Katherine's POV:

Ever since the first time, the same dream came back to me every night and haunted me during the day. Not a single thing changed, not even once. I felt the same emotions every single time, the same pain, and the same love.

Every morning I'd be even more curious than the day before about the meaning of the dream. Why was it only about Nate? Who was the person trying to kill me?

All these thoughts felt like a heavy weight on my heart. But at the same time, the feelings I had for Nate in my dream made my heart ache and wish it was true.

It felt like betrayal for Hugh as we had been trying the concept of seeing one another for the past week. After the incident of our first date, Hugh made sure to take my opinion on the place each time we wanted to go out, to make sure the same mistake wouldn't happen twice.

His gesture melted my heart, but not enough to make me forget my history with Nate, my dream about him. The dream that has been taking my mind more than Nate ever did. It was like my mind was working with Nate, and forcing me through a dream to realise my mistake and go back to Nate.

But I remained set on my decision, it was the only way to figure everything out. I could feel it through my entire body. My gut even knew it, and it was never wrong.

Throughout the whole week of going through series of dates, I barely saw Nate. I couldn't know his thoughts on what's been happening the past week, but one thing I knew without him telling me, was that he was silently in pain.

Today was one of those rare days that I had no meetings in and got it all to myself. So I decided to use it and spend the day to myself, and the night with Hugh on yet another date.

Feeling relaxed from the lack of workload today, I decided to have a long breakfast. Lightness was taking over me for the first time in a while, but it was all gone in a blink of an eye, when I saw Nate seated at the head of the table.

He looked powerful sitting at the king seat, as the king he is, but his body posture told another story. Just as he looked powerful, he looked down. Broken to be exact.

Slowly, his eyes moved up to meet mine, and at the same pace, went back to the food. It wasn't in an offending way, more like I acknowledged your entrance type of glance.

It bothered me that he was calm, and as sweet as ever to me, when he should be yelling instead. I wanted him to tell me that I was doing the wrong thing and prove it to me in the meantime, and I wanted him to hurt me just as much as I did to him, to teach me a lesson. It hurt further more that he was being mature about this whole situation and it put my guts and my whole self to shame.

Quietly, I took my seat, which was the one to his left hand. I waited a couple of seconds until one of the butlers got me a plate and muttered a low thank you. The whole dining room was quite, only the sounds of our utensils touching was heard, and it was bothering me to the point where it was eating my insides alive.

"How are you doing?" I started, ending the painful silence between us.

"I'll be alright" he replied with a sad smile. He then brushed it off and replaced it with a teasing smile, still I was able to see behind it.

"So when am I going to meet the date guy?"

I let out a laugh "Date guy?"

"It was the only nickname I was able to find for the mysterious guy, plus it suits the situation" he shrugged.

"Date guy" I quoted with my hands "Isn't mysterious since you know him. You might not know him well, but I'm certain you know him by name"

His eyebrows arched "What's his name?"

"H-" I was interrupted by the sound of my ringing phone. I took it out and looked at the caller ID. Hugh.

Speaking of the devil.

"I'm sorry but I need to take this, I'll be right back" I excused myself, and after I got a nod out of him, I left the room.

"Hey" I answered the phone while slowly walking through the corridors.

"Hey pretty lady, do me a favour would you?" his tone was sweet as well as excited.

"Sure" I hesitated, afraid of what the favour would be.

"Could you prepare yourself within an hour?"

"Sure, but why?" I was confused.

"Perfect, I'll pick you up within an hour. Wear something comfortable and pack a light bag, all comfortable of course. See you soon pretty lady" he replied, ignoring my question.

He was too quick to hang up. I barely had the time to digest what he told me, and now that I did, I realised I had no idea what was going on with him. Where would we go this early in the morning? And why would I need to take a bag with me?

I huffed a breath and headed back to the dining room to inform Nate that I would be leaving and excuse myself once again.

There goes my day off.

Nate looked up at the sound of my footsteps and sent me a perfect smile. It made me feel guilty that I was going to leave him, so I decided half an hour would be enough to prepare a bag as well as my self.

"I have some change in plans, so I need to go change in half an hour, I leave in an hour"

"Since when do you get ready within half an hour?" he teased, but I could still sense the sadness behind his tone.

"Since I wanted to spend as much time as possible with you, before I really have to go or else I'd be late" I answered honestly.

"Is this your way of telling me I still have a chance?" he sounded hopeful, better yet he looked hopeful. I felt a sudden twist in my chest and I couldn't help but give him the answer he needed to hear, like his life depended on it.

