**double update: ensure you have read chapter 38 first! **

[ t w o   l o v e r s   i n c o g n i t o  ]

♥ louisa ♥

CAUTIOUSLY AND IN a rather hilarious manner, Pierre crept towards me, placing one hand on my shoulders and standing behind me in self-defence. On the other hand, he passed me my notes, "I apologise. That came out wrong. You're here for Prince, right? He mentioned you were going to come around."

Gabriel nodded sharply, tension still lingering heavily in the air, "He's on his way." He pulled out his phone as he leaned against the back cabinet and started scrolling on it, making it clear he didn't intend to continue the conversation.

Keen to lessen the pressure, I changed the topic and turned towards Pierre. "I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time at the gym recently. What's the deal? New gym crush?"

Pierre shook his head quickly, but I still noticed the faint blush tinging his cheeks. "No, no, don't be silly."

My mouth opened slowly. Pierre was obsessed with talking about men and women he was crushing on. The fact he was so evasive suggested he really had high hopes for this one, "Oh my gosh, it is! What's his or her name?"

"Nope," Pierre said firmly, pretending to zip his lips up.

"Go on, spill, Lafayette. You hate keeping secrets. Don't lie, I know you want to gossip about them. That must be who you're going on a date with now, right?"

It all made sense now. When I'd come to collect my laptop a few days ago after meeting Gabriel, Pierre had only just back from the gym. Usually, he hated the place so I'd known something was up for him to spend so long there.

He let out a helpless sound. "Fine. I'm not telling you who but yes, I'm meeting them now. We're going to a sort of fight night tonight."

As if being only just processing his words, Pierre's eyes widened. Stress permeated through him as he furiously scratched at his head, "Which is why you both need to leave. Before she gets here! She insisted on picking me up."

"Chill out, mate. It's just a date. I can guarantee she's not gonna wanna fuck with you if you show up all stressed like this. Trust me," Gabriel commented, calmly from a few metres away.

A part of me cringed at how much experience he had with other women.

I scolded myself internally, reminding myself that I was literally the same.

"No! I'm not stressed because of the date. And it's not even a date anyway. I'm stressed become of you two!" Pierre panicked, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief dramatically, as I vaguely heard his mutter under his breadth. "Oh maman, pray for my soul."

Amazed, I furrowed my eyebrows and put my notes in my handbag with my phone and car keys, taking a break to try and understand why he was freaking out. Placing my handbag on the floor, I clasped my hands, "Pierre, I would never wreck your date and neither would Gabriel. What's going on?"

I looked at Gabriel for backup, but his eyes were trained on the window. He slowly walked towards the window, putting his phone on the window ledge and lifting the net curtain slightly. He paused for a moment before speaking in a deep voice. "Why on earth is Talisa's car outside?"

Confused, I walked towards him and stood next to the window. Sure enough, Talisa's car was parked outside the house. The driver-side door swung open powerfully, and a tall brunette strode out.

She was pacing in six-inch Louboutins and a formal black dress, that clung to her slim waist and hips. Talisa had always been an inch or two taller than me, legs dragging on for days.

Concern flooded through me at the sight of her figure.

As always, Talisa looked utterly beautiful with her straight dark hair, eye-catching seafoam green eyes and plump lips.

But I could tell she had lost a significant amount of weight. Even from fifteen metres away, I could see the outline of her bones beneath her skin and the hollows under her cheekbones were extraordinarily dark despite wearing makeup.

Judging by her long sharp strides and heavy scowl, she was furious.

Both Gabriel and I were so surprised at seeing her that we barely heard what Pierre had said.

"Oh, merde! Argh. Into the closet, you both go before she sees you!"

"What?

"Wait, hell no."

Pierre hastily pulled open the double doors of the storage cupboard flush on the back wall of the room and shoved us in.

Gabriel was caught off guard and stumbled backwards into it, hitting the back of the storage container with a thud. It was lucky the cupboard was floor-to-ceiling length, else he certainly would have hit his head against the top.

Pierre's extra gym session clearly had had impact since it didn't take much effort for him to shove me in next.

I could sense Gabriel was about to push himself out but stopped shortly when I landed against his chest, knowing that I'd go flying in the process.

Pierre was still sweating bullets, mumbling incoherently in French. "I can't risk all the progress I've been making with her just because you two are too spineless to hide together! Now, hurry up."

He pleaded with us both to stay put for a few minutes, just until they both left. To be frank, I was too busy trying to understand what was going on to deal with Pierre.

