Chris and Hazel

'Hazel, what's wrong?' Chris asked walking towards her.

Hazel was waiting outside her apartment waiting for Chris.

'Did you find the keys?' she asked her eyes filled with hope.

'…No, when was the last time you remember seeing your keys?' he asked hoping she could recall something.

'In the morning, after locking up the house I remember placing the keys inside my bag' she answered tensed.

'Fine, don't get tensed. Maybe it's in the office I already asked the watchman to have a look inside the office, so let's wait up' he said trying to cool her off.

As they were waiting outside her apartment's door, the lift's door opened and two guys in their early thirties walked towards them. One of them was wearing a blue shirt and the other a grey t-shirt, and they were carrying two large suitcases. It looked as though they were returning from a trip.

'Are you waiting for someone?' the guy in the blue shirt asked stopping near them.

'No, actually I missed my apartment keys in my office so I am waiting for a call from the watchman. We asked him to look for the keys in the office' Hazel answered looking at the two guys.

'Oh, are you new here?' the other guy asked looking at her.

'Yeah' she nodded at them.

'Which is your apartment?' the guy in grey t-shirt asked looking around.

'This one' she said pointing towards the door she was standing next to.

'What?' the two guys shouted in unison.

'Is there a problem in that?' Chris asked looking at them.

'Actually yeah there is. This is our apartment' one of the guys replied.

'What? But that's not possible I just rented this apartment' Hazel answered shocked by their claim.

'But we own this apartment' they replied.

The tension in the air soon turned to confusion as they kept looking at each other not knowing what to do.

'See guys, obviously there is a confusion here, she just moved in here and plus she met the landlord of this place too' Chris said stepping in for her.

'But dude we are the owners of this apartment' the guys defended strong. The guys started growing suspicious of Chris and Hazel's identities.

'Wait! Let me prove it to you people' said the blue shirt guy taking out their apartment keys.

'How come he has a key?' Hazel asked looking at Chris.

'I am not sure myself' Chris answered as the two guys unlocked the apartment and walked in.

'Seriously when did you move in?' the guys shouted as Hazel and Chris walked in.

'Two days ago' Hazel answered.

'Guys, there is something wrong going on here. It seems as though both of us are the victims here, so first, let's sit and talk' Chris suggested and the two guys nodded in agreement.

'I am Evan' the guy in blue shirt introduced.

'I am Mitchell' the one in grey t-shirt introduced.

'Hazel' Hazel introduced herself.

'Christopher Finch' Chris said extending his hand to the guys.

'Look Ms. Hazel, we are brothers and we have been living here for more than a two years. We were out of town for around four months, we went to visit our parents but we had no idea that someone would rent you our house' Mitchell explained.

Hazel and Chris looked at each other trying to analyze the situation.

'Maybe you don't believe us, how about you guys come tomorrow and we will ask our lawyer to meet you guys and I think you would have noticed that our things are placed in the loft. Since we were leaving for a long vacation we packed all our things and placed them in the kitchen's loft' Evan said looking at them.

'Fine then, we will come and meet your lawyer tomorrow and I will try to get hold of that guy who rented this house to Hazel. I will shift her things tomorrow so just for tonight please keep them' Chris said looking at the guys.

'…Sure no problem and sorry about our little outburst before, we thought that you guys were scamming us' Mitchell apologized.

'No problem and am really sor…' Hazel started.

'I am sorry for all this inconvenience' Chris apologized interrupting Hazel.

'No problem, we will take care of all the remaining stuff during the day' Evan told them.

'Hey, what about you guys? Weren't you living here, where will you be going tonight?' Mitchell asked them.

'No, only Hazel lived here, I will take her to my place' Chris answered turning towards them.

'OK' the guys replied in unison.

'Hazel grab whatever is required and let's go' Chris said looking at her.

Hazel quickly grabbed her charger and laptop from the room and taking her handbag from the table left the apartment with Chris.

'Maybe I should call Ryan' she said as they reached Chris' car.

'Why? So now you have a problem coming to my house? You trust him so much that you will go stay at his but not mine. What is wrong with you? Am I gonna eat you alive? Seriously what is up with you and that guy?' Chris shouted furiously.

'Are you done?' she asked looking at him.

'Yeah' he said in a low voice. Just by her tone Chris knew that he misunderstood her and now he was gonna get an earful.

'I said I have to call Ryan because he's a lawyer not because I wanted to go over to his place. So before bursting out like that just listen completely' she said irritated.

'…I am sorry' he apologized embarrassed.

'...'

'Hazel? I told I am sorry' he said looking at Hazel who surely was filled with rage.

'Let's go' she said getting inside his car.

Chris nodded and started his car and drove towards his place.

'Hazel seriously you can't be angry at me for worrying about you right?' He asked driving.

'...'

'Are you gonna keep quiet like this?' he asked looking at her.

She nodded slowly.

'Forever?' he asked with a pinch of gentleness in his tone.