It was the truth at the same time though, since the beginning I knew he had a chance, I just didn't express it well to him. Maybe because my emotions were all over the place and my thoughts were confused. Or maybe because I didn't want to give him false hope.

"You've always had a chance, since the beginning"

He nodded, more like to himself. He was lost in his thoughts all of the sudden and I couldn't find out what was running on his mind. His eyes would tell me everything when his mouth wouldn't, but not this time. His expression was blank and he somehow managed to hide emotions from his eyes. It was unusual for me not to be able to read him, and it sent shivers through my body. Something unpleasant was on its way.

I cleared my throat to get his attention and excuse myself, but he was still lost in thoughts. I was worried for him, and the unpleasant feeling multiplied all of the sudden. I got off my seat and started walking out of the room, looking back every once in a while to see if Nate noticed my absence, but he never did.

The heaviness in my chest never stopped, not while I was changing into some causal and comfortable clothes, and not while I was packing my bag. I put my bag by the door and went back to the vanity mirror to pull my hair into a bun. I took everything I thought I'd need and left the room.

Hugh had already sent me a message informing me that he's waiting for me outside, and that was a while ago, so I'm probably a bit not on time. Hugh got out of the car to reach my bag as he saw me walk towards him, a grin painting his face all the while. I smiled back, but it all faded as I saw Nate from the corner of my eyes.

He was standing by his car, the back door open, and him frozen by it. The chauffeur was already seated in his place and the car was running, but he just stood outside frozen. I thought at first it was shock as this was his first time seeing 'Date Guy', but the look on his face told me it was something else. He was boiling with anger, and his flaming eyes where burning holes in us.

His eyes drifted to focus on Hugh and I could see them twitch as he started clenching his fists tightly. I turned to glace at Hugh once I saw this reaction from Nate, and saw a ghost smile on his face. I knew they knew each other by names, but this felt like more. I could see that clearly and it didn't settle well with me. They looked like they would rip each other any second now.

Nate unfroze, smacking the door shut and slowly moving towards us. He looked fierce, like a predator slowly hunting its prey. Once he was close to us, I could see him clearly. The flames I thought I saw in his eyes were now replaced with clear sadness and disappointment, all headed towards me. He didn't bother acknowledging Hugh, focusing all his emotions on me.

He knew there was someone, he knew everything, so why did he look disappointed in me now?

"Of all the people in the world, you just had to choose him" he spat the words out in digest, all aiming towards Hugh.

"You don't even know him, how can you say that?"

"I know that bloody arse and I know he's been after you for a while. This isn't a coincidence, he planned the whole thing"

"How could she know any of this if she doesn't remember me?" Hugh replied to Nate with a smirk.

"You told him?!" he turned at me and yelled. Involuntarily I moved back, wanting to crawl in a safe corner and cry my feelings out. I bit the inside of my lips harshly, trying to fight the falling tears.

"Don't yell at her!" Hugh yelled back as he held Nate.

Nate roughly pushed himself away from Hugh and pointed a finger at him "Stay of out this"

I quickly interfered as things looked seconds away from being out of control. I looked at Hugh, pleading him with my eyes not to make this any worse "Give us a second Hugh"

He wanted to object but swallowed it down and gave me a faint nod "I'll be in the car if you need anything"

I quietly watched him walk away, then turned my attention back to Nate. He looked like he was fighting himself internally, and it worried me deeply.

He finally shook his head to himself and exhaled loudly, in an exhausted way "I'm sorry but I can't fight for you anymore, not silently and not loudly, not when the person I'm fighting for doesn't want me"

Defeat showed on his face and I couldn't help the blank stare. I was in shock. I expected him to start yelling at me all over again, and I would've taken it happily, but I didn't expect this.

Couple of seconds later, my mind started functioning again and I seemed to realize everything. He was giving up on me.

Unlike the time he ran away, this time I knew everything. I could see in his eyes what was going on in his mind. I could see the surrender on his face. And I could see the defeat pulling his body.

"I'm sorry Katherine, I know I promised you I won't give up, but I can't anymore. This is the end of us. I'll send you the divorce papers with the lawyer"

I felt tightness in my chest, and unlike the last time, I knew clearly this time that he gave up. The pain was a lot worse than the one I felt in my dream. It was real this time and I couldn't run away or pinch myself till consciousness.

My heart started clenching and the last thing I saw was Nate walking away from me before my vision blurred, everything started spinning around me and my head hit the ground.
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