If I had a dollar for every time I crossed paths with Evelyn at the most inconvenient of times, I would be a fucking billionaire.

Like today, when I met her at the coffee shop near the rink at 6:00 a.m. 6:00 a.m.! Why the fuck did she drink coffee at 6:00 a.m.?

I just wanted to spend some time alone in peace and contemplate where the heck my life was going but nope! As soon as I entered the almost empty shop, my gaze fell on the slender figure standing at the counter and the moment I saw her reddish hair, I wanted to laugh out loud.

Of course, it would be her. The one unwanted constant in life for the past three years. It was like she had super glued herself to my life and I got its reminder every now and then.

A part of me wanted to turn around and leave but I had already opened the door. The bell above it had jingled and already announced my presence. I even made eye contact with the girl handling the counter. I couldn't leave now. And more importantly, I refused to leave because of her.

Besides, the shop was still pretty much empty because it was literally the ass crack of dawn for college students. Only weirdos were up and running this early without a reason. Weirdos like her.

Taking a deep breath, I walked in but stood a few feet away from her, waiting for her to get done so I could go up to the counter. Maybe she wouldn't notice me at all. Or maybe she would take her coffee and leave. Who knows? A man could hope though.

But just like always, my plan to stay discreet didn't work as the barista gave me a wide smile. "What can I get you?" she asked.

Evelyn looked over her shoulder and her expression morphed into one of misery. Well, the feelings were mutual. Ignoring her, I returned the barista's smile. "Caffe latte with cream," I said and the barista went to get it ready for me.

Evelyn looked shocked and she stared at me with a funny look. "What?" I seethed.

"Nothing," she said, shrugging. "Just surprised that you don't drink coffee as dark as your soul."

An amused laugh left my mouth. "In that case, you should be drinking the bitter espresso to match your bitter existence."

She whirled around to fully face me and I braced myself for a fight but before we could get into it, the barista came back with my order. "Here," she said and I picked it up with a thank you. I ignored Evelyn and walked past her to sit at the table in the corner at the back.

The shop had a mix of modern and vintage style interiors with lemon yellow walls and one too many potted plants. It was like the owner could only think of plants when it came to decorative items. Given its small size, the number of tables was less. So they had gotten creative and attached a counter-like board to one of the glass walls beside the door and put bar stools there.

At the back, they had an elongated couch that ran from end to end. Four tiny, square tables were set up in front of it at a distance from each other with similar tiny chairs opposite them. Only two people could occupy one table and I loved it. It was a place for alone time. Some peace and quiet. That's why I used to come here. However, today a certain redhead was ruining it for me.

I placed my coffee on the table, took off my gym bag to keep it on the couch, and sat down. Taking a sip, I let out a sigh. At first, I never understood when people said that they couldn't function without coffee but now I wholeheartedly agreed. It was the only thing that kick-started my brain these days.

Whipping my phone out, I started going through my emails and texts. Then proceeded to go through my calendar to cross out everything that was done and add the things that I had to do.

"Evelyn!"

Momentarily distracted by the yell, I looked up to see a curly-haired dude with glasses as big as his face grinning wide and waving at Evelyn like a kid high on sugar. He rushed inside the cafe and came to stand beside Evelyn who gave him an awkward smile and a tiny wave.

As they started chatting about whatever, I went back to mull over my calendar and this month's schedule. Thankfully, Evelyn had adjusted the project's schedule according to my availability and sent it over to me as I'd requested without any tantrums. For once, someone had made my life a little bit easier.

I was engrossed in trying to squeeze in the bowling night with the guys in my schedule when I felt movement to my left. Looking up, I saw Evelyn taking a seat on the couch at the table beside me. She placed her stuff between us, her tote bag slightly falling over my gym bag.

Now, I could be really mature and ignore it. Continue doing my work while she does hers. But here's the thing, I wasn't mature. Not around her, that is.

"I didn't know you missed my presence so much, Rosy," I quipped without looking at her.

She sighed and I for sure knew she was rolling those pretty eyes of hers. "Has it ever crossed your mind that the world doesn't revolve around you?"

"Never. How can it when you always make me feel like a main character," I said, turning to face her.

She had her signature scowl on her face. Mission accomplished. "The only reason I have chosen to be in the vicinity of your obnoxious presence is that I do not want to sit anywhere near a creep who might take everything I do as an invitation," she said, nudging her head in the direction of the nerd guy who had announced her name to everyone in 2m radius of the cafe with his excited yell. "You know what they say, better the devil you know."

As soon as she said that, my head snapped in the direction of the nerd who had taken a seat on one of the three tables in the middle of the room, facing us. He even had the looks of the guy who would turn out to be a psychopathic killer in the movies. But with a quick scan, I could tell that it wouldn't take more than a punch to knock him out. And boy was it tempting to test my theory out.

"God, he's still staring," Evelyn mumbled, more to herself than to me. She had set up her laptop and was almost hunched over to hide behind the screen. I narrowed my eyes at him but he wasn't paying attention to me. His beady eyes were set on Rosy. The urge to throw the extra puck in my gym bag at his face was growing with every passing second.

But as much as I would love to do it, Coach wouldn't appreciate an assault case on my record even if it would be well deserved. So I stood up and wordlessly sat in the chair in front of her instead, blocking his view of her with my body. The chair was a bit uncomfortable and I bet the scene looked comical with my large body on a tiny chair but I didn't give a damn.

