Chapter - 3 : Dream

"Wha—" He cut me off by placing his lips on mine. My eyes grew wide and my breath hitched. He pulled back the very next minute. Tongue-tied, I stared at him.

Did he just kiss me? Oh God! He introduced me as his girlfriend, too.

"Nice to meet you, Jessica Williams," Katherine said coldly and took a sip from her wine glass. I couldn't react as Mike's hand trailed from my shoulder to my waist, sending shivers through my body. He pressed my waist gently, shifting his gaze from me to Katherine.

"Ni-Nice to meet you," I finally said.

"Hey, babe, can we talk?" Mike said, looking at me.

Babe?

Before I could reply, he turned to Katherine and said, "Excuse us. We need to talk about something privately."

"Sure." She gave me a tight smile.

I watched her leave, confused by her reaction. I didn't even offend her, so why did she look pissed? I removed Mike's hand from my waist the second Katherine was out of our sight.

"What...what are you doing?" I stammered. He placed his finger on his lips to shush me. My lips trembled beneath his small touch and I pressed my lips together to stop it. I couldn't get affected by him. Even if I did, I couldn't let it show. 

"Look," his hand reached to the back of his neck as he continued, "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend."

"What?"

"Just for the night. I can't explain why, but please…" I couldn't believe my ears. Please... that word from Mike's lips sounded new but I couldn't ignore the desperation in his voice. 

I sighed. "Just for tonight."

"Thanks." He gave me a small smile. 

Turning around, I tried to walk into the crowd but froze when Mike's hand rested on my back. He was standing close to me. I tilted my head and glanced up at him. He looked at me and said, "We have to look realistic." 

I nodded. His eyes darted around at our surroundings then fixed back on my face. My breathing grew uneven when his face came closer to mine. "What are you…" I trailed off when his lips brushed my earlobe. 

"Smile," he whispered.

"I can't smile when you're this close." He didn't move back an inch. He instead whispered, "Just try to laugh like I was telling you a joke."

 "How can I do that when you aren't telling any jokes?" His hand that was on my back slowly moved to the side of my torso near my waist area. He started to tickle me. A helpless giggle escaped my lips.

"That's good." He stopped tickling and rested his hand on the small area of my back. I gave him an incredulous look before we walked back to the clients and talked with them. The whole time, he didn't remove his hand. 

And when I was enjoying my chicken slider later that evening, Mike brought his right hand to my face. I stopped eating and stared into his eyes. His thumb wiped the cheese off the corner of my lip, making me gulp hard. 

Katherine stared at us the entire time. Whenever I felt her eyes on me, I turned to look at her, causing her eyes to instantly avert. What's wrong with her?

The rest of the party went well without any awkward situations. Afterwards, Mike dropped me off at home. He didn't even utter a word on our way back. I didn't force him to explain to me what happened at the party since he didn't seem to be in the mood for questions.

I opened the front door with my spare key as I didn't want to disturb Rose and John. Heading straight to my room, I changed into my pajamas. My sleeping pills were missing from the last rack of my nightstand. I searched for them in the other racks but couldn't find them.

Rose...

It was definitely her. I kept changing my hiding spot for them but she still managed to find them and move them so I couldn't use them.

I checked everywhere. My room, the living room, the kitchen, everywhere except Rose's room. My hand raised to knock on her door but I dropped it. It wasn't the right time. They might have been sleeping as it was past twelve.

I gave up and sat on the couch in the living room. I turned on the television and turned the volume down to not disturb my friends.

Eventually, the heaviness of my eyelids became overwhelming but my mind was thinking about Mike. All day he had given me shock after shock. First, he wanted me to accompany him to an unofficial party as his friend. Next, he complimented me and then...

...He introduced me as his girlfriend to a famous actress and kissed me in front of her.

I shook my head to clear the memories but the kiss kept replaying in my mind.

Why was I behaving like a teenager who had just experienced her first kiss when I was twenty-three years old? And Mike was twenty-five. We should have been acting like adults but I couldn't stop the inkling feeling at the back of my mind. His touch hadn't felt weird nor scary. In fact, it had been arousing.

I threw my head back on the couch and closed my eyes.

***

"Wake up, Jessie." Rose nudged my shoulder to wake me up.

I groaned. "Can't you see that I'm sleeping? Go away."

I pushed her hand away and shifted to my side.

"You're smiling like an idiot in your sleep. Can I know why?"

My eyes fluttered open. "I was smiling in my sleep?" 

She nodded, smiling. "What happened? Did you have any nightmares?"

Pulling myself to a sitting position, I leaned back against the couch. "No, I think I had a good dream."

"Really?" she squealed, pulling me into a hug. One day, she would definitely break my bones with her excitement.

John woke up and ran into the living room. His brows were furrowed with worry. "What happened?" he asked, his gaze shuffling between me and Rose in panic.

"She had a good dream," she squealed again and hugged John this time.

Confusion crossed over his face but he hugged her back. "So?"

"So?! She didn't have a nightmare. She can move on from her dark past."

I didn't think my nightmares would stop haunting me easily but a small hope rose inside me because at least I had a good dream.

"What was your dream about?" Rose asked, turning to me.

I couldn't tell her that I had been dreaming about Mike. She would have tried to set me up with him if I told her. I had to tell her about last night's incident, though.

"Rose... I need to tell you something." I shifted my eyes to John and added, "I want you here, too."

They both nodded and sat on the opposite couch.

I told them everything. Their widened eyes and dropped jaws were evidence that they were just as surprised and shocked as I was.

"Wait! Mike kissed you?!" Rose exclaimed.

"Yes, and he introduced me as his girlfriend to Katherine Douglas."

"Katherine Douglas? You met her in real life?" Rose's smile brightened. She had been a big fan of Katherine for years now.

"Yes, she's our project's brand ambassador. I'm so embarrassed... how can I face her again?"

"So, you're telling me that Katherine is our new project's brand ambassador?" John asked, frowning.

I nodded. His jaw clenched.

"I need to see Mike." He stood up.

"What happened?"

John ignored my question and stormed out of the house.

Rose and I exchanged suspicious glances before she started her interrogation about the kiss and last night. I ignored her, though, and went to my room to get ready for work.

I was standing at the main door of Mike's house and struggling with my thoughts. After last night's incident, an uneasy feeling stopped me from entering the house. Don't be so dramatic, I thought. It was more of a peck than a kiss, nothing more. I let out a heavy breath, comforted by the thought.

I took the spare keys to open the door but when I tried to open it, the door was unlocked. My brows furrowed in confusion.

I pushed the door open and my eyes grew wide at the sight of the living room. Broken flower vases were spread across the room and the coffee table was flipped on its side. The couch pillows were lying on the floor. The living room was a complete mess.

I was scared at the thought that a thief might have broken into the house. My heart raced against my ribcage at the very next thought of Mike being hurt. Is he okay?!

"Mike!" I screamed and ran upstairs to check on him. I knew where his room was since I always picked out his suits whenever we had emergency meetings, so I didn't waste a moment to reach his room.