"Hello beautiful, how are you?" River asked.

I put on my smile and met him halfway. "Beautiful? I don't think you know me that well to be calling me beautiful."

He laughed, "Ah! But a beautiful lady is still beautiful. You can't blame me for stating the obvious."

What a pompous jackass.

"Anyways, let's get the mountain climbing started!" I exclaimed.

I saw in his hands that he had equipment for both of us but I held up my own for him to see.

"I came prepared." I told him.

He shrugged and started to show me how to hook the equipment up. Elliot taught me all this yesterday but I still pretended to be confused while he taught me.

When we were ready, he led us to the area we would practice climbing. Unbeknownst to him, he chose the exact spot I had.

He probably thought I would be so scared that I would cling to him.

Over my dead body that would happen. Actually over his.

He showed me how to ascend down the side of the edge carefully. I followed after him, taking my time and acting nervous.

"Wow, you're a fast learner." He said when I joined him half way down the edge.

I laughed, "well, the Wilcox's didn't become a multi-billion dollar company by being slow learners."

He laughed as well. "That's true, your family is infamous in the market. An association with your company would send any companies share market value through the roof."

I simply nodded and continued to head further down.

"Not so far Amira! We'll lose the signal." Lucas's voice rang through the mic in my ear.

I looked up at River and saw that he was still in the same spot. I climbed back up to see what happened.

When I got to him, he was on the phone with someone.

"Right now? I'm rather busy at the moment, can't it wait?" He turned to face me as he spoke. I mouthed 'is there a problem?'. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the phone. "Alright, I'll be there in about an hour."

He hung up and looked back at me. "I'm extremely sorry Juliet but a rather important business meeting has come up and I must attend. I hope you can forgive me for cutting our date short. Please let me make it up to you."

I shook my head, "no River, it's alright. Business is business and who better to understand than a businesswoman. We can see each other next time. Just let me know when you're free."

He smiled and promised to call as soon as he could. He climbed the entire way up and leaned over to give a small wave. I returned the wave until he left.

"Well that was a bust, we couldn't get anything but his cheap flirting." Lucas said through the mic.

"We will get it next time, don't worry." I said.

"Alright, we're going to pack up. You can come back whenever you want." Lucas cut the feed from the mic, stopping our communication.

I was about to climb up the mountain when someone jumped from the top and landed directly beside me.

Joshua was staring at me so intensely, it made me uncomfortable. I adjusted my gear to help me climb up but he grabbed my hands, preventing me from moving.

"We have to talk."

"And you thought the best place for that would be on the side of a freaking mountain?" I gave him a bewildered look.

"This way you won't be able to run away without listening to me."

I looked down at my hands, which were still being covered by his. I ripped them out from his hold. "Fine then talk."

"What happened last night?"

I froze when he asked me that. Of everything to talk about, why did have to be about that.

"You know very well what happened." I said, keeping my eyes focused on the snow directly in front of me.

"No, I know what I did but your reaction was far too dramatic for my actions."

I snapped my head towards with a unbelievable look plastered on. "Dramatic? You think my reaction to what you did was dramatic? Are all of you men just sex crazed assholes?"

He raised his eyebrows at my outburst but stayed quiet nonetheless. So I continued.

"You were on me and wouldn't move no matter how much I told you to, even when I practically screamed it. No means no, why is that so hard to understand?! It's a two letter word but it has a heavy meaning. It's a girls right to say no to whoever she pleases. If she says no, that doesn't mean you force yourself on her-"

"Okay hold up! I wasn't forcing myself on you, I was just teasing-"

I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Teasing? What you call teasing, I call unwanted force. It's 2017 and your gender still can't seem to comprehend what no means. To hell with you Joshua Collins."

I quickly pulled the ropes to stand climbing up but it wouldn't budge. I tugged hopelessly on it, trying to get it to pull me up. Joshua extended his hand to help but I slapped it away.

"I don't need your help! Just leave me alone." I yelled.

I gave the rope a hard tug as I spoke. It snapped and I was suddenly falling backwards.

I screamed before someone grabbed my hand. I looked up to see that Joshua had grabbed onto my hand. I was hanging in the air and made the stupid mistake of looking down. I squeezed my eyes shut, silently praying to not die.

A felt a tug on my hand and opened my eyes to see Joshua slowly pulling me up. I grabbed onto his shirt when I got close enough and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Want me to leave you alone now?" He was smirking and I wanted to slap him.

I glared at him and was seriously contemplating just letting go and plummeting to death.

He laughed and pulled on the rope to start climbing.

Suddenly, we heard a snap and went falling down. I was still clutching onto Joshua's shirt and screamed into his shirt.

My back hit the snow, causing pain to shoot through my spine. We continued rolling down the mountain when Joshua eventually pushed his hands into the ground. Thankfully he did it on time, a few seconds more and we would have rolled over the ledge and to our deaths.

