My head was pounding . It was  increasing  unbearably while hearing Ed's bickering . He had gathered utter non sense in the name of collecting information regarding the  report . I had killed him ten times now in my mind by all the different and innovative methods shown in GOT. What will it take to stop him?

We were sitting in Mark's  office  presenting our share of report to Mark . Speaking of him , he has been acting strange today . He had been ignoring me all morning , even when I came up with his cup of coffee he just murmured thank you without even looking at me once. I felt stupid , a  wanna be  to have read everything as wrong. He was just being friendly last night and now I might have been appearing as creepy individual who is invading his personal space.

Here is a thing about me . I'am a pessimist and paranoid. I can't stop thinking like that and it makes me a friend to everyone but a friend to none except Stacy , that girl might even befriend the Grim reaper if she meets one. That was the reason when Mark started acting weird I curled up into  my black hole instead of asking him about whatever that was bothering him . He looked so out of place today . My heart was aching to ask him but my pessimist soul stopped me from saying anything and guess who I listened to ? So here I was avoiding to look his way , choosing to hear  Ed's crap. My headache was getting a headache now. I opened my purse and popped in one more aspirin .

After long and  painful two hours of Ed , the torture ended. I gave a quick thirty minutes report which was part of the whole report I had written earlier . Yep! I don't believe in Ed not even one percent. As soon as Ed left the office I handed out the full report to Mark which I had made earlier  . He just nodded and smiled weakly. Me being me just nodded and left without a word. If he doesn't want to talk , fine by me . I left for my desk to edit few articles for the paper .

" Why so sad today heebie jeebie?" Ed whispered in my ear.

" What the fuck Ed ?" I jumped out of my seat startled by our proximity . " Personal space Ed, personal space" I added as I moved my chair away from where he was standing now.

" Oh ! you can't resist me if I come close? " He smirked to which i fake gagged . He laughed at that like an imbecile he is and asked " seriously what is up with you? "

" And you care why? by the way i am not sad"

" Liar"

" Creep"

 " Oh you love this creep don't you?" He gave me a disgusting smile , the very smile that makes  Kiara drool. Yep! she has a huge crush on this shithead . How? Why? That's one of the biggest mysteries of the world for me.

" Yep! if the desire to smother you with a  bag of dirty laundry from central jail is called love , then I love you from the bottom of my heart".  My lips making a thin line now out of annoyance towards this piece of hell .  He made  a  kissey face like a 10 year old he is to which I  rolled my eyes and turned back to my work. I wanted to complete it early and leave this place  avoiding Mark . I know I should not but I could not persuade my eyes which automatically turned away whenever Mark was in sight. The silence prevailed again filled with normal voices of the office . I zoned in to my work .

" Here , it might help you" It was Ed again resurfacing from my back . God I can't never get a break can I ?... I thought while turning towards him , extremely pissed off now . He was holding my coffee  mug with coffee in it . I looked at him surprised . He rolled his eyes and handed me my mug and got back to his seat without a word. What did just happen?...Too shocked to ask or say anything I got back to my work and for the coffee , nope! not  gonna drink it . Remember I mentioned earlier I am paranoid about everything and anything including the possibility of Ed spitting in my coffee . I left early that day exhausted emotionally and physically both . 

Few weeks passed by  filled with office work, Fri cri nights , dinners with jo and janet and  Ed's nonsense . Neither of us talked about his little  friendly gestures  now and then   which was very weird but I guess finally his humanity was returning back and he was getting used to the fact that women and men work together in this century . And for Mark , he had kept his distance from his friendly boss nature and was just being a normal grumpy , pain in the ass boss . I couldn't care less . People come and leave without bothering about you , they are selfish . And it was just a stupid coffee , stop being creepy Becca......

.........................................................x................................................x........................................................

Christmas was round the corner and I had so many assignments to submit after the holidays thanks to cranky Mark . It was a  good thing that we had this weekend off as a complimentary holiday considering Christmas was on Monday . I left for home after dragging through long and exhausting day . Today was Friday but since both the girls had pre planned things to do I was going to be alone today which was a relief. I wanted to be alone today.  Since it was raining cats and dogs I changed out of my wet clothes into comfortable sweats and a crop top as soon as I got home . Heading into my open kitchen I got my precious coffee powder that I  had asked Janet to make  me from her shop since they were going  away for the weekend to spend their holidays with their family  and Derek had his exams coming up , making him close his shop earlier  these days.

I made myself a hot cup of coffee while ordering a pizza and plopped down  on my couch wrapped in my comfy teen titans blanket my mother got me when I was a child. What? It was very soft. I was reading ' the law of attraction ' while enjoying the coffee. It was my favorite thing to do when it was raining outside .

