell me the name, I'm coming to fetch you." I heard a shuffling sound, he must be getting ready to fetch me.

"No need, Evan. It's raining heavily, I don't want you to get in an accident. Just stay at home. I'm fine. I'll be back in the morning." I said sternly. But he didn't listen.

"Pass the phone to Trish," I said.

"Trish ask her where she's staying. Hope she'll tell you. It seems like I'm no one to her." I heard him grumble which made me press my head in annoyance.

"Where are you, Eloise?" I heard Trish's voice.

"Trish, I'm perfectly fine. I'll tell you everything. Please take care of Evan." I muttered. I heard her sigh.

"El, he's bound to worry about you. He considers you his sister. But don't worry, I'll make him understand." She said softly.

"Thank you, Trish. You're a lifesaver." I said and hung up the call.

I glanced in Daniel's direction only to see him still on the phone. I averted my eyes and looked up in the sky and inhaled deeply, the smell of rain filled my nostrils. The cool breeze made me shiver in delight but the cool breeze was taking away my warmness so, I crossed my arms across my chest to hold the warmness in.

"You shouldn't stand here. It's cold." I heard Daniel's voice from behind. I didn't look back. He came and stood beside me.

"Just wanted to breathe fresh air," I mumbled.

"Give me your number." He slid his phone in front of me. "You know, we'll be meeting more often so we need to exchange numbers. We can inform each other if we have a prior engagement."

I took his phone and typed my number. He called on my number.

"Here, save it."

I saved his number as 'Mr. Playful'. And I bet he saved mine as 'Eloi'.

"So, be ready. Your lessons start tomorrow." He said enthusiastically.

"Tomorrow? That's too fast. Well, what do you plan on doing?" I asked looking at him.

"Leave it on me, Eloi. You just focus on the big change that is going to come in your life." He grinned and circled his fingers in front of my face like he was trying to hypnotize me. I shook my head and smiled.

Because of the fast blowing wind, suddenly, something got stuck in my left eye. "Ow." I rubbed my eye.

"Hey, hey stop rubbing, it can cause damage to your eye." He grasped my wrist and stopped me from rubbing.

"I can't open my eye." I winced.

"Stay still." He cupped my face between his palms. He opened my eye wide with his fingers and scrutinized it then he pulled the upper lid out and over the lower lid.

"Now roll your eye upwards." He commanded softly. I did as I was asked to.

"Now blink your eyes a few times." He mumbled. I did that too. Amazingly, it worked. The particle which was disturbing me came out. But it left my eye watery. Before I could wipe the water away from the eye, Daniel did it for me.

He softly brushed his thumb over my eye. As my eye was getting relaxed I came back to my senses and then only I realized how close he was standing.

He blew over my eye and that's when my body froze and goosebumps erupted in my body. His lips were just millimeters away from my eye. He slightly pulled away and brushed the strands of hair away from my face and tucked them behind my ear. Then he gazed into my eyes. His eyes lingered from my eyes to my nose and my lips.

He licked his lips and started bringing his face closer. My heart rate elevated and butterflies again started gathering inside my stomach. His face came closer and closer and closer...

Thunder rumbled in the sky, my eyes fluttered and I pushed him away.

"Uh... Now my... e..eye is fine. Thank you." I said looking everywhere but him. I could feel the heat on my face.

"Err... Yeah, don't rub it anyway." He said as he cleared his throat.

"I... Umm. I should go and sleep. Thank you again." I walked past him.

"Don't forget to wash your face. It's beet red." I heard him laugh. I shut my eyes tightly. He saw that?

"By the way, you look cute when you blush."

That's it, after listening to that, I sprinted into the room, locked the door, and rested my back on it. I cupped my face between my hands. My face was hot.

What was that? And why was I feeling hot? Why did I blush? I generally do not blush easily. Just what is Daniel doing to me?

I patted my cheeks to come back to the senses then sighed and walked towards the bed. I removed my robe and threw it on the bed. I slumped on the bed and looked around. My eyes landed on the robe I just threw on the bed.

The silk robe; I did risk myself by wearing that. The clothes he gave me were way too big than my size and thankfully I had my clothes with me so I wore them. I thought I would be uncomfortable as it wasn't my place where I can roam as I want but to my surprise, everything went normal. I didn't feel like I was at some other place.

Daniel, not even for once looked at me in the wrong way. All the time his eyes were on my face and not on my body. Not even a single time he behaved like the men who try to rip off my clothes just by looking.

He gave me space to breathe. He made me feel at home. After all this, I was sure that Daniel was different. He respects women. He is a thousand times better than that so-called ex-boyfriend of mine who doesn't know anything about respect.

"Ugh! Why am I comparing Daniel to that jerk?" I shut my thoughts by shutting the lights off and went to sleep.

The next day, I woke up early at 5 in the morning. I looked outside to see it wasn't raining anymore. I sprinted to the bathroom, freshen up, and wore the clothes I wore the day before.

When I walked out of the room, I found Daniel doing pushups in the living room. Though he had his clothes on. Still, the flexing of muscles was visible through his t-shirt. I cleared my throat to grab his attention. He looked at me and stood up.

"It's good that you're an early riser." He commented walking up to me.

"Good morning, Eloi. Did you sleep well?" He asked.

"Good morning. And yes I slept well." I smiled. After all, I felt at home.

"Is Omelet good for you for breakfast? That's only I can cook pretty well." He smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you, Daniel, but I'll pass. I have to go back." I gave an apologetic look.

"I'll drop you but only after having breakfast." He said and started walking towards the kitchen. I trailed behind him.

"No, Daniel. I have some work to do and I can take a taxi, you don't have to trouble yourself. You have done enough."

He stopped and faced me. "It was me who brought you here and only I will drop you back." He declared leaving no room for argument.

"And what important work you have in early in the morning?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Workout, breakfast, and other work..." I trailed off.

"I have a gym here. You can workout there. And about breakfast, I already said I'm cooking omelet." He crossed his arms.

"But Daniel, You have your own work to do. Don't..." He stopped me by raising his hand in front of me.

"I understand that you don't want to eat breakfast cooked by me. Don't worry, I won't blame you because I'm not good at cooking." He sighed dramatically.

"Fine, No breakfast. Wait for a few minutes, I'll go and change then I'll drop you at your place." Saying that he went to his room.

I sat in the living room and waited for him to come down. He came back pretty fast, wearing his work suit.

"Let's go."

We sat in his car and he drove to my place. He stooped the car in front of my apartment building and face me.

"Will you be free around 5 or 5:30 pm?" He asked.

"Yes, today I don't have much work," I replied.

"Good then. I'll pick you up at 5:30. Be ready and wear casual and comfortable clothes."

"Where are you planning to take me? And you don't have to pick me up. Tell me the place, I'll be there." I said.

"Eloi? Didn't you listen to what I said? I said I will pick you up and that's final." He exclaimed with finality in his tone.

I sighed, he was not going to listen. "Okay, I'll be ready by 5:30."

He smiled broadly. "Okay then, wait for me. And have a good day."

"Thanks again for your help. Have a good day." Saying that I stepped out of the car and entered the building.

___________________________________________