After a comfortable and peaceful night's sleep, Reuben's eyes gradually fluttered open.

The first thing he did was to make sure that the little kitten was still in his arms.

Seeing her there, with her head on his shoulder and arms on his chest, he smiled contentedly.

'Uh oh! Stupid biological clock!' He blushed when he realized that he had a slight tent in his pants.

It's a good thing that his body wasn't turned towards her or else a certain part of him would have poked her right in the tummy.

Reuben closed his eyes again and concentrated on other bizarre things to calm himself down.

He was using the exact same method that Lina had used on that night.

After a few minutes, he had calmed himself down and was enjoying this quiet time, early in the morning.

But the peaceful silence did not last for long when he heard someone clear their throat.

'Lina is still sleeping, so that means…" He looked up and caught sight of how Benji was staring at him.

His brows were raised and his arms were folded over his chest which was the classic 'do you mind explaining yourself?' pose.

'Thank God that the blanket was covering me or else this guy could see everything!' He sighed in relief.

Noticing Reuben's attention, Benji silently mouthed the words, 'We need to talk' so that they did not wake the sleeping woman up.

'Will I get punched again? But that was just a physiological thing that happens to all men!' He was hesitant at first.

He then slowly nodded and after carefully removing his arms from under her body, he made her lie straight down on the couch.

Covering her entire body with the blanket, he looked up at Benji and signaled to walk with him.

As he walked he covertly glimpsed towards his pants and rejoiced that he was safe.

"What's up?" He asked after moving a little away from the couch.

"We can't talk here." Benji pointed at the sleeping devil on the couch and decided to find a quiet place to talk about certain matters.

"Hmm.." Reuben thought for some time and a bright idea came to his mind.

"Go freshen up and get your workout clothes. We can talk at the gym." He suggested and Benji accepted.

Reuben was sure that this gigantic man needed to constantly work out to keep his body fit. So what better place to talk and bond than the gym?

As he waited for Benji to get his stuff, Reuben went back to the couch and looked around.

Finding a notepad, he wrote something down and placed it on the table in front of Lina.

"Let's go." Benji was back wearing his workout clothes and Reuben led him out through the door.

--

"There's a gym in the penthouse? How come the realtor never mentioned this to me?" Benji asked when he saw Reuben push the *P* button on the elevator and then type a code.

'Maybe he feared that I would fire him.' Reuben's snarky mind retorted.

"Because this area is not accessible to everyone. This is my place and it also has a gym in it." He pointed to the elegant yet minimal furnishings as the elevator opened right into his house.

"You can look around while I go get changed." He yelled as he briskly walked to his room and shut the door.

Benji marveled at the large house that he now knew belonged to Reuben Ming.

'This man is known for being aloof and indifferent. So why is he so strange and contradicting now?' Benji silently sat on the couch.

Within minutes, Reuben was out wearing a white T-shirt and a black jogger.

The contours of his ripped body were visible and it did not lose out to Benji's fit body.

"This way." He walked ahead and led him to the gym.

Benji was amazed to see almost all kinds of workout equipment available in his home gym.

He turned around and found that Reuben had already started running on the treadmill.

This place was meant for one man so Benji had to do something else until Reuben was done.

While they silently worked out, Benji finally remembered why he had come up here.

"We need to talk." He called out to Reuben to get his attention.

'I don't think I can work out in peace if we don't have that talk.' Reuben rolled his eyes and walked towards him.

They stood before a punching bag and punched it around as they began speaking.

"What's your deal?" Benji questioned without beating around the bush.

"What deal?" Reuben popped his head out from the other side of the punching bag and asked in bewilderment.

"Your deal for getting closer to Lina." Benji reiterated his words.

"What do you gain by doing all this? I mean, a big and powerful personality like you certainly has a lot to do rather than watching romantic movies with two strangers that he just met, right?" He smiled but it was a fake business smile that Reuben was used to seeing everywhere he went.

'YOU are the only stranger here! I've met Lina many times before!' Reuben silently scoffed.