After having my dinner I made my self more cups of coffee while I read my book . Yep! I was a nerd , mentioned it earlier. Anyways as I was mentally debating if I should get another cup or should I go to bed  my door bell screamed a little louder than usual . My heart started racing as I was startled at the sound. It was midnight and I wasn't expecting any company at this time of hour. Anyways I walked up to my door and peeped through the door hole to see it was Mark standing behind the door. Surprised by the arrival of unexpected guest I opened the door a little . He was leaning to the side wall with a bottle of whiskey in his hands . He looked flustered like he was drinking all evening . After few seconds which passed by in complete silence as I was unable to comprehend his presence he turned his head to me and spoke in slurry speech
" Youuuu w-won'tt in-n vite me inn??" Too confused to answer I opened my door wider and stood by the side. He stumbled in , walking slowly to the couch and sat with a force tilting his head back , his eyes focused on the ceiling . Even drunk him looked so hot and sexy I couldn't help but stare at  his face which was  wet because of the rain , covered with evening stubble . His lips were a shade darker than red but lighter than cherry from all the alcohol he pumped in his veins . His white shirt was soaked wet on his shoulders rest being  dry thanks to his black leather jacket . His rugged blue denims and brown shoes were muddy and wet which made me presume that he walked here. His hair wet and messy and looked  incredibly appealing , my hand aching to run my fingers through his hair. And creepy becca returns ..My inner voice snapped me out my thoughts and I hurried back inside my bedroom to get a fresh piece of towel for him . Taking it out of my cupboard I turned around to see him standing at the door.

" Here dry yourself  otherwise You will get the flu" I said while stretching  out my hand with towel towards him. He walked in his drunken gait towards me and grabbed my outstretched wrist yanking me into his chest. I lost my balance and not to forget how strong his grip was I crashed onto his hard chest . Straightening up I tried pulling myself backward  taking in his lemon mixed cologne but his hand left my wrist only to grab my waist  to pull me closer . And said something that made absolutely no sense at all.

" I-I know I can't h-ave youuu . I-I shouldn'-tt have you. I can't drrrag you down-n  um  the hole. I am I am  sorry . You know how hard it is st-ay away from you . To look into your eyes knowing that I can -not have you . Beccsss !!! you are the one , the angel from my nightmare " he said his his grayish greens eyes looked right in my eyes showing vulnerability and helplessness . I was confused and before I could attempt to understand what he just said , he pulled me closer as if it was possible leaning into me , his lips touched my cheeks  which sent a shiver down my spine. And just like that I forgot every around me,  his words everything except for him . He slowly traced my jaw line , his breath caressing my cheeks  with his eyes closed. My eyes shut I took in his cologne and his natural lemony smell mixed with a hint of alcohol . His lips ever so slowly stopped on my chin only to press against my own lips lightly . Butterflies in stomach flew like a storm making me weak on my knees  and before I could take all it in he pulled himself backward.

Still stunned by his action I kept my eyes closed for few more seconds hoping he would kiss me again . But that never happened . My eyes swung open at a loud thud only to see him lying on my bed smiling . His dimples teasing me again which made me go all red and warm out of embarrassment . I threw the towel on his face " Dry yourself " and walked out of the bed room towards my couch to clean up the mess as I heard him get in the shower. Sighing I got back to the sink to clean my coffee mug  after cleaning up the couch . 

He called out from my bed room . I hurriedly walked back in only to see him lying in bed shirtless showing his toned torso , my sweat pants didn't exactly fit him  as it reached only till above his ankles. " the shirt didn't fit me" He shrugged while grinning.The hot shower seemed to have some affect seeing that he was not stuttering anymore but still was drunk . I rolled my eyes and asked  " And you called to tell me this??" To which he shook his head slowly still in drunken mode and patted the bed besides him eyeing me to lie down besides him .

" umm... no thanks , i'll sleep on my couch" 

" You want me to drag you ?" he pouted trying  to sit but lost his balance and flopped back again . It made me laugh . I bit my lower lip to control my laughter and pulled out a spare blanket out and slipped on the bed besides him facing him, maintaining a decent amount of distance between us. He wrapped his strong arms around me and scooped me closer to him to which I tensed . he whispered " Better.....good night Beccs." 

Relaxing a bit under his arms I rested my head on his chest to hear his heart beat slowing down  rhythmically as he started snoring softly . I closed my eyes concentrating on his heart beat  which acted as a lullaby feeling sleepy.

A/N

Hi  readers.. phew!! A long chapter this one was. Anyways I enjoyed writing this sweet chapter .

please vote and comment how did you find this chapter. 

tzoned.....:)