Dante's POV:

Ever since Azalea and I kissed on my birthday, I have been going nuts.

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether she would feel the same about me as I did for her.

But her reaction to that that day and after what she did this morning made me think otherwise.

Although I feel like having her in my arms every night, I know that she isn't that comfortable about it so I try my best to sleep in my room. But I took full advantage of my birthday.

So much has happened since yesterday morning that I feel like it has been days since my birthday.

Damn it, I'm thinking about her again ! I can't wait to go back home and see Azalea in an adorable night suit that she always wears.

Get to work, Dante !

I started replying to e-mails sent by other companies offering a partnership between us.

To which I politely declined. I'm not a partnership type of a person; I like working alone.

All of a sudden, the door of my office burst open. I didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"Dude ! You won't believe what I just found out." Alex said, walking towards my desk.

"Yes, sure. Just barge into my office whenever you want. No biggie." I sarcastically replied.

"Aw..thanks man." He said, laying down on the couch in my office.

"Anyway. I just found out that if you spell out numbers from one; you will not find the letter 'a' until you reach one thousand." He explained.

"And you spent your entire day doing that ?" I asked.

"Yeah.." He said. "Might've missed a few meeting because of it..." Alex mumbled. "But yeah, it's true !" He excitedly said.

Yup, this man is crazy. It's confirmed.

"Oh. I forgot to ask you, have Damien or Blaze contacted you ?" He asked, referring to the bodyguards that I had assigned for Azalea.

"Uh..no. Why ?" I questioned him.

"It's just that I told Ace and Leo to send me updates every few hours but they haven't. I'm getting worried." Alex said, now sitting on the couch and impatiently tapping his foot on the ground.

Listening to him, I thought of what Azalea said in the morning; that she would text me every two hours.

So I checked my phone. There was a message from her saying:

After I read the message, I felt a smile creep onto my face. She's alright. I wonder if she's thinking of me, you know ? Like she invades my mind...

"So ? Did you get anything ?" Alex's voice broke my chain of thoughts.

"Yeah. Azalea said that they're alright. and going for lunch." I responded, still looking at the text from her.

"Oh. Alright." He sighed in relief.

"You like her, don't you ?" I asked him, out of the blue.

"Of course I like Azalea. She would kick my ass if I didn't." Alex spoke a little loudly.

"No, no. No, no. Not her." I denied. "Kim. You like Kim." I grinned.

I've known Alex for a very time. He has never been into dating. All he did was enjoy life by partying.

Recently, I've seen him caring about Kim. I mean, yeah, he does care for Azalea; but as a friend.

By the way that he looks at Kim, anyone with eyes would know that he likes her.

"Pfftt...no." He dismissed. "Why would I like her ? Who likes her ? I don't." There he goes, denying everything I say. All I have to do is keep pushing him to admit it.

"Then why did you assign not one, but two guards for her ?" I argued.

"Becaausee......." He dragged the word, as he thought of an excuse. "She's Azalea's friend...and uh.... I wanted to you know...keep her safe..." Alex stuttered.

"It's okay to admit it, Al." I assured. "You don't have to hide your feelings."

"Fine. Yes, I like her. Like, a lot." He huffed. "I'm just not sure if she feels the same way. If she does, I'll be the happiest man on earth. But, I don't want her to get involved with me. The mafia. Everything.

She is innocent, caring, beautiful and a bit crazy too. I don't deserve her. She deserves someone who will be there for her; all the time. Someone...just not me." He poured his feelings out.

"Look, I understand how you feel. I really do." I empathized with him. "I felt the same way with Azalea but eventually, I got over that doubt."

"Yeah." He sighed. "By the way, I assume that you were thinking of Azalea before I got here. If you were, firstly, you're whipped. Secondly, next time try not to drool." He teased.

"I wasn't drooling." I defended myself.

"Whatever you say !" Alex said, leaving my office. When he did, I heard him yelling outside, "Dante is whipped ! He's in love !"

Lunatic ! I thought to myself before continuing to work.

A few hours later...

My phone rang; disrupting me from writing a report of the company's progress. I looked at the caller ID. Liam.

Wow, what a coincidence ! I thought of him just a few hours back because we hadn't spoken to each other in a while.

"Hey what's up, man ? How you doing ?" I greeted when I answered the call.

"Heyy...." Liam sounded hesitant. "Azalea has been in a car accident."

"What the fuck ? Where is she ?" I asked, alarmed.

"She's in Maple Care Hospital, downtown. I'll send you the location. Come soon." Liam quickly informed and then hung up.

Rushing out of my office, I hurriedly got into my car and sped over to the location Liam sent me.

On my way there, I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Is she alright ? Does she need me ? I haven't spent enough time with her. I just can't lose Azalea. Not now, and not ever.

When I reached the place, all I saw was an empty parking lot.

I came out my car and ran around like a mad man, in search of the hospital but it wasn't in sight.

Thinking that maybe Liam got the location wrong, I decided to call him but was immediately stopped by doing so when I felt something hard strike the back of my head.

I tried to stay conscious but failed when I felt myself drift off into a dreamless sleep.

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