The past week had been the most grueling Faye had ever had. It was even worse than the sleepless nights she had working on deals with the Silicon Valley big shots who thought her an incompetent greenhorn. At least she knew she was fighting for a cause and accomplishing something productive in her life.

But this? It was just pure madness to battle wills against The Pig! And yet, she found herself stubbornly doing it despite the dark circles that were forming under her eyes.

Not once did she give an inch in giving him all the rights to the bed. Once, she tried lying on the whole thing spread-eagled, only to have her arm numbed by his weight on her. During the day, she felt as if she was some kind of schizophrenic, always expecting him to jump from the shadows with a nasty surprise. She knew that if it were legal to kill anyone, he would have done it.

It was turning out to be so stressful, she knew she wasn't giving her aunt any justice. Not only did she have to be on guard against him every waking hour, but even her sleep was lighter than usual. When he got into the room, the softest footfall could easily cause her to wake, and the moment he went into bed beside her, she would have a very hard time sleeping, if she ever did. In truth, the bathroom was her only safe haven. No matter how much he wanted her out, as long as she was inside, he wasn't coming in.

At least there was still civility left in his barbaric nature.

Which brought her back to the question: How did he get a girlfriend?

Faye stirred the Cranberry Vodka in her hand, inches away from her lips. The deck was filled with families and couples spending their sweet vacation together under the warm sun and in the cool sea breeze. In all of the scenarios, the husband or the boyfriend would be so endearing to her chosen girl and treat her as if she were made of porcelain. She tried imagining Nathan as one of them, but somehow, the image just didn't fit.

Nathan fit more on the other extreme end of the spectrum: the one where...she stopped her thoughts shuddering to even think about how one person can treat another as just an object or a toy.

She sighed and let herself stare off into nothing - her days of unrest finally catching up to her. Her mouth opened to yawn and she felt too tired to cover it with her hands as they absently held onto her drink. She let herself drift off feeling the need to sleep.

A touch on her shoulder made her jump and the contents of her drink spilled onto her lap. It made a pool on her white Capri. Even getting mad about it was too tiring for her. She turned, ready to roll her eyes at Nathan, but stopped. It was one of the cruise's employees.

"I am so sorry about that, Ms. Westbrook. I'll have it dry cleaned, on the house. And I'll get you another drink as well."

She nodded absently, realizing that it was the bellhop who assisted her.

"You have a phone call from a Ms. Hershey."

Faye sighed in frustration that she wasn't able to get her sleep accompanied with a relief that her aunt called her. So, her name was the chocolate empire this time. "Alright. Just come to the room in an hour and pick it up. Don't bother knocking since I don't know if I'm already asleep by then. Just come in. Oh, and just bring my drink there too, please." She followed the bellhop as he led the way still muttering apologies to her.

"Hello?"

"Why Fay! It's only been a week and already you're having sleepless nights!" Lila's voice came through the phone.

She groaned in response. "You don't even know half of it..." Her aunt tittered in response as if she had said the cutest thing in the world. She tried to figure out why, but her brain wasn't working half as well as it should.

"Well, anyway," her aunt went on, "I've heard that monsoon rains are headed your way so be careful. Are you at Hawaii yet?"

"I heard an announcement saying we're near. I'm just not sure when we'll arrive. Maybe we're there already and my mind is still floating off to la-la land." Remembering how much sleepless nights she had to endure with Nathan brought back a sense of indignation to her. "I can't believe you actually set me up on this trip! And rooming me with that pig? You know one of us is going to die at the end of this trip, don't you?"

"Oh, don't be silly. It's only for two months. And by the sound of things, I'm pretty sure you're actually having a good time."

"A good time? Please, Aunt Lila! I haven't had a night's rest because Nathan hogs the bed so much! And that's another thing. You told me it was only going to be a month when it's really two months. You lied to me!"

Lila tittered again. "Oh, don't let his sleeping patterns bother you honey. You have to learn to live with it, because that will be for a very long time."

"Each night is the longest night of my life! But I'm-"

"Fay!" Lila suddenly called out in a shrill voice, cutting her off, "Your boss agreed to give you an extension on your paid sabbatical. I just got his message. He even said he'll extend it to three months! And I also know how to e-mail now. That's where I got his message. Congratulate your auntie!"

Faye's jaw dropped. Three months paid sabbatical? That means she had two months of nothing to do if she was pushing through with jumping ship after the first month. And doing nothing was just absolutely bloody torture. Sure, some people would like it, but she wanted to do something other than shop, eat and take another vacation. She wanted to have a purpose and a goal and constantly drive towards it or she would drive herself crazy!

"Oh, gotta go. Mother just peed on your yearbook. Ma! Get down from there!"

Faye opened her mouth to speak, but found it too late as she heard the click and the monotonic dial tone. She sighed and thanked the woman at the counter for letting her use the phone. Her mind was a whirlwind as she made her way to her room. Already clouded by lack of sleep, the assault of her aunt made her mind even hazier. She was lucky she could even remember that she was allowed a three-month paid sabbatical.

