3 To the point of distraction

There had been many moments in my life when I had wondered how I will die. Sometimes out of fear and sometimes out of pure curiousity. But never had I even imagined that I would die in a dark, metal box, in the arms of an annoying torpedo.

The strange buzzing sounds vibrated through the space around us and I felt trickle of sweat slipping down my temples and back.

Oh my goodness.

"Oh god, I'm gonna die here," I was nearly hyperventilating, not even caring now that I still stood pressed up to my boss.

"Nothing that dramatic will happen, Ms. Brooke," his breathe blew over my temple, cooling it and I vaguely realised that he must have bent down for his mouth to reach my head.

"We need to do something, let someone know we are here," I swallowed and then took a deep breath. Well, as deep as I could in this compressed space.

The elevator shuddered again, and Torpedo stumbled with me in his arms. I heard an 'umph' from him, his back hitting the wall as he absorbed the impact of my fall as well.

No, no, no! We must do something! All my life, I've stood by and let life happen to me. I'll be damned if I let death take his turn as well.

Steadying myself, I pulled out of Caleb's arms. "Ruth? Ruth, where are you going?" He questioned, but I was a woman on a mission.

Moving to the sliding doors, I banged it with my fists calling out, "Hello? Anyone there?"

A faint sound of alarm rang somewhere in the distance, followed by another rumble of his voice as he called my name out, but I kept banging the doors with all my might.

"Help! We are stuck here! Can anyone hear me?" I shouted, and was aware that my voice was echoing too loudly against the metal walls but I couldn't care less.

I kept banging, feeling my fists burn in pain, until a hand wrapped around my arm and spun me around.

Startled, I let out a yelp as my back pressed against the side wall of the elevator and warm pressure pinned me to it, not letting me move.

Momentarily distracted, I blinked hard to get my bearings and realised just how huge Caleb was as his shadow loomed nearly a foot over my head.

It took me a moment to realize what was happening as an arm slithered around my waist. I was crushed to his chest, my arms pressed flat against them. My breathe sped up, but I wasn't sure if it was because of fear, or something else.

As if on instinct, I struggled to get as far away from the wall of muscles as possible, but between him and the ungiving metallic wall behind me, I couldn't move an inch.

The ringing in my ears from blood rush calmed somehow, and I was soon able to hear his deep voice, murmuring something.

"Ruth? Focus on me, okay? Calm down, and take a deep breathe. Help is on the way. We are gonna be just fine," he tried to reason with me, but the blackness around us was becoming suffocating slowly. I swallowed, and blinked rapidly, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but it felt hopeless.

Suddenly, I felt warm breathe skate over my lips as a hand cupped my cheek gently.

"Shh.. its alright. Just stay with me, okay? I won't let anything happen to you," his voice whispered, pulling my thoughts out of this unreasonable panic. He continued to speak words of comfort in that soothing, deep voice of his and I found my heartbeats mimicking his.

Beads of sweat that had formed on my lips cooled as his minty breathe skated over them consistently. I swallowed, only now realising how closely pressed we stood.

"Be here, Ruth. Be with me. We will get out of here soon enough. Until then, keep your focus on me. Just me, yeah?" He whispered comfortingly, and I felt myself nodding slowly.

I felt his chest rise and fall with steady breathes and involuntarily synchronised my breathing with it as well. I have never had much problem with darkness before, but closed spaces were always a bit suffocating. It seemed that combination of the two, along with the prospect of tumbling 35 floors down to our deaths was enough to drive me on the edge of a panic attack.

"Breathe deep, honey... Nice and slow.. That's right," he mumbled, his thumb caressing my cheek comfortingly. My eyes had now sufficiently adjusted to the dark, and I could make out his concerned expression hovering over me. He had somehow managed to distract me off the brink of a panic attack, but now I was focused on other things.

Like how, in the process of holding me up straight, his chest was crushing mine and still, how all I wanted to do was somehow press closer to him.

My body inched towards him - melting against him - without my permission, unconsciously becoming more pliant, and felt him go rigid, as if he too was just now realising how close we stood. My hands that had somehow travelled over to his arms, and were clutching his biceps, eased their brutal grip and became soft as a caress.

Our breathes mingled as a different kind of tension filled the air, and I felt him mould his body to mine as he exhaled.

His palm cupped my face again, thumb moving over my lower lip, as he licked his lips making me swallow.

My heart hammered away as Caleb leaned in and whispered, "your lips are as soft as they look... There is something I need to know, would you let me?"

I could see his chiseled jaw that worked everytime he talked and the subtle cologne wafting off him that dangerously seemed au natural.

When I responded with silence, he leaned even closer and whispered, "if you don't want this, tell me to stop."

The word was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't utter it. Didn't want to. He leaned in closer still, so close now, that his lips brushed mine when he breathed, "Tell me to stop, Ruth."

Maybe it was the darkness, that had felt so oppressing a few moments ago and now felt like a silk blanket, or the way his body felt against mine, or like Shayari said, my hidden hot-boss fantasy, but I wanted this. Badly.

Even in my frazzled state of mind, I knew how reckless wanting this was. But I was tired of fighting my desires to be morally right.

It had always seemed like the world was passing by me, getting what I had always wanted, while I stood on the sidelines without reaching for it myself.

I had always told myself that rules should be broken, only when they were worth breaking and this felt like my chance of breaking them. Getting something for myself for a change.

I realized that I was pulling Caleb's arm closer now, instead of pushing him away. My body was obviously craving what was to come and shockingly, so was my mind.

His hand crept up the side of my body, reaching my hair. I expected the sting that came when he almost roughly pulled the hairs at the base of my neck, angling my head better.

What I didn't expect, was my animalistic response to it as I brought my hands between us and pushed him off.

He stumbled back, letting his grip slip off me, falling heavily in the other side of the elevator. For a split second, I was impressed at how quickly he let go, even after having such a firm grip over me, but that thought vanished as I went ahead with what I had in my mind.

I briefly registered the surprise that flashed across his face, as I moved towards him, catching hold of the lapels of his blazer in my fists and pulled him to me.

If I was going to dive into this madness, I wanted to do it on my terms.

Inches away now, just as I felt his heavy breath fan my lips, we froze as a familiar ping cut through the space around us, and the darkness was pierced by blindingly bright lights.

"Is everyone..... Okay?" The technician trailed off, his beady eyes sweeping over both of us, and I was suddenly all too aware of how this looked, with Caleb toppled over against the elevator wall, obviously pushed back, and me clutching his coat, pulling him towards me.

The fact that he looked straight at Caleb and asked, "are you hurt?" screamed that he was convinced the man in silk shirt was getting assaulted in the darkness.

Letting go of his coat, I scrambled back, my brain filling up with way too many things to form a coherent response.

I didn't have to look to know that Caleb's face was a mask of repressed amusement. He pulled his coat straight and walked out of the elevator with me trailing behind him.

We had managed to attract a decent crowd, witnessing my beet-red face. Caleb moved with the grace of a panther as he cut through the crowd faster than I could.

People, oblivious to my debasing attempt in the dark, gathered around asking questions, making sure I was okay. I smiled and nodded, but was unable to focus.

For some reason, my gaze swung at the retreating back of Caleb, only to see him peering back at me with a strange expression in his eyes.

As if he had spoken it out loud, one word echoed in my mind. Same word that reflected in his gaze as well promisingly.

"Soon."