Charmed by Cassidy's lovely blushing face, Adrian continues putting dirty ideas in her head through a subtle yet sexy manner - by whispering in her ears with that rich throaty voice of his, that is.

At that point, he is barely holding himself back. He only wanted to mind her seductive apparel tonight, but he ended up staring too much when he was examining her from head to toe for the nth time that evening. With that, he found himself falling for her charms all over again.

"Damien's right, though. I had forgotten to tell you how beautiful you were in that dress. But you know why, Cassidy...?" Adrian purred while tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, making her shiver a little from the light touch of his warm fingers.

"I was too focused on those moths who were attracted to the flame."

"Moths?" Cassidy blurted out, puzzled.

"Yeah. Those little insects that I badly wanted to trample down. Kept swatting them away, but they'd always come back. Seriously, it's really vexing me... But then again, who am I to blame them? I can't blame them at all."

That's when he suddenly tightens his grip around her waist and pulls her closer. He then rests his chin on top of her shoulder and stares at her face with longing and admiration. She is practically caged in his huge arms now, engulfed by his possessive embrace.

"I am also but a moth who is attracted to you - at quite a dangerous extent, I must say. You're just so beautiful tonight that I can't help but want to keep you all to myself," Adrian confessed with a helpless look on his face, beholding her beauty like a lovestruck dope all over again.

As much as Cassidy wants to take that compliment like how she did with her nephews earlier, she knows that there is a whole different layer of intimacy in those words. She hates to admit it, but she is kind of drawn to that soft yet intoxicating voice of his. This time, she isn't sure if she can reason out that every woman will definitely react the same to an extraordinarily handsome man like him.

"I hate you, you know that?" Cassidy pointed out absentmindedly, too caught up in the moment that she was not able to push him away.

"Yeah. I'm aware..." Adrian trailed off before heaving a defeated sigh.

"Still, I love you."

At that, her eyes widen in surprise and her entire body stiffens.

This is her first time hearing him say that out loud. Perhaps, the same goes for him since he himself freezes for a bit as soon as he realizes what he has just said. It's like time has stopped for both of them at that very moment.

Yet seconds later, saccharine silence and a peculiar sense of serenity sprawl between the two - almost as if there's this spell that's been cast to bring forth some sort of magic that they never knew could exist.

Cassidy thought that Adrian would eventually pull away after realizing that he did not plan to say those words at all. But then, she is taken aback when he only squeezes her tighter as if emphasizing his statement. He seems to be so embarrassed by such a sudden confession that he proceeds to lean closer and hides his face in the crook of her neck as if taking shelter.

When she takes a peek at him through the corners of her eyes, she finds his brilliant red hue of a blush creeping all the way up to his ears. He is completely combusting right now, which is quite a startling sight to behold.

'Geez... This man...' Cassidy thought before sighing and lightly patting his back to keep him from flaming up even more.

'He can be such a baby sometimes.'

---

"I received your message, Sir Ray. Where is he now?"

Charles has just retired from his piles of paperwork for tonight and met up with Ray across the street. In a haste, he entered the car he brought with him and settled down beside the driver's seat.

Ray could hear the panic in his voice. Then again, with what he told him earlier, he would really be thrown into panic. It just happened that a certain accomplice of their last remaining suspect who died some hours ago had demanded to get an audience as early as possible.

"Forgive me for interrupting your work, Sir Charles. I could call the President straight away, but I wasn't sure if this was really the right thing to do. It's also not up to me to decide who he would meet," Ray started with a grim gaze and gravelly serious tone.

"No, it's fine. I get that this is urgent, and I also trust your judgment. As the President's secretary, it's my job to handle his appointments, anyway..." Charles replied while he took out his phone from his pocket.

"Don't worry, though. I already sent a message to the President. He wasn't answering any of my calls. Probably because he's still in their family dinner-"

"Family dinner? Where?"

All of the sudden, Charles is cut off by a husky, masculine voice from the passenger's seat.

With a nonplussed expression, he swerves around and peers through the dimness before finding himself drowning in a pair of deep ocean blue irises. Caught off guard, he raises his brows and backs away for a bit, though his eyes remain locked in this mysterious stranger's seemingly gleaming ones. He sees some sort of ferocity in them that they somewhat appear fierce and electric.

Too drawn by the odd glint in those sapphire orbs, the two then ended up staring intently at each other for quite some time.

"Oh, wow, I can almost feel the sexual tension."

Then came Ray's comment.

At that, they immediately peel their gazes off of each other and face the older man. He guffaws at their flabbergasted reactions while they only make an unamused expression. After this mirthful display of his, he then pulls Charles towards him and puts his arm over his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's right. Blondie over there is the one I'm talking about. Now, look at him..." Ray murmured in his ears before they both turned to their other companion in the back seat.

"Look at that good-looking eye candy that he is. Look at those strong biceps and muscles that are peeking through that fitted black shirt of his. Look at that symmetrical profile and that dashing charisma-"

"H-Hey, wait a minute. Why are you talking like that?" Charles cut him off with a stupefied look, baffled as to why he sounded like he was trying to hook them up together.

"It's Asher. The name's Asher..." their companion finally said while crossing his arms.

"Old man Ray just got nothing better to do. He probably misses his youth that much."

"Ya sayin' ya still in your youth?" said old man retorted.

"Compared to you, I might as well be."

"With how you smoke, that can't be."

"Why do you always poke on my smoking?"

"Get the warning, young man. That's a bad habit at such an age."

Charles isn't sure how he should take their relationship. historical

For some reason, they're bickering like there's no tomorrow. Though confusing, their laid-back demeanors somehow ease his troubles for a bit. At first, he thought that this accomplice he said was putting a gun at his head and threatening him when they were talking on the phones earlier.

"Anyway, it's Charlie, right?" Asher chimed in again while smirking, taking him aback.

"No, it's Charles. Don't call me that," Charles corrected a bit too firmly.

"But Charlie's a good nickname?"

"How can it be if it only makes the pronunciation of my name longer?"

"Charlie still suits you better, though? Charlie, Charlie, Charlie~"

"I said don't call me that-"

At that, Charles paused and realized that he lost his temper for a little there. Somehow, it just kind of irked him. He didn't like hearing that nickname from someone else other than a certain person.

"Enough flirting, children. We've got a hotel to go to, right...?" Ray joined in once more, making both of them look back at him.

"Are you sure it will be fine, Charles? Well, not like I don't trust you, Asher. If you were a bad person, I would not be alive right now. You also could've done this the hard way instead of verbally abusing me the whole time. But still, I can't help but feel that I'm breaching some ethics here."

"Sir Asher said that Ma'am Cassidy is still being targeted and that there is a huge possibility that her pursuers will attack again tonight. I think it's better to do something despite our uncertainties instead of doing nothing at all," Charles solemnly stated.

"Good point there, Sir. However, I reassure you that you don't need to be so wary of me. Once you let me meet her, you will get to find everything out. If you don't believe me, then try to believe in her instead," Asher quipped with a knowing smile on his face, piquing their curiosity.

"What's that? You sound like you two are..."

Yet before the two can even shoot their questions, Asher already turns to look at the side and pretends like they're not there.