Chapter 4

**Before you go on to read this chapter, I noticed that I have some typos in my previous chapters and it's not because I cannot spell, it's because I don't proofread after writing(I know this is wrong), this is because I write within a limited timeframe, so please bear with me, I'll make corrections as soon as possible. Thank you ; ) Enjoy your read.

Her alarm went off at exactly 7:00am. She got up and checked the notification on her phone. She had lots of voicemails and messages from different unknown accounts on her social media. She guessed it was from Nate. She checked for important messages and found some from her team from work asking her to turn in early so that they can set up their slides for the presentation they had that morning. She saw a couple more from Ashley and she called her. Ashley apologized for being the bearer of the sad news and promised to break Nate's jawline the next time she sets her eyes on him. That didn't cheer Juliette up. She had zoned out of the conversation. She was reminiscing about the good times she had with Nate. She wondered how and why things got sour. She didn't want to give up on him, even though that was what everyone expected. She still had faith and hope in the love they had once shared.

"Pick you up in twenty?" Ashley asked.

"Sure thing" She replied as she got out of bed and decided to go shower.

Immediately she stepped out of her room, she saw sweaty Matt walking into the bathroom with a towel wrapped firmly around his waist. It looked like he just finished working out. His skin gleamed from the sweat on his body.

"Could you hurry up? I'll be late if you don't" she called out to him.

"Uh, you could use it first then." He replied turning to meet her gaze.

"Okay, thanks."

She walked past him into the bathroom. As soon as she closed the bathroom door, she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and immediately did not like what she saw. She looked slightly swollen from crying and sleeping immediately.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed and got into the shower. As she turned on the hot water, she allowed the water run from her hair to her feet. The water was really hot but it felt good. That little torture felt good to her. As she turned her face towards the head of the shower, she let the hot water pour heavily into her face, burning off the "old and stale tears", she thought.

Running her strawberry shampoo over her hair also felt good to her. She thought of how lovely strawberry products smelt. She suddenly remembered how her face litted up when Nate told her -he had visited her that day to surprise her and she had just come out of the bathroom- that he loved how she smelt even though he hates strawberries. She had been even more excited when he kissed her because he wanted a taste of the "yummy goodness" she used.

She rubbed the leathery shampoo through her scalp and allowed the water run through it. When she was done rinsing, she proceeded to wash her body. As she turned off the shower, she moved on to start her skincare routine. She tried to hurry up and when she was done, she wrapped her towel across her chest and came out of the bathroom. Nate was standing there, arms crossed and his right feet tapping softly but patiently into the floor.

"I'm sorry I lost track of time" she murmured and walked past him. He was going to ask her why she had to use hot water to the point where her skin was red but he didn't have the time for that conversation so he just walked into the bathroom.

It smelt of strawberries and it felt heavenly with foggy mist in the atmosphere. "Is it even healthy to use this temperature of hot water?" He wondered out loud as he tried to ensure that the water was not set to "hot". Distracted by the scent in the atmosphere, he wondered if he should be letting her use the bathroom before him everyday because the lingering scent felt so good and he felt his mood lift. He started thinking about how his first day at work would be.

She looked through her wardrope and decided to go with a blue shirt. The color made her look calm and that was how she wanted everyone to see her. By the time she finished dressing up and applying a little makeup, Ashley was already in the house.

"Juls?" She called out as she made her way to Juliette's room. "I'm in here." Juliette called back. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Matt come out of the bathroom with only a towel. His black hair was still slightly dripping wet from the shower he just had. She stared with her mouth slightly opened till he got to the door to his room.

"Hey" he said as he walked straight into his bedroom. He was more interested in getting his hair lotion and going back to the bathroom to dry his hair.

"Hey" Ashley responded as she walked into her friend's room.

"Who in the dripping-wet-hot-boy-slash-man-but-i-would-totally-understand-if-chelsea-broke-off-her-engagement-for-him is that?" She immediately asked Juliette after closing the door.

"What are you talking about?" Juliette asked as she re-did her mascara.

"There's a god-like man outside this door."

"god-like? What are you saying?"

"Wait, don't tell me Chelsea is back. Oh my! Did she end things with her fiance? That'll be so sad but I'll understand." She continued. Pointing at the door she said, "For that, I'd totally call off a wedding even if the guy's Drake."

Juliette shot her a confused expression, with her forehead creasing into a frown, and said, "What are you on about? That's my new roommate."

"Ouuuu, me likey! So, is he nice? Does he have a girlfriend? Ouu, when did he move in, I was here on Saturday, nobody was in that room."

"He moved in yesterday."

"Ohhh, he's hot."

