He swore under his breath and looked at me, pulling me at an arm's length. "Go to your room. Now."

I nodded, utterly baffled that he could keep his cool even at times like this. Was he keeping his cool or did he really lose it so bad that he is blank? Just like the time he came to know that I was his wife and he almost took half an hour to register the fact?

"Are you sure you can handle-"

"I said go," he said and shoved me into my room and shut the door. I was trapped inside, literally blind to the events happening outside and my heart was hammering wildly against my chest. Why didn't I think of this scenario before? All I ever thought was he would bring friends, but that meeting would have a prior appointment. The fact that friends could randomly drop by to your house any given day was completely out of my mind when I was thinking about all the ways we could make an excuse of being under the same roof.

I could hear the door open and the lively chatter outside. Especially when Marilyn sweetly dragged, "Ray!~ My love!~ It has been such a long time since I last came over! There are many changes in your house, aren't there?"

Well, I bet she would be in for a shock when she discovers the biggest change in his life.

He is married.

Beat that, you sick, lying, two faced girl.

Ray mumbled something in reply and I could hear even the boys in the hall. I so wanted to be there among them now that even Hunter was being nice to me. Why did I have to hide in my own house? Wasn't life being too unfair with me?

"I'm hungry, got some beer?" Dylan asked and walked to the fridge. "Dude, why are there so many tubs of chocolate ice cream?" He asked with a suspicious glance and I smacked my head inside the room. I knew that I shouldn't have been such a pig and should've bought so many tubs at once! One at a time, Angela. What is wrong with you? Well, I got really paranoid about the supermarket running out of chocolate ice cream right when I needed it, so I bought that in surplus. I'm sure that I am not the only one who does that.

Probably.

"Uh, that," Ray hesitated. I shouldn't have made this so bad for him. "I kind of have a sweet tooth now, so I figured that would help."

I nodded. Not a good excuse, but he is rich and spends a lot of money for useless things, so this is believable.

I heard the television being turned on and the voices got drowned in the sound. I tried hard to listen in on the voices and the conversation, but to no avail. I sighed and sat down on the floor. This has got to be the biggest nightmare of my life. This was a make or break situation and I couldn't trust Ray to say or do anything properly. In fact, I couldn't trust anyone to make this situation alright.

"I miss little Angel," I heard Dylan say.

"I wish she were here with us. She would have enjoyed Ray's house," Thomas said, sweet as ever.

Believe me, I wouldn't in a thousand years would have enjoyed Ray's house. I cried internally.

"Why don't you call her? We could go and pick her up," Hunter suggested and I felt my heart jump out of my mouth.

"W-What?" Ray said and I prayed that he could divert this situation no matter what.

"Good idea, Hunter. It feels good that you have finally made up with Angela. I feel like we are more of a family now."

"Wait a minute," Marilyn interrupted and my ears perked up in curiosity. I wished she could be her nasty self right then and shun Hunter for that idea. "Are you really insisting on doing that?"

"Yeah, I even dialed her number," he replied and I leaped onto the bed and rummaged my bag for the device of eternal torment- my phone.

As soon as there was a noise, I silenced the phone but waited for a reaction.

"Did you hear something from that room?" Marilyn asked and the television was now muted.

"I am sure it was nothing," Ray said hurriedly and turned up the volume on the television.

"But then I was sure that I heard-"

"Hello?" Thomas' excited voice rang through the phone and I them dumbly realized that I didn't hang up, but actually connected the call. "Hello, Angela?"

"She's on call with you?" Ray almost yelled and I flinched. This was going to be the death of me.

"Hello?" I spoke in a low tone. "Thomas, what happened?"

"Angela, where are you?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Home, why?" Well, I wasn't technically lying. Was I?

"Well, do you want to come over to Ray's place?" He asked. "We are all hanging out here today. Even Marilyn is there."

That is the worst way to get me to come to his place. Or anyone's place for that matter.

"Is that so?" I asked. "You see, I have some work to do at home and I don't think I can skip on that. How about I join you guys another day?" I lied.

"Really? But Dylan said he saw tubs of chocolate ice cream stuffed in the fridge. You like it a lot, don't you? You are gonna miss out on that if you don't come today," he teased.

Fool, it is I who has stored that treasure in there, I proudly thought.

"I really wish I could come, Thomas. Believe me, I would be right next to you, talking, if I could. But well, my work separates us for today," I said. "Well, later?"

"Okay," he sounded disappointed and I could damn well picture how crestfallen his face might have looked. He hung up and spoke to the others, "she wanted to be here, but she needed to help out with something at her place."

"Aw, I'll miss her," Dylan said and I pouted.

I am here! I wanted to shout. But it was better to keep shut and go with the flow.

