•10•

That night when Mei arrived home, she took off every one of her clothes and lay on her bed in only her camisole and shorts. 

She was questioning everything.

Why did she like what he did to her?

Why did he do what he did to her?

Why was her body suddenly annoyingly cold when she left his embrace? What the hell was wrong with her?!

One would think that as a romance writer, all these would be normal to her. Hell, she thought it was. Turns out, she was wrong. Writing and feeling are two very different things entirely. 

At about 7, she heard her doorbell go off. She seriously hated that sound. And there could only be one person who could possibly be at her door. 

She got up off the bed, not bothering to put on her robe—after all it was Ava—and walked in her slippers to the front door. She yanked open the door ignoring the peep hole and expected to see her annoying agent. What she saw, she couldn't believe. 

Right there standing directly in front of her, outside of her apartment was Bruno and Malcolm. 

She was definitely not expecting them. And she suddenly felt naked standing as she was in front of them. 

She openly stared at the two, including a smirking Bruno whose eyes were wondering past her face.

"Nice shorts."

That comment from the voice she had started to love, snapped her out of her daze and immediately she gripped the door to slam it in their faces. With one strong arm decorated in veins, Bruno held onto the door for himself and walked into her little apartment.

Malcolm chuckled to himself without stepping in, "Hi, Mei. Okay bro, I drove you here. Now I'm going home to my lovely wife and growing child. Get an Uber!", and with that Malcolm left their presence. Bruno, taking the liberty to shut her door, turned back to look at her.

"Hey.", he greeted playfully, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Hey?! You basically just broke into my apartment and you're saying 'hey?!' What the hell is wrong with you?!", she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes in an almost forced irritation fit.

"Actually, I didn't exactly break in. You held open the door for me and I walked in.", he stated jovially while he walked to her couch and made himself comfortable.

"Uh, if I recall, Mr Romano, I said that I didn't want to see your face ever again."

"Yeah, we both know you didn't mean that.", he smiled fondly at her.

Looking up at the ceiling, she groaned loudly and said to him, "Please get out. I'm busy. And how the hell did you know where I live?!" 

She really couldn't believe she hadn't thought to ask that first. She didn't remember ever telling him where she lived.

And for some odd reason, she was very aware of her state of dress or 'half dress', but she decided to leave it on. She had no idea why.

"I know your basic information, Ms Asher. I'm your doctor's nephew. And while it isn't exactly ethical to relay information about our clients, he owed me. Plus you're my friend. I'd like you to know that I actively memorised your address so I wouldn't forget it, Mei.", he said a low voice, taking his legs out of his sneakers and stretching out sock clad feet on her coffee table.

"Oh!", she merely said, "And get your filthy feet off my coffee table."

Now she was getting peeved; how dare he put up his dirty feet on her beloved coffee table?! She was aware that she was supposed to be mad because he was in her house in the first place, but for a reason she didn't want to acknowledge, she really couldn't be mad about that. 

She also wasn't entirely sure if she was reading herself right, but she was glad she now had another area to focus her thoughts on rather than her miserable life.

"Which do you want me to do, Mei?", he had a half smile on now. "Take my feet off or get out? You have to choose one."

"You know that question makes absolutely no sense right?"

"Yeah,", he chuckled, "I realise that now."

"What exactly are you doing here, Bruno?"

"What exactly are you doing, Mei?", he responded.

She unfolded her arms and replied, "Stop answering my questions with questions."

"Then stop asking questions.", he calmly replied.

 "Moving on,", he continued after seconds of silence, "I'm here because I'm your friend and I wanted to keep you company. I missed your face." There was a ghost of a sincere smile on his face. 

"We're not friends, Bruno.", she stated in a small voice.

"You're my friend.", he stated getting up from the couch and walking to her. He stopped when he was at a considerable distance away from her. "Let's do this, Mei. How 'bout we have a trial run. We'll hang out for a week and then you decide if you still want me around after that."

"Why would you even suggest that? This isn't a romantic comedy,", she giggled, "this is real life and I want to have absolutely nothing to do with you.", she lied. 

"Please.", he added.

"Why do you wanna be friends so bad?", she was totally confused with his course of actions but she decided to ask just that question. She was confused because well, from what she knew, she didn't think friends touched friends the way he did her. 

