Kissing A Fool - Chapter XVIII

Tania rubbed her eyes and remembered about the man whom she invited to sleep-over the night before.

She quickly woke up and walked to the guest room to check if Dylan was still asleep. She had told him to sleep over since they chatted till late night while popping open bottles of red wine.

She realized the door was wide open and Dylan was no where to been seen in the room. She turned to see the clock and noticed it was 9a.m. She thought that he must have left while she was still sleeping.

She decides to take a shower and then headed down to hall to make herself some tea when she saw Dylan was sitting in the hall reading the papers while sipping his tea. 

Dylan noticed her presence and greeted, "Good morning". 

Tania who was surprised to see Dylan still hanging out, greeted him in return and asked if he had a good night sleep in the guest room.

"Surely it's not as good as it would be in my old room but the guest room is not bad either", he smiled as he pours a cup of warm tea for Tania.

Tania was tempted to ask Dylan why is he still around now that he's definite to be cleared for breath analyzer when suddenly Dylan said, "Hurry up and get changed. We need to drop by my place so I could get a shower and changed before we head to the animal shelter. We should be able to meet Rahul by 2p.m."

Ah, that figures. He's got the whole charity thing planned out and Tania is the planner after all, although she seems to be loosing her grip on the whole planning.

***

Dylan's apartment was just a 20 minutes drive away. Tania followed Dylan after they left her place and Dylan invited Tania to come up to his apartment while waiting for him to get ready for the meetings they had today.

Dylan's apartment is clean and pristine. Everything is so well organized and white and grey seeming to be theme color, Tania was afraid her breath would stain the furnishing in the apartment. Dylan told her to make herself home and disappeared into what should be his room, Tania assumed.

For a man who has lost his wife, nothing in this place showed any sign of it. There are no pictures of Sarah nor there were any pictures of their wedding. As a matter of fact, there were no pictures of Dylan or any other human in the apartment. Posters of abstract art adorned the walls and furniture were kept to a minimum. Black leather couch sat in the middle of the hall facing state-of-the-art home theater system. It was the typical home for a well-to-do bachelor, Tania thought. It certainly didn't look like he was mourning. Aw come on! That was 3 years ago... people move on... 

Tania took her glass of juice that Dylan poured earlier for her and headed to the balcony. The view out of the apartment was breathtaking. It was facing the heart of the city and because the apartment was in the 38th floor, the horizon seems endless. The view at night must be really gorgeous, Tania thought. Soft breeze blew through her face and hair and she was lost in the serenity of the moment. So lost that she did not realized there was a half-naked man standing behind her.

"The view is the reason I bought this place", Dylan said.

Tania turned and realized she was facing Dylan's chest. He only had his pair of dark blue jeans on and was combing his wet hair back. Tania couldn't help but to trail her vision from his chest to his abs. He had the abs of steel alright! She looked away and stammered, "Yeah, it's a good view". Great view alright.

Dylan walked closer to Tania and pointed to her the buildings he designed ever since he graduated. Tania could feel the tension in the air. She could feel the warmth from Dylan's body. She find herself making an effort to actually just breathe.

The bell on the door suddenly rang. Dylan walked away to check who's out on the door.

"I know we are supposed to meet in zoo but I just thought I should drop by here first", Ian's smiling face could be seen entering Dylan's door.

"Oh hey Tania! I didn't know you're here. Is Dylan showing of his fancy-schmancy apartment?", Ian chuckled.

"Oh no, he was just showing me the buildings he designed", Tania answered. She felt her cheeks flushed as though she was caught with her pants down.

"You guys chat and I'll get ready and we can leave in a while," Dylan interrupted and left the hall.

Ian followed Dylan to his room.

"She's not one of your conquest to get over the dead wife drama", said Ian.

"What do you mean?", asked Dylan casually.

"She's innocent and you shouldn't mess with her. She's off-limit", Ian warned.

"I don't plan to "conquer" her nor do I intend to mess with her. I'm taking her seriously. She made me feel what I thought was buried together with Sarah in her grave. Why are you so concerned about her anyway? She's just your sister's housemate, is she not?", Dylan putting on a white shirt and buttoning it down.

"She's... just don't mess with her man...", Ian said and walked away from the room.