Enrico drank down some water after putting the pills in his mouth. Afterwards, he sat there, almost like a zombie, staring out into space. His mind was ever so divided on what to do next. He knew he hurt her. He very well knew what he should do to rectify it, but at the same time, he just couldn't. It felt so complicated. Enrico really didn't want the past repeating itself. That was the main reason he became this way in the first place. After all, who exactly was Kiana to me? An old acquaintance? Just his first love? His assistant? His maid? Who exactly could he say she was to him? Why did she have so much effect on him? With her, he was always wary of his words. With her, every pain was noticeable. It wasn't like that with the women he had been with. Kiana was different and he truly accepted that fact. The only problem was how to stop her from being the different one.

* * *

Kiana let out a sigh after she was done wiping the counter clean. She stood still for a moment before turning her head and looking up to Enrico's room. She eventually looked away, then lightly bit her lower lip, as several thoughts ran through her mind.

Kiana stood quietly before taking in a deep breath, while she shut her eyes for a moment. Right after she opened her eyes, she took gentle steps into the room and only came to a halt when she noticed Enrico seemingly asleep on his bed. Slowly, she let out a sigh. A part of her grateful that he was now asleep. She had thought of several ways to deal with his harsh comments or their awkward situations. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to deal with any of that. Therefore, she took bold, but careful steps further and only stopped when she was in front of him. Slightly, she turned her head to the tray on the bedside table. She stared at the bowl of soup she had brought. A closer look and she realised, it had gone down a little. A brief smile formed on her lips. Taking a look at the cup of water, she could see he had drunk it down, hopefully, with his medication.

She let out another sigh as she shifted her eyes back to him. Kiana couldn't help but notice he looked so different whenever he was asleep. She raised her right hand to her hair and pushed it behind her ear, before slightly bending to take a closer look at him. She gently placed a hand on his forehead to feel his temperature. Another brief smile formed her lips when she realised it had subsided a little. He was getting better and that was good. She slowly withdrew her hand away from his forehead. She should walk away, right? But Kiana just couldn't. Once more, her eyes felt glued to his face. Thinking about it, she seemed a little relieved there was one thing about him from the past that stayed on. His eyesight. Kiana couldn't understand why she has to be the one to always take off his glasses when he's asleep during situations like this. She wasn't exactly complaining. She just wondered.

She gently took the glasses off him and left them on the bedside table. Staring back down at his face, Kiana couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if she had said yes in the past. What, then, would be their present? Could things have seemed a little better between them? She stretched her hand in an attempt to lightly touch his hair, but suddenly stopped halfway through, her hand hung in the air.

What am I doing?

Kiana asked herself quite unable to comprehend her actions anymore. One part, she yearned to run her hand through his hair and on the other part, she told herself she just can't. Why? Because of several reasons such as, the past needs to stay in the past, he's her boss and she doesn't deserve him, especially after what she did to him in the past, something he has no idea about. That was it. She needed to end this right here, at least for her own safety. With that thought, Kiana immediately stood straight then quickly attempted to walk away, only to be grabbed on the wrist, pulled thereby forcing her to make an immediate turn, which causes her to lose her balance and fall right on the space recently created on the bed.

Her heart raced really fast as her eyes widened in surprise. For some reason, she felt frozen, unable to move as she laid there on the bed, his arms wrapped around her. Her eyes looked anywhere else, but at the face of the owner of the arms around her. It all happened so fast. One moment, he was asleep and she was about to walk away then suddenly, she found herself there.

Asleep!

Kiana's brows slightly furrowed. Immediately, she realised he hadn't been asleep all this while. Blinking a few times to recollect her thoughts, Kiana swallowed hard as she got ready to speak up.

"What... What are you doing?" Kiana asked, her voice a little shaky and low.

All she got was silence followed by the sound of his breathing. Kiana had never been this close to him before. It felt a little awkward, but strangely good, although the effect alone paralysed her. Kiana shut her eyes for a moment to gain control once more of herself. It couldn't possibly be happening to her. Finally, she somehow found the will to fight the effect off then attempted to get up, but Enrico held her back down.

"Be still... please... Just for a few minutes." His voice suddenly came through, sounding much like a whisper. The tone itself, not like that of an order, but a little like that of a needy person. Honestly, it took her off guard. Kiana found herself lying still with her back slightly faced to him. When silence fell upon them once more, little by little, she could feel his heartbeat behind her. What puzzled her the more was that it raced equally as fast as hers was going. That could only mean he felt at least a little as she did right now. She felt a little confused. One moment, Enrico is annoying her to the core and another moment, he takes her breath away. Right now, he was asking for something she couldn't even understand the reason as to why.

Enrico drew her closer to him, filling in any space there could have been in between them. Kiana could feel her breath hitched within her throat. It made her wonder if this was going to be the death of her. The feeling was all too overwhelming.

"I'm sorry." He stated, his voice still much like a whisper, but this time, she could feel his breath on her hair. His apology took her by surprise.

"For... for what?" She managed to speak up, as she stared nowhere in particular.

"Everything." His reply came after a while of silence. Kiana remained silent and only let out a quiet sigh.

"Truthfully Enrico, you shouldn't be saying sorry to me... I should have apologised for everything... especially for the past. I... I hadn't meant to hurt you that day... I'm sorry." She apologised, as she recollected the past and her eyes got a little teary. She had tried so hard to forget all that had happened, but fate really had a way of playing cruel jokes. Then, her one wish was for her path to never cross his again. If he eventually found the truth about her reason for rejecting his offer that day, he would most definitely never forgive her. He might even see her as the worst person ever and Kiana couldn't fathom how that would make her feel. She really didn't want to.

