Chapter 1

Steven barely understood what Mr. Chua, his boss, was saying as his mind seemed to be wandering in another dimension.

"Mr. Delos Reyes?"

Steven couldn't stop thinking about the guy next door. It’s been two days since he woke up next to that stranger, who also happened to be his neighbor.

"Mr. Delos Reyes?"

And for two days, the guy would not leave him in peace. He had been knocking on his door almost every hour, telling him that they need to talk. But Steven didn't listen to him. He never even once opened his door for him.

Steven didn’t have the courage to have a single conversation with him. He couldn’t face him, especially when there were lots of different images coming to his mind…Images that led him to be on the same bed with his neighbor, with both of them naked.

"Mr. Delos Reyes!" Mr. Chua shouted with pure irritation, which made Steven almost jump in surprise. Even the documents that Steven was holding dropped on the floor, which immediately picked up.

After picking up the documents, he stood up properly again in front of Mr. Chua, who's nose seemed to be flaring in anger.

"What is happening to you! I have been talking to you, but you weren't listening! What? Are you fed up with your work? Do you want me to fire you?" Mr. Chua angrily said.

Steven instantly shook his head. "I-I'm so-sorry, sir," he genuinely apologized.

Mr. Chua just gave him a sharp stare, then shook his head in pure annoyance.

When Steven came out of Mr. Chua's office, Ronald, who was his closest office mate, immediately approached him.

"Looks like you got scolded again. What did you do this time to piss him off?" Ronald asked.

Steven took a deep breath.

"Well, yeah," Steven answered as he walked towards the cubicle.

Ronald immediately followed him and walked by his side. "It's not a surprise though, considering how you're acting right now," Ronald said while grinning.

His forehead furrowed. "What do you mean?" he asked without looking at Ronald.

"You've been spacing out a lot since yesterday. You don't reply to us no matter how much we tried to talk to you. It's like you can't hear us. It's like your mind is somewhere else. Tell me, is this because Shaina rejected you?" Ronald asked again with an annoying tone.

But Steven ignored what Ronald said. As much as possible, he didn’t want to remember that.

He was badly hurt when Shaina rejected him. He courted Shaina for almost a year. He endured all the insults he received from her friends. When she needed to ask him something, he gives it wholeheartedly. Every command, he obeyed. He was just like a dog to Shaina, but he ignored all of that.

He loved Shaina so much that he kept on ignoring Ronald's advice to him. He thought he had a chance. He showed her pure kindness and love. But he was wrong.

“Never in my dreams did I even think of you being my boyfriend. First, you are not good-looking. You're too plain, too far from those men that are trying to get my attention. You are not rich either. Heck, you can’t even take me to fancy restaurants. But still, thank you. I had fun playing with you.”

Everything that Shaina said was like a knife that slowly pierced not just his heart, but his pride as well.

He was so hurt by what the woman said that he decided to get himself drunk until he was wasted and couldn't stand straight. Too drunk that he couldn't remember some of the things that he did. He didn't even know how he ended up in that stranger's bed.

He felt his cheeks getting hot as he remembered his neighbor. And Ronald seemed to notice that.

He bowed down his head to hide his blushing cheeks, but Ronald did the same thing. Ronald stooped down to look at him with his furrowed forehead.

"Are you okay?" Ronald asked as he was trying to take a look at Steven’s face.

He quickly raised the documents that he was holding to cover his face.

"I'm good!" he quickly said, almost panicking.

"You sure? Why is your face red? Are you not feeling well?" Ronald asked as he tried to take the documents away from Steven’s face. But Steven did not let him.

"I told you, I'm fine! Just go back to your cubicle!" he snarled.

Ronald sighed and tapped his shoulder.

"Fine. But if you're really not feeling well, just tell me. Don't think too much about what Shaina said. There are other women out there that we could still have fun with!" Ronald said then tapped his shoulder again.

Steven only lowered the documents that covered his face when Ronald finally left.

He sighed. He tried to get the things that happened two days ago out of his mind. He tried to get his neighbor's face out of his mind. Instead, he distracted himself with his work. He did not rest once. He almost took some of his colleague's jobs just so that he would be busy and so that he wouldn't have the time to remember that man.

"Aren't you going home yet?"

A tap on his shoulder surprised the hell out of Steven. He looked up and was quite relieved when he saw that it was Ronald.

Ronald's forehead furrowed as he took a look at the documents that Steven was working on.

"The deadline for that is still next week, right?" Ronald asked.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. "I'd rather finish this now. I don't have much to do anyway."

Ronald raised his brow, then he crossed his arms.

"I have a feeling that there is something you're not telling me," Ronald said while still raising his brow.

He averted his eyes from Ronald then started clearing his own desk.

"And what am I going to tell you?" he asked, trying to act casually.

"Yeah. What are you going to tell me?" Ronald asked again.

But Steven didn't pay any attention to what Ronald asked. Instead, he continued clearing his desk, then he quickly stood up without even glancing at Ronald.

"I'm going home," he said and walked past Ronald.

But Ronald quickly followed him and accompanied him until they left the building.

He was about to call a cab when Ronald stopped him.

"Just come with me. We're in the same direction, anyway," Ronald said.

But Steven quickly refused Ronald's offer. "Thanks, but I'll just take the cab," he said but Ronald pretended like he didn't hear anything. Instead, he dragged Steven towards his car.

"Get in," Ronald said with a smile on his face when they were finally in front of his car.

When Steven didn't move, Ronald just sighed then opened the passenger door, dragged Steven again, and pushed him inside the car.

"What the!" Steven annoyingly said when he almost kissed the car seat that was made of leather when Ronald pushed him.

Steven settled himself and gave Ronald his deadly stare. But Ronald just laughed at him, then he walked towards the other side of the car and got inside.

"Seatbelt," Ronald said.

Steven sighed as he annoyingly put the seatbelt on.

"Seriously, you don't have to do this. I can just take a cab! If I was a woman then I might take this as you flirting with me," Steven said, then shook his head.

"So, what if you are not a woman? Does that mean I can't flirt with you?" Ronald said as he glanced and winked at him.

Steven's eyes widened and his lips parted. He even felt like his heart stop beating for a moment after hearing what Ronald just said.

What the fuck?

But then Ronald suddenly laughed out loud and surprised him even more. From a surprised look, now he was giving Ronald a weird look.

"Damn man! You should have seen your face! Your reaction was priceless!" Ronald exclaimed then laughed again.

And that's when he realized that Ronald was just making fun of him.

So, he gave Ronald a strong punch to the shoulder that made the guy groan. Then he gave him a deadly stare.

"In case you forgot, I am driving!" Ronald protested.

"Then stop making fun of me, you asshole,” he snapped.

Ronald laughed loudly again.

"Do you really think I am serious? Dude, I am as straight as a flagpole!" Ronald said while still laughing.

"Fucking asshole," Steven whispered as he listened to Ronald's annoying laugh.

After that, they started talking about a lot of different things. They were so invested with their conversation that they didn't even realize that they already reached Steven's apartment building.

"Thanks, asshole," Steven said after he got out of the car.

Ronald snorted. "Quit calling me, asshole. I am too good and too nice to be called an asshole."

"Yeah right," Steven replied then rolled his eyes.

Ronald just shook his head. "Gotta go. See you at the office tomorrow," he said.

Steven just nodded as a reply as he watched and waited for Ronald's car to be out of his sight.

Only when the car was out of his sight did he face his apartment building. To his great surprise, his neighbor, the guy he's been avoiding for two days, appeared right in front of him.