CASSANDRA

A light knock sounded on my office. I looked up from my computer screen only to find the owner of the gallery peeking through the door with a huge smile on his face. "I am not interrupting you, am I?"

I sat up straight on my chair and returned the smile. "Of course not, Mr. Braizen. Please come in."

I watched him close the door behind him and walked even further inside my small office. I've been back to work after my impromptu trip to Greece. My boss was kind enough to let me have this unscheduled trip back home even if it was just a few months since I'd been hired into this job.

Mr. Braizen sat on the chair across my table with a pleasant smile still fixed on his face. He cleared his throat as he looked at me expectantly. "So, how's your trip back home? Was it pleasant?"

I gave a self-mocking smile recalling my blissful but stressful time back in Greece. It had been a rollercoaster ride as far as Calix Spiridakou was concerned. He also went home to check on me in case I had forgotten our deal and started remembering my one-sided love for his cousin. Sometimes, I think that man didn't have faith in me when it comes to Loukas. Even if, I have been saying plenty of times now that I didn't feel the same way about Loukas just like in the past Calix was still distrustful about it.

"...Cassie?"

I forced myself to focus my attention on the present time as I noticed that my boss was waiting for my reply. "Oh, yes, it's fine," I said dismissively, slightly feeling embarrassed that I was caught woolgathering. I searched for something in my bag as I remembered that I bought him a souvenir for him. "For you, Mr. Braizen."

"Oh, thanks," it seemed that he didn't expect to receive such a small gift from me. "May I open it now? If you don't mind."

"Of course."

His eyes lit with excitement as he opened the small box. He took out the fridge magnet made of stone with the head of Ares wearing a war helmet. He looked at the fridge magnet in his hand and then back at me confusedly.

"You like it?" I asked excitedly. Well, I also have a souvenir from my trip to Greece one I had to wear whenever I went and it was a blatant reminder of my naughty nights with a man I didn't have any relationship with. I have to wear a thick concealer to hide the purplish mark on my neck. "That's Ares, the god of war. To be honest, my friend helped me choose that gift for you. I hope you like it."

"Ah, yes, of course, thank you, Cassie." He said placing it back in the small box. "It is rather—err, unexpected kind of gift. But I like it. Thank you."

"Really?" I said brilliantly. "At first, I didn't believe him but he told me that you would like Ares' head for your fridge magnet since you own an art gallery."

Mr. Braizen's brows drew together while looking at me. "Him? Whom are you talking about? Is this the friend who helped you buy this magnet? A guy friend?"

"Ah...well, yes," I moistened my lower lip as I answered reluctantly while mentally cursing myself for the slip. How careless I was for casually informing him that I have a guy friend thankfully I didn't mention his name or else my secret relationship with Calix would be put in jeopardy.

My boss chuckled cynically. "Now I understand why he suggests the god of war's head as your souvenir gift for your boss. I think he wants to convey a message."

"Huh? What do you mean, Mr. Braizen?"

"Mr. Braizen is so formal, Cassie. I told you that you could call me Sebastian or Seb. There's no need to be so formal around here. I want us all to be friends around here and create a healthy and positive environment in the art gallery."

"I don't think I can do that." I shook my head slightly. "I mean, you are still my boss. And I want to set some boundaries in my workplace. We can still be friends outside work if you want, sir." I offered with a slight smile.

"I don't want to."

"I'm sorry?"

He looked at me for a long moment before he shook his head but I could see the contemptuous smile was still fixed on his face. "Nothing. Don't mind me. I'm just joking." He placed the small box in the pocket of his suit jacket and his face turned all business. "Anyway, the reason I went to your office is that I heard from Kate that you are friends with Calix Spiridakou. Is that true?"

Now how should I answer that? I couldn't possibly deny it, could I? Kate saw him helping me one night in this gallery now I have to put my guard up on whatever my boss might ask for a favor. "Yes, I knew him. He's the older brother of my friend. Why did you ask?"

I believed there was no need to inform him of the other status of my relationship with that guy. Mr. Braizen might have heart attack if he knew that I had also sleeping with that man for months now so I could forget his cousin.

"Our gallery had been trying to book him to do an exhibit with us but as always he is refusing our gallery's offer." He started giving me a tight smile. I already knew where this conversation would be heading. He cleared his throat and continued. "I am hoping that you might convince him to change his mind about doing an exhibit with us, Cassie."

I bit my bottom lip. Even without asking I already knew the stance of Calix on this topic we already discussed it in the past and I respect his decision not to do an exhibit at any art gallery. But as a curator, I also want to manage his exhibit if he chooses to have one in the future. I guessed there would be no harm in trying to talk to him about this once more if he still refuses then I would drop this subject completely in the future. "I'll see what I can do, sir. But I will not promise you anything since I know that he is very reluctant to do exhibits for his works."

"I have faith in you, Cassie."

After that, he left me in my office to continue with my work and carefully think about how to broach this subject with Calix. And that was what was inside my head throughout the day until I came home and he was already there waiting for me while cooking our dinner.

Yep. I already gave him my spare key so he could come and go to my apartment without waiting for me. Just like now, dinner was almost ready, I placed my bag on the sofa and started setting up the table. It became our routine every night that I put plates and utensils on the table while he prepared our food.

He was also starting to leave traces of himself in every corner of my penthouse. Just like the photography book he'd been reading lately lying on my coffee table. He also had some clothes here since he sometimes showers before he leaves before dawn, he also had his toothbrush, shaving cream, cologne, and other personal items lying around my bathroom—not that I was complaining but sometimes it felt like we were already semi-living together.

