Chapter 401 - Old Habits Die A Little Hard

Tiana looked around her. It was dark, and she did not know when she strayed farther into the maze. Thankfully, she was with her phone, so she quickly called Nicklaus. Nicklaus picked the call almost as soon as it rang.

''hey, ''

"Let me guess, you can't find your way out of the maze," Nicklaus asked, and she laughed;

''Yeah, how did you know?''

''I knew you would get lost the moment you said you were going there. Turn on your location; I am coming to get you.''

He said, ending the call. ;

Tiana did as she was told and started walking backward. On the way, her mind drifted back to the intense kiss session she had with Nicklaus; she blushed. ;

They would have had s.e.x if she did not interrupt him. He was a good kisser; it did not feel like she was kissing him for the first time; her body synchronized with his perfectly. Tiana bit her lower lip as she reminisced about the kiss, forgetting that she was alone in a maze. Suddenly, her body hit something rock hard, and as she stumbled, Nicklaus caught her before she fell. ;

''What are you thinking about?'' he asked, staring at her worriedly. Her face was all red, and he wondered if she was sick.

Tiana cleared her throat; ''Nothing, nothing important.'' She said, avoiding eye contact. ;

Nicklaus felt her forehead with his palm; he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she was okay.

''Why are you all red?'' he asked; ;

''uh? me?'' Tiana cupped her face with both hands; she did not know she had gotten red thinking about him. ;

''Nothing, maybe it's the cold.'' she lied. ;

Nicklaus stared at her, and then he took her hand.

''Let's go inside,'' he said. ;

They walked back quietly before Tiana interrupted the silence;

''The maze is quite huge, it's beautiful," she said.

''Yeah, it is. You got lost here the first time you came here, do you remember?''

Tiana shook her head, ''Did I? Well I'm not surprised, it sounds like what I can do. '' she laughed.

''I guess that's how you knew I couldn't find my way out?''

''You can say that, and almost everyone gets lost here. ''

Tiana smiled.

There was silence again.

''I'm free tomorrow, let's go on a date?''

Nicklaus said, and she looked at him.

''Yeah, let's do that, dinner or casual date?''

''Dinner. ''

…

After dinner that night, Tiana lay on the bed while Nicklaus worked. He was going out with her the next day, so he had to round up some work. Tiana went through her phone. She had so many messages from so many people she couldn't recognize, most likely her fellow models, wishing her a quick recovery. She was trending online, and everyone was just happy she was back.

Tiana sighed as she replied to a few messages. She had to back-read on the chats to be sure she was close enough to those people before replying.

Tiana closed her eyes as she tried to catch some sleep, but she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned around on the bed for god knows how long, before she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her close.

Tiana's body stilled instantly as his scent wafted into her nostrils. He smelt nice.

''You can't sleep?'' Nicklaus whispered in her ear as he held her still. Tiana shook her head, turning around to face him.

'I can't stop thinking. '' she said, hugging him back.

''what are you thinking about?''

''I don't know, nothing in particular.''

''Let me tell you a bedtime story. Would that help? ''

Tiana laughed; ''that's so cheesy, but I think it would.'' Well, she wasn't interested in hearing the story, she just wanted to listen to him talk in her ears.

''Okay, let's see. There was a beautiful girl who fell in love with a handsome man. She couldn't take her eyes off him… ''

Tiana laughed; ''I hope you're not saying a story about us? ''

''No, not at all,'' Nicklaus said, although it was visible on his face that he was lying.

''Okay, but say another story, about animals, something that would make me sleep. '' She said.

''Okay,'' Nicklaus nodded, and told an animal story, and before long she was already asleep.

He stopped and looked at her face. She looked calm and peaceful.

For a moment, Nicklaus felt that this one year had not happened, that she had not forgotten him, and that night, like every other night.

Closing his eyes, he didn't want to think of any other thing, but only to cherish that moment.

…

Tiana woke up late the next morning; she looked around the room but Nicklaus was not in sight. He was not also in the bathroom when she went to brush her teeth.

He said he had the day off, so where did he go to?

She wondered.

Walking out of the room, she turned to go downstairs, but her eyes drew to an adjacent room that was shut. Thinking for a second, she walked to it.

Turning the knob, the door opened, and she walked in.

''Wow,'' Tiana exclaimed as she looked around the room. There were a lot of drawings hanging on the walls. They were beautiful.

Tiana walked around, admiring each one of them, and then she stopped at the drawing table. There were paintbrushes, drawing pencils, and drawing books on the table. Tiana flipped a drawing book open. The first sketch was of her.

She was lying on the bed, n.a.k.e.d. The bedsheets were just halfway up her back, and her legs were out on the other ends. Her hair was messy, and she was smiling. It looked like she was looking at the person drawing her, at Nicklaus.

She flipped the pages, and they were all drawings of her doing random things. A smile plastered on her chin as she stared at the sketches.

''Beautiful, '' Nicklaus called as he walked into the room.

He had a towel around his neck, and he was shirtless and sweaty. Tiana turned to look at him. Her eyes drank in his body before it settled on his face.