I sat back on the couch but this time I kept a little bit of distance between him and me. He still didn't look at me.

"I don't keep their pictures with me."

His voice was full of sorrow. I knew this topic was sensitive for him but I was relieved that he was trying to open up.

"Why?" I asked carefully.

"Because I can't keep myself from going back into the memories whenever I see their pictures."

My heart constricted in pain. He was suffering, he was grieving, he was enduring emotional pain.

"What do you do when you miss them?" I couldn't help but ask.

He turned his face towards me and studied my face. "Honestly, I cry."

I immediately shifted closer to him and held his hand. I intertwined my fingers with his and gave a little squeeze to his hand. Men generally act tough and refuse to accept that they cry but he accepted it wholeheartedly.

He held my hand tightly and spoke,

"What else can I do? I couldn't even perform the funeral because there were no intact... bodies left after the plane crash." He choked on his words. It was getting hard for him to speak.

"Daniel-"

"Tears automatically start falling whenever I see their pictures that's why all the pictures are preserved in the house in which I spend my childhood with my family. Whenever the pain inside me gets unbearable only then I visit them."

He bit the corner of his lower lip to stop himself from crying but a lone tear still ran out of his eye. I held my own tears and wiped his face with my fingers. He surprised me by placing his head on my shoulder.

"I miss them." He whispered.

"I know," I whispered back. We stayed in the same position for a few minutes. I kept rubbing his palm with mine to provide him calmness, making sure he knew that I was with him.

"How did you cope up with... Umm... the demise of --" I couldn't complete my sentence.

He pulled away and gave me a sad smile. "Truthfully, I haven't recovered from that shock to date. Although, my best friends Xavier, Sean, and Xavier's parents were there for me. They all became my support, they made sure that I was okay and not alone. And I'm heartily thankful for whatever they did for me, I can't repay them with anything." He smiled in satisfaction. This was the first satisfying smile played on his lips in the last fifteen minutes.

"Other than those people, there were fake people too whose sympathy and pity threw me into a sea of devastation. After crying for days, I decided to put it to the end. I have had enough of those fake people and their fake consoling. Then I found a solution to stop them from asking questions about my family. I found a therapy that helped me mask my pained face and that therapy is...a Smile."

"The day I decided to wear a smile, I became a new Daniel. I became a person who to date doesn't give a fuck about people talking behind my back. Every day I wear a smile and spread smiles, not giving anyone a single chance to question me about something I don't want to answer."

I pulled him in a hug and hid my face in the hollow of his neck, he too did the same and embraced me tightly with both arms. I didn't say anything as he had heard a lot, he just needed silence and warmth. My heart was weeping for him. I would be lying if I say I understand what he is going through.

I would have pushed everyone away if something like that had happened to me. But he? He chose to walk through the emotional suffering with a smile. He's the kind of person who hides pain beneath his charming smile.

If he has decided to live a cheerful life then I'm going to support him. I will keep him happy.

I felt wetness on my shirt then I realized he was crying. I held him tightly and let him cry. I too was on verge of crying but I restrained myself. I wanted to give him support and if I had cried I wouldn't have been able to give emotional support to him.

After being in the same position for a long time, he drew away and gazed at me intently, his eyes were full of emotions. He cupped my face with one hand.

"What?" I whispered.

"Nothing... just realized something." He caressed my cheek with his thumb. Then leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

"Thank you for listening." He whispered.

"I'm always here to listen." I wiped his face with my fingers and kissed his cheek.

I stood up and went to the kitchen, drank water, and brought a glass of water for him. He took the glass from my hand and drank the water. The atmosphere had gone pretty intense so I decided to start a conversation to lighten the heaviness in the room.

"So? Are you free tomorrow evening?" I asked as I sat cross-legged on the couch.

"I do have a couple of important meetings tomorrow. Why? Can't live without seeing me even for a day?" He teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

Playful Daniel is back.

"You wish." I rolled my eyes. "I want to invite you to my runway show tomorrow. It's a big event for me as I'll be walking for Leena Antonio, one of the famous designers in the industry."

"That's great. Congratulations, Eloi." His face lit up like the bright moonlight.

"So, will you?" I asked.

"Well, I did receive an invitation to the event by Leena herself-"

"You know her?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I met her twice, that too a long time ago." He said coolly.

"Well, good. I'm also giving you a personal invitation. Please make yourself free for tomorrow." I pleaded, giving him a puppy eyes look.

"I can't promise anything, Eloi."

"Please, pretty please. If you'll come tomorrow, I swear I'll eat cheesy food with you without complaining."

"Well, that's a pretty tempting offer but still, I can't promise as the meetings are really very important." He said sadly. Pouting, I bounced my thighs up and down while sitting.

"But there is one thing I can definitely do." He added.

"What?" I asked.

"I can definitely fulfill your wish of sleeping in my bed."

He didn't give me time to react as he stood up and lifted me in one swift motion.

"What are you doing?" I shrieked.

"Taking you to my room, to my bed." He said as he started walking. I struggled to let myself free.

"Daniel put me down. This isn't a joke." I rebuked. He halted his steps. I thought he was going to put me down but he looked at me and grinned.

"Who said I'm joking? I heard your inner voice which said you wanted this. So, I'm just fulfilling your wish. I'm a good man and I intend to fulfill every wish of my woman." He winked and resumed walking upstairs.

No words came out of my mouth. I was blushing profusely. Did he just call me his woman? My stomach did the somersault and my whole body tingled in delight.

I jerked back to my senses when something soft hit my back. My eyes turned big like saucers when I saw Daniel removing his t-shirt.

