The impact of their bodies seemed to grab their attention. His hands instinctively found her waist to balance them both.

”I am so-’’ they both began. Stopping himself he motioned for her to speak first. 

‘‘I’m really sorry, sir. I should’ve been paying more attention to my surroundings.” she let out apologetically.

‘’No, it’s my fault. I’m sorry” he countered reassuring her. His eyes found her hand, taking notice of the rhythm her fingers tapped in causing his eyebrows to furrow. She braced an awkward smile before attempting to step away. With his hands still in the same place, her body stood unmoving.

‘’Uhm” she started. Noticing her state of comfort dissipated he removed his hands and took a step back. With a slight nod she passed him and started down the hallway with his eyes following after her. Whack! The hard pat on his back seemed to help ground him. 

‘’If that’s how you flirt I hope you're not expecting a wife anytime soon” his best friend voiced now next to him. His mind was still reeling from the simple interaction that he couldn’t think of a snarky comment to respond with. Turning in the opposite direction she went he decided to ignore the man beside him.

“Wait! We didn’t even finish the meeting. I have other things to update you on.” he reminded.

Once he was in the front reception area he responded saying they would continue another day before their conversation was interrupted.

“What are you two arguing about now?” a familiar voice asked from their far left. Turning that direction they spotted their close friend, Abel. With their hands connecting in a greeting they exchange the expected ‘what have you been up to’s and ‘miss you’s.

“Do you think you’ll be able to make it ,Te?” (pronounced Tay) Abel asked, looking hopeful. Since Mateo had kind of spaced out the last minute or so his eyebrows furrowed.

“My birthday party,” he reminded. Suddenly a light flicked on in his head.

“Oh, yeah I can make it. Who else would supervise to make sure you or your guests don’t destroy my club?” he stated playfully. As Abel started to object, something behind Mateo grabbed his attention.

“Li!” he almost screamed from how excited he was.

He introduced us briefly before I managed to escape with no more embarassment. After being interrogated by Abel on the guy from the other day, I finally made it home. Just before I made it to my bed my phone vibrated in my back pocket. The girls let me know they were coming over tomorrow for Abel's birthday party.

"Uggghhh" I stressed tiredly before letting the dreamland consume me.

The repetitive and harsh knocking on her door let her know that the girls had arrived. It was currently half past seven and they needed to leave by half past nine. All of the girls had already showered in order to not waste time. Miliana opened the door to find her two best friends basically jumping up and down from excitement with hands full of bags and cases full of clothing and products. Her head instantly shook disapprovingly.

“I thought I told you guys to pack lightly.” she grumbled, already predicting the mess to come.

They shushed her pushing her aside to begin. Approximately 2 hours later everyone is standing at the door putting on shoes and spraying perfume. Once all finished they order an Uber before examining each other’s outfits. Ivy was wearing a pink 2 piece skirt set with big white heels paired with a white handbag. Tiana had on a black leather short set with a button up top paired with black leather thigh high heels. Trails of compliments flooded the room as they made their way out of the door. 

Arriving at the club they show the bouncer their ID’s before getting hit with music so loud their ears were buzzing.

“Holy” Miliana voiced taking in her surroundings. The entire floor was filled with active body’s. A long bar sat on the left with bartenders hustling to get drinks out as fast as they can. Looking up there was a second floor that looked much calmer with booths openly facing the dance floor. Taking in the amount of people here her stomach started churning. 

“Cmon, let’s go get drinks” Ivy took both of their hands guiding them to the bar. 

She spoke loudly over the music asking for 3 shots from a brooding man standing behind the bar. They found 3 stools at the center of the bar to sit at before they had their shots in hand. Her eyes drifted to the girls ready to down theirs already. She was not a drinker and this would likely be her only one of the night. Not wanting to disappoint them she threw the tiny glass letting the clear liquid burn her throat. Her face formed a distasteful look causing laughter beside her.

“You made it!” A familiar masculine voice sounded from behind her causing her to jump. Twisting her chair she threw a punch at the person.

“Oooowwwwww” Abel whined rubbing his arm with his hand.

“You scared the sh*t out of me.” She said resisting the urge to punch him again. 

A chuckle sounded from behind him causing her eyes to lift even higher towards the two men behind him. On his left was a pale brown haired guy dressed casually in jeans and a t shirt. On his right was the guy from the hallway wearing black dress pants and a black button down. She recognized them both from the gym the other day. Her eyes tried to stay off of his for as long as she could but eventually their eyes met. It wasn’t before long that she looked back at Abel expecting him to introduce her. 

“Oh right. Jay and Mateo meet my cousin Miliana. Miliana meet my friends Mateo and Jay.” He said pointing to either side of him. 

The three of us exchanged waves before Ivy took the liberty of introducing her and Tiana since Abel obviously wasn’t going to. While the girls were speaking to them she twisted her chair back around wishing she had a glass of water to sip on. Even while she thought deeply she felt eyes on her and assumed who they were coming from because if she was still facing him she’d be staring too. A tap at her side had her turning right. 

“We’re gonna go dance, you wanna come?” Tiana asked gaining her attention.

“No, I’m cool here” she said dreading ever going into that giant crowd.

Ivy looked at her unsure not wanting to leave her alone. Shaking her head she encouraged them to go on. Her eyes following them onto the floor. As she watched them her mind drifted off to the man who seemed to constantly occupy her mind.

“Hey. Look at me." I said. As soon as she fixed her gaze on me, I took a long, audible breath in before exhaling. She realized and responded by taking a quick, trembling breath. We stood there until she was breathing much more steadily. My hands released hers and gently shifted to her back as I led her deeper into the room. 

We came to a stop at my desk, and I turned her around and helped her sit down. I crossed the room to the beverage stand and took two cups out. I turn to face her after pouring the whiskey into my glass. Before she shook her head at me, her eyes were watching me move. I fetched a brand-new bottle of apple juice from the fridge after reaching back inside. I returned and laid the drink down in front of her when she affirmed that she agreed with the drink, the ice clinking into the glass relentlessly.

While taking my seat across the room on a cold leather chair, I tried to find something to say that would get her talking at least. The fact that staring is rude didn’t seem to matter as my eyes drifted to her. She seemed to be looking everywhere but at me taking in my space. Her mouth opened to speak but she seemed to think against it.

“Say it” I spoke affirmatively. Seeming to forget I was here, her eyes widened before meeting mine with a confused expression. I lifted an eyebrow unbelievingly. Her eyes averted before she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth nibbling it. From what I could tell so far she isn’t much of a talker so I waited patiently for her mouth to win over her mind.

“Why all the black?” she spoke surprisingly low. I assumed she was referring to my office. Black wood desk. Black leather chair. Black rug. Whatever in the room wasn’t black was gold instead. 

“Favorite color.” I said to put it simply. She apparently didn’t like my answer very much since her nose scrunched up at it.

“Seriously? Out of all the color’s out there you chose black?” She accused seeming weirdly offended.

“What’s wrong with black?” He spoke with a slight pout at her reaction.

“It’s just so…….dark. You couldn’t have at least gone with grey? That’s mine.” She said turning her chair away from the desk to face me fully. My lips curled slightly at the sight of her getting comfortable.

“Really? You’re judging my color choice this harshly even though yours is only one level above mine?” I spoke with a smile spreading across my face.