Evelyn looked up in surprise, her hazel eyes wide and lips slightly parted. "What?" I asked, taking a sip from my mug.

She shook her head, her lips curving into a tiny smile. "Thank you."

"Whatever," I grumbled and we both continued with what we were doing before. However, I couldn't keep my curiosity at bay for long. "How do you even know that weirdo?"

She looked up from her laptop, biting her lip nervously. "I went out with him. Once."

It took me a moment to process the information. Evelyn, who looked like that, went out with the guy who looked, at best, the downgraded version of a side character in a bad horror movie. It was hard to digest, to say the least. "You went out with that twig? What were you thinking?"

"I did not go out with him like that!" she exclaimed. "We were project partners last semester and he asked me if we could have lunch together and I said sure, why not. How was I supposed to know he would take it as a date?"

"Of course, a guy like him would think that it's a date. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?" I scowled. Was she really that oblivious or was just pretending to not know just how hot she was? She had only spent a few hours with the team and I could tell the names of the guys from the top of my head who were already salivating after her. Not that I cared or anything. "Why the fuck would you say yes? You don't need to have lunch with everyone you work with."

Okay, maybe I did care a little. I would unpack that later.

Evelyn scowled at me. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because he was nice, unlike somebody."

"Oh, so you'll go out with anybody that's nice with you? Even me?" I asked, fuming as I sat back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest.

"I would but we both know the moon will crash down on Earth before you start being nice to me. Now can we stop talking and work?"

"Fine!" I spat.

"Fine!" she repeated and we went back to our work. I huffed under my breath at the fact that she didn't think I could be nice. Like hello? I was the nicest person on the entire team. Which not-nice guy would sit in this uncomfortable chair to help a girl who didn't even like him?

"We are going to take shots of the team in the gym today," she said suddenly, breaking the silence. For a second I didn't know what to say. Rosy and I had known each other for almost three years now and not once have we had a decent conversation. And this, us, sitting together at a cafe and trying to have small talk felt weird. Borderline unsettling.

But I didn't want to be an asshole by not replying so I said the best thing I could come up with. "Cool."

We lapsed into silence again and soon we both were done with our coffees. The bell on the door jingled, announcing another customer's entrance. At the same time, Evelyn's phone started ringing. She hung up and bent sideways, waving her hand with a bright smile on her face.

A dark-haired, petite girl walked over to us a minute later and she did a double-take when she saw me. She immediately turned to Evelyn and raised a brow. To which Evelyn replied with some weird eye movements and I understood that they were having the eye contact conversation that only girls seemed to understand.

Okay... My cue to leave.

"Atlas, this is Veena. Our tech support," she said gesturing towards the girl who strangely gave me a two-finger salute. "And Veena you know Atlas."

"Of course," Veena said. "I have heard a lot about you."

I couldn't help the chuckle that left me. If she was Evelyn's friend, she definitely must have heard a lot about me. How much of it was good was something I would never know. "Hopefully not all of it was bad," I replied.

Veena shrugged. "Cannot guarantee but I don't judge. So you're good."

"That's...uh... Good to know," I said before standing up. "I'm going to take my leave now. See you two later."

They both smiled at me which was one more thing I wasn't used to. I picked up my gym bag and turned to leave. Thankfully, the nerdy douche had left as well so I didn't have to worry about him approaching the girls or dragging him out to have a chat.

I made my way to the training facility and joined the rest of the team who were already working out in the gym. I greeted them, changed, and started my own routine. Fifteen minutes later, Rosy and her crew entered along with Coach.

"Boys!" Coach's loud voice boomed, and everyone immediately halted whatever they were doing. "The media team is here. Evelyn," he said, and she stepped forward with a smile.

There were more people today. I knew Veena and that other guy who had come with her for the meeting yesterday. But there were also two more guys and a girl whom I had never seen before.

Evelyn cleared her throat and straightened her back as she looked at everyone. "We are going to take some shots of you working out. You don't have to be nervous. It's a very casual take. Just do what you always do and forget about the camera."

She then turned around to talk with her team and we got back to what we were doing before. Soon her team spread around the room with different types of cameras in their hands. I tried my best to ignore them and focus but it wasn't exactly easy. Not when I saw a few of the guys try to flirt with Evelyn from the corner of my eyes.

What did they even see in her?

I picked up dumbbells and sat to the side, watching Evelyn go from one person to another. It didn't go unnoticed by me how the freshmen deliberately played dumb just to have her attention on them a while longer.

"I feel holding this pose would look good," she said as she adjusted the freshmen kid's arms. The pace of my lifts increased the more I watched him deliberately drop the pose, so Evelyn had to touch him again. Bastard!

"Do you think I should pose shirtless? It'll look much better."

The dumbbell dropped from my hands and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Everyone in the gym turned to look at me. Heat crept up my neck and I lowered my gaze, clearing my throat.

"Sorry," I muttered, picking up the dumbbells and placing them back on the rack. Focus, Atlas, Focus!

I huffed and moved on to the chest press. That's when she and that bulky dude with a professional video camera came to me. Again, I tried my best to focus on my breaths and counting, ignoring Evelyn. Or the way she was looking at me with a different kind of heat in her eyes. Or how her throat muscles moved when she gulped.

My eyes locked with her for the briefest second and she looked away, her cheeks taking the signature rosy shade. A huge grin split my face and I stared at the camera instead to make it look like I was smiling for the audience.

Maybe this project was going to be more fun than I had expected.