"Nice to meet you." That stupid John stood there with a stupid smile on his face.

"Same here, Mr. Walker." I forced a tight lipped smile.

"Can I have a dance with the lovely lady?" He looked at Brae.

"No." My response was immediate. Of course I wasn't supposed to answer but that didn't mean I wouldn't.

"I mean she said she wasn't feeling well." I made up and smiled sweetly at Brae, daring her to disagree. She smiled back even more sweetly.

"But now I feel better." She blinked her eyes, before turning towards John.

"I would love to dance with you, Mr. Walker." That stupid grinned like he got his Christmas gift. How I wanted to choke him to death!

"I am honoured. Call me John, please." She sweetly smiled at him and took his hand. He led her to the middle of the dance floor.

I took a drink from the waiter and gulped it down in a go. I felt a burning sensation down my throat.

Seeing them dance together made me extremely restless. I was plain jealous, jealous of them dancing so close to each other. I tried being calm for a long time till my patience snapped.

I walked up to them and patted on John's shoulder.

"I would like to steal her for a dance." My tone was anything but of request. He hesitantly nodded and stepped aside. I held Brae's hand and wrapping one hand around her waist brought her closer to me.

"You should ask the lady if she wants to dance with you." I raised a brow at her.

"Would you have not preferred dancing with me?" I asked as we moved to the rhythm of the music.

"Maybe." She tilted her head causing me to smile.

"I'll keep that in mind next time." I brought my face closer to her hair, her gentle fragrance filling my nostrils. The smell of her hair used to be one of my favourite things and the addiction didn't fade away.

"Evan, what are you doing?" She furrowed her eyebrows as I lay with my face in her hair, the sweet vanilla fragrance filling my nostrils.

"Smelling your hair?" I tightened my grip on her waist as we lay tired out by our early morning love making.

"What?" She kept drawing imaginary patterns on my hand.

"Your hair. It smells so good, I feel like I could get lost." I smiled to myself.

"Oh I was thinking of cutting off my hair. Shoulder length would look good on me, right?" I immediately raised my head to look at her of she was joking bit she looked serious.

"You won't." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Evan, it will look good." I shook my head in disagreement.

"You already look beautiful in your long wavy brown hair." She didn't look convinced with my argument.

"But-"

"For me?" I gave her the best puppy eyes that I could pull off which seemingly worked. She huffed , her lips drawn in a small pout.

"Okay fine. For you." I kissed her cheek before stuffing my face once again in her hair."

"Evan?" Her sweet voice broke my trance.

"Hmm?" I responded by keeping my eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" I pulled back to look into her eyes.

"Your hair. It smells nice." She looked at me and gulped. I saw a lot of emotions pass through her eyes. For this one moment, she couldn't hide them from me.

We stopped dancing as the song ended but stood there still , in each other's hold.

……………….

"I seriously don't understand. At one moment she stared at me like she was reliving our old memories, like all this actually meant something to her and the next moment she ran away like my touch was burning her."

"What is it that she is still hiding from everyone even after three years?" Ryan absent-mindedly tapped the floor with his foot.

"At this moment I don't even know if she is acting or if this is the reality. All this is so damn frustrating!" I frustratedly raked a hand through my hair.

"Calm down, brother. "

"Heard of the new club that opened recently? Let's go there tonight. It will take your mind off things." He stood up and put on his jacket. My lips stretched into a slight frown.

"Stop looking at my face and get up." He slid the key towards me.

………..

"You're in?" Cora's voice broke my trance.

"For?" I raised my eyebrows at Cora saying that I had no idea of what she was speaking of.

"You weren't listening to me?" She made the face of a hurt puppy. I playfully rolled my eyes at her over dramatic antics.

"I'm sorry. What is it?"

"We were planning to go to the club tonight. Are you in for it ?" Honestly I needed this. I wanted to relax and let out all my stress.

"Yup!"

…………..

"Does this look good?" I looked at Bri through the mirror and back at myself. She shook her head in disapproval. I huffed and threw the dress on the bed. She went to the closet and rummaged through the dresses.

"Try this." She came back with a black dress with a plunging neckline. I had bought it some two years back but didn't wear it somehow. I took it from her hands and put it on.

"This is the one. You look so hot in this!" She gushed while I smiled at her. She was wearing a metallic green dress , giving clear view to her long milky legs. Cora and Austin were more than fine to have Bri with us.

"We have to hurry up. Austin will come any moment to pick us up."

"One rum and coke, and one whiskey sour please." The bartender served our drinks.

"So do you feel a bit better?" I looked at Ryan who was offering me a faint encouraging smile.

"Honestly, no. She is always on my mind. Whatever I do, I can't stop thinking about her." He patted my shoulder to cheer me up. Sipping on my drink, I looked around and my eyes got struck on a group of people entering. Initially I wondered how drunk I was when I saw Brae in a shiny crop top and a mini black skirt but then I saw her friends and her sister with her, making me realise that I wasn't hallucinating.

"Brae is here!? And I have seen that girl in the office but who is the other girl in green? She looks so familiar." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Brielle." I answered by keeping my eyes fixed on Brae.

"Brielle as in Brae's sister ?" He sounded surprised by the piece of information.

"The one." I kept looking at her. All of the girls giggled at something Austin said. The fact that Brae was more relaxed around him than me made me want to kick him out of the club.

"I don't like that guy." Ryan's voice reached my ears

"Me neither." I immediately agreed but then turned to look at him.

"Why don't you like him?" My eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"Why don't you like him?" He fired back.

"Because he is close to Brae. But what's your reason?"

"Uhm I don't know. " I looked strangely at him but nevertheless turned my attention back to Brae. She sipped on her drink before her eyes roamed about like she could sense the stare on her. She finally looked at me and her eyes widened. Looking at her, the whole group turned towards us and everyone looked pretty shocked.

They talked among themselves before they went back to their own talks but Brae and Brielle looked stiffer and more conscious than before. After some time Cora and Brielle left for the dancefloor leaving Brae with Austin. They were joking, smiling and laughing without a care in the world and my hands gripped the glass in my hand tighter.

"Keep the drinks coming." I gulped it down, the liquor burning my throat.

"Woah! Easy brother." Without even looking at Ryan, I took another glance at them. Their close proximity was affecting me more than I had imagined. I saw Brae leaning forward and speaking in Austin's ears causing me to inhale sharply. Jealousy coursed through me like burning lava.

"Funny that I came here to take my mind off her , to let out stress." I gulped down my glasses, trying to suppress God knows what! Ryan just shook his head to himself.