Dedicating this chapter to Unbroken_Promises. thanks for supporting me & my stories here with your wonderful comments. :) I really appreciate it. :)

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CHAPTER - 4

LOVE IS... PATIENT

"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person."

Ashton didn't find it necessary to answer the very important question I had asked him. In fact, all he did was look at me with a very disgusted look on his face; the look that made me feel incredibly stupid for even slightly believing in the rumors and thereby, asking him about the presence of a snake in his apartment. The way he looked at me, made me want to dig a hole and bury those gossip mongers from my office in it.

"Snake?" he asked in immense confusion, with the expressions of disgust towards me still intact.

My eyes widened as I realized the situation and looked down at the surface at which I was standing with fear - the couch. Shutting my eyes at my immense stupidity, I murmured to myself, "Idiot, Lia. You're an idiot."

"What?" he asked, making me look up from the black colored couch to his bearded face.

My head snapped up towards him and I opened my mouth to say anything that could make me look like a slightly lesser fool than what I was already making myself in front of him. Quite uncomfortably and forcefully, I shrugged my shoulders while taking a step down from the couch and said, "Oh... nothing. I just asked because snakes and I, usually don't get along very well." A forced and very weird sounding chuckle escaped my lips at the stupid answer I had just given him, but that didn't mean that I stopped talking. "Trust me, they are so scared of me that whenever they hear that I'm in a city, they slither their way out of the damn town. They just can't stand me and my strong personality." I gave him a tight lipped smiled when my tongue decided to shut up at last.

All during my rant; he was looking at me with raised eyebrows and the slightest amount of amusement in his grey eyes. "You sure do have a hell amount of imagination for a writer." He snickered while shaking his head at me.

"How do you know I'm a writer?" I cocked an eyebrow in a questioning manner and took a step towards him. I had just told him that his mother had sent me here, not the fact that I'm a writer.

As the question left my lips, his face became serious and he, too, took steps towards me. He was so huge and there was no doubt about the fact that he intimidated me with those deadlygrey eyes and his built. The step that I had taken towards him was taken back because of his ever increasing steps towards me. The one eyebrow that was cocked up in curiosity was now accompanied by the other eyebrow as well.

'What is wrong with him? Can't he stop and just answer the one simple question that I have asked him?'

He brought his face closer to mine and stared in my eyes which just made me gulp my own spit in nervousness. He whispered, making his hot air fan over my face, "Because I've been stalking you for a couple of months and because I've been waiting for you to acknowledge my existence in this huge world."

Both his closeness and his answer made me widen my eyes and even before I could think of anything to say in order to show the shock, I was facing, he took a step back from me and while rolling his eyes at me, he continued with disgusted expressions back on his face, "Such a hopeless romantic. Simply pathetic."

Before I could process whatever had happened here, he turned around and entered some room, followed by banging the door of that room, yet again. For what felt like the umpteenth time, I was left to stare at a wooden door in a span of hardly thirty minutes. And this was definitely not one of my favorite pastimes.

It took me about two minutes to understand the entire situation, and when I did, I looked around the room where I was left standing alone in this apartment in complete bewilderment. My mouth opened and closed on its own accord, but nothing came out of my lips as I tried to comprehend everything. Taking a deep breath, I stepped towards the room where he had entered and again, started banging on the door. If he thought he was stubborn, well, he had not met me earlier.

"Open the door, you idiot. What are you doing inside? Is this some way of treating a guest? Just open the-" Before I could continue with venting out my frustration and anger in the form of shouts, I was cut short by very loud music travelling from the other end of the door. It was obviously Ashton, who had played the music in, what I assumed was, his room; while I was left standing in his apartment alone.

"Are you out of your mind?" I shouted over the music, but I was pretty sure that he couldn't hear even a word over the loudness of the rap nuisance music. Taking a lungful of air, I tried again as I stared at the door in concentration and started banging the door while shouting again, "Open the damn door, weirdo!" All my shouting was in complete vain and with tightly clenched jaw and tightly closed fists, I took a step back from the door. I opened my fists, only to run my fingers through my hair that was tied in a tight bun, which only resulted in messing them even more. "What am I going to do?" I asked myself in a rather frustrated tone as I looked around the room with narrowed eyes.

I knew I had to be patient. Being impatient wasn't going to be of any help. To calm myself a little, I took a few deep breaths.