Hazel looked up at him, she wasn't gonna fall for his trick this time. Whenever she is angry all he had to do was talk gently and she completely feels sorry for him and forgives him no matter what he did but it wasn't the case this time.

'…Yeah' she said looking outside.

'OK' he replied calmly.

'Really? OK! That's your answer' she yelled in anger.

Chris smiled.

'Why are you smiling?' she asked annoyed.

'Nothing'

'Just tell me'

'Sure?'

'Yeah just tell me…' she said growing impatient.

'You looked so cute' he answered slowly.

'What?'

'Cute! You looked cute' he answered again.

'SHUT UP!!!' she shouted turning away from him as her cheeks tinted red.

Chris returned his eyes to the road laughing.

'Quick question' she said after a few minutes.

'Shoot' he said without looking at her.

'Why didn't you let me apologize to them?' she asked as that question kept haunting her since they left the apartment plus it helped her remove the awkwardness in the air.

'Because it wasn't your mistake' he answered.

'But why did you apologize for me, it wasn't your fault either?' she asked still confused.

'Somewhere you were careless and so you rented the house by mistake and so it's not your fault, wait till I get hold of that person who rented this house to you, I will screw him up like hell' he said in a serious tone.

'Not the answer for the question I asked' she said looking at him.

'I didn't want you apologizing for something you didn't do' he said stopping the car.

'But…'

'We are here' he said looking at her.

'But…Chris'

'Sometimes it's better if you don't know the answer to certain things' Chris said looking at her.

'Let's go' he said opening the car's door. Hazel got down from the car and followed Chris. Hazel looked up at Chris' house. It was a villa, it looked just like the villas from the movies, after all he was a millionaire and not even if she worked for another ten years she will be able to afford a villa like that. For a moment, Hazel started wondering about the standards they stood in.

In college Hazel knew that Chris was rich but not once did he behave like one, even he had the face for it he never once showed off like others and she knew that he was still the same. Even after he became Hazel's boss, Hazel never had the conscious that he was her boss rather she always felt that he was her colleague. But as she stood in front of his grand villa, the differences in their lifestyles were explicit.

'Hazel?' Chris called out as he noticed her standing in the same place for quite some time.

'What's wrong?' he asked walking over to her.

'Nothing' she said moving away from him.

Chris led her in and as they entered the housekeeper rushed towards Chris.

'Mr. Finch, why are you late today? The kids waited for your arrival till 10 p.m. but you were late and I tried your phone too but you didn't pick up' she said politely.

'I had some important work, I will talk to the kids tomorrow and this is Hazel, show her the guest room' he said looking at his housekeeper.

The housekeeper politely smiled at Hazel and asked her to follow her to the guest room.

'Hazel' Chris called out as she went up the stairs.

Hazel turned to look at him.

'Once you refresh come down for dinner' he said looking at her.

'I am…not hungry' she responded in a low voice.

'I will see you at the dining place' he said and went inside the kitchen.

The housekeeper took Hazel to the guest room and after showing her the room returned to the kitchen and saw Chris standing inside.

'Mr. Finch, are you gonna cook?' she asked walking over to him.

'Yes' he replied without looking at her.

'That's ok Mr. Finch, I will prepare something for the two of you' she said walking over to the shelves.

'That's okay, I will manage. You just see whether she is comfortable with her room' he said looking at her.

'Yes Mr. Finch' she said turning towards the door.

'Mr. Finch?' she called out as she was about walk out of the door.

'Yeah' he answered looking for the ingredients in the upper shelf.

'Is she…the one you were talking about to Mrs. Finch?' she asked in a low voice, it sounded as though she was shivering.

'Yeah' he answered bluntly.

The housekeeper quietly left the kitchen after hearing his tone.

'See I told you that dad was with Hazel' Robert said closing the door silently.

'But…why did dad bring Hazel home? Does that mean…?' Aurora asked smiling lightly.

'Yay!' Robert shouted in happiness.

'Hey, don't shout! Dad might hear us' Aurora hushed him.

'You should thank me; it was me who brought them closer?' Robert boosted with pride.

'How?' Aurora asked confused.

'It was me who purposely went up to Hazel and dragged her into the cake shop that day' He explained to his sister.

'Quiet' Aurora said turning serious.

'Come on sis, you should give me some credit though you were the mastermind' he whined.

'No dummy, I hear someone' she said pulling him towards the bed.

They both pulled the sheets and covered themselves as they heard the door open.

Chris walked inside their and looked at the two, as he noticed they were asleep he slowly closed the door behind them.

'Are they asleep?' Hazel asked walking over to him.

'Yeah, they usually can't be awake after 10:30 p.m. 'he said looking at her.

'Oh that's a good habit' she said smiling.

'Well of course they will be, after all they were brought up by me' Chris said self-content.

Hazel looked at him for a moment and silently walked towards the kids' room and opened the door and there was Robert and Aurora sitting upright on their bed.

Chris looked at them bewildered.

'Hi Daddy!' they said in chorus smiling nervously.