"Here," Elian said, putting down Lance's laptop on the coffee table.

"Are you sure we're allowed to use your brother's laptop?" I asked skeptically as Elian sat beside me and started typing the password.

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged and let me have the laptop.

I shook my head at his brazenness and opened Lance's mail box. I added my email account and logged in, but there were no new mails with any attachments. "Did I not press 'send'?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't," Elian responded dryly. "Why don't you check the draft?"

"Even if it got saved in the draft, it wouldn't be here."

"Then where would it be?"

"In my other account."

"Why do you have two email accounts?"

"So that I can send myself emails," I simply answered.

"Why don't you log into that account?" he suggested.

I sighed hopelessly. "I don't remember its password. The password is in my phone's notepad."

"Well, I guess we are back to square one." He closed Lance's laptop and got up. "Wanna have dinner now?"

I nodded sadly. "I got so excited for a while there."

"It's okay. We will find a way to solve this. Let's just relax for today," Elian said, and I nodded again.

He went to Lance's room to put the laptop in place while I went to the kitchen to serve the food onto the plates.

The cheese pasta had gotten cold, so I put it in the microwave and took out two plates and forks from the cabinets. For some reason, I could just guess what was where. By the time Elian was back, I had already set the food on the dining table.

"Wow, you are fast," he commented before sitting down at the chair beside me.

"Everything was very easy to find," I said.

He hummed, and we both started eating.

"So how long are we going to stay here?" I inquired.

"As long as the case isn't solved," Elian replied.

"That could take a long while. Are we going to trouble Lance for so long?"

"He's only here until this weekend. He actually lives in Las Vegas."

"Las Vegas? That's such a cool place to live." I looked around the spacious apartment and said, "For someone who doesn't live here, Lance decorated this place really nicely."

"Actually, it was me and my—" Elian paused, then quickly corrected, "Actually, it was me who decorated the place. I used to live here before. I stayed here during my whole university life."

"Wow, you lived in this huge penthouse while I struggled with part-time jobs to keep up my tiny one-bedroom apartment."

"I know."

"Huh?"

"I know. The perks of being rich."

"Absolutely. It's so unfair," I grumbled and served myself more pasta.

He chuckled and mumbled, "You're really cute."

"I'm what?"

"You're really hungry, that's what I said," he said, hinting at my second serving.

I rolled my eyes and asked, "Where am I going to sleep tonight?"

"In that room." He pointed towards the room upstairs.

"Why is your guest room upstairs? People usually have it downstairs."

"Because it used to be my bedroom before, so Lance always uses the room downstairs."

I went blank for a moment.

So I was going to sleep in my boss's ex-bedroom where who knows how many girls he might have slept with during his university life? Not weird at all.

"Okay. But what about my things? Even after packing, you left the bag in my apartment," I said in order to distract my mind from the earlier thought.

"Oh, right. I think we have to buy a few new things then because we can't risk going back to your apartment."

"But I don't have my credit cards." I couldn't even go to the bank to retract it because the police may get to know from there.

"I will lend you mine." I opened my mouth to protest, but he was quick to add, "And you can pay me back later on."

"Okay. But how are we going to get out?"

"In disguise," he stated.

Seriously, did I actually get into a thriller movie world?

"Okay." By then, we were both done eating, so I got up and placed the dishes in the sink. "Who's going to wash?"

"How about we leave it for Lance?" Elian suggested mischievously, and I glared at him.

"Lance is going to kick us out." I put on the rubber gloves and started washing them. "I'm washing them today, you will do it tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, fine." Elian kept standing there, and he smiled while watching me as if he was watching a nostalgic old movie.

"What?" I asked while trying to remove my hair from my face.

"Nothing." His smile got a little wider.

I rolled my eyes and frowned as my hair kept getting in my way.

"Do you want me to tie your hair?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't have a hair tie. It was in my bag," I said.

"Wait," he said and started looking around the cabinet drawers. "There should be a hair tie somewhere around here... Got it." He took out a black rubber hand from a drawer.

"Whose rubber band is that?" I couldn't help but ask in curiosity.

"Just someone's."

"Your ex—" My words froze when his fingers brushed against the back of my neck to gather my hair. I closed my eyes at the chilling sensation.

The entire time he gently tied my hair into a loose ponytail, I stood like a statue, as if moving a little bit was going to break the moment.

He might act rudely a lot of times, but he really has a sweet, caring side.

Even after he was done tying, he didn't move away. He stood there behind me and brought his face closer, his nose brushing against my cheek while my heart was racing.

It felt nice to have him this close. If only he would wrap his arms around my waist—

What the hell am I thinking?

Before I had the time to move away from him voluntarily, another distorted image appeared in my head—a girl was doing the dishes while a boy hugged her from behind and started kissing her neck.

"Hey, are you okay?" Elian asked, bringing me out of my trance. He was now standing beside me, looking at me in concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I assured him, breathing heavily because I had forgotten to breathe as long as he was standing close to me.

He still looked worried as he asked, "How often does this happen?"

"What?"

"This thing where you clutch your head like you're in so much pain and you always seem out of it after that," he stated.

"Yeah, maybe I should see a doctor," I agreed.

"Should I call my family doctor?"

"No, it's fine for now. I'll see him after we are out of trouble."

He didn't seem like he agreed but also understood it was not his place to force me.

After washing the dishes, we discussed a little more about our situation while I ate some desserts from the fridge. I had the habit of overeating when I was too stressed.

"Hey, what am I going to wear to bed?" I asked.

I would rather wear Elian or Lance's clothes than wear a pencil skirt to bed.

"There are some old clothes in my bedroom," Elian said, heading upstairs.

I followed him. He was about to open the door but stopped.

"Let me go in and check something first," he said and entered the room for a few minutes. When he opened it again, he mumbled, "I owe Lance another thanks."

"Why?"

"No reason other than he's the best brother ever," he said and opened the door wider to let me enter.

When I stepped into the room and looked around, I was hit with yet another nostalgic feeling. The room was in a shade of dark blue and black. It definitely gave Elian vibes. However, something seemed to be missing, but I couldn't put my finger on what.

"Nice room," I commented.

"Thanks," Elian replied before heading into the walk-in closet, and I trailed after him.

While he was looking through some lower drawers, I looked around the clothes hung up. Most of them were casual clothes—something a university student would wear. So I guessed they were all Elian's clothes. Lance literally removed nothing.

"Found them," Elian let out and pointed to the drawer full of female clothes.

I looked through them to find everything a woman could wear, even undergarments. "Are these your ex-girlfriend's?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, but not really."

"What sort of answer is that?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

"She's not my ex-girlfriend."

"So she's your present?" I didn't know why but my heart clenched at the thought.

"Not exactly."

I put a hand on my hip and asked, "What is she then? Your kinda-girlfriend?"

"It's complicated, okay?"

"Is she in your life right now?" I asked.

"Yeah."

My heart was squeezing painfully, but I still asked, "Does she know you're going to stay in the same house as me?"

"Forget about her. It doesn't matter," he brushed it off, sounding a little angry, and grabbed a few of his clothes from the closet. "Just wear these clothes and go to sleep, and if you don't want to, you're free to wear any of my clothes as well." With that, he left me there alone.

As I stared at the feminine clothes in the drawer, I couldn't help but ponder over who Elian's not-really-ex, not-really-present girlfriend was.