Ice To Meet You

He's guiltTEA and he nose it

"Are you alright?"

No, I am not. My heart is shattering and my world is moving too fast and I can barely breathe.

"Of course, why would you even ask" I play a Liam with Liam. Thank god we're walking towards the car and he can't really see my face. Would he be able to tell I don't mean it?

Wilson opens the door for me and I get in, thankful for dodging the question unscathed.

Liam is engrossed in his phone with a muted expression on his face. His shoulders are tense and his face frozen—utterly devoid of any emotion that might give me a slight clue about what is wrong.

His phone rings.

"How long do we have Jingwen?" He inquires, answering the phone. He rubs his hands against his face, tension oozing from him. He takes a long, loud breath in and disconnects the phone. Whao—what the fuck just happened?

"Are we okay?" I can't help myself from asking. I want to throw myself in his arms to comfort the first glimpse of vulnerability I can see in him. He presses both his palms on his eyes and I can see veins probing out of his neck.

"This is not the moment to ogle at him Mia," Inner voice reminds me.

There is pin-drop silence in the car and I can't take it anymore.

"Is someone dying?" What else can such a somber expression and those words mean?

He laughs and have I mentioned that his laugh is the heartiest sound I have ever heard. It feels like when you wrap a toasty towel after a long cold shower. His laugh just engulfs you in a tight bubble of warmth. He reaches out and interlocks his fingers in mine and I just—you know that towel I was talking about? 

Right now, it feels like somebody is squeezing that warm towel against my cold naked body—I shudder involuntarily. He doesn't say anything and I am not sure what more I can say. I throw my head back in the seat and enjoy the car ride. Wilson turns the music on in the background. I think it is saxophone but I can't be sure. I close my eyes and stretch my legs forward, the fatigue of wearing heels all day is catching up with me.

"Mia," Liam purrs and shoot! How long have I been asleep?

"Good morning," I quickly say, my voice sounding thick and hoarse. He brushes the strands of my hair away from face and tucks them behind my ear. Am I dreaming?

I flash my toothy-learnt-from-Nate-grin and he clasps our interlinked fingers further. I look at our hands together and before right now I never thought my hands could look so petite. I sit up, asserting my body to wake up but carefully enough not to remove an inch of closeness between our fingers.

"Wilson," Liam says as Wilson passes him a cup of Starbucks something that he hands me.

"I don't"—I clear my throat in a feeble attempt to not sounds as croaky as I do.

"It's peppermint tea." I want to pinch myself to be sure I am not still dreaming because this kind of stuff doesn't happen in real life.

"You're definitely awake." Inner voice nudges me.

He hands me the tea and I take a sip.

"Is your head still hurting?" I shake my head from one side to the other, still not sure if I am capable of uttering coherent words.

"Have lunch with me tomorrow?" He asks as his fingers gently make circles on my knuckles.

"Why?"

"Because I want to take you to this amazing Mexican place."

I turn my body so I can directly look into his cloudless sky-blue eyes—that as always have a scrutinizing flicker to them.

"We can do dinner."

"Mia," he purrs, unleashing his full-frontal charm that I already know I am incapable of resisting. Soon I will be a pool of succumbed melted Mia on the floor who clearly can't hold her own and he will walk all over me.

"I am having lunch with Nate." I declare, breaking our eye contact and looking ahead. Inner bitch lights a cigarette and is beaming with pride.

He taps the front seat and immediately Wilson steps out of the car.

"No. You. Are. Not." Liam calmly states, emphasizing each word.

"Yes. I. Am." I calmly state back, emphasizing each word.

He places his hand on my chin and turns my face toward him.

My heartbeat accelerates. This feels majorish.