This made me notice the living room that I was in, and it was the typical definition of a guy's apartment. It was very untidy and everything was placed just every and anywhere. There were clothes, newspapers, magazines, pizza boxes and what not scattered all over the living area. The couch was not looking like a couch, it was more like a cloth cabinet, or better, the entire living room looked more like a garbage bin.

Biting my lower lip thoughtfully, I stared at the garbage around me and even though, I knew that he couldn't hear me, I said loud enough, "If you think your antics will make me run away, then you're about to get a surprise, Mr. Ashton Parker."

With that, I placed my bag in a corner and started working.

Well, I had to kill time here, anyway.

**********

Two hours

The minute's needle had decided to take complete two rounds in the clock, but there was still no sign of the weird jerk in the living room. The music was still way too loud. It was quite fun to hear the music in the beginning of this quest two hours ago, but now it was plain irritating. My gaze was fixed on the closed door, and with my head resting on the arm rest of the comfortable black couch, I was pretty sure that I was about to doze off any given moment.

I pondered about sleeping for some time, but the music was way too loud for my liking and I wasn't used to sleeping in so much noise. So, the option was cancelled. The thought of talking to my best friend crossed my mind and even before I could think about the pros and cons of it, my hand acted on reflex and took out my phone from my pants pocket.

Quickly, I dialed Stephanie's number and waited for her to answer, which she did after exact five rings. "Is he hot?" was her greeting in a very excited and chirpy voice. Apparently, my best friend was more concerned about Ashton Parker's hotness rather than my own well being.

"He is a psycho," I answered her question with wide eyes and I was pretty sure that she could hear the irritation and anger in my voice.

"Oh... Lia! Are you fine, honey?" Yes, she could hear my need to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Don't worry, Steph. I'm perfectly fine as I was spending the last two hours with myself and trust me, I so needed this 'me time' since such a long time. How would I ever thank the Mr. Parker for being so grateful to me?" I answered her sarcastically. And with this, I welcomed back my sarcasm that was missing since the time I stepped into this building.

"You can start by making lunch for me."

"How is making lunch for you and thanking him related?" I was giving her my incredulous look, which she obviously couldn't see. "And, why do you sound like him, Steph?"

"Umm... Lia, what are you saying? I didn't utter even a word." She sounded confused from the other end of the line, which just enhanced my ridiculed expressions.

Before I could say anything to her, I heard the same voice again. "A dumb, romantic fool." My head snapped towards the owner of the voice and my eyes widened in surprise. That was when I realized that the music was not playing anymore in the background and the owner of this apartment had decided to grace me with his presence, finally. He was looking down at my lying form on his black couch with a bored look on his face, but his eyes looked so mysterious and annoying.

"Oh... finally!" I breathed out in relief as I sat up on the couch. My attention from him was diverted by my friend's voice from the other end and I told her, "I've to go. Talk to you later." Before she could respond, I ended the call.

Keeping my phone back in my pants pocket, I looked at him while he was looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. "Now you decide to come out?" I asked him rhetorical question and got up from the couch in a ridiculed voice.

He rolled his eyes at me and a yawn escaped his lips as he stretched his hands over his head lazily. "I'm so hungry," he groaned, completely ignoring my question. He turned around and started walking towards the kitchen. I had utilized my two hours and taken a tour of his apartment in the meantime, all except his own room which he had locked from inside. My eyes wandered over his T-shirt covered back and his muscles were easily detectable through it. Both the brothers were fond of workouts, it was obvious.

He turned around abruptly and looked at me with an incredulous expression on his face. "Did you clean up here?" he asked, looking at me with narrowed grey eyes.

My cheeks reddened slightly, not only because of his question, but also because what I was doing a minute back was probably assumed to be called 'checking him out'. I looked around his now neat and clean apartment. Everything was clear now, like where which table was, which the recliner was and which was the bean bag, where his X-box was kept, where the magazines and newspapers were neatly folded and placed; his living room actually looked like a human being's living room now. A satisfied grin made its way on my face as I looked at my work of art. I was never going to admit it, but I was kind of a cleanliness freak. At the sound of throat clearing, my head snapped towards him and looking at his expressions of annoyance, my grin faded in a mere second. Sheepishly, I scratched the side of my head and shrugged my shoulders a bit forcefully. "I was getting bored."

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly as if he couldn't believe what I was saying. "And you decided to clean up my apartment?" he asked, pausing after every word he had said and eyed me like I was crazy.

