Eleanor sought help from Nathan when she got stuck in a college project. So that evening the two were sat on the patio of the villa talking the subject through. What they didn't know was that they were being watched.

By Devon.

His hands curled into hard fists at his sides, the nails of his fingers harshly digging into the skin of his palms as a roar of anger besieged every inch of his being seeing them together. He couldn't bear the fact that she was getting friendly with the bespectacled nerd every passing day. It burned him like venom. Pain, as excruciating as ever, arose from the deepest layer of his existence making his eyes cold and vicious....

***

Nathan just didn't know how he managed to speak sense and help Eleanor out with her project. Because it was terribly difficult to think straight in front of her. But he somehow was able to keep his pounding heart under control and not fumble much. That was possible because he didn't make much of eye contact with her angelic hazel honey brown eyes. Hopefully he had impressed her a bit.

Nathan was lost in her thoughts and smiling to himself when he reached his room and got a shock of his life. His room was in a brutal mess as though there had been a war of some sorts in his absence. He saw Devon calmly leaning against a bare wall and immediately knew who must have caused such vandalism....

"Did you do all this?" Nathan asked, confused and upset.

"Yes," responded Devon nonchalantly.

"Why?!" The bespectacled boy asked in dismay.

"Because I didn't find you in your room with your nose over a book when I came looking for you. You were elsewhere. I was bored. So I did what I did," Devon responded in a chillingly clam voice.

That shocked Nathan. "We can-We can talk now....I'm always there for you. Tell me what's bothering you," he asked earnestly.

"No point talking about it now. You weren't there when I needed you," Devon said coldly, straightening himself.

"I'm sorry, man, I wasn't around..." Nathan said guiltily as the other boy was about to leave. "I can tell you're deeply pained by something and I want to do every possible thing to help you out of it. Please, tell me about it."

Devon's feet halted when he got to the door. His cheekbones grew taut as he spoke in a dark threatening tone, "Just wanted to ask you the politest way to tell someone that what is mine stays mine. If you get in my way, I get in the way of your breaths."

Devon stormed off there leaving Nathan shocked as well as perplexed. "What is that supposed to mean? Why would anyone dare to irk him knowing how dreadful he could get? Whom does he want to threaten so bad?" He could only wonder.

***

They say that the mind is a temple but how could it be when all she could think with it was Sin.

Eleanor couldn't sleep that night. No matter the countless times she tossed and turned in bed, she couldn't rid her mind of the sinful images of his sexy bare physique and his dark smoldering looks.

She wanted to be in bed with him, the crave was so severe that it made her sweat in arousal. She threw her head back on the pillow breathing wildly as she imagined him touch and kiss her naked body endlessly. She gasped her lungs out imagining him fucking her raw and hard. She wanted to feel him grow erect inside her so bad that her body ached in violent temptations. She lost her mind completely imagining his sexy groans while he rocked her....

Eleanor sat up on the bed heaving breathlessly. When she realized what had happened down there with her body, she cringed. Her underwear was completely soaked with sin. She had to change into a fresh one.

She hated Devon for what he was doing to her without even being physically around. She hated herself for not being able to forget that steamy night with him. But even the intense loathing couldn't forbid her from wanting him so desperately...

She might not have any feelings left for him in her heart but her body found it impossible to hold on to chastity with him being just on the other side of the hall.

***

The following morning Eleanor was seated at the kitchen counter with Heather and Briona when they saw Devon coming down the stairs from the West Wing. The two girls gushed about how dashing he looked in that dark navy blue jeans and hooded black t-shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up to his elbows. Eleanor cringed at his sight and looked away. She just couldn't stand him especially after what his thoughts did to her last night.

"So, gentlemen and gentleladies," quipped Preston boisterously when the seven of them sat down on chairs around the table on the patio for an outdoor breakfast. "I'm very pleased to announce that it's been over a month now since we've been living here in this villa in peace and harmony completing our duties on time without getting into ugly fights! So cheers to us!"

