Adalia
If I could rip out my brain and feed it to Zayn's dog I freaking would. See? Zayn's dog. I can't go a few minutes without thinking of him or associating everything with him.
Last night, when I got that good night text message from him, I squealed so hard that I threw my pillow into the wall. In what world did I, Adalia, get a message that said "Goodnight gorgeous,"
I had been freaking out so much that I didn't even realize I never replied to his text. When I came to, it was already too late and I wondered if it would be awkward to reply to him. What do I even say to him? "You too, handsome"?
Ugh. I cringed just thinking about all the cheesy replies that came to my head.
"I'd say, you look better than yesterday, but that'd be a fat-ass lie," Addy said, walking up to my desk and snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Do I look that bad?" I asked.
"Yea, if you didn't have the face of a goddess, you'd look like a drunk hobo by the side of the street," she chuckled.
"Damn, is it that bad?" I asked, pulling out my phone and opening the camera app to look at myself.
Addy didn't reply to my question and just stared at me. I took it as her way of saying 'See for yourself.'
When I saw my face, I was appalled. There were eye bags lining the bottom of my eyes, and curly strands of my black hair were sticking out of the ponytail I had put it into. I had no idea I looked this bad. Where was my head when I was dressing up this morning? Don't answer that. It was obviously filled with the thoughts of god Zayn.
"Partying last night?" She asked.
"Nope, I just couldn't sleep. My active brain wouldn't give me a break"
No thanks to a certain someone, I thought to myself.
Whenever I tried to sleep yesterday, images of Zayn's smile and his seductive lips would constantly assault me. I just couldn't get him out of my head no matter what I did. And just when I was finally able to fall asleep, I was then abused by erotic dreams of him.
The man was driving me crazy and I had only just met him.
"Anyways!! I met this hot guy yesterday!" Addy yelled excitedly.
I shot her a death glare. "Girl, too loud. Shut up"
She gave me the stink look and said "You're sleep deprived, not hung over. Stop being dramatic"
Sleep was the one thing I couldn't get enough of. If I was sleep deprived, then the whole world had to suffer too.
I rolled my eyes at Addy and schemed through the cluster of emails on my screen. Then I smelled a familiar smell. It was Luke. My senses perked up as I spun my chair around to look at the doors slide open.
I don't know how, but I could always sense when Luke was around, and I could always smell him from a distance. When I complimented his smell to Addy, she just said she could only smell him when he was up close, and his perfume wasn't anything impressive. I just resigned myself to thinking she probably had a nose block or something.
As always, this need to speak to Luke and be in his presence stirred inside me and I sprung up from my chair and walked to him.
"Good morning, Luke," I said, but he just spared me a brief glance, mumbled something, and went to his office.
Okay, that was weird. It feels like he has been pissed off at me lately, and I had no idea why. Maybe he wasn't mad at me, maybe he was just in a foul mood these days.
I looked at my phone screen and saw I still had a couple of minutes before my first client, so I decided to go out and get coffee. To be precise, Luke's favorite coffee. He always drank this Starbucks coffee—caramel Macchiato. I honestly don't know what he saw in Starbucks, I've tried it and the thing just tasted like milk with sugar.
I got to Starbucks within five minutes and ordered two caramel Macchiatos. Yes, two. I failed to mention that while I didn't particularly like Starbucks, I'd sometimes drink it just so Luke could see we both shared something of interest.
I know, I'm a simp.
Before meeting Luke, I never knew I had it in me to be a bonafide simp. But now I'm a certified one, and I wear that badge with honor. There was no use denying it, I mean when the guy was feeling sad, I'd tell lame jokes to cheer him up. When he was laughing, I'd laugh along and hope his laughter doesn't die. And when he was upset, I'd try to turn his mood around, just like I was doing right now.
Ding.
The elevator door opened, and I made my way to Luke's office. I knocked on the door, prompting him to glance at me, then return his head back to his computer.
"Here, I brought you coffee," I said, placing the cold cup on his desk.
He looked at me in surprise, a flash of emotion crossed his eyes. But it was soon replaced with anger again.
Did I imagine that?
"Are you okay?" I asked carefully.
"How's the client I gave you yesterday?" He asked in a curt voice.
I was taken aback a little bit by his out-of-topic question.
"Zayn?" I asked, still surprised. Luke cocked an eyebrow at my question, the anger in his eyes increasing by the minute.
"On a first-name basis with him already. That's certainly interesting."
"He asked me to call him that," I countered.
"Of course he did. All you seem to do is attract a lot of attention from guys around you, huh? I always notice your subtle flirting with clients, but this one, you aren't even trying to hide." He spat out venomously.
I sat there, shocked at his words. I already felt like a mess today, but right now I felt like completely shit. I felt insulted. I felt small and I felt stupid.
Why had I even tried to cheer him up, he had his girlfriend for that. Why did I allow him to talk to me like that, and worst still why do I seem to be believing I'm at fault here? So many self-reproach just kept flowing through my head, and I got up to leave his office.