"I've heard a lot about you. To be precise, about how you hate women to the extent that people thought you secretly liked men. So I am curious, why the sudden change in personality?" Benji touched a sensitive nerve in Reuben's ego.

"Who did you just say likes men?" He punched the bag with a little too much force which caused it to collide with Benji's shoulders.

"You don't have to react so aggressively to some baseless rumor. Or… is it real?" Benji smirked and hit it right back.

"I don't think that I have to give you any explanations about my sexual orientation." He hissed viciously.

'Lina is the perfect witness to whether I am straight or gay. Hmph!' He scoffed loudly.

"Regarding the matter with me and Lina. We are just friends and I have no improper intentions towards her." He raised his right hand in the air and swore.

'I'll see how long he can keep that promise.' All Benji did was roll his eyes and sneer at him.

Last night, he had woken up from his slumber due to the biting cold that was making it hard for him to continue sleeping.

As he looked around for the blanket that he had left on the couch, he found that it was snugly wrapped around these two who were comfortable in each other's arms.

He had thought of waking Lina up and sending her to his bedroom but threw that idea out of his mind when he remembered how cranky and bitchy she would get if her daily required sleep hours were not fulfilled.

He did not want to wake her up but at the same time, he could not go and sleep in his own room.

'What if this guy does something to Lina while she sleeps? Master will not think twice before crushing all my bones!' With this reasoning, he forced himself to go back to sleep on the couch after getting another blanket for himself.

When he felt Reuben stir in the morning, his body became alert and without making any movements, he silently observed how Reuben smiled as he watched Lina sleep.

Coming back to his senses, he found Reuben staring at him in confusion.

"Was that the only thing you wanted to ask?" He inquired because he felt that it was not the only thing Benji was curious about.

"Of course not. Let's talk about that Talia woman who tried to defame my boss, shall we?" Benji's smile was scary at the moment and Reuben shook his head.

'So he isn't just a musclehead, after all.' He smirked and they discussed a few things about the woman who had caused Lina's feelings to be hurt.

Well, it was Reuben's mom who had actually hurt her feelings but they decided to deal with the root cause before Reuben could have a long and much-needed chat with his mother.

---

Back in Benji's apartment, Lina stretched her body and sat up on the couch.

'I dreamt of Mr. Puggles last night. He was just as soft and warm as I remember!' She smiled contentedly and squealed.

Mr. Puggles was the life-size teddy bear that she had as a child. She would always squeeze it tight and snuggle close to it on cold nights.

'I wonder why I suddenly remembered Mr. Puggles? I guess I'm just homesick.' She sighed and then looked around.

Noticing how the entire place was quiet, she wondered where these two might have disappeared to.

'What's that?' Her eyes were drawn to a note placed under a bottle of water to keep it in place.

*Gone to the gym. You are welcome if you want to join us.

Elevator button - P

Code - 1011*

She admired the beautiful penmanship which was certainly not Benji's weird handwriting that looked like blocks joined together.

"A chance to see two hotties sweating after an intense workout? Only an idiot would decline that offer!" She jumped off the couch and ran to get changed.

She came back in a lilac tank top with black yoga pants. Picking up Reuben's note, she got on the elevator.

She typed the code and soon reached the Penthouse.

'Is this the right address?' She was confused to be in a beautiful apartment rather than the gym that she was expecting.

"Reuben? Benji?" She called out their names and walked around cautiously.

When she got no answer from them, she entered one room after another in search of the gym.

"Is this his bedroom?" She glanced around the huge room with an enormous bed and a wall full of pictures.

"That's Wayne and Wade!" Her eyes were instantly attracted to the picture with her brothers in it.

She went closer and took a picture of it on her phone.

'Look at how pure and young they look here!' She was already making plans on how to use them as blackmail material.

It was the photo that had the twins standing with Reuben and another girl during their graduation ceremony.

"Aww… Reuben had a cute little girlfriend back in college!" She giggled as she tried to guess what was going on in this picture.