The sound of rain beating against the window panes and an occasional crack of thunder every few minutes were the only things that broke the silence of the house as I pulled my clothes on two hours later.
The lights in the living room were on, and seeped in from below the gap of the door, but I had no idea whether Shy or Leo were awake on the other side.
Thinking about them sent a stab of guilt piercing through me. They had always been unfailingly kind to me, especially tonight.
But instead of returning the favor, I had left them out there alone, knowing they were total strangers to each other. Strangers that, by the looks of it, probably got off on the wrong foot.
I looked around trying to find my phone, then realised that it might still be on the living room floor along with my purse where I had dropped it earlier. In all the madness that had ensued today, I seem to have forgotten everything and everyone. Well, not everyone.
The bedside clock read 11:50PM, and I wondered how after such an eventful day, 10 minutes could still be left to it.
Briefly, my mind ran through the whole day I've had. Call it a superstition, but the moment I had found Caleb leaning against that pole, casually sipping his coffee this morning, I had known that this was no ordinary day.
His flipping out over Leo and me, and my subsequent resignation was just the aftermath of starting my day with one Caleb Cross.
A soft snore rose from the darkness behind me, and it felt like a reminder of his presence here. As if my attention could wander anywhere else other than the man who had spent the last 2 hours wrapped around me like an ivy.
For a moment, I felt envious of him, sleeping the night away and being absolutely oblivious to the havoc he has caused in my life, while forsaking my sleep for good.
I turned to look at his sleeping form. The man who was responsible for every upheaval in my life right now was lying face down, with an arm buried under his pillow while the other laid outstretched across the bed.
Even in his sleep, it looked like he was searching for someone, and something warm flooded inside my chest at the thought of being that someone he was still subconsciously looking for.
And I so love you, Ruth Brooke.
The memory of his mumbled words sent bolts of thrill through me, and I had to consciously stop myself from crawling back into the bed beside him and succumbing to the joy of Caleb's warm embrace on a cold, stormy night like this.
God, this man was going to be the end of me. I knew I should be angry at him for everything that had happened today, for everything that he had put me - and everyone else - through, but all I felt was happiness to have him here. I truly must be losing my mind, along with my sense of logic.
In the dim light of the room, his skin looked so warm and inviting, corded forearm lightly sprinkled with dark hairs looked so tempting that I momentarily lost the battle with myself and stepped closer to the bed to trace his outstretched arm lightly with my fingertips and was rewarded by one of his contended sighs.
His brows crinkled as he snuggled deeper into the covers, and I stepped back, recognising the need to put some distance between us before I can give in some more and jump back into the bed with him. Can't have that. Not again.
Leo's words from before came back to me, "he has done enough damage today, Ruth. To you and to himself."
Now I knew exactly what Leo meant. And now I decided to apply it, not just to Caleb, but also to myself.
So with the thought of doing some damage control, I walked away from this sleeping temptation and opened the bedroom door, blinking in the sudden brightness and the scene before me.
It took a moment to register, but once it did, the sight that greeted me filled me with even more guilt than the one I had been imagining.
When I had extended my offer for Caleb and Leo to stay here, I had forgotten to take into account that I lived in one bedroom apartment with a roommate.
The same one who was currently curled up into a tight ball on one end of the couch, fast asleep except for the tiny shivers wracking through her body.
The air felt more and more frigid with each step I took away from the bedroom, and I gave a full body shudder as I closed the door gently behind me.
Looking around, I tried to find her comforter or a blanket, but found it covering Leo's huge body. He seemed to be dangling off the armchair that was definitely too small for him. The chair had been moved, pushed to the far end of the room with another one placed in front of it facing the first one to accomodate Leo's legs.
But two of them still couldn't contain him as his head lolled uncomfortably on the backrest and his arms dangled outside the bounds of their armrests at awkward angles.
I looked around again, and found my purse placed on a side table with my phone beside it. Its notification light blinked insistently and I decided to get that out of the the way first.
There were six messages of various kinds from my parents, ranging from disappointed to pissed as they demanded to know why I wasn't answering my phone. That was to be expected, I thought as I went through the messages. Infact, I was surprised that there were only 6 and that noone showed up here to drag me back to their house. I truly wouldn't have put it past them to do that.
There was one more message from an unknown number, and I frowned as I clicked it open. It read—
"Ms. Brooke, you're hereby informed that your resignation request is denied owing to the wrong designation mentioned in your letter. Please hand in another, error-free letter in order to start your notice period. Or, call me personally incase you decide to change your mind.
—Tristan Andrews."
Wrong designation? How can that be? I distinctly remembered writing office assistant... which was not my original designation, was it? I had already been promoted as an office manager. We hadn't announced it publically yet, but the official paperwork was done and my job description already had additional duties added to it.
Oh my God, so did that mean I was still employed?
I looked back at my bedroom door. Did that also mean that I had Caleb Cross, my boss, sleeping in my bedroom right now?
And most important question of all was, did it matter either way? Did I want my job back? And if I did, do I want to mix business and pleasure? What did it mean for Caleb and me if I did or didn't?
God, why can't anything go like I wanted it to? I haven't even had the time to come to terms with the fact that I was unemployed. And now I had to decide whether I should be? Why can't anything be easy for—
"Hey, you alright?" A deep voice spoke, startling me out of my thoughts. I turned to see Leo shuffling around in his makeshift bed, eying me with slightly unfocused eyes.