"I know, let's go, my teammates are waiting for me."

She carried all her things and ushered Ashley out of the room. Ashley continued asking about Nate as they walked out of the apartment when the thought of him not having his own keys crossed her mind. So she gave her bag to Ashley and went back.

As soon as, she walked to his room, she knocked on it and some seconds later, Matt opened it half-dressed. Without letting him speak, she said, "I have my own keys, do you have yours?"

"My keys? I've always had my own keys. Carlos gave them to me."

"Oh, yeah, you're right." She remembered how he tried getting in the first day he got here. "Well then, lock up but whatever you do, don't leave your keys inside when you're outside the apartment. You'll lock yourself out and I don't think the guard downstairs has the spare keys."

"How's that possible?" He asked, looking puzzled.

"I don't know if you noticed but CARLOS is the caretaker of this apartment and he's also a jerk."

Looking at her phone, it was almost 7:45am, she just looked at him and said, "I'm out, see you later." Then she turned away.

He just nodded, closed the door and continued dressing up. Ashley was already in the car waiting for Juliette to come downstairs.

As soon as Juliette entered the car, she turned on the car and said, "coffee. I need coffee or I might pass out."

"Me too but my phone has literally been vibrating. The team have been calling since I started dressing up."

"I'll still get my coffee though."

"Yeah but after you drop me off and get me some too. Nothing will start till my caffeine bloodstream is satisfied."

"Okay. Hey. Good luck today."

"Thanks."

The rest of the very short trip was in silence.

Immediately they got to the driveway, Juliette ran into the building while Ashley continued to the coffee shop. As Juliette walked into the building, the receptionist called out to her. "Juls?"

"Oh hey, good morning"

"I've got a package delivered to you."

"Can you hold on to it till 9? I have a meeting to prepare for."

The receptionist just nodded and Juliette made her way to the elevator. She walked to her team and they started with their preparations.

After the meeting, Juliette walked happily into Ashley's office and announced the success of their presentation.

Their firm was supposed to advertise and do a PR for a French rap artist on his new album and even though the rapper's team had reached out to several old and influencial advertising firms, they still decided to give some less older companies the chance to demonstrate how they plan on marketing the rapper's album. They were given short notice and the company decided to give Juliette and the opportunity to handle the project and they immediately got the offer.

"They were looking for top notch quality." She declared after taking a sip of the coffee Ashley handled to her."

"I agree. You guys did very well out there. Glad I could convince members of the board to let you handle the project. I'm proud of you Kiddo, you know this."

"I do, thank you so much."

"Still trying to get your name into the other board members' mind as the new head of the gen z rapper's PR department."

"That would make my heart explode. God! You're the best human on earth!" She said smiling. Then she looked at the coffee in her handand said, "And damn, this coffee hits hard. It's perfect."

They were interupted by a knock at the door. The door was slowly opened after the second knock and outside stood their colleague and a delivery man with a huge bouquet of rose flowers.

"Fuck! That selfish bastard!" Juliette cussed and angrily shook her head and walked out the office. Everyone in the room but Ashley looked confused and stood still. Ashley just beckoned on the delivery guy to bring the package.

"I'll sign for it." She said and took the receipt she was given.

As soon as she signed for it, the delivery guy tried to hand over the flower to her, she shook her her and pointed at a garbage disposer in the corner of the room.

"It's too small for it." He said after looking at the garbage disposer.

"Well then, give it to someone you truly love." She said and gestured for everyone to leave her office.

After everyone had exited the office, Ashley went to the ladies room to look for Juliette bit she wasn't there. "Maybe she's in her office" she thought but when she opened the door to Juliette's office, it was empty. As she passed the conference room, she saw Juliette inside looking at the wall staring in blank space.

"Juls" She called out to Juliette's who immediately came out of the airspace she had been.

"Are you okay?" She asked again as she entered the room and moved towards Juliette.

"Why? Why do I want to hear what he has to say even though he does what he wants to do all the damn time! He couldn't even get the right flowers. But my heart still yearns for him. My heart wants to settle for his half-ass treatment. Tell me why my heart has refused to accept that he needs to go. Why do I love him?" She asked as the tears rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks.

"You're only human. It's normal to feel all these emotions." Ashley said trying to console her. She sat beside her and tried to wipe the tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"You wanna know what's crazy? If he comes right now and walks through that door, I might run up to him and hold on to him. I might forgive him. I can't stay mad at him, I always make the same mistakes. I always want to fix them. Am I so bad at love that I always attract these kinds of men? Before I came to New York, I had a bad break up, I don't even talk about it anymore..."

Check out my other book, "Love Trapped Us", you'll love it ; )