CHAPTER 7 - DYNAMITE

Elena is still struggling with all her busyness in reviewing all the data that she will use for the judgement in four days.

Slowly she began to forget Cameron whom she now called the pathetic, until Summer lifted her head for a moment before a loud, swift knock sounded at the door. Summer stood up but didn't bark, as usual she was always a good watchdog despite being big and fat.

Elena crossed the room while grumbling softly. "How can that guest not ring the bell and act like a credit card collector by violently knocking on my door."

"Wait a minute—"

When Elena opened the door, how shocked she was when she saw that annoying and pathetic man was in front of her house, more precisely in front of her in front of the door of the house with a look that Elena couldn't explain now.

"Can I come in?" Cameron asked.

"No. Oh, I mean, go ahead. But—wait a minute," Elena studied Cameron then started to be wary of him bringing something to hurt her.

Cameron was well aware of what Elena was doing now. He propped his hands right on the door frame, leaning toward Elena. "I'm not a criminal. Stop suspecting me like that."

"Come in ." Elena said quickly.

"You're not going to give me a drink?" Cameron asked.

"We're not that close,"

"At least I'm a guest and you should—"

"There's cola, beer and mineral water. What do you want?" asked Elena quickly. Cut Cameron's words that would surely patronize him.

"Mineral water," Cameron replied with the annoying grin Elena was used to seeing. Full of satisfaction because the argument he made made his interlocutor give up.

"Explain to me. How did you get to my house? And what do you want to talk about?" Elena asked while handing her a glass of mineral water.

He looked at Cameron suspiciously. No matter how charming Cameron was in the eyes of women, he never thought of Cameron that way. Well, at least all these years she only considered Cameron to be her rival and also her biggest enemy in the world of work and whatever.

"Hurry up, I don't have much time. Can't you see the laptop and the pile of papers on the desk?" Elena pointed to the dining table that was across the room close to the living room.

"You think you're the only one with a lot of work?" Cameron snorted after he finished the glass of mineral water that Elena had given him.

"I thought you were just busy taking care of your college girlfriend," Elena said mockingly.

"Listen, Elena." Cameron confirmed his tone.

"Yes?" Elena replied lazily.

Cameron held his breath before he said what he wanted to say to Elena. It took a lot of courage and also a big risk of self-esteem to say all the words he would say to Elena next.

"You've wasted about fifteen minutes of my time," Elena said as she crossed her arms and leaned her body against the bookshelf planted in the wall.

"I want you to come with me to Chicago," Cameron said quickly.

"Are you crazy? Are you drunk?" Elena asked then leaned closer to Cameron sniffing the man's lips and shirt as if she were a bloodhound on duty to find something. Then she leaned back against the bookshelf again and looked at Cameron. "I don't smell alcohol on you."

"It's not," said Cameron irritably.

"Why did you take me to Chicago?" asked Elena probingly. "Chicago is ..." Elena paused and had absolutely no intention of continuing.

"What's wrong with Chicago?" Cameron fishing."Nothing. It's just that I hate the city," said Elena quickly. He didn't want Cameron to suspect him.

"Ah ... well I'm not going to force you to tell me what's going on between you and Chicago," Cameron joked.

"Good. We must always maintain the privacy we have and you can't cross the line," Elena emphasized. "So you know and you've got what I mean, that I'm going to blatantly refuse your invitation just now."

"But we're friends," Cameron got up from his seat and walked over to Elena.

"The friends who competed showed who was the best with the mask of a very close friendship among the other staff." Elena corrected what Cameron had just said.

"Well... that's what I meant." Cameron agreed. "Look, I can't mess it up at all. If I go off like a firecracker in front of Emily like I did this afternoon. For God's sake he'll shut himself off from me and I'll lose Emily forever."

"I swear! I don't care about that either," said Elena.

Cameron drew closer to Elena so that now the distance between the two of them was only two centimeters. The slightest Elena moved she would definitely touch Cameron's lips.

"Shut up, stay there and don't come any closer," Elena hissed.

"If I move again I might be able to touch your lips," Cameron hissed back at Elena.

Summer looked at Cameron and Elena with pitiful eyes, feeling guilty but also pressed for something.

"Don't go along with it, Summer." Elena warned her Bernese Mountain dog by glancing at it without moving.

"Don't play with me! Tell me clearly what your goals are, Cameron Jones." Elena said again with a blazing look. "My patience is almost running out if you continue like this,"

"I'm not playing with you, Elena." Cameron said firmly.

"I have nothing to do with your private life, and I'm not at all interested in knowing more about it. Now get out of my house because I don't have time to cater to all the silly things you just said," Elena pushed Cameron's body using both hands, but Cameron quickly grabbed Elena's hand so that Elena was back in her place, blocked by his wide, immovable body.

The thought of him having to threaten Elena with Elena's darkest secret he knew started to bother him again. Is that the only way to get Elena to help him or is there some other way besides that dirty way?

"Cam... listen to me. We've never been very good friends and you know that. You know exactly how the two of us are, so..."

"I know." Cameron said quickly. "Since we've never been best friends and you're the only one who can keep my emotions in check so I have to take you to Chicago to help me stop barking like a guard dog again." Then Cameron glanced at Summer. "Except for that one guard dog. He doesn't seem like a real guard dog."

Elena ignored Cameron's joke and stayed focused on the point of the conversation the two of them had tonight.

"Tell me clearly, why should I help you? Don't beat around the bush, because I don't like people like that."