Chapter 8

Have you ever dated?

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Chapter 8. We were hacked, again.

I knew I should have called for Dora when a handsome man with glinting eyes entered the library. Since that day my life has never been the same. I haven’t had this much action and excitement in my entire life compared to what I have been through in this one month.

"I hope you like Mexican." Alex said, not sparing me a glance as he took out the packed food and proceeded to serve both of us.

He looked so domestic, a sight I never thought I would see. 

Wearing jeans that clung to his gorgeous fit butt and arms flexing deliciously as he served and moved around flawlessly. This was every woman's dream, except maybe mine.

Eh, whom am I kidding? I loved what I saw.

"Shut up!" I muttered to my own brain, ignoring his smirk. I waited for him to sit first so that I could pick a place farthest from him.

Unfortunately he knew exactly my thoughts so he widened his smirk, the mirth so evident on his face. "You sit first."

I threw a stink eye in his direction, making my irritation clear. "Whatever." 

I sat on the chair away from the couch. A single chair that could fit only one person.

He winked at me, expecting my move. He came closer and before I could comprehend what he was doing, he had picked up the whole chair.

I squeaked out in terror, shocked at his actions. "What the fuck are you doing?" I gripped on the chair arms, afraid I would fall and break my leg. Didn't really care about his leg.

"Bringing you closer." His reply made me even more irritated.

He finally kept the chair down, right next to the couch and sat on it. Smiling at the anger so evident on my face.

"Get lost." I spat, leaning away from him, clinging on the farther chair arm.

He shrugged, indifferent to my annoyance. He picked up the remote and started surfing on his N*****x. "So what do you wanna watch?"

"Anything but your face." I muttered under my breath.

"You are the only woman other than my mother who isn't afraid of me." Alex's voice held a hint of pride.

"What's your point?"

Alex shook his head. "Are you into women?"

I spurted out air, my eyes widening as I looked at him with incredulity. "Are you mad?" I shouted. "What makes you think that?"

Alex stepped back, now looking apologetic. "I just thought."

"Well what made you think that?" I never thought I'd be having this conversation with anyone much less Alex Bianchi. I couldn't even think what behaviour of mine prompted him to come to this ridiculous conclusion. 

"So you are not?"

"No." I clarified, resisting the urge to slap him. "I am all for supporting LGBT rights and I totally love woman and even find some attractive but that doesn't mean I want to marry or have sex with one."

"Well let's start a movie." He turned to the TV, ignoring the topic he himself started.

"Not so fast Mr. Bianchi." I walked in front of him, blocking his view. "Answer me first."

"I really like this view." Alex grinned, staring unabashedly at my crotch, making me fume even more.

I swooped down, staring into his eyes. "Alex Bianchi." This was probably the first time I was taking his name. And he flinched at the seriousness in my tone. "You better answer me before I slap you so hard that your teeth might fall out."

He physically blanched at my comment, not even doubting I would do exactly what my words meant. "You seemed immune to my charms.”

I frowned at him. “What charms?”

He groaned, rubbing his face in embarrassment. “Are you not attracted to me?”

I probably resembled a gold fish, opening and shutting my mouth in utter shock. “Huh?”

Alex suddenly stood up making me stumble back in unbalance. His arm wrapped around my waist, stopping my butt from meeting the floor. He leaned down, his face centimetres away from mine. I felt my heart beat at an exceptional rate inside my ribcage and my breath was already coming out in gasps.

How many times had this happened now? I stumbling and he holding onto my waist. And yet somehow I couldn’t find myself to dislike it.

“Are you attracted to me?” Alex whispered, his eyes dancing all over my face and finally stopping on my lips.

Involuntarily I swiped my tongue over my lower lips and I could swear his eyes turned a shade darker. If he could hear my heartbeat he would know the answer to that question. But I didn’t know how to answer his question verbally. Of course I was attracted to him, I wouldn’t lie to myself but should I lie to him?

“Not enough to let you kiss me.” I finally answered, quite content with my diplomatic answer. Internally I was screaming for him to kiss me, kiss me, dammit!

His eyes flew up to meet mine, he paused not moving or blinking. His hold still tight on my waist and my legs lightly pressed against his. Finally he let me go and I breathed out, thankful for the distance.

He sat back on the couch, patting the empty space next to him for me to sit. “Well if you are not that attracted, why don’t you sit beside me?”

I could sense provoking in his tone, challenging me silently. And Myra, never backed down from challenges, even if some of them would be the death of her.

I sat down next to him, making sure there was safe distance between us and our arms weren’t touching. “Happy now?” I mocked.

He smirked scornfully. “Very.”

We looked back at the TV and then at the now cold Mexican food. “I’ll heat them up.” I offered getting up from my seat and taking the plates.