I plummeted down on my chair and rubbed my eyes. I glared at the coffee I had bought for myself and tossed it into the garbage. I wasn't a big fan of wasting food, but right now I couldn't stand to look at the coffee.
I really should have left Paris to console him. I raised my head up to look at Paris only to see she was staring at Luke, concern on her face. But when he stared back at her, she quickly averted her eyes in a nervous manner. It was almost as if she was scared of him. That's weird. He never treated Paris like that, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen them argue. I wonder if she's the cause of his anger.
After fidgeting for a while, Paris got up from her seat and walked to the door of Luke's office. However, when she was about to enter, Luke shot her a death stare that had her scrambling back to her seat.
I wasn't really a fan of Paris, so I didn't feel bad for her.
And, no. It isn't because she got the one man I wanted, it was simply because her personality sucked. She could be really childish and immature, sometimes I feel like she was still stuck in her high school phase. Another reason was that she was a player.
I mean, power to the girl, she was snatching and dropping hearts here and there, but she crossed the line when she involved one of my friends. A little bit of flirting from her had him falling in love, but in the end, she chose Luke in a heartbeat. He was so hurt that he quit.
"Your client called when you were away from the desk, and I picked up. He said he's postponing the project and to give him a call back" Linda said, walking back to my desk with Addy.
Linda was another friend of mine in the company, but I wasn't as close to her as I was with Addy.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I was glad he postponed because I didn't have the emotional strength to talk to anyone right now. But it was a little strange. He made a big fuss about needing to complete the house this week, and then suddenly postponed.
Whatever, I couldn't care less. I was tired, my body was hurting and I was feeling sleepy.
Along with the soreness in my body, there was another feeling creeping up inside me. The need to see Zayn. There was this dull ache lingering in my heart and I felt like only he could soothe it.
I groaned.
I was getting tired of this, Zayn this, Zayn that, Zayn...
"Zayn?!" I yelped as I saw him stroll through the door in all his majestic glory.
He was the last person I expected to see right now. It was almost like I summoned him by saying his name three times.
I scampered to look at my schedule on the computer screen and it says he doesn't come in today until late in the afternoon. Unless the giant clock and my brain were playing tricks on me, it was still morning time.
I turned around to look in his direction again, and my eyes met with an ice-blue one. That dull ache in my heart slowly turned to sweet tingles. The fatigue I had been feeling instantly lifted off my shoulders. I felt better like I had woken up from the best sleep in the world.
His dog Hydra instantly left Zayn's side and made a beeline for me like he did yesterday. Seriously, he should put this dog on a leash. He kind of scares me a little when he runs to me so fast like that, as if I had his favorite bone or something.
Hydra made it to me and started wagging his tail and jumping all over the place in excitement. He was actually cute, the way his ears flapped up and down was adorable.
"Aww, he's so cute!" Addy squealed, voicing out my thoughts. She extended out her hands to pet him, but Hydra just growled and snapped his teeth at her. She shrieked and retrieved her hands.
"Careful, I said he was playful, but I never said he was friendly," Zayn said.
"But he clearly likes Adalia," Addy pouted.
"That's because she's simply lovable." He said as he walked over to me.
My heart flipped. He called me lovable.
His scent hit me like cool fresh air straight from the ocean as he got closer, and I felt more pressure lifting off my body.
I said Luke smelled nice right? Well, screw that. god Zayn smelled fucking better.
"You look tired and upset. Who was it?" His voice was laced with slight anger.
I was surprised by his question. How had he known that someone made me upset just by a look? "N-no one" I stuttered.
He squatted down to my level, then brought his hands to rub my eye bags.
I leaned into his palm and rested my face in it, feeling way better from his touch. Man, his hands were magic.
I heard a slight clearing of a throat from behind us, and I opened my eyes. It was Luke.
I quickly pulled my face out of Zayn's palm and then shrunk into myself. It felt like I was caught doing something wrong. He's probably going to hate me even more. I groaned internally.
I looked up at Zayn to see him frowning at me. His hands still hanging in midair. His frown made me want to position my face right back into his hands, so he could feel better. Or is it so maybe I could feel better?
"You don't have to come to greet me every time I come in," Zayn said to Luke without sparing him a glance.
"I'm only showing courtesy," Luke replied.
"Don't," was all Zayn said, dismissing Luke.
He returned his full attention to me and said "Adalia, we are supposed to be going out to shop for pieces of furniture aren't we?"
I avoided his gaze and replied with a low "yes." Just the way he said my name sent heat down to my core, if I looked into his eyes, I'd definitely go feral. I couldn't lose myself with Luke here.
"Shall we get going then," he said in more of a statement than a question.
I nodded and quickly grabbed my things, not able to stand the glare Luke was no doubt giving me.
Zayn brought his hand to my waist and I shuddered. The burning sensation grew hotter in my core. I subconsciously adjusted myself to his side, so I was touching more of him. I couldn't get enough of his smell and the feel of him.
I didn't care if Luke was watching us, I just wanted more of Zayn's touch. So I rested my head on his shoulder and reclined into him.
Great, add Zayn to my earlier list of things I can't get enough of.