I opened my mouth to reply, but then I decided against it. Ignoring his question was what I chose to do and asked my own question, "What were you doing inside?" I motioned towards his bedroom and looked at him skeptically. A gasp escaped my lips when I kind of understood his expressions and continued, "Were you sleeping inside while I was waiting here alone? Didn't you know you have a guest? You knew and yet you decided to go insane and go inside and play some really loud, stupid music and ignore my existence for almost two long hours. What is wrong with you? You know, there is no need for you to be so rude with me. I'm not here by choice. It's a compulsion and I've to bear you for the next twenty days. And, judging by the last two hours, I know it's not going to be easy. Can't you just try act a tad bit civil with me and make this time slightly enduring for me? Oh... and if you think that all this rudeness and stubbornness of yours is going to make me run away, then let me tell you, Mr. Aston Parker that you are very wrong. I'll stay and try my best to complete this assignment because I always finish what I start." By the end of my rant, I was breathing a bit heavily because of my speed of speaking and my eyes were turned into slits as I looked at him in challenge. He was looking down at me with completely blank expressions and I stopped the urge to smirk victoriously and say, 'Ha! In your face, Ashy boy! In your face!'

"Ten," he said, looking straight in my eyes.

I blinked my eyes at his one word response and managed to utter, "Wh... what?" 

Rolling his eyes at me, he turned around and started walking inside the kitchen, which I had cleaned up so nicely. "You used the word 'and' ten times in your rant," he informed me like I was an idiot.

All I could do was stare at his back with disbelief clear on my face. I was not sure if I had heard him correctly as this was not the kind of response I was looking forward to. In fact, it was nowhere near any of the responses any human would have given in such a situation. "What?" I asked again in comparatively high pitched voice to clear up the confusion that was clouding this room or rather, my head.

He turned abruptly and his lips were formed in a grimace as he rubbed his finger over his ear as if I was way too loud for his ear's liking. "I was informed that you're a writer. Anyways, you should start all over again. Take some basic English lessons," he suggested with a very serious face and all I could do was stare at him with widely open mouth and my eyes equal to the size of saucers. He turned again and walked in the kitchen but not before shouting over his shoulder, "You definitely need some hearing aids as well. You use 'what' way too much."

My fists closed tightly in a death grip that my own nails started digging into my palm, but I was least concerned about it. A low growl in anger and frustration escaped my lips and I ran my hand over my face several times. 'What am I going to do with him?'

Sprinting out of here and quitting this assignment, thereby not complying with the contract seemed like the best alternative to me. But, could I really do it? A part of me was shouting at me that yes, of course I could do this and get out of this hell hole, but there was another part, a much stubborn part that was telling me not to be a coward and fulfill this assignment. Hadn't I just, very boldly, told him that I always complete what I start?

'Just be patient. Just be patient!' I chanted in my head. I guess, this was going to be a test of my patience and my words.

My dwelling thoughts were interrupted when he came out of the kitchen and looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. I raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner as I wasn't in a mood to talk to him or speak even a single word to him. "If I'm not wrong-" he started in a thoughtful yet smug manner "-my mother pays you, right?"

**********

"Have you ever eaten a bear?"

I looked up with narrowed eyes and gave him a deadly stare. I was not on talking terms with him since the last half hour, so, I didn't bother answering his question and focused back on the half eaten sandwich on my plate; the sandwich which I had made as, apparently, according to a certain jerk if I was working for his mother, I was supposed to do whatever he asked me to do. Making a sandwich was the start of all this.

I heard him snort and he continued, despite of my ignorance, "I mean, you look like a bear so you must have eaten a bear." My head snapped up from my sandwich to him and I looked at him with completely ridiculous expressions. This made the smirk on his face grow and he scratched his bear in a thoughtful manner. "People say you are what you eat. That's funny, I don't remember eating a sexy beast lately!"

Oh... so modest. Not.

If this would have been any other normal circumstance and if I would have been in my normal mood, I would have undoubtedly smiled or laughed at what he had said. The key word here being 'normal'. Because, neither was this even remotely a normal circumstance nor was I in my normal mood. How could I be? In the last few hours, I had been given a very irritating task, met the weirdest and the rudest guy on the planet, got insulted way too many times to even count on my fingers, cleaned up his apartment to kill boredom, and to add to everything, I cooked lunch for him.

Trust me, when I say that I was about to say no when he had kind of ordered me to cook lunch for him, but it was obvious that he had just woken up and he was hungry, well, so was I. So, I decided to do this first and the last favor for him. But my hopes of having a peaceful lunch were shattered when he decided to open his stupid mouth and say whatever he wished to, and mind it, none of it was good.

