Rhea’s plan was not working. The first advice for being the perfect girlfriend was “Be feminine but not weak” and that was why she had been acting like a fragile emotional wreck around Adam last night. But instead of feeling angry with her, Adam had been patience personified.Damn! Zoey had been right; it had backfired on her. She had been so tempted to cancel their “date” at the last minute. Especially when she had been damn sure that Adam was reading more into their dinner than he was supposed to. And the way she had behaved had only served to fuel his imagination instead of tampering it. Everything had gone out of hand. But she had acted exactly the opposite of what the magazine had said.By letting him open doors for her, letting him pull her chair and letting him choose the menu. It had not exactly been a show of weakness; but she knew it was something Adam would not appreciate. Back in high school days, he used to complain about how his girlfriends were too dependent on him; he
The more he thought about it, the more he became certain that there was something wrong. Two days had passed since the “credit card’ episode and Rhea had stayed clear out of his way since then. It was certainly not a coincidence that they had not crossed each other’s path while they were living in the same house.The only few seconds he had heard of her was when he had called her like every morning to tell her that he loved her. Except that it had been a one-sided conversation and he had to try after several disconnected calls as usual.On top of that, Adam had had his share of furtive looks from Zoey during those past few days and he suspected that they were cooking something up. Except he never realized how right he was until he returned home that evening and found Rhea already in his kitchen. Cooking!And now he was sure that he was right well at least literally. Rhea Palmer cooking in the kitchen was definitely something out of place. As far as he remembered, she had never been ab
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the article had read in the paragraph where it had advised a good girlfriend to cook for her man. And that was exactly what Rhea had done. Well, cook for him to show him just how bad a cook she was.And it had worked! For the first time since the whole episode had started, Adam had suddenly grown disheartened and grumpy instead of his usual infuriating enthusiasm. Rhea had given herself a mental high-five when he had practically fled from the kitchen when she had started on her “poor me” self about how she could not even manage to boil a decent pasta.It had been unbelievably fast and she had never expected her plan to work out so quickly. But it was too early to hope for the best; she would only confirm her theory the next morning when Adam would skip the dreaded morning call. And she could only hope that it never came again.Of course if it happened that way, she would never raise the subject again and they would be back to being good
The drive to the mansion was silent but not awkward. As usual, Zoey and Rhea were chirping happily in the back seat while he was driving them over to his parents. After a long time, his heart was feeling content and he was allowing himself to hope. Hope that there might be something for him which laid buried under Rhea’s demons.Despite himself, he could not help admiring her ideas. Zoey had sent him a copy of the online article and he had spent the afternoon reading the whole thing. Her whimsical behavior was all clear to him now. At the restaurant she had tried the first “Be feminine but not weak” tip and had managed to unsettle him. However, her “low maintenance” tactics had completely turned against her since she had been looking so hot and he had not bothered about a cent. And then her fatal mistake had been her determination to prove him that she could not cook. Which was the third tip of being a good girlfriend according to the article. And this morning she had tried her unhap
Rhea could not sleep a wink as her mind went over and over what had happened the previous night. It was so atypical of the Crightons. Well, she knew them from the day she was born and despite their massive wealth, they were not society people. The Crightons and Coopers rarely attended parties and social events if not for a really good cause.For them, family was everything. That was why Aunt Selena had been so affected when Zach had not shown up. But Slade Palmer had been part of their circle too and for a long time. Rhea could not believe they had chosen her over her father. She had been in that family because of his connections with them and it was weird that they had sided up with her. And Adam had been acting as her hero again.When would he ever learn? He wanted to make her happy she understood that. She felt the same way about him. But it was not love he felt for her; it was only pity. She knew the difference well since pity was the only emotion she was familiar with.Lost in he
The next week flew by as Adam got really busy with his latest work assignment. He had little time to get back home and think about the past events. But he knew that Rhea had moved back to her house along with Zoey and that Zach was still invisible.Nothing had changed between them except the fact that Rhea had seemed to put a pause on her plan. He was still unsure of the reason. Maybe it was because he was unavailable for her antics or maybe it was because it was of the resounding kiss they had shared on Sunday.Adam wanted to believe it was the latter but it was too soon to hope. He’d rather busy himself in work for the time being instead of worrying too much. The more he thought about it, the more restless he became and wanted to do something about his situation. And he feared that he might act in haste and it would turn out to be his fatal mistake. It’s been more than two years that he had thought about his mistakes and what could have been. And it was two years too much.There was
Rhea stood listening to the conversation inside the room and could not budge as shock registered through her. Traitors. That was the first thing which came to her mind. They were all conspiring against her. And she felt rage course through her as she clenched her fists into two rigid balls.Too numb to react, she felt like she was an automatic mode when she turned back from the room and stealthily got out of the house. While she walked down the alley, she refused to think about anything before finding the sanctuary of her home again.When she did in a few seconds and the first thing she did was to bolt the door behind her and leant against the wooden object glad of the dull comfort it was offering. Her body felt limp and she sunk at the bottom unable to bear her own weight as shock still coursed through her. And she finally allowed the earlier events to replay in her head.Bored out of her mind with her own company, she had decided to join them to see what they were up to. Despite the
Adam stopped abruptly as he caught sight of the scene which presented in front of his eyes. Just as he was jogging past Rhea’s doorstep, he saw a couple quite intimately enlaced seeming lost in each other’s embrace. When he got closer he got the shock of his life when he was able to define Rhea’s silhouette.For one second, he stopped short. Why the hell was Rhea standing so intimately close to a stranger? Alarmed, he looked over at Zoey who was trying to signal him frantically. She had her back to them and he could not read her frenzied expression. He was too pissed off to even try.“What’s with you?” he mouthed puzzled and impatient. Thankfully, Zoey was close enough to catch his language.“Good sex,” she was saying over and over again and pointing in their direction in an obvious way. Adam wanted to slap her since she was behaving so crazy in such a complicated situation. Then it clicked.Good sex was the next thing the article had mentioned and instead of showing him that she was