After making a full round on the Ferris wheel, my cellphone rang. I got it out of my purse as we jump out of the ride as it came to a halt. I excused myself as I eyed the name flashing on my screen. I pursed my lips before clicking the answer button.

"What is it?" I asked as I placed the phone on my ear.

"How's the date? Since you've ignored my messages, I would guess it went well." Hugh replied sourly.

I sighed heavily at his reply. "What do you want Hugh? I'm busy." I asked again as I ignored his comment.

"How long would that date take? Because I'm sure you can't get ready in under an hour for the party tonight. Well unless you are ditching it."

I gasped as his words hit me. I pulled the phone away from my ear and eyed the time on the upper right corner. I placed the phone back in my ear in annoyance. "Why didn't you get straight to the point and yelled that fact at me?"

"I don't want to get fired and if I did that, it's likely that you will." He admitted deadly.

"But doing this doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it." I grumbled before ending the call.

I called Russell on speed dial and asked him to picked me up as fast as he could. And from his brief answer, I think he was already on his way. He just waited on my call for the location.

"From the sound of your frantic voice, I think I've overdone it." I jumped slightly at the sound of Eric's voice behind me. I was in the moment that I forget that I was on a date with him.

"I'm sorry, Eric. I forget that I had an appointment tonight. I though that it wouldn't take as the rest of the day for the date." I apologetically said.

"It's okay. Though I feel like you've dent my ego, but I know you are a busy woman." He held up his hand with a shy smile.

"I'm so very sorry. But if it is any consolation, I had fun today." I admitted truthfully.

"I think I will sleep better at night knowing that you weren't bored and made an excuse for ditching me." He joked lightly with a chuckle.

"Thank you for understanding." I walked up to him and gave him a brief kiss on his cheek.

As I stepped away from him, an incoming call stopped Eric from saying something. He closed his mouth with a tight-lipped smile and gestured for me to answer it. I gave him another kiss on his cheeks before walking away as I answered the call.

I almost sprinted out of the amusement park without looking back. Russell arrived in time that I got out of the park. I didn't hesitate and got in the car as I briefly greeted him with a short 'hi' and 'let's go'. As we drove to the hotel, I felt bad for how the date ended with Eric and send him a brief, heart-felt message about how much I had fun with him. He quickly replied after a few seconds.

'It was my pleasure. I hope this would entitle me for another date where you aren't running away from me in the end.' Eric text said.

'I will see what I can do. Thank you for not being a prick about it.' I typed and clicked reply.

'You're Welcome. Good luck with that appointment.'

I felt a little stab as I read his message. Why did I feel guilty for ditching him to get to my other date? Then, the question hit me. It was acting like a two timing prick. But I shook that thought off. I was in neither exclusive relationship with the man I'm seeing. I'm not the only girl in town who had done two dates in the same day. There is such a thing as speed dating. Though the one I'm currently on is not in that nature, but the idea is there.

When we reached the hotel, it was already four forty five in the afternoon. I felt nervous as I calculated how fast my hair and make-up team could work. Then my heart stopped as I thought about the dress. How can I forget about what I'm going to wear tonight? But before I could act on it, my phone rings as I entered the lobby of the hotel.

"Where are you?" Hugh's voice enveloped my ear.

"Did you get my dress?" I countered frantically and ignored his question.

"Yes. I have everything here. Are you on your way? The room is on the tenth floor, room 1009." He replied and instructed calmly.

"I'm getting in the elevator now." I replied as I sprinted at the direction of an already opened elevator. "Wait!" I called out as the metal door slowly closed.

A man in casual white shirt and black blazer that stood in front of almost full elevator looked at me in surprise. He understood my gesture and held out his hand to stop the door from closing. When I reach them, the door was slowly opening again.

"Thank you." I said to the man breathlessly before entering the lift.

He looked at me in amusement and replied with a brief nod. Suddenly, I became aware of other people's eyes on me. I turned and faced the metal door and pressed the button on my floor.

Four stops later, I've finally reached my floor. I got out with a sigh of relief and headed direction to the room Hugh had told me. I pulled out my phone and called him that I was outside. As I got to the door, it was slightly open. I didn't knock and got in the room.