"She likes chocolate ice cream?" Marilyn questioned and her voice sounded suspicious.

"She loves chocolate ice cream! She could do anything for it."

"I wonder how Ray started liking the same thing as her. As far as I know it, he never really liked sweet stuff."

Well, shit.

"He's still growing," Hunter piped in with that monotonous voice of his. "How does it matter now that he eats sweet stuff? Seriously, grow up."

I almost did a booming high five with the door and stopped myself in the nick of the time.

"I don't understand why you are being like this to me, Hunter," she said, annoyance creeping into her voice. Her facade was slowly breaking and I sure as hell wanted to witness that.

"Being like what, Marilyn?" He countered and I wanted to fist pump. No wonder I liked Hunter and had a teeny tiny crush on him.

"Ray, I really think Hunter hates me," she faked a sniff and all of a sudden, footsteps sounded towards me and the door knob twisted.

If you want to know how it feels like jumping off a cliff, then ladies and gentlemen, that was exactly the kind of situation you had to be stuck in.

Luckily, I locked it from the inside and the door didn't open.

"It won't open! What the hell is wrong with this door knob?" Marilyn groaned as she tried twisting it open by force again.

"Um, it is locked!" Ray yelled and stood close to the door. "Don't open it!"

"And why not?"

"Because-"

Think, Ray!

"-because my aunt is sleeping inside!"

What?!

"Aunt is sleeping inside?" She questioned and took a step back.

Well, it seemed to be working and that's all I care about.

"Yeah, she is a little old and also very cranky. She wakes up and yells on about almost all the people. It is safe to not go near her."

"Why didn't you tell me that your aunt is at home? I would have come better dressed and would have greeted her properly."

"Yeah, I don't think it is appropriate for us to simply be here when she is inside. We need to greet her," Thomas said.

Put aside your manners for once, please. This aunt isn't gonna die without your greetings! Now go away, shoo!

"No!" Ray said a little too quickly. "I mean, she is a little old, right? She is sleeping at the moment. I don't think it is a good idea to wake her up."

"Are you sure?" Dylan asked. "Maybe we should leave. We are making a lot of noise."

Brilliant idea!

"Yeah, I'll be sure to invite you guys once she is gone," Ray took the opportunity to shoo them away.

They slowly left and as soon as I heard the door click shut, I got out of my room.

"God!" Ray groaned and slumped onto the couch. I ran to him and knelt beside him.

"I'm so sorry about the ice cream!" I apologized.

"All you could care about is the ice cream?" He yelled and I flinched.

"Um, sorry about lifting the call. I really thought that I silenced my phone."

"Stop! Just- Did you realize that Marilyn was there along with them?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Do you realize what would have happened to you if she saw you here alone with me?"

"I wouldn't wanna think about it. She is scary," I shrugged.

He glared at me and I stuck my tongue out. It wasn't my fault that I was a little too straight forward. It is true that she is scary.

He sighed. "What do you want for dinner? I think you deserve something as a reward for behaving yourself for the first time without causing any trouble."

"Ice cream?"

"Except from that," he rolled his eyes, getting up from the couch.

"We can make a sundae," I grinned.

"Nope."

"Brownies?"

"Next!"

"Cookies?"

"Uh huh."

"Chocolate syrup?"

"Are you mad?"

"But you asked me to choose!"

"I asked you to choose something which will fill our stomachs and not cause us dental or diabetic problems," he folded his hands and said sternly.

"P- Pasta?" I looked at him from under my lashes. He could be pretty scary at times.

"Good enough," he nodded and I grinned.

"Do you know how to cook?" I asked following him into the kitchen.

"Who do you think cooks everyday in this house?" He yelled and I jumped back.

"You do?" I asked incredulously. "I thought that there was a cook in the house!"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you," he rolled his eyes and picked out vegetables from the fridge.

"You mean that you really wake up early in the morning and cook and do the same in the evening while I am busy reading something in my room?"

"That's about right," he said taking a knife in his hand. I involuntarily took a step back.

Better safe than sorry.

"Let me help you?" I smiled up at him.

"Can you cook?" He asked with a straight face.

"You could say that," my smile fell a little as I recollected all the memories of disasters that I made when I was with my grandma.

"You don't look convincing," he narrowed his eyes at me and started chopping the vegetables in front of him.

Looking at him, I realized how vulnerable I was. I didn't have money of my own, no house of my own, no vehicle of my own and nor could I even cook for myself. What if one day he gets so annoyed by me and leaves me on the roads? I would be doomed.

"I really wanna try," I piped up. "Let me cut the vegetables at least."