She was no expert on interpersonal relationships, but wasn't that supposed to be weird for actual friends? 

He shrugged, "Because I want to. I want you to finally see that there's no harm in letting people in. I want you to know the feeling of actually having someone in your life who actually cares about you the way I'm beginning to. I want you to stop having your messed up thoughts and just enjoy life."

To her ears, he sounded sincere, but who was she to actually tell who was and wasn't sincere? He could be a really good liar, or worse, he could be a fickle human being; feel this today, and feel that tomorrow. She didn't know what to do. She was very confused at that moment. Letting people even a little in had not worked out for her in the past, what's saying it'll work out now?

"I can see the wheels in your head turning, Mei.", he chuckled. "For once, Mei, act without thinking of every single thing that could go wrong if you do. Taking risks is an inevitable part of life, Mei."

She sighed, "Okay. One week,", she gestured, "and you're out. Because there's absolutely no way I'm letting anyone in my life, especially now. I need to know what I'm doing here in the first place."

"You've been doing that for more than a decade, Mei and how is it working out for you?", he asked condescendingly.

She looked up at him, "What do you want us to do, Bruno.", she flat out ignored his condescending question. Right then, she took notice of his change of clothes. He was now in sweats; a wife beater and sweatpants. He looked laid back.

"How 'bout we watch a movie.", he crashed on her couch. He picked up her tv remote, turned on the television and started searching through channels. "What kind of movies do you watch?"

She sighed and proceeded to join him on the couch, "Any kind really. Well, any kind excluding romcoms."

"May I ask why?"

"Romcoms are just for work for me. They're my go-to areas when I write the lovey-dovey parts of my books. Plus, I feel they trick people into thinking that the ways they meet their partners are supposed to be special. I mean, I saw one and the heroine met her partner at a circus. What are the odds of that happening in real life? Seeing as a large percentage of the world believes anyone in a circus is some kind of crazy and/or uncomfortably eccentric."

"Good point. But I think that's why they're called romcoms.", he chuckled, "they're supposed to give you something to laugh about."

"Yeah, but at least, aren't those things supposed to be even the least bit realistic? I mean, normal people meet their partners–well, normally. They could meet in a supermarket, a gym, a school courtyard, something like that.", she countered. She honestly did think those things were one of her pet peeves sometimes.

"Do you think meeting your partner in a hospital is normal?", he inquired, still flipping through channels with his focus on the tv.

"Depends on the circumstances, really. If you met someone you're supposed to be with while she was undergoing surgery or something, yeah that's not normal. On the other hand, if you ran into each other and you just happened to be at a hospital, I guess that's normal." she answered.

He shrugged, "Okay, Mei." 

He dropped the remote on the coffee table once he decided on something to watch and said, "Let's watch a sitcom then.", he suggested putting his arms behind his head. By this action, Mei noticed just how toned his arms were, and figured that he probably used to be? a diligent gym goer. His muscles were not at all bulging; they were just the right amount of muscle in her opinion.

"I don't like pointless comedy.", she sternly stated.

"Oh come on, it's not that pointless.", he chuckled looking at her.

"Still. This is my house, my tv, I should get to choose what we watch.", she almost whined.

"Too bad, Asher.", he calmly stated.

She launched forward for the remote but a strong hand firm on her waist held her back. She struggled and struggled but couldn't break free from his hold. Her deductions of earlier seemed to have been confirmed; he did go to the gym regularly. She could only move ever so slightly in his grip. 

"You will act like a good girl and relax and watch this with me.", he whispered in a voice that almost made her melt. The voice was almost hypnotic; like it was pulling her into a dark sort of pleasurable? abyss. She loved his voice, if she would confess, but this, she loved this on a whole other level. It was almost sensual to her, but she narrowed it down to her, hearing things that weren't there.

"Okay.", she answered in defeat, but still narrowing her eyes at him. 

"Good girl.", he chuckled and let her go.

"Don't call me that."

"Why, cause you're scared you'd like it too much?", he smugly stated.

He sounded so sure of himself. 

In that moment, on impulse, she decided that he'd be sort of like a muse for her writing. She would study him this one week that they'd hang out together, and put into memory all the things he liked to do, all the things he didn't like to do, all his likes and dislikes, how he reacted to things. 

He was going to be her muse.