Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

First... Date?

"Earth to Kaya." Zoren knocked his knuckles against the table. "Are you going to stand there all day?" 

Kaya wanted to answer, really, but she found it harder than anticipated. Fake dating or not, Kaya was pretty sure this was, in fact, a date. She wasn't prepared. Why did she agree to do this in the first place?

"Hey." Zoren's voice lowered to that soothing, comforting pitch he used when he felt Kaya looked like a wounded puppy. 

Kaya lifted her chin and shot him a glare. "I'm okay. Just... give me a minute." 

"Okay, okay. Why are you shooting daggers through your eyes?" Zoren folded his arms, whether defensively or offensively, Kaya would never know. 

"You're treating me like a lost puppy again." 

"I do that?" 

Kaya nodded. "The first time we met. When you tried to get me away from the reporters. Now." 

"Maybe you are a lost puppy." 

"Don't fool yourself." Kaya finally found the ability to move her feet. Thankfully, she made it to the seat across from Zoren before she lost it again. 

Zoren jutted his chin toward the door. "Do his fans scare you?"

"They don't scare you?" 

"He's not the only one with a fan club." Zoren snorted a scoff. 

Kaya shook her head. "You don't have a fan club." 

"I do too!" 

"Not like that one." 

"Are you doubting me?" 

"I'm doubting if you have a fan club."

"Why?" 

"Need I count the ways?" Kaya blew out an exasperated breath. "Even if you do have a fan club, they aren't on that level. They're clearly not organized or obsessed. There weren't any protests about you dating me, as opposed to when they thought I was dating Ransom." 

"Maybe they know you and I are fate." Zoren shot Kaya a goofy smile. 

Kaya rolled her eyes. "I told you, I don't have time for romance." 

"Is that your only objection to dating me?" 

A pair of dark eyes sparked in Kaya's memory. A deep voice and a looming presence. Though Zoren was nice, Kaya couldn't tell what romantic feelings were. Did she like or hate Ransom Lee? Were her feelings for Zoren purely gratefulness? 

Kaya wasn't about to tell Zoren any of that. She couldn't afford romance. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. 

"It's my objection to dating anyone, not just you. Don't take it personally." 

"It is personal, though. Which is why I'm going to prove that I'm different than others." Zoren rose to his feet. "Wait here, I'll go order. What do you want?" 

"Anything is fine." 

Kaya didn't watch Zoren order. She had other things on her brain. There were too many questions in her life to open herself up to more. She couldn't let anyone get close until she found answers. 

How was she supposed to convince stubborn Zoren that she had only agreed to fake date him. Even that, she mostly agreed to in order to find a balance between the two men in her life who had the capability to be more than friends. 

If she fake dated Zoren, she couldn't date Ransom. As long as she worked for Ransom, she couldn't actually date Zoren. At the time, it had seemed like the perfect solution. Now, Kaya worried that she had only muddied the waters.