After my crying session in the restroom, I find my way back to the table. Kay, Shawn and Ashton are all laughing because of whatever Kay showed to them on her phone. They notice my presence when I took my seat.

"Hey, what took you so long? We've been waiting for you." Ashton is the first to speak.

"I'm sorry if I made you guys worried. I was taking a phone call." I lie.

"Ria, is everything okay?" Kay asks me.

"Of course, duh." I roll my eyes, plastering a big fake smile on my face.

Fortunately, I didn't miss dinner. In fact, I got back to the table just right when dinner is getting served. Honestly, this is the first time I had a six course meal. I channel my anger towards the delicious meal, taking each single bite as if I'm having my last supper.

"Thank you so much for inviting us. I had a great time." I thank Shawn sincerely after the meal.

"Me too babe, thank you." Kay adds, pulling Shawn for a brief kiss.

"I'm glad you both had a nice time." He places a soft kiss on Kay's forehead.

I know I'm not feeling good at the moment but the little gesture between the two makes me smile. These two are giving serious couple goals.

"If you ladies don't mind, I would love to introduce you to some people. Most are family friends and business partners."

"Really?" Kay's face lit up.

The idea of being introduced to celebrities and influential people must be so exciting. Well that's Kay, I on the other hand can't wait to get out of here. Not that I'm letting them know that though.

"Of course. The night is still young after all." I fake enthusiasm.

The introductions begin. We are introduced to different people, mostly family friends and business partners like he said. It isn't bad at all to be honest and I won't deny the fact that I was in awe when I laid eyes on Jamie Parker. Jamie Parker as in one of the hottest supermodels ever.

She looks so unreal! Even more beautiful than she does in magazines. That isn't the best part though. The great news is I didn't spill drinks on her designer dress. Surprise, I scaled through!

I grin from ear to ear like an idiot when Ashton took a picture of myself and the one and only Jamie Parker. I mean she's even hotter in person and I know I can be such a fan girl sometimes but I'm just really excited we met in person. We talk and laugh, we even take some selfies. After the pictures, she hug Kay and I. To my utmost surprise, we even exchange numbers. She is oh, so humble and fun to be with.

"Have you ladies heard of Castle?" Shawn ask us, leading us to a new set of people.

"No." I reply almost immediately.

I know it's been fun so far but it's really starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. My feet are starting to kill me, and the heels are not helping at all. I'm so ready to do anything, anything at all just to get out of here. I need to go home! So if plastering a big fake smile on my face for couple more minutes is the ticket home, then so be it.

"Okay ladies, meet my very good friend Dante Moretti, the one and only CEO of Castle." Shawn introduces.

My big fake smile disappears immediately my eyes make contact with the devil himself.

Oh, I'm not surprised.

There he is in all his glorious beauty with a smug look playing on his face. That dog! He is enjoying every single moment. The universe really must be on his side tonight. I can't say the same about myself and the mere thought is really starting to drive me crazy.

"Hello, Mr. Moretti." Kay smiles broadly, shaking hands with the devil.

"Please, call me Dante." and the jerk flashes us a beautiful smile.

Annoying smile Ria. Okay, correction taken.

"And who are these gorgeous ladies Shawn?"

"This is my beautiful girlfriend, Kayla Garette." Shawn pulls her closer, encircling her waist with his arm.

Him acting all possessive is just too sweet. Like really, really sweet. Oh, my heart!

"and this is her best friend, Ria Lee. I believe you still remember my friend, Ashton."

Dante gives Ashton a quick nod, acknowledging him before giving me his full attention.

"Miss Lee." The devil smirks. "Permission to call you Ria?"

That doesn't sound a bit like a person requesting for permission at all. The thought makes me roll my eyes but I still manage to give a curt nod.

"I believe we've met Ria." The devil takes my hand, placing a lingering kiss behind my hand. The kiss takes forever and he didn't waver in the eye contact.

Now we are playing games huh? Great, two can play the game.

"Oh, have we?" I flash him a big smile, not removing my eyes from his.

"You two know each other?" Kay gives me a we-have-some-serious-talking-to-do look. I mentally groan.

"No. I mean yes, I we-"

"She asked me for directions earlier." he cut me off.

What can I do to wipe that cocky smile off his face? I thought life couldn't get any harder, well I'm totally wrong. The stupid lights dim and people start to make their way to the dance floor.

"May I have this dance?"