Well, whatever happened, she was going to go to sleep after she sent her clothes to the laundry. She turned on the television and switched to BBC. She stayed in front of it for a while and decided that the Asian business scene could lead to potential business expansion when she came back and she had to know what was going on. At least, she prayed she would retain some information in her floating head as she stripped down to change into short shorts and a huge skirt, deciding to let the television lull her to sleep just in case her subconscious would retain information.

"This is better than the Russian weather channel."

Faye turned around to see leaning on the doorpost of the bathroom in a towel for a few moments before her brain kicked into action and she realized that she was in nothing but her underwear. In panic, she dove to the couch and hugged her pillows to her in efforts to cover herself up. It was the second time being half naked in front of this man.

"Couldn't you have warned me?"

"Hey, you came in looking like a zombie as soon as I opened the bathroom door. You should have warned me."

Faye poked her head above the backrest of the couch. "You mean I just passed you and you didn't tell me you were half-naked?"

"Man, you're really out of it," he chuckled getting his body spray from his side of the room. "Did you just hear yourself?"

Faye's eyes traveled over his body, her thoughts going back to his girlfriend. Maybe she was hooked by his body. Not that it wasn't anything she had not seen before. The sons of the businessmen she talked to were as ripped as the pig in front of her. So, fine, he wasn't a pig anymore. In the eight years they've been apart, he had lost all the fat that made him slow and ungainly. His lack of glasses revealed his eyes. She didn't remember them being so dark and piercing before. Or maybe that was because her eyes were diverted from his clear face.

"Are you trying to eye rape me? It's too a part of sexual harassment, you know that right?"

Nathan's question snapped her out of her trance. It wasn't that she was hypnotized by his transformation. Absolutely not! She was just really tired and the only response she could think to his statement was a snort. "Just get out of here so I can dress."

He grinned. "What are you going to do if I told you I wasn't going to leave?"

"Fuck you!"

"That'll be strange, but I won't mind." He stood behind the couch looking at her as if he had no intentions of dressing, himself.

She glared at him. "You have a sick mind, you pig!"

"Hey, you were the one who suggested."

"If your girlfriend knew what an ass you really are, she'd drop you like a hot potato!"

The grin on Nathan's face vanished. "So what? I can get another one."

She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She knew Nathan was not a gentleman, but for him to really treat women like they were things that can be discarded? It made her fume. "Chauvinist pig!"

He shrugged and his grin suddenly reappeared as simple as if a switch was turned on for it. "Hey, don't get so worked up about my love life." He stepped closer, his face level with hers. "If you're so loveless and desperate, I can be your temporary boyfriend for this trip. And since I'm nice, I'll do it for free. Any sexual favors will cost you though."

Something inside Faye snapped and she lunged at him, launching herself from the couch armed with erratic cat fighting skills that consisted mostly of flailing to get at her opponent in some way. Nathan tried to keep himself from getting hurt from her assaults, constantly prying her off him and trying to prevent her from attacking. The exchange brought them rolling on the floor fighting for the position to get the upper hand.

A sudden squeak brought both of them to stop, panting as they looked at the bellhop who just opened the door. Nathan's towel had unraveled on one side, endangering him to being undressed with another roll. One of his arms was pinned to the ground as Faye sat on his torso, looking so disheveled...and in her underwear. Her other arm was behind her as Nathan held it there.

"I-I'm s-so sorry." The bellhop seemed too embarrassed to even speak catching them in an awkward situation. "I thought you said I could just come in and...uh..." As if remembering where he was and what he was seeing, he suddenly closed the door muttering apologies behind it and saying that he would come back some other time.

An awkward silence settled in as soon as the bellhop left as if the air suddenly froze all time and thought. That was until Nathan spoke. "Not all bones, not all fat. Hmmm...yummy." The grin that was forming in his face suddenly disappeared as his head snapped sideways from Faye's slap.

Faye got off him and went to get new clothes, deciding to go to the spa instead and get the longest treatment available so she could sleep. She knew she was going to be so jumpy sleeping in a room where he could just enter and...and...who knew exactly what was in his mind?

"Damn..." Nathan muttered behind her, "I shouldn't have loosened that one."

"You're lucky I don't know how to punch," Faye growled at him donning her shirt and skirt on, "-or I would have knocked you out cold!" With a huff, she picked up her Capri and left the room, anxious for the time she could set foot on Hawaii and get away from him.

Hola guys! How is the story progressing? I really need your views on this story. I don't know if it's on the right track or not.

Recently, wattpad is acting up weirdly. I know the thing about notifications has been resolved I guess because I am getting all of them. But I'm so much irritated, as I'm not able to write, reply anything on anyone's message board including me. Oh, when it's going to get fixed?!

Anyway, please don't forget to and for this chapter and this story with your friends and family if you liked it. ❤

Bye!