She shut her eyes for a moment to console herself.

"You're here... and that's all that really matters." Enrico added, the sincerity sensed within his voice, which only made her guilty feeling engulf her further.

She gently wiped the tears off her cheeks, hoping he wouldn't take notice of it. She sniffed a little lighter as she decided to control her sobs. In a weird way, she was happy even if it was going to last for a few minutes. She had this moment with him. She was going to take advantage of it as well. Kiana gently shut her eyes once more. She decided to focus her attention on the soft sound of his breathing, as well as his thumping heartbeat on her back and that was exactly what she did.

As Enrico's eyes remained shut, he cherished each second she was in his arms. Each second meant the world to him. If only he could have it for all eternity.

* * *

Kiana slightly furrowed her brows as she moved her head a bit, before eventually fluttering her eyes open. They lurked around in search of sheer understanding of her surroundings. A simple smile formed on her lips as she took one look at Enrico's arm around her. It wasn't a dream. While she woke up, a part of her feared that she might have been dreaming. Realising that little moment wasn't a dream, brought joy to her. By the sound of Enrico's breathing, she concluded that he was still asleep. She decided to get up before he woke up. The fact still remains that they were living in reality. When he woke up, it might just be too strange and awkward to speak to each other, so she decided to avoid that situation.

Gently and carefully, she raised his arm around her, then sly slipped away, before setting his arm back to its usual position. Thankfully, Enrico hadn't moved a muscle. He barely noticed and it made Kiana realise he was deep in sleep. She felt good knowing he was having a good rest. He deserved it. After staring at him for a moment, she turned to pick up the tray off the side table, only to notice his mobile phone vibrating, the movement alone on the table disrupting the silence of the room. She took one look at Enrico and noticed he moved a bit. For fear of him waking up, Kiana quickly picked up the phone. One look at the caller ID and she felt her heart sink. She shifted her eyes away from the screen in hope that the caller would eventually give up. It did, but then the call came through once more, up to three times and as Kiana noticed Enrico's movement again, she made a decision to pick up the call. Putting the phone close to her ear, Kiana carefully walked out of the room. She took in a deep breath. After all, the caller deserved to know what had happened.

"Hello, Enrico, why weren't you picking my calls? How long will you keep ignoring your mother?" Her voice came through a little authoritatively.

"This... this isn't Enrico." Kiana managed to speak up. A moment of silence fell from Guilia's part.

"Where's my son and... who's this?" Her voice came through once more, a little lower than earlier.

Kiana let out a silent sigh. She didn't recognise her voice.

"I... I'm his assistant and... Mr. Vos isn't feeling okay at the moment. Actually, he's asleep."

"Feeling okay!? What's wrong with Enrico? Why didn't he call for me and why is he sleeping in the office? He should be resting at home." Giulia asked in a panic. Her voice filled with frenzy.

Kiana shut her eyes.

"He is. He's asleep in his room... at home."

"What... and... are you there as well?" She asked, a little surprise laced on her words. Kiana hesitated before giving a reply.

"Yes." Silence fell for a moment before Giulia spoke up.

"I'll be there in a jiffy... do you, by any chance, know the password into his penthouse?"

"Yes."

"Good, text it right away to me." She ordered, before disconnecting the call.

Afterwards, Kiana stood with her back rested on the wall. Perhaps, she did a bad thing by picking up his call, but she didn't want to wake him, plus the person in question there was his mother. She deserved to know her son's condition. After sending the text, Kiana made a turn and walked back into the room. Luckily, he was still asleep, so she kept the phone back to its former place before picking up the tray and heading out of the room.

She let out a sigh once she was in front of the sink within the kitchen. A whole lot of memories rushed back to her and Kiana had to admit the fact that things were getting a little tighter for her. Right now, she felt like a bomb was ticking. A bomb of the truth being exposed someday and definitely destroying everything around it.

She let out another sigh, before making herself busy with washing the dishes.

* * *

Giulia quickly pressed in the password and when the sound signifying that the door had opened came next, a small smile formed on her face. Although, she couldn't fathom who this woman that gave her the password was and why Enrico let her have it in the first place. He barely concurred in giving her, his mother, the entrance into his home, but he let in his assistant. None of it made sense to her. Right now, she was just so occupied with the thought of her son being sick.

She quickly pushed the door to open, then stepped in. She took off her shoes and put on the open-heel slippers before venturing further into the penthouse. She came to a standstill when she was in front of the sitting room. She then recalled the fact that he was in his room. She made a turn and took a few steps further, but she slowly came to a stop when she noticed a woman coming out of the guest room. Her brows slightly furrowed as the woman had her head bent staring at something on her phone. Suddenly, she raised her head and when their eyes met, she slowly came to a stop.

Giulia stared hard and longed to recall the familiar face. Slowly, her eyes widened in surprise as she recollected where exactly she had seen that very face.

Kiana, on the other hand, was in less of a surprise. She had been expecting her, but staring at the look on her face, Kiana realised the woman hadn't least expected to see her face. Suddenly, Giulia took quick steps towards her and only stopped when she was in front of Kiana.

"You..." She pronounced, almost in a whisper. Shock, surprise, fear all drawn on her face.

"... What are you doing here?" She asked, still almost in a whisper, between gritted teeth; the look in her eyes threatening.

Kiana did nothing but stare at her. She finally understood what people meant by the past will always catch up with you.

Hers just did.