The pounding in my ears slowly started to subside but my heart was still beating erratically.

"You can open your eyes now." Joshua told me.

I slowly peered open my eyes to see him looking down at me. He had a slight smile on his lips. "Well, looks like we're stuck together." 

*******************************
"This is all your fault!" I yelled in Joshua's face.

"My fault?! If you hadn't tugged on your rope so hard princess, I wouldn't have to had to grab you. Then maybe my rope could stand the weight."

I gasped. "You did not just call me fat!!"

He smirked. "Oh but I did princess. Not only did your weight break your rope but it broke mine too."

"That doesn't even make sense Collins. You weigh more than me!!" I exclaimed.

"The evidence says otherwise. Maybe instead of princess I should call you Miss Chubby." He had a serious expression on his face as he spoke making my urge to slap him harder.

"Oh whatever." I grabbed my hat off the ground and shoved it onto my head. I spun around and started walking off.

"And just where are you going?" I heard his run after me and sped up my walk.

"As far away from you as possible!" I yelled back.

Apparently he didn't get the hint and caught up to me.

"You're going the wrong way." He said when he was beside me.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that you fall of mountains all the time that you know the way home." I said sarcastically.

When he didn't say anything for a while so I looked over at him and saw he was smiling.

"What's with the stupid grin Collins?"

He turned to look at me, "nothing, just surprised to know that you considered the penthouse your home now."

I stopped in my steps causing his smile to drop.

"That is not my home." I said.

"You just-" he started but I cut him off.

"No, it's not my home. I don't have a home anymore."

Joshua continued to stare at me before a scowl set on his face. "Well that's good to know then. At least Elliot won't have to hope anymore that you will stay once this deal is done."

When he said Elliot's name, guilt washed over me like a tsunami.

"It's for the best." I said as I turned around and started walking the other way.

I heard Joshua curse out loud before silently following me back.

After about 3 hours, the sun had set and we were still no close to reaching the penthouse. My feet were killing me but I didn't stop walking. The sooner we get home, the better.

Joshua and I hadn't said a word to each other since our argument. Not that I minded, because I knew if we talked again, we would end up in another argument.

I was so lost in my thoughts I tripped over a rock, causing me to fall to the ground.

"Ow!" I clutched my foot and gently pressed on it. Pain radiated through my entire foot.

Joshua leaned down and gently took my foot. I attempted to pull it back but he glared at me.

Sighing, I leaned back. I was done with fighting with everything for now.

"It's a sprain. You just need to rest." He gently put my foot down and stood up.

"Great, I'll just wait for death here." I mumbled.

The sound of Joshua walking off caused me to lift my head up.

That asshole is actually leaving me!

I plopped my head back into the snow, staring up at the stars. They were glowing immensely bright, but the brightest star right now was in the middle, standing out from the rest.

Elena.

My baby sister. She's right there, watching me. Probably laughing at the mess I got myself into.

The sound of snow crunching caused me to shoot up into a sitting position. I relaxed when I saw it was only Joshua. He had sticks in his hands, probably to build a fire.

Thinking of a warm fire just reminded me of how cold I actually was. I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I watched him build a fire. Since he had no matches, he struck two rocks together until it sparked and a big fire was burning.

He sat down opposite from me. I focused my attention on warming my hands. I dragged myself closer to the fire to warm up my frozen face and feet.

I didn't even realize when Joshua had got up until he was directly beside me.

He gingerly grabbed my foot while maintaining eye contact with me. I looked away and tried to move my foot but his grip tightened. I looked back at him and saw he was still looking at me.
Suddenly he jerked my foot to the right and my hand shot out to clutch his shirt.

Before I could even yell at him, he spoke.

"Try moving your foot now."

I slowly opened my eyes and wiggled my foot around. The pain that had been in my foot for the last hour was now gone.

I smiled and looked up at Joshua. He was still staring at me and I was still holding onto his shirt. I loosened my grip and pulled my hand back. But he grabbed it and pulled me close.

"I'm not going to say sorry about last night or this afternoon, but I will let you know that it won't happen again. Clearly we are just tools for you to use to get revenge on Pearson, which you will dispose of when you accomplish your goal. So from now on, you'll merely be a tool for my revenge as well." He pushed my hand away and stood up. He gave me one last look before heading back and sitting in his original spot.

I stared at him and let his words register in my head.

You'll merely be a tool for my revenge as well.

Good, that's exactly what I wanted. Then why do I feel so bad about it?

*******************************
I woke up to a big gust of wind blowing all around me. I peeled open my eyes slowly, feeling disoriented and groggy.

Why the hell was I sleeping on the ground? And why was there so much snow?

As soon as those questions came to mind, yesterday's memories all came crashing down on me.