"You still haven't answered why the hell Talisa is in here?" Gabriel commanded from behind me.

At the same time, everything clicked into place in my mind. My eyes were wide as I locked gazes with Pierre. I didn't even need to ask him because it made perfect sense, "Oh, shit. You're kidding me, Pierre. Talisa is your gym crush."

My stupid friend gave me a guilty smile, as Gabriel repeated what I said in a confused irritation. "My girlfriend is your gym crush. What the fuck?"

I was thankful Gabriel couldn't see my face because I'm pretty sure I winced slightly at the word 'girlfriends.'

It wasn't anything I didn't already know but to hear it out loud was different.

He protested but only weakly eyes glinting in the typically-Pierre way. "No, not gym crush. We're just going fight night. I said that, already. Keep up."

I looked at him incredulously as he gave me a quick wink, signalling towards Gabriel with his eyes and giving me a you-should-be-thanking-me look.

"Hang on," Gabriel exclaimed from behind. "That's even worse. You're going on a date with my girlfriend."

Childishly, Pierre corrected him with a smile, "Fight night. No date. As I said."

Before I could crawl open, he slammed the door shut, sending me backwards slightly from the force. I felt a pair of hands on my waist, roughly steadying me before disappearing just as quickly as they came.

The sound of the cabinet door being locked sounded at the same time as the doorbell. A familiar voice hastily whispered outside the cupboard.

"And you both better stay silent until I let you out. It'll only be a few minutes. I don't know Talisa too well, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be happy finding you too all pressed together in the closet!"

I let out a hiss, "Pierre, I'm gonna kill you as soon as you let us out."

He laughed softly and spoke in French so that only I could understand, "Profitez-en, mes petits tourtereaux! Now, be quiet."

Enjoy, my little love birds!

"What-" Gabriel started to talk from behind, not bothering to speak quietly. I instinctively elbowed him and he took the hint, speaking in a soft whisper. "What did he say?"

My cheeks tinted red and I shook my head slightly, "I don't know. I'm still trying to master French."

"Right," he said dryly, aware that I was lying.

I manoeuvred slightly so that I could see through the slight crack where the two doors met. Turning my head to Gabriel, I signalled to another small gap between the doors around his eye level. "Thanks."

Before I turned my head back around, in the dim light I could see a small smirk begin to grow on his round pink lips. I raised my eyebrow at him in question.

He gazed down at me, deliberately leaning down toward me and speaking in a quiet voice. "Before I forget, I believe you have something that's mine."

I quickly regretted telling him to talk gently, for the sound of his voice sent chills up my spine. My heart was hammering against my chest as I tried my best not to think about how close we were.

That was the thing about feelings. They could never die.

Sure, they could wilt and wane and wither away, but with only a few droplets of water, they flourished strongly again, standing tall and fearless. Even if two people couldn't recognise each other, their hearts would always know they were two lovers incognito.

Gabriel's eyes moved to the sweatshirt I'd grabbed in haste.

I swore under my breath, following his grey eyes to the far-too-big navy blue material I was clad in. Due to the soft light, the white text on the front glinted, laughing at my embarrassment as it hung around my upper thigh, slightly above my shorts.

There was oversized, and then there was this.

So he had noticed after all.

It was obvious from the outset that it most certainly wasn't mine.

When the door to the drawing room opened, I quickly turned away from Gabriel and looked through the crack again. I was thankful for the distraction.

He'd given me a sweatshirt a while ago. It was from the night we bumped into each other on the bus, once I'd left Logan's house.

It wasn't like I hadn't planned to give the sweatshirt back. I just hadn't had a chance yet.

Sure thing, Lou.

As I had guessed, Talisa was pissed if. Her arms were crossed stubbornly in the centre of the drawing room.

"What the hell, Pierre? Your exchange partner is Prince? You never told me your exchange partner was Prince!"

The sound of her heels was muted by the thick carpet as she paced back and forth, "Imagine my damn surprise when you send me your address and it's the same as that arrogant douche."

I held my breath, watching as the scene unravelled.

Only then did I realise my phone was still in my handbag outside. And as far as I remembered, Gabriel too had left it on the window ledge.

I am truly screwed. 

ahh! about timee! we've waited so long! is anyone else struggling to breathe. this chapter (and 38) has been one of my favourites to write in the book so far!

i wanna hear your reaction (: comment if you're here for gabriesa. the ship may finally be approaching port...

vote and comment,
kiwi x