Christian slammed his keys on the kitchen counter and turned to look at me. "You and that Mr. Evans must be pretty close," he remarked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Did you see the way he smiled at you? Urgh, makes me want to puke," he said before acting as if he was going to throw up.

"Oh puh-lease, stop overthinking things. There's nothing wrong with smiling. He looks pretty cute when he smiles," I confessed. "Besides, I just met him, we're just friends." It was funny seeing him getting all riled up over this.

"Did you just say his smile was cute? Is my smile not enough for you?" He forced a smile onto his face and frowned, thinking hard.

I burst out laughing at his serious face.

"You two just met and he's already calling you by your first name!!" he exclaimed. "Friends my ass."

"Forget that. Why didn't you tell me that my contract was terminated??!" I asked.

"Because I knew you would react this way," he explained in exasperation.

"Who terminated it? I know that it wasn't me."

Christian looked away from me and wouldn't look at me straight in the eyes.

"Tell me who it was!"

"I don't know who it is," he lied. I could tell he was lying. He looked so suspicious.

I knew that he was just as stubborn as me. Once he decided on doing something, there was little to no way that he would change his mind about it. I asked something else. "Were you even planning on telling me??"

"I was! I was planning on telling you when the right time came along," he said. "I wanted to protect you Cali."

"Protect me??" I scoffed. "Where were you when a security guard was dragging me out of the lobby against my will? And where were you when that same security guard grabbed onto my hair??" I knew that it wasn't his fault. He was still asleep when I snuck out. It was good enough that he even showed up. I wanted to take those words back the instance they came out, but it was was already too late.

"So this was what Mr. Evans helped you with?"

I nodded.

"What did that security guard look like? Tell me and I'll fire him immediately." He took out his cell phone and waited for me to describe Benjamin.

I pushed the hand that was holding the phone down. "Don't fire him, it's not his fault," I said. "Just like you knew who terminated my contract, I'm sure you know exactly who was behind what happened today."

He looked at me with a guilty look.

"Your mother," I said, breaking the silence. "Did I do something to her in my past life or something?! Just because I'm dating you, she doesn't have to go this far. What does she have against me? When is she going to give up?"

"I'll talk to her again-" he suggested.

"You said that last time. Did that help at all?"

"Cali-" He reached out toward me but I backed away.

"Christian, I-I don't know how long I'll be able to live like this. Your mother-" I choked back tears and continued. "-she's pushing me into a corner. I just lost my job and I didn't even know until now. The next thing you know, she's going to get someone to kidnap me. Don't you dare say that she won't possibly do that because we both know that she is capable of doing something like that. What am I going to do? Tell me.. tell me what to do," I begged.

"Cali-" Again, he reached out to hold me but I stepped away from him.

His shoulders slumped downwards and his tired eyes looked at me apologetically. "I-I'm sorry Cali, I didn't know that this would be hurting you again. I didn't know that this would happen. I thought keeping this a secret was protecting you. Give me another chance to protect you. I won't let my mother do something like this again. I'll get you back your job... I'll do anything. Just forgive me."

"I need to get some air," I announced and started to leave.

"I'll go with you." I heard him follow after me.

"I want to be alone."

His footsteps stopped. I shut the door behind me and dropped onto the ground in tears. Why was being with him so hard? Was it our fate not to be together?