This chapter is dedicated to my best friend krithi. Thank you so much for your support. Wouldn't have come so far without you. Hope you like this chapter!

And the guy above is Daniel.

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Sam's POV

The first day of work got over early. The previous assistant showed me around the office and informed what kind of work would be assigned to me. It was more of just a tour. I had to wait to meet Hardley as he had a meeting with his client about an upcoming project. It was the most anxious wait in my life. Hopefully if I manage to impress him, I'll get to prove my talent in it. But I think I've already gained his trust in our little conversation. Now that it was over I waited for Michael to pick me up.

The black car came into vicinity after a few minutes. I took my bag and entered the passenger side of the car. I wanted to tell him about everything that happened today.

"You know what, Hardley is so much hotter in person" - I searched my bag for my phone - "I think I might have a crush on him."

"Who is Hardley?" It didn't seem like Michael's voice.

I snapped to the driver seat and found Daniel. My eyes widened but I tried not to show it.

"My boss." I paused for a while. "Where's Michael?"

"We have to pick him up," he said with his eyes on the road.

The next few minutes was filled with awkward silence and I glanced out the window.

"So how is this 'hot' boss of yours? A perfect gentleman I guess." He smirked.

"Yeah, he is. Nothing of your sort." I said dismissively.

"My sort?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Grumpy, arrogant, rude and absolutely no courtesy."

"Wow! Am I all of them? You're the first person to ever tell me that, at least to my face. You must know everybody thinks I'm such a sweet heart." He fluttered his eyelashes, mocking innocence.

"Puh-leez! Just because you're hot doesn't mean everybody can tolerate you." Shit! What did I just say?! I mentally face palm myself. When am I gonna learn to control my mouth? I turned away to the window again, hoping he didn't hear that.

"You think I'm hot?" He grinned.

"I did not say that. I said just you think you are"- he cut me off -"You did so!"

My cheeks flushed red. "No I did not. Never mind! What am I even doing explaining it to you?!"

I kept my eyes on the road, not wanting him to see my embarrassment.

"I'm hot," he said and started laughing.

"Shut up!" I shouted but he laughed even more harder. "Stop laughing! It isn't funny." I pretended to be angry but a smile crept on my lips.

"It is," he finally said after slowing his laughter.

I turned up the music and turned away, ignoring him. But from the corner of my eye, I could see the smile still plastered on his face.

We reached the college after a couple of minutes and picked up Michael and Catherine. From the look on their face, there was something wrong. Michael's eyes were red and Cath avoided looking at him. What the hell is wrong with the two? I turned to Catherine on the back seat.

"How was your first day?" I asked with enthusiasm.

"Good, how was yours?" she tried to fake a smile.

"It was fine," I said. She nodded and glanced away.

Okay something is definitely wrong!

"Are you okay?" I asked. She again nodded and smiled. I know something is not fine but I know better than to push her, at least not in front of everyone. The entire ride to home was silent and I could see Mike glaring at Cath every few minutes.

The car stopped in front of our house. Daniel gave the keys to Mike. "Cath, I'll be back in a minute." She nodded and went inside along with Daniel.

Mike sat on the driver seat. I turned to him and raised my eyebrows. "What?" he asked.

"Are you going to tell me what's happening?"

"Nothing is happening." He looked everywhere else than my eyes.

"You think I can't see the death glare you gave Cath or the missing of your usual stupid self?"

"Is it that obvious to everyone that I'm stupid?" He smirked.

I sighed and got out of the car. "I get it that you wouldn't want to talk about it, but just know that I won't let it go so fast."

"That's one think I've learnt about you for sure."

"Whatever it is, please just bear with her. She has been through a lot lately and not exactly in her best version."

He smiled and drove the car out of the driveway. I walked inside to my room. Cath was sitting on the bed. I thought I had to give her a big lecture on how things will get better and all the blah blah blah she had to hear from me for the past few months. But to my surprise she was smiling at something. Something shiny in her hands.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's a gift from Daniel. He gave me this morning." She smiled. I don't know for how long I missed that smile on her face. I even doubted if I would ever see that again. But here she was smiling. And because of Daniel? It was even more surprising. He was the last person I expected to do that. Maybe I was wrong about him.

"A gift? What for?" I asked.

"I don't know. He just said it will help me." She shrugged.

"I can see that it clearly did." I smiled at her.

"Yeah, isn't it just beautiful?" She handed it to me.

I glanced at it. It was definitely beautiful and the words were really thoughtful. I nodded and gave it back to her. Seeing her made me guilty on how I behaved towards Daniel. He didn't deserve that, at least not anymore. I needed to get over this before I changed my mind. I walked downstairs and looked for him. He was in the kitchen. I walked to him and felt really nervous.

"Hey," I gave a weak smile. He glanced at me and smirked. He didn't even reply.

