Alicia was still embarrassed at the scene she had inadvertently witnessed between him and the other girl, so she decided to leave regardless of Zeres’ words. But unfortunately for her, Zeres had already muttered the spell before she could escape quick enough, and she became visible to him. He appeared before her the moment he pinpointed her location in his apartment, giving her a fright.

She tried to smile at him, to say something to break that tight tension that were between them. She did not manage to call a single thing to her mind, thus she acted like nothing had happened and smiled him lopsidedly as though she did not see a thing from earlier. "Why are you hiding from me?" she asked. "It has been so long since we saw each other Zeres."

Zeres remained silent and just stared at her without a single ripple across that good looking face of his. He looked like he had gone frigid at the sight of her. He looked pretty dishevelled and roguish. He was supposed to look like shit with all that ruffled hair, one cheek with a smeared mark of lipstick and crumpled shirt – but he was not. He actually looked like his appearance had matured a lot in the past months that Alicia had not seen him.

.

Trying to break the awkward silence, Alicia looked around. "I was surprised to find you in such a modern place like this." She commented, keeping her voice light and noncommittal. She allowed her gaze to sweep around the interior of the luxurious apartment.

When Zeres still did not say a word, she looked back at him. She realized that he seemed leaner now, almost raw-boned. It has been months since she last saw him, and he just keep on changing. If she tried to imagine him when she first met him and compared him to what he is now, she could tell that he was altered in so many ways. She wondered if there was something that had happened after he left the Black Forest after her ’funeral’ that had caused him to change so drastically.

"Do you fancy this kind of place now? I am hoping Ezekiel didn’t force you to live here –" Alicia rattled on, trying to dispel that somewhat stifled silence between them.

"Alicia." He cut her off. His voice surprisingly deeper and harder than she remembered it to be, that it truly surprised her again, that she stopped talking and only blinked at him a couple of times. "What the hell are you doing here?" he did not raise his voice at her, but he sounded extremely cold, causing Alicia to snap out of her surprise and narrowed her eyes at him. She was starting to feel irritated at his cold reception now. ’Was this anyway to greet a friend who came all the way to visit? Does he have to be this prickly?!’

"To see you, of course." She replied snappishly, displeased with such brash questioning from him, meeting his fierce gaze challengingly as she raised her chin slightly.

Zeres raked his hand through his hair, silently exhaling a heavy sigh. "Didn’t I tell you not to ever come–"

"I have a business with you. And did you think I will refrain from coming to look for you just because you told me not to –" Alicia raged back at his cold voice telling her off. ’The nerve of this man!’

"You can’t just barge in into a man’s house anytime and anyhow like that!" His reply came out a little loud and forceful that Alicia was silenced again and blinked at him. He had never raised his voice at her like this before – never.

"Oh..." she realized he must have known that she had seen everything that had gone on earlier and that she had actually ruined the night for him. "My bad for disturbing your... erm... well, I apologize for the untimely intrusion. Rest assured I will refrain from entering your house without getting your permission first next time." She tried to keep her voice neutral as she glared at him.

For some reason, what she said seemed to cause his face to darken even more. And the frown on his forehead deepened.

Alicia closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She then exhaled heavily before looking determinedly at Zeres. "I came here because there is something we need to talk about." Alicia said as she took a step closer to him.

"I’m guessing this is about Kiel again, right?" Zeres’ voice sounded tired.

Alicia nodded. "Yes. This is very important and that’s why..." she trailed off at she saw him suddenly smirking. "What. Is there something funny with what I said?" she asked defensively as her body leaned back slightly.

A long seemingly helpless sigh left Zeres lips before he peered at her. "I see you’re still so obsessed with Kiel." He commented and Alicia’s face became a little sour.

"What are you talking about? Who is obsessed with who?" Alicia retorted.

"You." He answered her straightforwardly as his palms that were braced on the top of the sofa’s back tightened as he said that one word with difficulty. He hated that just saying that one word stung him so badly. He had gripped so hard that his nails nearly punctured through the sofa’s leather coverings. He managed to catch himself before he really ripped through them.

"Nonsense." She frowned at him while shaking her head insistently. "I am not –"

"Yes Alicia, you are." Zeres cut her off again, his jaws clenching hard. "Haven’t you noticed your attention is all directed on him since you..." he paused and then turned around as he harshly tugged on his dishevelled necktie. "Stop obsessing too much about him, Alicia –"

"Just what the hell are you talking about, you idiot!" She finally burst out in anger and appeared right before him as Zeres started to roughly unbutton his shirt, exposing his toned chest. "Don’t you start giving me this nonsense. You clearly know why I am always monitoring his moves. It’s the same reason why you decided to stick close to him. Why is it that now you’re suddenly spouting out such nonsense –" Alicia was irritated at Zeres’ focus on such nonsense.

"What have you been doing in these past few months, Alicia?" his voice calmed down. "Everything you’ve been doing is related to Kiel, am I right?"