The Experiment © [Completed]

Chapter 41 - Books

"So... How were the rehearsals?" Matt asked as they sat in his office Tuesday the following week. He handed them the jar of Salty Caramel Macadamia Nuts he had been munching on. "Want some?" he asked.

"Uh, no, thanks," RJ said and Dei shook her head. "The rehearsals were okay --"

"Yet painful," Dei interjected.

RJ looked at her and smiled. "Yet painful," he agreed. "But it's worth it. The choreography is actually great, you'll be surprised."

"I'm quite intrigued," Matt said. "I saw the live feed that Dei posted yesterday and it only showed you dancing, RJ. 600,000 views in just three hours."

"You what?" RJ asked looking at Dei, and she snickered, quite pleased with herself.

"Don't you ever check our page, RJ? Or your social media accounts?" she asked, laughing.

"I never have the time, you keep me so busy." RJ told her.

"Eherrm," Matt cleared his throat.

"But that's how you wanna play it huh?" RJ said, raising an eyebrow at her and giving her a challenging smile.

"Oh, it's on," Dei said, lifting her chin up. "You have nothing on me, babe. But you, you have to be careful. I might even show our fans a live feed of you in the shower," she joked.

"Oh, so you will get inside the bathroom while I'm in the shower?" RJ asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Ehermm!" Matt coughed a little louder and took a gulp of water from his tumbler.

"Errr..." Dei said, starting to blush.

"And are you sure you wanna let the followers see---"

"EHERMMM!" Matt let out an exaggerated cough. "Seriously guys, in case you're forgetting you're in my office and I'm still here - your boss, hello? And please, I don't need the image of RJ showering carved inside my head for the rest of the day. Go away and find something to do. And no PDA, ghaad!" he said as he watched them walk out of the office laughing and holding hands.

Matt picked his phone up and tweeted.

The struggle when you're the boss yet a hardcore shipper at the same time. #dying #DeiJayTheStruggleIsReal

++++++

"I saw your SC!" RJ exclaimed, walking out of his room with his phone in his hand.

"Good," Dei said, not looking at him. She was sitting on the sofa, reading a book she borrowed from Mara.

"I'll get you next time, I swear." RJ said, taking a seat beside her.

"Well good luck," Dei said, smirking at him.

"What are you reading? You've been ignoring me since you got that out of your bag," RJ said, peeking at the book cover. "Hello, Richard?"

"Uhuh..." she said distractedly.

"I never heard of it. Who's the author?" RJ asked, trying to read the synopsis on the back cover.

"She's an up and coming author - Kreng Samson - but this story came out on Wattpad first," Dei explained, not looking up. "It gathered a very huge following and readership there so she tried publishing it, and now it's slowly becoming a national best-seller. Mara was kind enough to lend me her copy..."

"Is it good?" RJ asked, trying to keep the conversation going, now that he got a bit of her attention.

"Very... Once you start reading it, you really won't be able to stop." she said, flipping the page.

"I can see that," RJ said, a bit grumpily. He peeked at the page Dei was currently reading and she quickly moved away when she noticed.

"Well would you look at that," RJ said with a smirk. He snatched the book from Dei and started reading a few lines. "D: I move my head further down as slowly as I can with my breath hitting your skin every time I exhale. I'm just above your navel. R: Lower." He looked up at Dei, his eyebrows raised. "So you're hooked, huh?"

"That's impolite," Dei said, frowning. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips as she leaned against the arm rest of the sofa. "And no, that isn't the only reason why I'm hooked."

RJ placed the book on the coffee table and started moving slowly towards her. "You don't need this, Dei. Not right now." he whispered, his face just a few inches from hers. "We've been planning something since last week but we always ended up doing something else less... exciting."

"Yes, like sleeping. We've been very tired," Dei whispered back. "I need to finish that... And another book." she said.

RJ reached for Dei's face and brushed his thumb against her cheek, his other hand propped on the sofa between her and the back rest. "So there's another book?"

"Yeah." she said in a small voice.

"What is it?" he moved his thumb and traced the outline of her lips.

"Airplanes and Shooting Stars," she answered, her breathing starting to become more uneven as she met RJ's scorching gaze.

"What is it about?"

"It's another... It's a love story about... about destiny," she managed to say. RJ's hand had started moving from her face, to her ear, down the side of her neck, until finally resting on the first button on her blouse.

"Are you sure you want to finish those now?" he unbuttoned it, and moved on to the next.

"Uhhh..."

"I'm waiting," RJ said, his hand hovering on the third button.

"No, not really." she said, reaching for the collar of his shirt and pulling him in for a kiss.