"You have approximately an hour to finish everything." I turned around at the sound of Hugh's voice behind me, giving me a short jolt in my heart.

"Don't sneak up on me." I stated a little breathlessly as I lean on the door.

"They are in the bedroom, waiting for you. The dress is in there too." He said as he gestured on his right.

I eyed him for a second and rolled my eyes at his commanding gesture. I strut towards the direction of the bedroom and stopped by the door when I entered.

"You're here! Finally!" Jade jumped out of the bed as Paige walked out of a door, probably it leads to the bathroom.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked in disbelief as I looked between my two best friends.

"We bumped into your annoying secretary as he got your dress from the store. And we tagged along after I got the answer from him why he was doing errands to pick up dresses for you." Jade replied with a hint of annoyance on her voice. "Why didn't you ask us for help on this?" She asked angrily.

"I told Paige." I quickly replied as I held up my hand in defeat.

"You only told me you had another date. Not that it involves to a fancy Charity Event in public with Robert." Paige explained as Jade turned towards her with the stink eye. Paige glanced at me for a second with the look of betrayal.

I felt bad that I hadn't let them in on it. But there wasn't much time, and it would be time consuming if Jade knew about it. She would have everything canceled this morning to go dress shopping.

"And your excuse is?" Jade turned to me with her eyebrow raised.

"I don't have one right now. Maybe later. I need to change now since the party starts at six." I replied confidently, my feeling of guilt gone.

"Where were you anyway?" Jade asked in interest, her voice raising a higher octave. "You should have been preparing for this the whole day if you wanted to look perfect for this guy."

"I had business to attend too. My life doesn't only revolve around my love life." I replied sarcastically as I sat down in on the chair where my hair and make-up artist stood in front of a desk.

"Do you have any preferred hairstyle tonight, Ms. Newman?" Rachel, my hairstylist asked after I sat down.

"I want it up in a soft crow or a bun. The back of the dress is slightly covered." I replied softly.

"I've seen it. How did you get this dress in such short amount of time?" Jade interjected as she held up a black garment bag.

"I called on a few connections." I replied stiffly as Lauren, the make-up artist, turned my head slight to start cleaning my face with a wet wipes make-up remover.

"Are you okay if I only do light make-up on? I will be heavy on the eyes and red lips to match the dress." Lauren asked as she cut off another question from Jade.

"Sounds good." I briefly replied as Jade started babbling behind me.

For the next hour, I barely conversed with my friends as Rachel and Lauren finished my hair and make-up. Lauren easily finished first since there wasn't more going on with my face. But Rachel had a heard time creating a perfectly set hairstyle. So Lauren gave her a hand.

Half way through my transformation, my head finally registered that it wasn't only the girls in the room. With little restriction to move my head around, I stiffly looked for Hugh in the room. But he was nowhere to be found. I didn't let the though get to me and waited until I finish to call him.

Twenty minutes before six, I had everyone expect Paige leave the room to change. Jade was hesitant but complied when I suggested that I will let her pick my shoes.

"I packed a few pairs with me to choose since I hadn't fitted the dress yet. The bag is with Hugh." I said before closing the bedroom door on them.

"Got it. Now, where is that prick?" Jade replied as she turned around in search for Hugh.

"I'm not confident that it is the right thing to leave Jade and Hugh in the same room." Paige said as I walked towards her after closing the door.

"She won't kill him with witnesses around." I replied confidently as I grabbed the garment bag and unzipped it open.

"I really like the dress." She remarked as I pulled the dress out of the bag.

"I knew you would like it." I beamed at her and placed the dress down on the bed.

I stripped out of my clothes and stood in the room with only my undergarments on. Then, I got the dress from the bed and slowly put it on without ruining my hair and make-up. Paige stood beside me and helped me put on the dress. When I finally got in it, she zipped it up for me. I stepped towards the full body mirror and studied my reflection. The red chiffon dress flow like a cascading waterfall and cut knee level. The neck like was dipped low as it mirrors the v-cut on the back with was covered with a see-through fabric. Was it a good idea to wear this tonight?

"You look fantastic, Mitch. Robert would be a fool if he can take his eyes off you the whole night." She giggled with a light blush on her cheeks.