Without waiting for his reply, I waked into the kitchen and placed the meat and potato cheese enchiladas in a plate to heat it.

“Myra!”

“What?” I called back, turning on the oven.

“I think we need to talk.”

I turned in surprise, his voice was closer. He was leaning against the counter staring at the fridge magnets we had. There were a lot. Both, Zivah and I looked them and collected them wherever we went.

I walked towards him, following his gaze. His eyes went strained on one magnet in particular. It was a dark red star with hope written on it in white. Zivah had got in a few months back and it was one of my favourite ones.

“I gave that to Zivah.”

I gulped at Alex’s words, my mind still trying to figure out how they knew each other. Guess it was time for me to finally know the damn story and put my mind and heart to rest.

“When?” I questioned.

He blinked away from the fridge, turning his gaze to me. “Let's talk while we eat.”

Just then the microwave beeped and pulled out the bowl, my hands shaking slightly. Was I ready to know the truth?

Couldn’t I just pretend that all was okay and start talking to Zivah and start ignoring Alex?

After all isn’t this what all of us are good at? Pretending to be okay when we are clearly not.

I walked in the hall with two plates, Alex was already sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for me. I handed him his plate along with a fork. And took a seat next to him, sitting sideways so I could face him. He imitated me, keeping one leg folded on the couch.

“So… how do you know Zivah?” I blurted out, unable to take the suspense anymore.

Alex cleared his throat. “I met her nine months back.” He started. That was when she was she had almost finished her Psychology course. “I was her client.”

I almost choked on the long tasty noodles. This was definitely not what I was expecting. “Client?”

He nodded. “I was going through a bad phase in my life and my friend recommended this site from which you could discreetly hire learning psychology students who would hear you out and guide you.”

“Why didn’t you hire a professional?”

“Because they talk.” He stated. “They charge 5000 bucks for two hours and then they record it all and even gossip about it. It wouldn’t even be half a day before the whole media would be buzzing with the news of Alex Bianchi’s latest mental disorder. I needed something and someone who would charge fairly and keep quiet about it all. I wanted to keep it all a secret. So I signed up on that site, filled up some nonsense details and they gave me a name and number.”

“That was Zivah.” I provided, now understanding how they knew each other.

Alex nodded. “Yes, we talked on the call and my first request was that she should not tell a soul about this. Or I would make sure she wouldn’t get a single job or place to live.”

“You blackmailed her not requested her!” I accused, narrowing my eyes at her.

He simply shrugged, as if blackmailing was his everyday thing. It probably was. “Surprisingly she agreed. So we talked in parts of sessions, she helped me get through some difficult times and made sure my mind was straight. Of course I had already done a full background check on her, I knew everything about her, her family, her job, her hometown.” His eyes stopped on mine. “And her friends.”

I gulped, not believing him for a minute. “You already knew me?”

Alex smiled gloomily. “Yes, I knew your name and what you did. But that’s it. After a few sessions we had to meet up to see the progress Zivah had made with me. So we decided to meet at a café, a café called, ‘Café-Home’.”

I suddenly remembered that café that was where I had seen the two of them a week back, drinking coffee and talking together. The day I went to the movie and barely remembered a single scene because my mind was too occupied wondering about how these two knew each other.

“When we first met it was more of a therapist-client way.” Alex continued. “She gave a few more tips and things were formal. But soon I realized she could be a good friend. I liked how energetic and happy her attitude was always. Always positive and witty.”

My heart clinched at that sentence. Zivah was my best friend and I loved her dearly, but still when he said about liking her, my heart missed a beat and I felt it clench. Gosh was I seriously jealous by this? Ugh.

Alex didn’t notice my dilemma, he kept on with his story. “So we met a few more times after that, sessions turned into friendly meets and after four months, I finally felt better. So we stopped the sessions. I paid her the said amount, a little more actually.” He confessed. “And gave her that star magnet as a gift, it was something that was close to me and I wanted her to have it. I didn’t know she had still kept it.”

“You didn’t talk after that?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“Not really.” Alex shrugged. “I had missed a lot of work so I had to catch up, yes I had her number and I did call her once or twice but we never met after that. Guess we were both too busy. Plus what we had a strict doctor-patient relation not a friendship.”

I nodded, feeling satisfied with the answer. “So what were you going through? Why did you need sessions? Something bad had happened?”

Alex shook his head, a slight sad smile on his face. “That’s a story for another time.”

“But that’s unfair. I won’t tell anyone.” I promised, prodding around for more information.

“Myra, no. plus that was in the past.” His answer was firm, his tone had taken that billionaire voice, one which could not be argued with.

I sulked, feeling left out. Zivah also knew what he went through and he wouldn’t tell me. I just hated not knowing things.

“Come on Myra, maybe another time.” Alex lied reassuringly. “Finish your food.”

