Daniel ran out of their apartment like the host of hell was after him for blood, he hurriedly threw on the first shirt he was able to grab on his way out but only succeeded in wearing it inside out. He didn't notice.

He got to his car before realising he didn't have the key and no way in hell was he going back in there.

"Damn." He cursed and angrily kicked the car's tire. Bad move, his flip-flop didn't favour his toes and a crippling pain instantly shot to his ankle.

"Fúck! Fúck! Fúck!" He cried out in pain, doubling over to grip his leg with both hands. He was even still in his bloody boxers! What the hell was he thinking? Right, he wasn't thinking at all.

At least he was smart enough to bring his phone. He quickly dialled the number of the only person that will understand his predicament, Cynthia. He anxiously paced around as he waited for her to pick, chewing his lips as he did so.

This was bad, this was really bad.

"Pick up, pick up." He chanted nervously but the call mocked him by going to voicemail as soon as he spoke. He redialled instantly.

"Cynthia please, pick up." He whispered, walking away from his car and the building should incase Bella decide to come after him. He doubted that very much though. The call went to voicemail again and again he redialled and kept walking.

Where he was heading or how far he could walk, he had no idea. It was almost 3:30 in the freaking A.M, maybe he should get a cab and take money from Cynthia to pay.

"Hello?" A gruffly voice broke through his consideration.

"Oh thank God, Cynthia I need you to come and pick me right now."

"Excuse you?" She said in the same unclear voice.

"Wake up Cynthia, I'm walking down my street in my boxers and a rainbow coloured flip-flops that could be spotted from Mars. I need you to drive over now." He repeated, shuddering and it wasn't from the chilled night air.

"What? Why?"

"Something bad has happened, I don't know what happened. One minute we were standing and then we were sitting..."

"Calm down Daniel and tell me what happened? Is Bella okay?" She asked and sounded more alert, Daniel even heard her ruffling out of bed.

"Oh love, Bella and I kissed." Daniel cringed as the words left his mouth and a loud gasp filled his ear from Cynthia.

He stopped walking as the memory came rushing back.

"May I ask what on God's green earth you are doing?" He had asked after switching on the light. The look in her eyes was priceless, she blushed furiously like it was going out of style. He couldn't help but tease her more.

"You were just going to dry hump an innocent pillow when the man you want is just a phone call away?" He took a step towards her and she backed away from him, trying to make herself as small as possible. She held the pillow in her hands up like a shield against him. Daniel had to pry it off her hands and smack her on the head with it before laughing in her face.

Had she gotten any redder, they could have cooked a freaking pizza on her face. He enjoyed her embarrassment so much he couldn't stop laughing, even when his stomach hurt.

"You are enjoying this aren't you?" She leered up at him and he nodded gleefully. It was as good as any payback he could get for the hurtful words she said to him.

"You should have seen your face." He said, unable to contain himself.

Bella picked up the pillow again and attacked him with a battle cry. They went at it like wild teenage girls at a sleep over for what felt like hours, together they became a laughing mess and collapsed on his bed when they were spent. Daniel realised just how much he had missed her and didn't hesitate in telling her.

She apologised profusely again, like she had done in all her voicemail and messages and he assured her he was over it but he still felt the need to defend his father. She didn't have enough right to judge him and his father like that without knowing the full story.

But could he blame her? They've lived together for two years and he hadn't even told her his real last name. So, he decided to share a little bit with her.

His father, Jacob Campbell hadn't always been a pitiful drunk, he was once a noble young man with great ambitions and a prospective CEO to 'Campbell & Co, Inc.' a brass and steel company worth millions. (of course Daniel withheld all names from her)

Jacob thought he had his life all planned out until his family demanded he marry an associate's daughter in  matrimonial alliance.

Jacob unfortunately, had another woman in his life. A gold digger he thought was the 'love of his life' and the woman too had conveniently gotten pregnant during this time.

Jacob's parents, seeing the woman for the total scum that she was, had offered her a substantial amount in exchange for the baby and her disappearance.

And of course she didn't think twice about it. She handed Daniel over to them before he was even a week old and was out of their lives for good.

Jacob, disheartened, went ahead and married the woman his family approved of and for three years they both tried to make their marriage work. They tried to fall in love with each other, they tried to raise Daniel together.
Maybe they didn't try enough, maybe they gave up too soon, but it never really worked.

Eventually the woman Daniel thought was his mother, packed her things and bade him and his father adieu.

Things went downhill from there,  a rift was wedged between the two associates,  it took it toll on the company.

Jacob became well and truly fúcked.

He'd stopped caring anyway, not about his parents, not the blasted company.

And certainly not about Daniel who was just a constant reminder of the woman who screwed his heart for his money.

Jacob's drinking started in small doses after work, then became a ritual before and after work, soon enough it was all day long until he couldn't differentiate Daniel from the nanny's son.

The nanny who also moved on later with her son and then it was just Daniel and his inebriated father.

"If you were a girl, you'll look just like her." Jacob would say whenever he managed to look at Daniel. Everyone else thought he was the splitting image of his dad, but he guess it was a matter of perspective.

Many times Jacob would promise to be and remain sober, many times Daniel would come back from school to find him in the pool of his own vomit.

He never told anyone, he kept to himself mostly, his books were his friends and what reliable friends they were. They helped him get out of high school a year ahead of his mates.

Bella must have felt pretty bad for the helpless boy he was, one moment she was hugging and consoling him, even cursing the heartless woman who picked money over her son and never looked back. The next minute however, Daniel found himself and her locked by the lips.

She kissed him first and it took a moment for him to grasp what was happening.

He broke off the kiss immediately and freaked the fúck out.

