AMELIA GRABBED HER phone from the bed and sent a quick text to Alex, asking him when he'd be home.

She threw the phone back on the bed, using the towel around her head to dry the wet strands of her dark hair.

She picked up her hairbrush from her dresser but the bell made her stop.

She frowned to herself, placing the brush back down as she walked towards the door, peeking from the peephole.

All she could see was someone's chest. She took a step back, her frown deepening.

“Who is it?” She asked unsurely.

“Lia, it's me.”

Amelia's heart dropped all the way down to her stomach.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths.

“I'm not opening the door,” she announced.

She heard him inhale sharply as if he was very done with her antics.

She rolled her eyes.

“What do you want?” She asked once the silence had stretched long enough.

“I want to talk.”

“Alex will be here any minute. You should leave.”

“He won't be,” he said and Amelia’s stomach coiled itself into tighter knots.

“What do you mean he won't be?”

“He’ll be staying late,” Ethan replied.

“Why?” She asked even though she already knew the answer.

“Because I asked him to. Because I wanted to talk to you.”

“I despise you,” she gritted out and maybe he stopped breathing for a second on the other side of the door.

“I know.” His reply came a little too late and a little slurred out.

Amelia frowned to herself.

“Are you drunk?” She asked.

“No.”

“You're fucking hammered, aren't you?” She asked, her hand flying towards the door but then she paused.

It wasn't wise to let him in.

“I didn't want to come here. Especially not in this condition. I know how much you hate all of this.”

His words were rushed, as if he wanted to explain himself to her.

“You need to call Ken so that he can take you home.”

“I know,” he sighed. Something hit the door lightly and…

Amelia peeked from the little hole, craning her neck sideways, trying to get a good look at him.

She froze, heart stuttering to a stop.

He had settled himself on the ground, slumped against the door.

“You need to leave,” she said once again, panic settling in her bones.

What if Alex found them like this? What would he think? But then again, she wasn't doing anything wrong. He was out there. She hadn't allowed him in.

She wasn't doing anything wrong.

“I know,” he replied with a desperate edge to his voice.

Amelia exhaled through her nose, giving some of the tension in her shoulders an out.

She hasn't realized how fast her heart had gotten ever since he'd said her name.

“You're in a relationship.”

His voice seemed to reverberate through her, the desperate edge still there, as if he was hoping she would reply with something other than the obvious.

“Yes, I am,” she nodded.

A pause followed her words. A pause that seemed to contain decades within it.

“I hate it. I hate every second of it. Knowing you're here with him.”

Amelia’s heart seemed to stop beating. She held her breath, as if cutting off her oxygen might make him take back his words.

It didn't.

His words still lingered in the air, the door between them nothing but a sliver of the lightest fabric.

He was there and she was here. There was no distance between them anymore. It was them and his words, so full of hurt, pain, and regret.

“I don't regret anything in my life. Everything I've done, I've done after careful consideration, after weighing all the pros and cons.”

She wanted him to stop. She needed him to stop.

“But that day. The day I let you go. I regret that day with every single breath. I wish I had done things differently. I wish I had somehow stopped you.”

She gritted her teeth and willed him to stop because maybe if she willed hard enough, he would vanish. Just maybe. She didn’t wanted to hear this. Not anymore.

She rested her palm against the cold surface of the door, just to calm her frantic self.

It was still there, the barrier between the two of them.

There had always been uncountable barriers between them. Ethan had placed them to keep her away and she had overcome all of those barriers but now, she was the one to place this barrier.

And she wouldn't allow him to cross over.

“Call Kenneth right now and ask him to take you home,” she ordered, her voice getting the right amount of harshness.

He didn't need to know the effect of his words on her.

He sighed on the other side. The silence stretched longer than was comfortable.

“I think I'm going crazy,” he whispered.

She gave a bitter laugh in response.

“You'll get over it,” she said blankly.

“Did you?”

Her heart stuttered to a stop all over again.

She rested her back against the door and forced herself to breathe.

Had she ever gotten over him in the first place?

She gave her head a little shake. She was over him. She had been for years. He wasn't going to make her doubt that. She wouldn't allow him to.

“I did,” she said firmly, nodding to herself.

He inhaled a little too loud, like her words might have made him stop breathing too.

Like her words had hurt him like his had hurt her a million years ago.

It made her feel a savage sort of satisfaction.

“Then why haven't you said my name ever since we've met, back at the bar?” he asked, his voice suddenly losing its slurriness and becoming cold and sharp.

Her already weak knees gave out from under her and she slid to the ground pathetically.

She closed her eyes and counted the beats of her heart. It somewhat grounded her to the present.