Without much pleading, he put the knife in my hand and went to get a pan. Chopping vegetables was easy enough. Even an amateur could do it. I slowly started chopping them and gradually increased my pace. See? This wasn't hard at all. That only lasted until he decided to rummage through the shelf and drop a vessel and scare the shit out of me. I screamed and the knife decided to chop my flesh as well. My forefinger was cut and was dripping with blood. Why did all the rich people have such sharp knives? Back at home, my grandma gave me the knife which was so blunt that it struggled to even cut a vegetable, much less my flesh. Well, more often than not, it helped me save a lot of blood.

"Did you seriously cut your finger?" He asked exasperatedly and I licked my wound. "Are you a god damn dog?" He yelled pulling my hand into his.

"It will heal, I'm sure!" I said and tried to pull my hand away from him. It was pretty uncomfortable as he stood way too close to me.

"The cut is a little deep. I'll bandage it," he said. "Come with me."

He washed my hand under the water and dried it with some cotton and bandaged it up completely. The entire time he focused on my hand, I felt weird and my heart thumped crazily. I figured that it was because of blood loss, but one could never be so sure.

He looked up at me and I wiggled away from him with a forced smile. I really didn't like feeling uncomfortable with him. After all, I have to stay with him under the same roof no matter what happened.

"C- Can I still help?" I asked hesitantly.

"Are you still asking me that?"

"I am feeling guilty that I made you do all the cooking and didn't even realize it! I need to do something in order to show you my gratitude for keeping me alive all these days!"

"You wanna show gratitude?" A smirk formed on his lips.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah."

I found myself sat in a chair, right behind him, with my hands and legs tied and my mouth plastered. He chuckled at my state and carried on cooking.

"This will definitely show your gratitude to me. I am enjoying this situation thoroughly," he grinned. I tried to protest, but only muffled noises came out of my mouth. If my mouth wasn't plastered, then I was sure that his ears would bleed listening to all the profanities coming out of my mouth. "Do you know how peaceful it is to know that you are right in front of me, unable to make trouble? It makes me happy."

Is this guy a sadist? I thought shuddering. Does he like tying people up?

Suddenly a lot of scenes from Fifty Shades of Grey popped up into my head and a shiver ran down my spine. I wasn't comparing him to Christian, nor was I comparing myself to Anna. At least, that is what I told myself. When I fell silent, deep in thought about those characters and bondage, he turned to me.

"What's wrong?" He asked and I nodded a 'no'. He walked to me and removed the plaster from my mouth. "Tell me what happened."

"I was just thinking. That's all," I shrugged, those thoughts about sadism and bondage still not leaving my mind.

"You even think?" He laughed. "That's new."

"Shut up," I grumbled.

"What were you thinking?" He asked and went back to the stove.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," I laughed shakily. He would die if he knew what I was thinking. That, or I would be kicked out of the house or locked up in my room. Either of these things would definitely happen.

"I won't mind no matter what you think. I am kind of used to your bizarre ways anyway. Just tell me straight and honest."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You won't mind and react violently?"

"No, I am immune to your ways."

"Alright, then. I was thinking about you tying me up and you being a sadist. Later they took a turn towards Fifty Shades of Grey and then bondage and then you and I..." I trailed off and looked up to see him spit out the water he was drinking. He choked and coughed as if he was dying.

"What?" He yelled so loud that it echoed.

"I told you," I shrugged.

"What?" He yelled again, but this time, I could see a faint pink on his cheeks. "You were thinking about those things? Oh my God! You could have just lied!"

"But you said straight and honest," I shrugged. He hurriedly came close to me and my heart almost shot out of my chest like a bazooka. He touched me and I stared at him wide eyed. Did I just set the mood for him? "W- What are you doing?"

He jumped back, this time totally flushed. "Don't think like that!" He yelled. "I was just trying to get you out of this stupid rope! God! You are so dirty minded!" He yelled and untied me from the chair.

"Not my fault when you come all too close to me after I said the thing about bondage!" I blushed a little, massaging my wrists. It was really painful to struggle when you were tied down by a guy. His eyes traveled to my wrists and saw the red welts on them.

"Did I really tie you so hard?" He asked and I took a step back.

"No, no. It was my fault to struggle. They'll fade away soon," I forced a smile.

"But I still did that to you," he walked to me and took my hands in his once again. It felt like a detonator went off in my heart. My face was red and I had to keep my face lowered to prevent him from looking at my blush. "Let me apply some ointment there."

He gently applied the ointment and for the very first time in my life, I realized that a man's hands could be so gentle. I always held my grandfather's hand, it was the one of the very few male hands that I ever held, and I was sure that it was quite rough. Even's Ray's hands were rough and big, but the way he was handling my hand brought up shivers down my spine.

This was bad.

Very bad.