"I kissed her back for a moment there Cynthia, what does that mean? How did I do that? I can't believe I did that." He kept rambling whilst Cynthia remained eeriely quiet on the line.

"Oh for fúck sake, what if she have feelings for me?" He gasped out in panic. This was what he had been avoiding by bringing Iverson to live with them, he wanted to be able to care for her without her mistaking it for romance because she was lonely.

And then he ruined it for himself by kissing her back!

The fries he had for supper stirred restlessly in his stomach, he could almost taste the acid at the back of his throat. He was going to be sick.

"You have to tell her." Cynthia suddenly spoke up and his stomach lurched, he retched without another warning and emptied his stomach on the side of the road. Lovely.

"I c.can't." He said through another wave.

"You have to, this have gone long enough Daniel. You tell her how you feel, you tell her everything or so help me God..."

"No, no you can't." Daniel shook his head and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "She's not ready and neither is he."

"She'd never be ready!" Cynthia yelled through the phone. "Don't you get it? The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna get." She reasoned and he wordless shook his head.

As if he didn't know that, as if it wasn't already hard enough.

"I'm bringing you water, so stay alive. And once your nerves aren't all over the place, you and I are going to tell her everything, together." She told him firmly before ending the call.

Daniel's erh...red blooded male side remembered the delicious softness of Bella's lips against he's and he quickly shook his head to get rid of it.

"Focus!" He chided himself. No way was he letting Cynthia jeopardise his plans, he couldn't afford to lose Bella just yet. That would hurt more than all the other women that had walked right out of his life.

*******

Iverson's phone clattered noisily in the hand wash basin where he carelessly tossed it to avoid his growing temptation. No, he wasn't going to call her and messaging her wasn't an option either.

She ended their relationship well before it begun, without giving him a little benefit of the doubt or at least a chance to explain. He wasn't going to keep pinning after her like an idiot, she had shown how little she thought of him and it hurt that she was right.

He would just call Martha later and ask how the clothe fitting went. He didn't need to go, since his sister knew his sizes already and though it could have been an excuse to see her, he simply talked himself out of taking it.

He was going to give her space, surely he could survive another day before the photo shoot.

With that new resolution, he unwrapped the little towel around his waist and stepped under his waiting shower.

His body sighed in appreciation and he indulged his inner narcissist by letting himself admire the define firmness of his abs and the smooth way water glided down his skin.

Valeria had reintroduced him to a much needed running, he hated going a day without it. She was an excellent runner herself and that was something Iverson really liked about her.

He smiled to himself as he remembered the first time she showed him the free woods about five minutes walk from the house, one of the pecks of living in Downtown. He got so thrilled and excited at the sight that he told her to feel free to head back home without him whenever she got tired. He had a lot of frustration to burn and without his guitar, he planned on running until he couldn't possibly run again.

But Valeria got offended and called him a sexist, said she was sure she could cover twice as much miles as him.

And so, the challenge was set.

Every morning they'd run endlessly, pushing and challenging each other to extremes, watching who would give up first. She was a tough one to beat, she had her stubbornness and determination to keep going when her stamina runs out.

He finished showering and stepped out of his ensuite with a towel in one hand and his phone in the other. So preoccupied he was with drying his hair that he didn't notice the black hair that stood in contrast against the white sheet of his bed, but when he did, he stopped dead in his track.

For the second time in less than a week and from what he could see of the back, there was a most definitely naked body in his bed.

And this time, it was clear as the day that it wasn't Biggie.

Furious with this invasion, he was by the bedside in a flash. But as soon as he grabbed her arm to yank her out of his bed, she hopped up and literary latched onto him like he was her source of life.

"Whoa!" Iverson said, shocked and caught off guard. He kept both his hands up on either side of him to avoid touching her, he was right, she was very much naked and so was he.

"Get off me Valeria, what the fuck is this?" He seethed.

She took it as an invitation to attack his jaw with hungry leech-like kisses, her hands tightly locked around his neck and her legs around his waist.

She was everywhere and he didn't even know where  to put his hands.

"Valeria, stop this madness now!"

"I know you want me." She rasped out and continued her assault on his neck.

Iverson gritted his teeth, "I do not want you and I'll never want you. Please stop embarrassing yourself." He was beyond angry and disappointed, the past couple of days, he'd become comfortable around her and dared to dream she was a respectable person.

"There's a thin line between cute and creepy and you just crossed it. I could sue you for harassment."

His words must have gotten to her because she stopped sucking his skin and he finally reached up to extricate her hands around his neck and roughly clutched her away from him, he threw her back on the bed.

"But, I don't understand," She said, slowly standing back up to stand before him in all her naked glory. Iverson quickly moved away from her.

"I thought you wanted me. Today on the run, you told me I have a nice body and I could be a model."

"Jesus!" He growled, looking down on himself, horrified and repulsed by her wetness that stained his lower abs.

He rushed to his suitcase that still sat by the wall and retrieved a shirt to wipe the sticky thing off of him

"Put some damn clothes on." He snapped and threw the shirt at Valeria, he won't be needing it anymore now.

"I meant what I said as a goddamn compliment, not an invitation into my fucking bed. Do you have no brain?" He would never speak to a woman like this on a regular day, he had much more respect than that but Valeria made him want to shake the living day light out of her.

He turned around and stomped towards the bathroom as she hurriedly shrug into his shirt.

"Be gone before I come back Valeria. And if this happens again, I'm getting a restraining order against you."

"I'm so sorry Iverson," she said in a small voice and he veered around to glare at her. "It'll never happen again, I promise. I'm an idiot."

"No argument there."

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. Please forgive me." She looked on the verge of tears but he couldn't bring himself to care.
"Leave." He sneered at her again before disappearing into the bathroom and slided the glass door shut after him with so much force, the poor thing rattled in it hinges.