“There hasn't been the need to,” she said weakly.

He laughed. The genuine, warm laugh that she had rarely heard from him. The one that had always made her melt inside.

Now, it did the opposite.

“You're a shitty liar, you know?” He stated.

Only in front of you. She thought and it made her heart ache.

“Why haven't you?” He asked, serious once again.

She sighed. “I don't know.”

“Yes, you do,” he replied.

“Maybe I do. But I don't want to say it.” She accepted out loud, hoping that he might not remember their conversation.

“I'll say it for you then,” he began and she closed her eyes.

“You haven't said my name yet because saying it out loud will make me very real. And you don't want that. You still want to believe that if you will hard enough, I'll vanish.”

Wasn't that one of the many reasons why she had fallen in love with him in the first place?

Because he had made her feel seen and understood. He had known what she was feeling without her uttering a single word.

She opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her, like he could somehow see her actions. Like there wasn't a door between them at all.

“I'm not done,” he said and she closed her mouth.

“Another reason for you not saying my name is you're afraid that saying it might bring back all those emotions and everything you felt about me. And that'll make you a very horrible person.”

That was it.

She stood up and yanked the door open. He stumbled backwards but quickly composed himself as he stood up and turned around to face her.

She felt her breath hitch but didn't dwell on it. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair so badly ruffled it made him look all the more beautiful.

She quieted her thoughts and stared at him with a hard look on her face.

“Give me your phone right now,” she ordered and he stared at her for a long while before his face broke into a teasing grin.

It made her want to punch him.

He fumbled around in his pocket before holding out his phone in his palm.

She picked it up, careful to not let their hands touch.

She turned the screen towards him and his phone unlocked with a click.

She opened his contacts, searching for Kenneth's number.

She dialed it quickly and placed the phone on speaker, holding it between them.

“Hello,” Kenneth's voice rang around them, exactly as she remembered from that year with Ethan.

She glared at him, then motioned towards the phone, silently ordering him to speak.

He still had that amused grin on his face and he only shrugged in response.

“Boss?” Ken asked.

“Talk,” Amelia mouthed furiously.

All it did was made him lean against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest, amusement dancing on his previously dead face.

She sighed dramatically.

“Boss, is everything okay?” Kenneth asked once again.

“Hi, Ken. It's me, Amelia,” she said, giving up with her futile efforts.

Silence followed her words.

“Oh,” Ken said finally and she rolled her eyes.

“Can you come here and take him back, please?”

“Yes, of course, Miss Harold. Can you send me your location?” He asked and Amelia heard the amusement in his voice.

“Of course. Just be here as soon as possible.” She muttered before hanging up.

She quickly sent the location to Kenneth before shoving the phone in Ethan's chest. He held her hand there in lieu of grabbing his phone.

Her eyes widened momentarily, goosebumps erupting all over her skin before she yanked her hand away from his grip.

His triumphant, amused smile hasn't vanished this entire time.

She tried closing the door in his face but he stopped her by sticking his foot at the bottom of the door frame.

“Stop. You need to leave.” She said.

“Just waiting for Kenneth to pick me up,” he stated matter of factly.

“You can wait outside. I'm not inviting you in.”

“Why not, Lia? Afraid I'll do something that your boyfriend might not like?” He mocked, getting back in his senses little by little.

“Don't make me punch you again,” she glared at him.

“I wouldn't mind,” he said, not challenging but almost like he wanted her to do it.

She rolled her eyes and futilely tried to close the door once again.

“Say my name, Lia,” he demanded, taking a step forward.

Her confident demeanor melted like ice under the sun and she took a step back.

“Don't you dare,” she whispered but he didn't stop.

“Say my name.”

“No.”

“So, I was right, wasn't I?”

“No, you weren't but I don't have to prove anything to you.”

He looked at her without blinking and she felt her heartbeat getting erratic.

“Stop,” she said once again, more firmly this time.

He blinked, probably realizing what he was doing.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair before he took a step back.

“Right. I'm sorry. I should leave,” he said.

“You should.” She nodded.

They stayed in their positions for a long minute, staring at each other.

Amelia felt the pull in her stomach and she gritted her teeth.

This was so very wrong.

“Lia, I…” he began but she stopped him.

“No. I don't want to hear it. I'm in a relationship and if you do this again, visit me when Alex is not home, I'll tell him and then I'll tell the police.”

Whatever softness was on his face evaporated and Amelia noticed the tick in his jaw.

“That'll be a reasonable thing to do,” he nodded and Amelia heard the restraint in his voice.

He turned around and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him.

Amelia let out a breath, forcing her frantic heart to calm down.