"August!" Veronica glared at August, who was sitting guiltily in front of her. "You can't just skip something that important to go meet your new girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." he defended.

"I don't care. All that I know is that because of her you are skipping your duties." She took in a deep breath, calming herself down. "Gus," she said in a much softer tone, "I'm not saying you shouldn't fall in love or anything. I'm just worried about you."

"I know."

"You've been putting your career after this girl, and we don't even know her. Just yesterday, you came back close to midnight... I was worried. I thought something happened to you."

"I'm sorry."

Veronica sighed, pushing her blonde long hair behind her ear. She crossed her leg in front of the other, silently staring at August as if carefully thinking about what to say next. "Find a way to manage your time, okay? If you really like her, then spend time with her. Buy her gifts, take her out, make her happy, but don't forget your job. Okay?"

"Yeah. Of course."

She looked away from August, and when she turned back to him, her eyes were filled with furious flames. "You know," August noticed the slight anger in her tone, "you still skipped an important meeting yesterday."

August softly laughed, not sure if he was supposed to even laugh in that situation.

"You still have to get punishment for that." Veronica laughed, a dark shadow growing over her face. She stared at August, making him shift away from her.

The look on Veronica’s face was completely and utterly terrifying.

~*~

"Oh, poor baby, you can't even walk," Kholwa said as she moved her hands up and down August's back.

He was lying on her sofa crying instead of having the tea that Kholwa made. She felt bad for him and so started massaging him.

"You don't understand." August pouted. "I have been in meeting after meeting, interview after interview for two days straight. Without any rest!"

Kholwa laughed, and all his pain seemed to disappear at the melodic sound. "You're just being a big baby. I told you to leave, but you chose to stay."

"Technically I didn't stay, because your big scary friend threw me out."

She laughed once again. "Zamo is very sweet if you get to know him."

"I bet he is." August sarcastically said, but it was covered with his moan after Kholwa rubbed her hands over where it hurt the most, stretching out his stiff muscles. "Your hands are magic."

"Are they?"

"Mmm."

"Does this count as a date?" She asked, momentarily stopping her healing movements.

"Of course not. Do you think I'm that cheap?"

"A girl was just hoping." She was hoping that he would say yes, so that they won't have a real date where the chances of August falling for her even more would increase.

August sat up and crossed his legs as he looked at her. She was glowing, as she always did. He tilted his head, smiling cutely at the girl that he couldn't get enough of.

"Kholwa,"

"Mmhm?"

"You look so pretty today. You always look pretty."

And her heart leapt out of her chest and jumped into a hole because it could not deal.