I ate the last bites left and placed the plate on the table, he had already finished eating. I wondered how he could eat while talking. My mouth could do only one work at one time, eat or talk.

“So you like Zivah?” I asked uncaringly, looking at my nails. From the corner of my eyes I saw Alex smiling.

“Why jealous?”

“Heh, as if!” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “I was just asking so I could help you with her, you know set you up?” I hoped he didn’t catch my lie.

“Oh really?” his tone was mocking.

“Whatever.” I muttered not happy that he was ignoring my simple question, a question I seemed to frantically need an answer to.

“No, I don’t like her. She is really nice but we weren’t personally attached.” Alex’s words bought peace to my heart that my brain didn’t anticipate. I felt relief wash over me. “But her sassy and nerdy roommate is a different story.”

I felt a blush rise up my cheeks. I got up, starting to clear the plates. Pointedly ignoring him.

Of course he isn’t used to being ignored. He got up too, leaning close to my ears. I froze, my hands mid-way to picking up the plates.

“So tell me Hacker girl, are you not attracted enough to kiss me even if it’s just a peck?” Alex’s hot breath covered my ears, my face turning red at the proximity and feels.

Before I could answer, his phone rang, a very ridiculous ringtone. It made both of us jump in surprise and he cussed before turning away to pick up the call. I immediately grabbed the plates and fled into the kitchen. It looked like this was where I would flee every time we were together.

I sighed, save by the bell. Because I knew, this time I wouldn’t have stopped him from kissing me.

After pushing the plates into the sink, I grabbed the bottles of coke he had got from the fridge and went out.

Alex’s face was furious, he looked aggravated and his hands had formed into fists. He looked ready to punch something. I quickly got the flower vase out of his side, afraid he might throw it on the wall.

“I don’t understand how this could happen? We did take precautions right?” Alex shouted to someone and without waiting for an answer, he continued. “Of course we took precautions, we have the best technical team and still this happened. It is an inside leak. If the media knows about this, it’s going to be a blast. They will have a field day. Clean up this mess, Sam. Now or you are fired.”

He cut the call, taking deep breaths to cool down and almost thought he had cooled down but the he let out a furious sigh and threw his phone on the wall.

I let out a scream in shock, jumping away as the phone bounced on the floor, the glass breaking. “Are you mad?” I shouted, walking over to see the damage.

He’d have to change the screen. I thought to myself, as I picked up the broken phone delicately. He clearly threw the phone with enough energy that the screen was gone and I was sure the insides were shaken up too. Well there goes thousands of dollars, down the wall.

“Don’t worry I have three more phones.” Alex said, grabbing the phone from my hand and throwing it away in the dustbin. “I am afraid I’ll have to leave now.”

“What happened?” I asked, referring to the call. Obviously it wasn’t anything good.

Alex sighed. “We were hacked. Again. Get dressed cara mia. Looks like our date shall continue in the office. I am dying to see how you look while working.”

I frowned at his sentence. “What’s that supposed to mean? I look fine while working.”

“That’s now what I meant. I meant if your eyebrows narrow while you concentrate, if you press your lips together while you think, if you rub your fingers when you can’t find a solution, if your smile widens when you have finally found something important, if you scream when frustrated.”

I kept quiet, not knowing what to answer to that. Quite frankly I didn’t even think if any guy noticed these little things, I knew I didn’t know these things about myself. Now I would feel self-conscious about everything I did, knowing that he was watching me, scrutinizing me.

I walked into my room, shutting the door close and grabbed the first pair of top and jeans I saw, I grabbed a scarf from the laundry bag and sniffed it. It didn’t smell dirty or sweaty so I wore it, I’ll just drown in male perfume now. I hated how flowery and sweet female perfumes smelled. It gave my nostrils a headache.

I was ready in less than fifteen minutes and grabbed my laptop bag, walking out. “Let’s go rich boy.”

Alex scowled at the nick name. “Don’t call me that?”

I shrugged, wearing my white canvas shoes. “Why not? You are one.”

“Don’t call me that because I don’t like it.” he answered matter-of-factly.

I snorted at that. “All the more reason for me to call you that rich boy.”

Alex stepped closer to me and before I could move away, his head dipped his lips pressed lightly against my cheeks. I stood immobilized, taken by surprise by his actions. A shade of light red growing where his lips had just been.

Alex grinned, happy with the reaction. “If you do what I don’t like, I’ll do what you don’t like. Don’t mess with fire and don’t ever play a game you can’t win, Hacker girl.” And with that he walked out of the door. Leaving me alone in the house with an unstable heartbeat and mushy brain cells and a red face.

I finally grabbed some sense, and narrowed my eyes at the door he went through. If he thought he was fire, he didn’t know I was thunder. And when thunder strikes, there is no scope for fire. It vanishes.

I would play the game and when Myra plays, she plays to win!

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