He was cutting some vegetables. Maybe I should try starting a conversation. "What are you doing?"

"Whatever it looks like I'm doing." He said, not even looking at me.

"Can I help you?"

"You can do whatever you want." He opened the cupboard to get something.

"You don't have to be so rude all the time!" I hissed.

"Well I do. I'm Mr.grumpy remember?" He smirked.

"I'm sorry." I sighed.

He looked at me surprised. "Did I really hear what I heard?" I could see the mischief in his eyes. I'm already regretting my decision but I had to do this, for what he did for Cath.

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're forgiven. If you still want to help, you can start on the salad. All the things you need are in the fridge."

I nodded and opened the fridge. I took some cream, fruits and all the other things I needed. I placed it on the counter beside Daniel and started working on it. I could feel his gaze on me. I looked at him. "What?"

"I'm still trying to process the fact that you apologized. Are you secretly planning to kill me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, I would have done that earlier if I wanted to. But I'm doing this for Catherine."

The look on his face clearly showed that he was confused.

"For making her happy."

"What did I do?"

"Your gift. I don't know why you gave her that. But it has really made her happy. You don't know how much this means to me. But really, thank you." I smiled.

"Can clearly see that." He smiled.

I nodded and then guilt filled me. He was able to make her happy but I couldn't. I'm her best friend and I couldn't even keep up my promise.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. I looked up at him and shook my head. "No."

"What is it?" he asked.

"I said no. Nothing is wrong." I said and continued my work.

"Something must be wrong or else it's impossible that you don't have a comeback."

I rolled my eyes. "It's just that I promised her I'll be with her all the time. But I couldn't even be there on the first day of her college. What kind of friend am I?" I sighed.

"No, you are more than just a friend to her. You would do anything for her."

I raised my eyebrows. "And how would you know that?"

"Let's get this straight. When I almost choked her by accident, you were throwing daggers at me. And now when I made her happy, you are all flowers and butterflies. Isn't it clear enough that she can't get a better friend than you?" He smiled.

"Is the great Daniel actually trying to make me feel better?"

"I am just telling the truth." He shrugged.

"You know what, you remind me of Catherine's brother."

"She has a brother?"

"Yeah, Brian. He always cared about Cath. And he has a way of making people feel better even without trying. He was the sweetest person I ever knew. "

He nodded and then narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying that I'm sweet?" A smile crept on his lips.

"That's all you got from the whole speech?"

"Wow! Hot and sweet. Two compliments in a row. You just made my day." He chuckled.

"You're not hot." I rolled my eyes and tried to hide the blush.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows and leaned forward towards me. I took the cream in front of me and poured it over his head. "Now you are!" I giggled.

"You did not just do that!" He hissed.

"I think I really did!"

Before I could get the chance to runaway, he threw the flour right at my face. He fell down to the floor laughing. I grabbed some tomatoes and threw it at his face. It smashed right on his nose and some of it got into mouth, making him do weird faces. He got up from the floor and I ran out of the kitchen, screaming. He came out after a few seconds, with a tub of ice cream in his hand.

"No," I said and moved back for each step he moved forward. His grin widened. I tripped back and fell flat on the sofa. The next second I know, he was over me. I tried to defend myself pushing his hands away. But he was too strong and applied the freezing ice cream all over my face and hair. I managed to get some of it on him too. We both laughed so hard, making our stomach ache. Just when the laughter subsided, we realized the very little space between us. There was only an inch or so between our face. But neither of us moved away. We stared at each other's eyes.

"What is going on her?" Catherine stood there in the stairs looking at us. Her voice sounded scared.

We quickly moved apart. From her reaction, it was clear that it must have looked like something it wasn't supposed to be. We glanced at each other awkwardly for a second. He walked to the kitchen while I ran upstairs. Catherine came to my room after a second.

"Did he..." she hesitated - "Did he try to..."

I realized what she was asking. "No, he did not. We were just playing." I went inside the bathroom to wash my face.

"Are you sure? It did not look like that." She asked with concern.

"Trust me. He is not that kind of a guy." I assured her.

"How sure are you?"

"101%" I wiped my face with a towel. She was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Am I sensing a change here?" She narrowed her eyes.

"What change?" I had no idea.

"You like him, don't you?" She grinned.

"What? No!" I shrieked.

"Really? I find it hard to believe."

"And why would that be?"

"I think you know it very well." She winked.

"What is with everyone today? What is wrong in changing?"

She still stood there, staring at me, expecting an answer.

I sighed. "I don't like him. I just don't hate him anymore."

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Sorry that the story is going slow so far. I promise that the pace will quicken soon. Till that hold on tight.

How was Sam's POV?

Do you want more of her side of the story?

And I haven't selected the cast for Catherine yet. So any suggestions?

Please be free to comment your views.

Thank you for reading! :)