If Only She Knew

3. Pieces of Her

It could be seen in the pet's demeanor that the moment Ariana entered through the door, she held an aversion towards her, and would scratch the very moment she would try to touch her.

She was, after all, the Mistress. Wouldn't accept being replaced, by anyone.

Ariana didn't know this, though.

"Oh my God, I've always wanted a Persian cat!" She hurriedly grabbed the cat. Joseph had lost his attention as he was hanging up his jacket.

"Her name's The Mistress." When Joseph turned his head to look at her, he found a mess of blonde hair hugging a shrieking little monster.

"No, bad girl, bad girl!" He went and picked up the cat away while Ariana, feigning a confused and hurt look, frowned.

"Who's the bad girl, me or her?" She asked scandalized.

The guy laughed, letting the pet go at a safe enough distance away from the girl.

"Obviously she. She's a little violent sometimes... But you're a bad girl in another sense, Miss Detective," the guy crooned.

"Now, do you want a flat tour or straight to bed?"

"Straight to bed, no dinner needed. All I really wanna know... You got a good enough shower, right?" Ariana gave him a smirk, unbuttoning her cardigan.

He, however, stretched out a hand to stop her from what she was doing.

"No... I want to do that for you," he whispered.

He started undressing her and she barely managed to reach out a hand to unbutton his shirt, through the blaze.

Ariana couldn't help but wonder about what she was going to discover about herself that night.

*

Ariana woke up with a strong scent of men's aftershave invading her nostrils.

As she was yawning and stretching her hands on the bed, she heard a sweet voice call to her a few times a sweet lullaby: Ariana, wake up.

When she opened her eyes, Joseph was standing right there and, for a moment she had forgotten all about last night and that he was probably her new boyfriend.

"Y-you-" she started as she frowned, with an accusing finger in the air which he caught in his hand as he grabbed hers.

"Yes, Miss Detective? Are you aware that you're going to be late for work, today? The clock says it's 7:35." Joseph shrugged, bemused.

She only frowned more and jumped out of bed, throwing all the blankets aside with a stormy gesture.

"Why have you then waited to wake me up? Arghhh, I wanna kill you." She trotted through the bathroom, groggy.

Joseph was chuckling.

"The thing is, I have just woken up like three minutes ago. My courses now usually start later in the day and God, last night was..." Joseph mused, his mouth curling and his eyes filling with a sort of comeliness.

Ariana stepped inside the shower now, closing the yellow curtain afterwards as if he never saw her naked, from habit.

"Oh, I'm going to be so late because of you that I wished I cared more," she was laughing behind the curtain. "And why do you have such an ancient shower? Are you that poor?"

"No, I'm just too busy to make changes around here. And I'll probably move houses soon, too."

Joseph clicked the front of his slipper's sole on the open door frame.

"Where are you going to move?" she asked, her voice muffled by the running water.

She was frowning to herself because she realized she was going to have to wear the same clothes today to work...

"Don't know yet. It depends on these few months." He shrugged.

*

In the end, Joseph drove her to work.

The both of them were sleepy and in no mood to work, in his dark green car.

"Take care. Are you hunting any criminal's lead today?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"There's just some petty disappearances but, in rest, no serious or bloody thriller-worthy crime haunts the town. I might as well lose my job soon," Ariana joked as she took off her seat belt, and rushed out of the car.

She didn't know, she couldn't be more wrong.

s.e.