He raised his glass of orange juice for cheers. Nobody else raised their glasses. Devon was completely disinterested. Eleanor couldn't be bothered too. Carmen, Heather and Briona were staring at Devon while eating. Nathan was fidgeting with his fork stealing secret glances at Eleanor. Preston, realizing how much of a fool he looked holding the glass in the air for such a long time, quickly chugged on the juice.

"The stay here could have been much nicer if Carmen had cleaned the kitchen slab properly when it was her turn," remarked Briona.

"Oh puh-lease, bitch, we got those nasty stains on the slab 'cause you and your stupid friend don't know how to cook," snubbed Carmen.

Heather took offence at that. "You can just use your hands to expose too much of your body and not for anything else, bitch," she bit back.

Carmen scowled at her. Briona smirked.

"Your body is as good as not having one," spewed Carmen at the two friends.

That agitated Heather and Briona to no ends. They were about to explode---

"Ladies, ladies please calm down, " said Preston. "We should save something for the future too so that we don't run out of stock?"

The three girls rolled their eyes and got back to eating silently.

"Devon, wait!" Heather blurted out as he was leaving his chair. "Well, um..."she fumbled when he raised a brow up and gave her a sharp quizzical look. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Carmen's ears perked up hearing that. Eleanor stopped eating.

"And why do I have to tell you about my personal life?" Devon asked bluntly.

"Did you have a girlfriend in high school then?" Briona asked almost immediately.

Before he could speak, Eleanor cut in, "Bad question to ask a guy like him, Can't you read the words 'I play with feelings' scribbled all over his extremely attractive face?"

A muscle in Devon's jaw ticked hard hearing that. "For your information, I had a girlfriend in high school and she meant everything to me," he told her sharply.

"I don't think so," countered Eleanor with an air of dismissal. "I know guys like you. They lie with so much perfection that you end up doubting your own character."

That icy remark hit him straight in the gut, silencing him completely. Devon rose to his feet and walked off in a foul mood. Eleanor pretended as though nothing happened even at others looked on at her in shock and confusion. They couldn't understand a thing of what had just taken place.

"Don't you think it was a lot judgmental on your part to say something like that to him?" Heather asked her afterwards.

"Yeah," Briona piped in. "Like you don't even know him, do you?"

"You're right. I don't know him," said Eleanor with a flat face. "But he strongly reminds me of my past mistakes."

***

Eleanor was leaving for office when she got accosted by Devon. He took her to a side where nobody could see them and pushed her against the wall.

Devon was seething, his molten irises drilled into hers. Unfortunately, he looked even hotter when he was angry. She couldn't stand him. But found him physically attractive nonetheless.

"I hate it when you block my way everytime for some pathetic reason or the other," she gritted her teeth.

"And I love it when you don't even try to get rid of my closeness," he said darkly.

The very next moment, he was caught entirely off guard when Eleanor pushed him away with such force that he staggered a good many steps backward.

"There you go. How was it?" she smiled icily.

Devon clenched his fists hard. Their fiery gazes clashed vehemently. He blocked her path outstretching his hand when she was about to leave

"I was right. You can never learn from your mistakes, do you?" she said, ridiculing him.

"Do you really think I never had any feelings for you?" he demanded. "That I was faking I like you just to fulfill my sadistic desire of watching you break?!"

"Relax! Why are you pretending like you're badly hurt?" she asked in an amused tone.

"Because I am hurt, Eleanor," he spat.

"Sorry. I don't have that naive and innocent heart anymore to believe you," she said matter-of-factly, looking away.

"I've never faked my feelings for you," he said hoarsely.

"Alright, agreed that you really did have feelings for me," she said, looking back at him, straight in the eye, "but then I don't understand how do you love and betray with the same heart?"

Devon was left speechless at that. She walked off and pain stabbed him harder than ever.

***

Bam. What do you think about it? ;)

Instagram: rashmita_b.

A huge shoutout to @Dreamer_312 ,  @darshitakulkarni , @Sharanya6, @SaloniBathija for nominating 'Again' at The Fiction Awards 2017! <3