VANESSA

"Good morning.", He said, his voice still had that lingering raspiness after the alcohol he drank last night.

I sat up straight and the swung my legs over the other side of the bed before replying to his greetings. The moment I stood up, I felt a sharp pain hit me. The hangover! I squinted my eyes as I switched on a few more lights, when my hands accidentally fell on the switchboard, trying to grab onto a support.

I looked back at him. He too was pinching the bridge of his nose, adjusting to the tsunami of bright lights. I looked around the room, it was blue and had a few flowers painted on here and there. Not a place that I remembered being at. So I asked him, "Where are we?"

"In a hotel adjacent to the club.", He said, rubbing his wet hair with a towel. That explained why he didn't have a shirt on, not that I minded.

My eyes slowly traveled to his bare chest and began tracing the outline of his abs. Whatever cardio he was doing, it was certainly paying off.

"If you are done feasting your eyes, I would like my t-shirt back.", He pointed towards the black t-shirt I was wearing. I looked down and then remembered the question I needed to ask. I hesitantly began, "Did we...you know..."

"When you were drunk? Do I look that desperate?" he laughed.

I exhaled with much more force than I intended, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Did you change my dress?", I asked my next question to which, the answer is already knew but I had to be sure.

"Yeah, that I did."

"What?", I asked, not expecting that.

He smirked, "I am just playing around. I asked a staff lady to change your dress. She might have been the bartender, I don't remember now. And I slept on the couch, if that is your next question."

I smiled, feeling less nervous and then asked,"Did I make a fool of myself last night?"

"You were great. You did almost dance on top of the bar though, if that counts but as you had asked me, I pulled you out before you did anything stupid."

I smiled, thinking of my antics and then looked at him, "Thanks, Adrian."

"Well, get ready quickly. We need to go back to the hotel."

"Could you drop me to mine?", I asked hopefully. There was no way I was going to the Najmat wearing what I wore last night. What if someone important saw me?

"Nope. That is in the opposite direction."

"But..."

"If your dress is a problem, we'll stop by a store on the way."

"Wow. Thanks.", I said, surprised as to how he read my mind.

I picked up my dress from the sofa and turned towards the bathroom but my feet slipped and I collided with Adrian.

He quickly held me with one arm, his other arm holding the dressing table to prevent us from falling. When our eyes met, my heart lept into my chest and began beating wildly.

I was up against him with my face mere inches away from his and we both were half dressed. My eyes flickered from his down to his lips and then back, as a chill ran down my spine.

He snaked his arm around my waist, reducing the distance between us until we were breathing the same air, our noses almost touching. It was different than the last time this happened. His grip on me was milder and his eyes weren't dark with rage. They had this other emotion I couldn't put a finger on. Maybe I could but I thought I would overestimate what I saw, so I didn't try.

I was brought back to reality when he withdrew his hand, gently pushing me away with a low whisper, "Go get dressed."

I nodded and tucked my hair behind my ears to calm my nerves, biting down on my lips to forget the void I felt where his arm once was.

We didn't talk after that. I bathed, wore my dress back and gave him his t-shirt. We left in silence and remained so as I purchased myself a decent dress to wear and then we went back to The Najmat.

We were in the front lobby, when he finally spoke, "Go ahead, have breakfast. I will be there in a while."

I nodded, still not saying anything and then I walked down towards the restaurant where several other guests were sitting. I took some food on my plate and then sat down at an empty table.

I couldn't stop thinking about what happened and every time I did, my heart skipped a beat. The more I thought about it, the more I became sure of the reason why he held back. What we had, the camaraderie, was amazing and none of us would want to jeopardise that. Not for a week of whirlwind romance followed by awkward board meetings for the rest of our lives. I atleast knew he wouldn't.

I saw Blake sitting in the corner of the room and I decided to go over and say hello. What better way to take my mind off of Adrian than the guy I should be going on a date with.

"Blake, Hi!", I said, setting my plate down on his table.

"Hi.", He said, his voice a little off.

I had decided to sit down without asking but his tone made me reconsider that. So I asked, "May I sit here?"

"Do you want to?", He said harshly. I had never seen this side of him and I was not looking forward to seeing it again.

I frowned," Why wouldn't I?"

"Alright then go ahead. The table is all yours!",He said and got up to leave.

What the hell?

"Hey! Is something wrong?", I asked.

"Why? Don't you know?"

"I seriously don't! So would you please tell me what the hell is going on?", I said, frustrated with his behaviour.

"You should have told me you were taken.",He looked at me with a hurt expression, as if I had betrayed him. He didn't see me and Adrian today morning, did he? Wait! He couldn't have, the door was locked.

"What? I am not. I haven't been seeing anyone for more than an year now.", I rolled my eyes, slightly embarrassed by all the facts that statement conveyed.

"Really? You screwing Adrian said otherwise."

"Excuse you!", My eyes widened in horror.

"Adrian told me. I didn't want to believe him. You didn't look like the kind of girl who'd do that but then I came here and asked in which room you were staying in and guess what I found out. You both checked in together, in the same room."

I heard everything he said but my mind was still fixated to his first statement. I asked, choking on my own words, "Adrian said that?"

"Yes, he did. Maybe even he was tired of you two-timing him."

I didn't want to believe him still so I double checked. "Did he say we were sleeping in the same room or..."

"He said you were sleeping with him and if I didn't believe it I could go check the register and I did."

"I was sleeping with him, that is true. But it was not in his bed, just his room.", I said, explaining what had actually happened, trying hard to not raise my voice.

"I don't know about that Vanessa but Adrian told me you were sleeping together. That is all."

"I...I...", I was at a loss of words. How could Adrian do that, to me?

I left Blake there without an answer and went straight up to room no. 1526. I furiously knocked on the door until Adrian opened it and the moment he did, I asked,"How could you?"