As I said, I was not complaining I just feared that I might be used to his presence in my life and that when the time came and he finally walked away from my life I would miss our set-up and I might not recover from it as fast as I would want. I feared that this might be tougher than when Loukas unintentionally broke my heart.

We started our night by eating our dinner, and chatting about our day since we were both busy during the day.

"So what did you do today?" I asked, sampling the flank steak on my plate. He already cut the steak into bite size before placing it in front of me, all I had to do was stab it with my work and eat.

"Fine," he answered dismissively while he was cutting the steak on his plate. "I went to Brooklyn today."

"Photography related, I assume." I queried lightly. 

He stopped cutting his meat and looked at me with a lopsided smile. "You know me. I'm flattered."

I made a sound like a snort. We had not been sitting at the dinner table for five minutes and here he was flirting shamelessly already. I sipped my red wine and continued to eat the steak he cooked so perfectly. It felt like I was eating at a high-end restaurant instead of a home-cooked meal.

After dinner, we sat outside on the balcony enjoying the night with the bottle of wine that was left from our dinner. We were sitting side by side and my head was resting on his shoulder while looking at the gleaming lights. It became our habit to enjoy the night like this before getting some action in the bedroom. It was so a calming feeling.

"If I have a proposition for you, are you going to listen?"

I could feel his head turned slightly to the side as he looked down at me. I could also hear him laugh softly. "If this is what I think it is then I am all ears."

I removed my head from his shoulder as I glared at his smirking face. "This is a business proposition, you know. Nothing sexually about it."

"Boring..."

The glare on my face intensified. "Are you interested to hear it or not?"

He flicked the tip of my nose with his fingers. "Fine. Let's hear your business proposition, Miss Vitalis. I'm all ears."

I took a deep breath, suddenly I felt very nervous about it. "Say if our art gallery will offer you to do an exhibit with us, is there a chance that you might say yes?"

"Ah, so this is all about that thing again?" He sipped his wine glass and looked away from me. I have a hard time deciphering his reaction because of it. It made me wonder what he was thinking at the moment.

"Didn't you ever think of displaying your works in a gallery for everyone to see and might sell some of your works for a high price?"

"No."

"I see," I conceded. I knew from the start that I might not be able to change his mind since he was very firm about this.

He caught me off guard when he suddenly moved his face until it was only a breath away from mine. I think I forgot how to breathe since I could see his beautiful eyes from this close distance. "Humor me, will you? If I might decide to take up your offer what will I get in return."

I forced my malfunctioning brain to somehow work. This was not the time for it to be not working properly since Calix was already considering the idea. "Uh...hmm...I will tell Mr. Braizen to only get twenty percent of the commission for every artwork your exhibit will be able to sell."

"I told you my works are not for sale. I will not sell them at any price." He whispered half an inch away from my lips which made my heart palpitate.

I took a deep breath as I put some distance between us. I couldn't think straight when he was this close to me. "Well...okay fine. I can't possibly think of anything to sweeten the deal for you but I will consult my boss about this."

"Your boss again," he commented with disgust while pouring his glass of wine. "Don't tell me you are just doing this for him? To please him?"

"What?! That's not true!" I informed him as I stood from my chair. "As a curator, I want to promote your works so the public will appreciate your works even more."

"Tell me, did your boss like the souvenir you gave him?" He suddenly changed the subject which made me distracted for a moment.

"Huh? Yeah, I think so, though he is as confused as me why did you choose Ares' head of all the design at the souvenir shop in Mykonos? You could have chosen a dozen of famous landmarks for that fridge magnet. Why Ares?"

There was a wicked smile playing on his lips while his eyes filled with devilry. "If he is a smart man he will get the meaning behind that fridge magnet."

I frowned at him. "And what is that?"

"My sweet, Cass..." he drawled, his eyes held with scorching fire in their depth that made me feel the burn starting inside my body with his stares. "...did you forget the story of Ares and his long-standing love affair with Aphrodite and the children she'd borne due to that affair?"

I shook my head regretfully. "I still don't get it."

It was his turn to shake his head but there was an unmistakable mocking smile playing on his lips while he started stalking me. "How can someone be naïve and innocent at the same time? I thought I'd been tainting your mind these past months it seems that I still have a long way to go before I could corrupt you completely."

Before I could realize his intention he already scooped me in his arms and walked back inside my apartment. "Hey! Put me down! We're not done talking yet."

"We are." He announced casually, looking me straight in the eye. "But unlike Ares, if I have the chance to have Aphrodite in my life. I will not just settle for a mere affair I intend to marry her when the time finally comes into my favor."

"What? Are we still talking about mythology here?"

"Of course, my Cass." He smiled privately, dropping a kiss on my unsuspecting lips. "What else are we talking about if not mythology?"

I pouted at him as we neared my bedroom. "What about my proposal?"

He feigned a shocked expression on his face. "Are you asking me to marry you? I didn't realize that you were already thinking of marriage. I thought we were going to take this slowly."

"Silly!" I said, slapping his shoulder with a cackle. He knew how to make me laugh with his jokes. "I am talking about the exhibit thing as if there is a woman who can tame you for marriage."

"Ah..."

"So what is your answer, Mr. Spiridakou?"

He let out a resigned sigh. "Fine. I will think about it." I was about to let out a victorious shout when he gave me a severe look. "I said, I will think about it. I don't remember saying that I already said yes, Cass. Don't celebrate too early."

"I know," I replied, placing a series of quick kisses on his mouth. "But it is a good start, right? One can be hopeful."

His face broke into a happy grin. "If I knew that I could get that kind of reaction from you. I might have entertained this idea even before." His eyes were now filled with unmistakable lust for me. For me alone. "Now for the most exciting part of the night. Time for dessert. I will enjoy my utmost gift from the gods thoroughly."