And he has the motherfucking nerve to ask me to dance. I will rather be thrown in a pit full of snakes than dance with this jerk. Okay, maybe that's a little bit over the top. I totally hate snakes!

"No"

"Yes"

I didn't say yes, who did?

"She would love to."

Of course! I mean who else can it be if not Kay? Kayla Garrette will seriously be the death of me. Why did she have to do that? She just gave me to the devil himself and she has no clue. I want to smack that girl so bad in the butt, grinning like an idiot and throwing me cold stares each time our eyes make contact.

What choice do I have now? I place my hand in his and he leads us to the dance floor. But can he please wipe off that cocky smile from his face? He has no idea I'm thinking of how to control myself before I strangle him with his damn necktie. Arrogant jerk.

"So your name is Ria." He breaks the silence immediately we start moving to the slow song.

I ignore him, not feeling comfortable with his hand resting on my waist. But is that the truth Ria?

"Ah, now we are playing deaf and dumb."

Such disrespect!

I raise a brow, watching how he laughed at me. Unfortunately for him, his laughter is cut short because I stepped hard on him. Perks of wearing high heels.

"Oops! Sorry... not." Blinking my eyes, I simply shrug.

"What are you, five years old?" He rolls his eyes.

Those eyes. Extremely beautiful eyes.

I shake my head bringing myself back to reality. I shouldn't be having that kind of thought especially not about him.

"You know, I could ask you the same." I roll my eyes.

Why is the damn song taking forever?

"What exactly do you want from me? I mean, it's quite obvious you don't like me." He utters, keeping his eyes on me the whole time.

I almost swore he's being serious until that annoying smirk appear on his lips again.

What did I expect?

"Not that I care, it's your problem but it's really starting to make me uncomfortable."

Oh, the feeling is mutual dummy.

"A sincere apology." I say almost immediately.

"And that would be for leaving you alone in my home or because we slept together while we were both a drunk mess?" The words roll out of his tongue so fast, disgust apparent on his face.

He's not going to make this easy at all, is he?

"For starters how about apologizing for being such a jerk." I scoff.

"You had no right to talk to me the way you did. You thought I knew who you were and that was why I threw myself at you? I had no idea you existed until that night and for your information Mr. I don't sleep around so thank you very much. I'm not a dog, I was drunk and I seriously regret what happened."

"About that, I was totally out of line and I'm sorry." I look into his eyes, he is being sincere. I can feel it.

"Actually, I didn't mean to leave you alone in my home. I was needed at work and it was quite urgent. I had no choice."

Excuse and lot of excuses.

"You could have left a note." I tell him.

"Well, what can I say? I'm not the drop-a-note kind of guy." He shrugs.

"Of course." I roll my eyes.

And the rest of the dance is surprisingly not uncomfortable. We didn't speak, we just danced.

He's an amazing dancer, alright? I didn't take him for the dancing type but as usual he surprised me. What can I say? Dante Moretti is sure full of surprises.

My torturous night is about to come to an end as the song stop. I give him a quick nod before turning to leave but he stopped me. I nearly jumped. He is so fast. One minute, I turned away from him and the next he is standing right in front of me.

Perhaps, he's a vampire? Oh God! I watch too much movies.

"I had a great time." and the cocky smile returns.

Of course, he did.

"Good for you." I plaster a big fake smile on my face. "Is that all? Can I go now?"

"We will definitely meet again, Ria." He takes my hand, placing a quick kiss behind it. "We are not done."

Is that a promise? That arrogant jerk.

He winks, leaving me behind on the dance floor. I freeze.

Am I feeling butterflies in my tummy right now? No, that's not it. Pure irritation Ria, it's pure irritation.

I mean, I'm so tired and the need to shower and go to bed is there. That's it, nothing more. Besides, the stomach butterflies crap exist only in books and movies right?

"What a jerk." I mumble, going back to join Kay and the handsome gentlemen.

My misery comes to an end when Shawn and Ashton drop us off at my place. Kay decided to spend the night in my house. I wonder why. I mean, isn't it a bit suspicious?

After shower I put on a large T-shirt, before going to join Kay in bed. She's busy watching me like a hawk and that is totally creepy I must say. She didn't say a word to me since we left the party. The look she's throwing my way however gives that feeling of a ticking time bomb about to explode.

"Can you just stop?" I roll my eyes.

"Stop what?" She pretends as if not understanding what I meant, acting suddenly all sweet and innocent. That's even more suspicious.