"What are you doing? Put it back on!" I threw a pillow at him but didn't listen and removed the shirt. I was about to get up from the bed when he hastily hovered over me, caging me with his body. I squealed and tried to push him with my hands to get free from his hold but he grabbed my wrist and pinned them tightly on either side of my face.

"You're acting like you haven't seen a shirtless man before." He raised his eyebrows.

I have seen shirtless men before but you're a different case. I wanted to say that but didn't, instead, I turned my face away.

"Ah! I always love to see you blush. You look super cute." He let go of my one wrist and cupped my face to turn my head to face him.

"Ready?" He grinned and his eyes lit up in amusement.

"R..ready fo..for what?" I stuttered, frowning.

"For this." He sealed my lips in a hungry kiss and it didn't take time for me to respond. I wouldn't deny that I was always ready to kiss him. He set my hands free and his one arm went around my waist, enveloping me in a gentle embrace, and with the other hand, he tugged my hair. My hands automatically reached to his hair and l laced my fingers in it. His hand caressed my back in a smooth motion.

The kiss turned intense, our tongue fought for dominance. We both moaned in the kiss. He was kissing me like my lips were quenching his thirst. I encircled my arms around his neck to pull him closer. The kiss felt different from the kisses we had shared before. This time the kiss was all about emotions and desire. It felt like a new connection was being established.

He let go of my lips and trailed the kisses on my jaw and went down my neck. There, he left a slow, open-mouth kiss making me shudder and moan in anticipation. I craned my neck up to give him the freedom to please me. His hands started to travel up under my shirt. I circled my arms around his bareback and caressed it up and with my hands. He lightly nibbled my neck and grunted when I let out a loud moan.

"You were trying to resist me but your body says otherwise." He breathed out huskily, still showering kisses on my neck. O couldn't reply as my mind was hazy.

His hands traveled down but stayed till my abdomen. Just when I thought the atmosphere was turning more intense, he slipped off me, and lying beside me, he pulled me to him. I was surprised by the sudden turn of events.

"Spending night in the same bed doesn't mean something has to happen. Cuddling to sleep is also tempting." He mumbled, gazing straight into my eyes.

And just like that my feelings for him reached new heights. A smile broke on my lips when he kissed my forehead. He laid straight on the bed and pulled my head on his chest.

"I will never do anything for which you're not ready."

This was the last statement I heard before the sleep engulfed me and took me to the land of dreams.

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The moment my eyes fluttered open, a smile broke on my lips. Eloise had her arms wrapped around me, her lips were parted a little and she was sleeping peacefully.

I kept staring at her face, thinking how last night she brought the emotional side out of me. I never ever cried in front of anyone else than my friends, Ariana and Xavier's parents. When she asked me about my family, I told her everything before thinking twice. I had never done that before. But when she stood up when I didn't answer her for a few seconds and was about to leave I felt like I was going to lose her and I didn't want that. That's why I told her.

I can't risk hiding anything from her as I don't want to lose her. If I want her to share her fears, worries, and happiness with me then I have to do the same.

Relationships should be balanced. If one of the partners fails to put even a small amount of effort to maintain the balance then the relationship starts to drown from both the aides. One's mistake can drown the ship in the deep ocean then this is the relationship we are talking about.

I couldn't hide anything from her as I wanted a long term togetherness and last night I figured out that I didn't just want a long term togetherness, I wanted her for a lifetime. Last night I figured that my feelings for her are not casual but intense. And the feelings were more than just like. I didn't know how it happened but now that I knew I had strong feelings for her, I couldn't let her go. The need for proposing her heightened.

The proposal would be totally Daniel's style and mind-blowing which she'll remember for a lifetime.

I was pulled out of my trance when she stirred and turned to face the other side. She slid one hand under the pillow and with the other hand, she cuddled another pillow. She pulled the knee of one leg up and the other leg remained straight.

I grinned when a devilish idea popped into my head. Grinning, I silently slid off the bed and picked up my phone. It would be fun to tease her with this.

I stood at the edge of the bed clicked a photo of her sleeping position. I mentally cursed when the flash of the phone awakened her. I forgot to turn off the flash of the camera.

"What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously, sitting up on the bed. "Wait... Did you click a picture of my sleeping form?" She frowned.

"Yep, you want to see? Here." I sat on the bed and showed her the picture. She gasped out loud and tried to snatch the phone from my hand but I stood up before she could snatch it.

"Daniel, delete the picture now! This is embarrassing." She shouted.

"Embarrassing? Eloi, darling, this picture is a treasure for me. There are many perfect pictures of you but this imperfect picture is the best." I winked.

"That means you'll not delete it." She said, slipping off the bed.

"Nope!" I shook my head and put the phone back in my pocket.

She scurried towards me to take the phone from my pocket but I held her hands and sealed her lips in a kiss.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" I asked which made her blush. "Oh, why am I even asking? Your comfortable sleeping position was proof that you slept well." I laughed and earned a slap on my bare chest from her.

"Ow, that hurts." I groaned, rubbing the area with my palm.

"Then you better behave and wear your t-shirt." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"But you enjoyed cuddling this bare body last night." I teased, pointing my fingers at my body.

"That happened last night and now it's morning." She scowled, blush was still intact on her cheeks.

"But-" Before I could say anything she picked up my t-shirt from the nightstand which I left there last night and threw it at me.

"Wear your shirt now. I'm using your bathroom and when I come out, you better be wearing your shirt."

"And if I don't?" I took slow steps and teasing steps towards her.

"Then I...I..ugh," She stomped her on foot and ran into the bathroom.

I laughed out loud and wore my shirt. I wanted to see what she could do but I had meetings to attend so I pushed off the idea of seeing what she could do.

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