MANIAC - Hatred & Love (Book 1)

Chapter 7

Aidan slowly shook hands with the woman in front of him while holding her gaze, smiling softly. She blushed as his hand lingered on hers for a while longer than necessary. 

"May I say you look lovely this evening?", Aidan leaned in and said.

The blush didn't leave her face. She giggled. She was waiting for Aidan to make his advances but he stayed quietly where he was.

One second passed. Two seconds passed. Three seconds passed...

And the clock started ringing, informing that the simulation exercise had come to a halt. Aidan felt somewhat frustrated at his failure but managed to keep calm and collected as Nichole stormed in.

"Why did you stop?!", she barked, the annoyance evident as she flailed with her arms. "It was going great, why did you stop?"

Aidan didn't meet her gaze. He didn't know, himself; It just felt sort of awkward. He didn't vent this to her, however. "I'll do it again", he said instead, keeping a firm expression and a disciplined tone of voice. Nichole calmed down as his silence and ease hit her. She nodded, relenting.

"Okay."

This was how it would go everytime. Aidan would come in, do his simulation and stop in the middle of things when it got too demanding (it was hard using a mentality you didn't have!), Nichole would come in to yell at him, then give way when she realized Aidan wouldn't quarrel. The only person who had the power to make Aidan get angry and lose some of his self-control, was Pauline.

Aidan would redo the exercise over and over again till he did it right and then he'd be exhausted for the rest of the day, totally ignoring everything and everyone. The exercises would vary from being simulations where he'd have to adjust to situations or just a casual conversation with Nichole. This was the tenth session this week. One session was three hours long. He was making progress, he knew that, but he was also aware of the fact that this wasn't his strong suit and he needed a lot more practise. He turned to the screen in front of him and tapped the button of the wrist-band he was wearing, activating the simulation. And then he did the same exercise over and over again until he got it right. 

––––––––––

So, he had been standing outside Alex's door for a while now and he started to feel ridiculous. The indecisiveness had gotten the best of him. It had now been almost three weeks since last time; since  Alex had witnessed the incident occuring outside the bar. Man, how he regretted being so reckless. He now had to explain the whole thing to her. He'd contemplated on it for a while, thinking that he could just let it go. He couldn't. What was bothering him even more was why. Why couldn't he let this go? Why did it feel so important that she had to know? Was it because he wanted to elliminate the threat by using his newfound social skills to make totally sure that she wouldn't be just that: A threat. Or was it because he simply wanted to talk? To chat? Aidan didn't have any social-related desires (hooking up a sex-partner didn't count. That wasn't being social, that was being horny). This question was what made him feel conflicted. 

He knocked.

He waited, ready to turn on his heels at any second but just as he was about to, she opened up and pulled him in.

"What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Um.. My legs?"

She snickered and gestured for him to sit down at the bed. He shook his head as he preferred to be standing up. She sat down in the place of him, resting her hands in her lap, looking calm as ever. "No seriosuly, what are you doing here?" She looked at him inquisitively.