The 'date' with Pearson, me and Joshua falling off the mountain, spraining my ankle, the fire and our arguments.

I peeked over to where Joshua was sitting but didn't find anyone there. I slowly sat up and a jacket slid off my shoulders.

"What the-"

However, my confusion quickly disappeared when I found Joshua sleeping beside me. He was curled up, trying to draw warmth to himself. The jacket he was wearing yesterday was now in my hands. Sometime during the night, he must have draped his jacket over me and fell asleep beside me. It would also explain why I fell asleep for so long.

A big gust of wind blowed, ruffling my wig and causing Joshua to wrap his arms tighter around himself. I quickly draped the jacket over his shoulders.

I stood up and stretched my sore limbs. I saw that the fire had gone out and walked off to find any pieces of wood. When I came back, Joshua was still sleeping, so I decided to build another fire. I got the fire going and kneeled down to warm my hands.

"What are you doing?"

I looked back at Joshua and saw him now sitting up and looking at me.

"Roasting marshmallows, want one?" I said sarcastically.

He glared at me and stood up. He dusted snow off himself and put his jacket back on. My eyes lingered on the jacket for a few seconds before I turned back to the fire.

"Let's get going. The faster we get home, the sooner I'll be away from you." He started walking off without waiting for a reply.

I got to my feet and kicked some snow onto the fire to put it out. Once it was extinguished, I followed after Joshua.

He stayed ahead of me the entire walk back but I didn't mind. I had nothing to say to him anyways. He was right, we're just tools to each other. We'll use each other and discard the other when we're done.

After another 2 hour walk, we finally made it back to the hotel. I sighed in relief at the marvellous structure. I never thought I'd be so happy to see this place.

We both got into the elevator and stayed quiet the entire way up. When the doors opened, Joshua walked out and into the house before I even took a step.

When I entered, I made my way to my room but was stopped by Elliot. Joshua was already sitting there.

"Amira, where have you and Joshua been all night? We were worried."

I looked at Joshua who kept his eyes downcast.

"Nothing Elliot, we just had our equipment break, fell down the side of a mountain and spent the night in the depths of the mountain." I explained.

All the guys jaws fell open and turned to look at Joshua. Not wanting to stick around any longer, I went to my room for a nice long shower.

After the long shower, I threw on layers of clothing to keep warm and went to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. I ended up making some for everyone and left it on the table for them.

I went back to my room where I spent the rest of the time doing some office work for my company and hacking into Pearson's computer to see what he was up to.

A knock on my door in the evening broke my concentration. I got up from the desk and was more than surprised when I saw that it was Joshua.

He held out a take out bag of Indian food. "We ordered in."

I took the bag from him and set it down on the table. "Thank you, I love Indian food."

He nodded and turned to leave. I was about to close the door when possibly the stupidest thought crossed my mind.

"Wait Joshua!"

At the sound of my voice, he froze in his steps and turned to look at me.

"My mom always used to say that Indians never deny hospitality. So, would you like to come in and eat with me?" I asked.

He stared at me for before finally nodding his head. He walked off and got his food before coming back. I shut the door behind him and dug into my own bag.

"This smell reminds me of my moms homemade food." I started speaking absentmindedly. I heard the rustling of his bag stop when I started to speak.

"The mix of Indian spices were always a common smell in my house when she was alive. She always made Indian food to try and keep her heritage alive. Not that me and Elena minded, Indian culture was extremely fascinating to us. The story of how my mom met my dad was even more fascinating. He was on a trip to India with friends when he met my mom at a some camp. She was on a college trip there. They instantly hated each other and fought the entire time. On the last day, they both ended up getting lost and spent the night in some jungle. Apparently over night, they became close. When my dad left, they communicated over the internet but eventually they lost touch. She came to Canada for further studies and bumped into him by chance. Their love rekindled and they got married. They soon started the company together and a few years later I was born. My ba-" I stopped when I realized I was about to tell him about Elena.

I turned back to look at Joshua who was staring intently at me.

"Is there a reason you called me here Amira?" He asked.

The question confused me and I continued to look at him.

"You said you wanted to keep this professional, so why did you invite me in?"

"I told you, my mom-"

"That doesn't explain anything. Why did you invite me in?" He pushed.

I turned my attention back to my food and played around with it.

"You're feeling lonely aren't you?" He asked.

I chose to remain quiet.

"The food reminded you of your parents and you didn't feel like eating alone. You felt so lonely, that you'd even take my company."

I didn't say anything but he had hit the nail on the head. I was missing everyone. My entire family was gone. Tears formed in my eyes but I blinked them away.

"You can miss them all you want, but they aren't coming back. Once someone leaves, they never come back, no matter how much you want them to."

I looked at him when he said that but he quickly stood up and walked out of the room.

What was that about?