I had always heard rumors about Ashton Parker being a very stubborn, self centered, rude and arrogant jerk. Here I was experiencing all this on my own. The only conclusion I could draw from my meeting with him was some rumors were actually true.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up my cup of coffee and while looking at him, took a sip of the brown liquid. He was looking at me with a huge arrogant smirk on his lips and I so badly wanted to wipe it off by throwing some coffee over his face. But then I thought against it. Why would I, in my right mind, waste something as good as coffee on a useless person like him? No, not at all.

"Look, Mr. Parker," I started, but was cut off by the deadly gaze he gave me. No words came out of my lips as he stared at me like he could kill me any given moment.

"Ashton," he said in a low voice, but it was so strong and commanding that for a moment, I forgot what I was going to say to him.

I blinked a few times and diverted my attention back to my sandwich to give my mind some peace from the sudden tension that had surrounded us. After a minute of silence and feeling his hard gaze fixed on me, I started again, "Look, Ashton, you know why I'm here. And seriously, it's not by choice. I don't know what acquired Priscilla's mind and why she sent me here, but what I do know is that I'm given an assignment and I'll complete it."

He kept on staring at me and picked up his sandwich. He took a huge bite of it and started chewing it, not bothering to say anything at all as if I hadn't said anything in the first place. His gaze was fixed on me and I waited for him to swallow his bite, patiently. After what seemed like a prolonged wait, he chewed down his food, and opened his mouth. "You mean that you'll make me fall in shit?"

Laughter threatened to escape from my lips at how he used the word 'shit' instead of 'love' and I was about to nod my head in agreement, but I stopped myself from doing that when I remembered my main aim of being here. I had to make him fall in love with someone and how could I do that if I straightaway told him that I refer 'love' as 'shit' too. It would be a huge giveaway of the fact that I, too, was a non-believer in love. I couldn't do it.

"Look, Liana," he started and I was brought back from my thoughts when he said my name. Why was it so strange to hear my name from his mouth? Something was terribly wrong with me, or maybe it was the sandwich I was eating. "I'm not in this with my own choice too. Trust me, if it was up to me, you'd have never been able to step inside my apartment."

"Oh! Trust me, it was no less a conquest." I rolled my eyes at him, which made him smirk.

He continued, "All I'm saying is it would be better for you to just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours. Make a fake draft and an article, use my name; I don't give a f*ck. But just stay away." His eyes were dead serious, his voice was hard and his tone was that of finality, his straight jaw was telling me that he was not kidding.

Well, neither was I. It was all business!

Nodding my head slightly, I bent slightly towards the table all the while maintaining eye contact with him and said, "But what if I succeed in making you fall in love with someone?"

He snickered and narrowed his eyes at me. "You really want to try. Don't you?"

"What's the harm in it?" I questioned back, keeping my face as straight as I could. "You don't believe in love and I'm pretty sure that nothing would change in the next twenty days for you. So, why not give this a try? You've got nothing to lose."

The silence between us was prolonged as he stared at me with his grey eyes as if trying to understand something or like he was thinking hard about something, while I kept my face as blank as I could. Quite impatiently, I waited for him to break the silence, but I didn't let it show on my face. All I did was wait until, finally he decided to speak, "Okay!" My eyes widened in surprise and my lips stretched in a huge grin as I heard his answer. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, he beat me at it by interrupting me. "But, there's a condition."

The happiness on my face got replaced by confusion as I looked at him with raised eyebrows and asked, "What condition?"

His blank facial expressions soon got covered by his irritating smirk as he answered, "Every day for the next twenty days, you've to tell me what love is. One definition per day, that's all. The day when I'd be fully satisfied with your given definition would be the day you'd succeed in this assignment." Looking at my expressions of complete ridiculousness, his smirk grew bigger and he mused, "It mustn't be difficult for you. You're the writer of the famous 'Love Column' after all. Giving twenty basic definitions must be an easy task, right?"

I didn't have to be a fool to detect the underlying challenge in his voice. All he was asking me to do was define love very basically. I could do that, right? There was a time I could write a bible on love, all I had to do was pick the best twenty lines of that bible and use them to make him believe in love. It was not going to be tough. Writing or saying anything about love used to my strongest points about four months back and I was pretty sure that I could use them to my advantage again. Couldn't I?

"Right!" I agreed while nodding my head as I mentally prepared myself for the next twenty days with the devil.

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A/N

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