"Just shoot the questions already, Kay." I yawn, feeling sleepy already.

There's this long pause and before I know, Kay start throwing questions at me.

"How did you know, Dante Moretti? He's so handsome, isn't he? He kissed your hand Ria! Oh, shit does he like you? Did he ask for your number? Did you give him? You did right? Was he-"

"That was him." I cut her off.

"Him?" She raises a brow. "What him? I don't understand."

"Him, Kay. Him." I repeat.

I seriously hope she gets it this time.

"Him as in him?" She gasps.

We are just going round and round in circles. Kay is either being a drama queen as usual or she's just really dumb. I vote for the latter.

"Yes, him. The Stranger I had a one night-stand with."

There I said it.

The room went still for a brief moment before my crazy best friend starts to scream.

"Yes go on, wake up the neighbors." I give her a big smile before flicking my finger on her forehead.

"That hurts." She whines like a little kid.

"Good." I flash a sheepish smile.

"Okay, let's be serious now. You mean the guy you slept with was Dante Moretti? The guy from that night?" She asks, her eyes going wide.

"Yes." I nod.

"Wow. Wow. Just wow." She clap her hands before tapping her chin with her finger.

I know she's about to ask yet another question. Oh, Kayla!

"So when he said you asked him for directions, that was a lie?"

"Oh, that." I rub the back of my neck.

I tell her everything without sparing a single detail. A small smile is starting to form on my lips. Is that because am talking about him? Why does it feel like am missing him? Okay, scratch that. I must have hit my head while crying in the restroom. That's the only reasonable explanation for that ridiculous statement.

"You know why am still laughing?" Kay says in between her laughter, holding her stomach from laughing too much. She's laughing really hard.

"It better be funny because I'm not laughing and I don't think I said anything funny." I fold my arms around my chest.

"I find that part extremely hilarious. You know, the part where he wrapped his arm around your waist and claimed you were his fiancée just to make the poor woman get off his back. I bet you looked dumb. God, I wish I was there. " She laughs. "He could have just told her to leave him the hell alone. I mean, why the drama?"

For once I agree with Kay. I mean, I've been so curious the whole night myself.

"My thoughts exactly. Honestly, I was so shocked." I admit to Kay. "What's even more surprising is telling me we will meet again. I mean, that's impossible. Why on God's earth will I even want to see that devil again?"

"Oh come on, stop bullshitting yourself honey. In fact go ahead and bullshit yourself but don't even try that shit with me." She rolls her eyes. "It's obvious you want to see him again. I saw the way you were watching him when he left you on the dance floor. Why not date him, huh? I mean you slept together already, I won't be surprised if you two start going out. It happened with Shawn and I." She shrugs.

Ugh?

"First of all I didn't sleep with him, he did. Okay that doesn't even sound right. You know what? Whatever." I groan. "and you said the same about Ethan."

"Oh really, I did? I don't seem to recall the part where I mentioned you sleeping with Ethan." She taps her chin gently, pretending to be deep in thought.

She's lost it.

"You need help." I shake my head.

"I do like Ethan but I prefer the richer and more handsome one for my girl." She grins sheepishly.

"Good night, Kay." I ignore her, getting under the blanket.

"Will you please turn off the lights? You know I can't sleep with the lights on."

Surprisingly, she did that without saying a word, getting under the blanket. Who knew Kay could be so obedient?

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

"But for real, you don't like Dante Moretti?" and there, she breaks the silence just when I'm about to sleep.

Why, Kay? Why?

I ignore her. There is no way on earth I'm having this stupid conversation with Kay again especially right when I'm trying my best to sleep.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

"Dante is so rich. Dante is so rich." She continues in a sing-like tone.

Oh, Lord!

"Just look at that face of his. Oh my God, is he even real?"

"And he's so fucking sexy too. My heart!"

Someone is really testing my patience. Why does it feel like she's doing it on purpose? I ball my hands into fists, feeling like a volcano about to erupt any minute.

No scratch that, any second!

"Who am I kidding? I'm sure you are aware of how sexy he is given the fact you've been blessed with the opportunity to see every inch of his naked glory. After all you guys..."

That's when I realize I've had enough.

"Kay!" I shout, my voice coming out even louder than I thought.

Then I realize I just got myself played. Kay has won. I close my eyes tightly, my lips forming a thin line.

"Now who is about to wake up the neighbors, huh?" She smirks.

And she repeats the exact same words I had said to her.

"Yes go on, wake up the neighbors."