I smiled at her words and giggled in tune with her as I shoved my preoccupied mind. "I hope I don't melt when it happens."

"Are you guys done? I already picked two shoes for you to choose from." Jade's muffled voice suddenly interrupted us.

I grinned at Paige and shook my head in disbelief before opening the door. "Let's see what you picked out for me."

As she entered the room, she studied me from head to toe and grinned. "Here, pick one." She ordered with a devilish grin.

I eyed her choices and raised my eyebrow at her in question. "You know these two looked identical to each other."

"Just choose, Mitch." Jade said in exasperation and rolled her eyes.

I pointed at the shoe she held on her right. She beamed at me and handed the pair. "Good choice."

"Right." I put the shoes down. It was red stiletto with a golden strap on the ankle.

"Now, where are your accessories? You need an earing to complete this look." Jade commanded after putting the shoes on.

"The ones I have now are fine, Jade." I stated with a sigh as I tuck my hair behind my ear to show my diamond stud earrings.

She studied it for a moment before her head slowly nodded in contentment. "Necklace?" She asked after a beat of silence.

I brushed her off with a wave and walked out of the bedroom. Behind me, I could feel Paige following while she told Jade that I already looked nice. As I entered the main room of the suite, Rachel and Lauren gushed at me with compliments. I blushed at their words of endearment. When I looked away from them, I finally noticed Hugh looking at me with wide eyes from the corner of the room near the main door. I raised my eyebrow at him in question, which snapped him out of his trance. He shook his head at me in reply.

"I think you need to go now, Mitch. You have ten minutes left before six." Paige said beside me, reeling my eyes away from Hugh.

"Oh no! Well, thank you for today girls. I will see you later." I said briefly as I quickly walked towards Hugh.

"Have fun. We won't be here if you decided to need this room after the event." Jade called as she gave me a flirty wink.

I blushed at her words and rolled my eyes in reply. I turned to Hugh and gave him a quick nod as greeting and goodbye before heading out the door. As I took a step away from him, his hand quickly gripped on my wrist.

"Let's go." He said under his breath as he pulled me towards the door.

I gapped at him in surprise and allowed him to escort me out of the room before reacting. "What are you doing?" I finally got my voice back and asked as he continued to drag me towards the elevator.

"I'm escorting you downstairs. What does it look like?" He replied grimly.

"You don't need to do that. I'm fine by myself." I grumbled in protest as I tugged my wrist from his grasp.

"Either we do this the easy way or the hard way, Newman?" He asked dejectedly as he pressed the call button for the elevator.

I eyed the back of his head for a second, waiting for him to turn my way. But he didn't until the elevator door opened. His eyes glanced at me for a moment before he looked away. I kept a stern look on him.

"Can you let go of me now?" I asked as the metal door behind me closed. I got the confidence to sound pissed since we were both alone inside the lift.

He raised his hand that held my wrist as the end of his lips tugged upwards into a goofy grin. "Are you bothered by this?"

For a moment, I left my heart skip a beat. But the moment was gone as I watched the smug look on his face. "Don't push it, Burns. I can still do some damage with you." I warned.

He raised one of his eyebrows at me with the look of intimidation on his face. "What can you do in this close confide space, Michelle?" He asked smoothly. The sound of his voice sent chills down my spine. His words had me feeling like it's déjà vu. Then I suddenly got a flash back from five years ago.

This is not a good situation. How did I end up in here anyways? Or, right, because I got flustered and my resolved somehow shattered the moment I saw the look on his face as I stepped out of the room. I had a feeling it was a bad idea to let him in my life at some extent. I understood the gravity of my feeling then, and to think that I can easily forget it with the constant reminder of his face everyday was like playing with fire. I should give myself a pat on the back for having the best poker face in the world. I knew it wasn't over. The moment when I saw his face at the bar that night in Las Vegas, my feeling still remained intact, waiting for a moment to be realize again.

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A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update. But, here it is anyways. I have a photo of Mitch's dress for the charity date with Robert. It's Elie Saab. If you know me, I like his designs. :)

We are almost there. The next chapter with be up within the week, if I'm done with it - I hope. So until then...

Have an awesome day and Happy reading!