Chapter 3

Darien.

Her eyes had been only focused on his face, and that made her throat go dry. It seemed like she couldn't even swallow her own saliva. Snapping out of her trance, she moved her eyes down to his arm where his hand was tightly clasping Ami's.

Darien, noticing that she had been looking, quickly dropped the women's hand.

Serena could feel her tears burning at the edge of her eyes, but she wouldn't cry. It wasn't worth it. Or so she thought...but...she couldn't...not now. Not in front of everybody, not in front of Darien to show him how weak she was, and especially not in front of Seiya...it was their night to present, and she wanted it to be the best.

Blinking back the tears, she quickly turned her head back to Seiya, who had gone unusually quiet. She could still feel the burning eyes of her husband at the back of her head.

"Are you okay Serena?" Seiya asked quietly as he motioned his head to where Darien was.

"I'm okay Seiya...it just hurts to see him that's all." She mumbled back quickly, forcing a quick smile on her lips.

"The show's about to start, do you think you'll be ready for this?" He asked as he gently took her hand in his.

"I want this to be a world phenomenon, I want everybody to know this. I want everybody to want to come to our hotel." Serena said warmly as she gently squeezed his hands.

She knew that Darien was still watching her. She could feel his gaze, trying to penetrate right through her body. And it was killing her. It really was. She couldn't help but think back about him. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't push him out of her head. She wanted to kiss him, love him, hug him.

She wanted him to be hers. She wanted to show him that it was she that he wanted and not her best friend.

Actually, she never even had the real facts that they were together..but the way his actions were currently, she couldn't dare doubt her ideas. It wasn't right to judge him by his actions, but by the was he was acting, it was hard for her to not believe her own stupid thoughts. Of course, it would only hurt her in the end. And she was sure that she wouldn't want to go through it.

But she knew that it was going to happen sooner or later.

He would leave her. And never come back. And it was going to break her.

"You know..you can still get him back." Seiya murmured, pulling his hands away from her, only to move his chair closer.

"What do you mean?" She asked meekly as she gazed at his dark eyes.

"I'm saying that you can still get him back..that you still have a chance. I'm not saying that he is cheating on you right now, but if you really don't want to lose him, you should find a way to get him back."

"But-"

"No buts Serena...it's for your own happiness."

"How am I going to do this? I don't have the strength, I don't have the courage..." She trailed off.

"You still have your child." He whispered as he pointed at her stomach. "You know that if he found out, he wouldn't leave you right?"

"I want him to love me for me, I don't want him to force himself on my just because I'm pregnant. I know that we're slowly growing apart, and maybe it's his fault..or only mine." She choked out, "But I want him to love me again..and just me. For who I am."

"Serena-"

"No Seiya, I appreciate you wanting to help me..but I'm not going to use my baby to get to him." Serena said, giving a small smiled to her friend.

"Alright..you aren't..but we're going to work on this together right?"

"Right...but Seiya..why are you doing this? I know you've had feelings for me since we knew each other...but I would-I would never have thought that you would want me to get back to your competition."

"You're right, I did have feelings for you...and I still do now. But I know that you don't love me...and that you may never will. Oh, don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean that I won't try...but I want you to be happy..." Seiya blushed as he gulped down his drink.

"Seiya...you can try all you want. I'm not going to work my way to get Darien back. I want him to know how much he hurt me, how much pain I'm going through. I think I'm going to just let this...go with the flow." She managed as she gazed back at her friend. "But just to tell you...and not to hurt you...I've never seen you as...my lover. I hope you understand."

Her words stabbed him in the heart, but Seiya knew that he wasn't the one to be in her heart.

"You're my friend...and I...love you...but...to be the one that I can share everything with? I wish...but my heart doesn't feel the same way." She choked as she felt herself give out a dry sob.

"It's okay Serena! I understand. The feelings that I have for you is one sided...but let me remind you that I'll always be here for you. For the best, and the worst. I really hope you work it out with Darien...even if he is with the woman I love...but I learnt to let go. And I want you to be happy." He smiled, huffing out a big breath.

And I'm going to make him see just how special you are.

"Seiya?" Serena asked, "Are you listening to me?"

"Sorry" He blushed lightly, spacing out wasn't a thing he should do.

"Look-I was saying that-" Serena started, but was cut off.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I now present you, representative of the most successful business offices in Japan!" A loud voice boomed as a man around his 50's came up onto the stage.

"We're going to be on soon...I hope you're ready. And I hope you know that he'll be watching you...so try to keep up your posture." He said weakly as he turned his gazed to the stage.

"I know...I'll try to be calm." Serena said quietly as she too turned to the stage. It was hard for her..for the first time she was going to do something big without Darien. It wasn't like she didn't do anything big before..but usually he was the one by her side, or the one organizing it with her.

Now, she was by herself..and with Seiya.

The support was totally different. But it really wasn't what she was scared of right now, she was more afraid to see what Darien's expressions were when she got up onto the stage. She knew that he was already confused to why she was there, and she knew that he had panicked a little seeing her see him with Ami.

But maybe he also thought that Seiya had invited her out of his own pleasure, and that she was secretly dating him behind his back. You never know what goes through the mind of every men.

But mostly, jealousy gets the most of them.

Before Serena could think further, the had already finished his speech and was making his way down. It was obvious that they were about to be called up next. Taking a deep breath, she quickly whispered, "You're doing all the talking."

"What-?" Seiya started to ask.

"You know I can't talk yet...so please Seiya...you talk." She pleaded quietly, looking into his eyes.

"Alright." He gruffed out just as the announcer called them up onto the stage, and a applause was given throughout the whole room.

Getting up from her seat, she tried hard to not show the crowd how stiff her legs were. She was nervous, and the pit of her stomach was churning and churning like a never ending cycle. It wasn't the crowd that was worrying her, it was..like she said before, what Darien's reaction would be.

Following Seiya up the stage, she stood next to him, smiling softly as he introduced them.

"Hello everybody, as you guys all know, I'm the mighty popular, rich and handsome Seiya Kou-" A stiffle of laughter came through the crowd, "-and this is my lovely partner, Serena Sinclaire."

Another applause was given before he continued talking.

"So anyways..-"

It was hard for Darien to even concentrate on what Seiya was talking about. His eyes were on Serena the whole time. She looked magnificent in a dark blue tube dress. It covered each of her curves perfectly, and her silky hair was let down. It took all his strength to not just groan out in the middle of Seiya's speech.

Serena was so beautiful, if only he had the change to wander his hands over her. It would be bliss.

The pouty soft lips, and the wide blue eyes. It drove all men crazy. He couldn't blame Seiya's attraction to Serena, only if the filthy man didn't lay a hand any where on her opened flesh.

One ear straining to hear Seiya's speech, the other half of his brain was still on Serena. He had a wide imagination now. He would run his hands over her shoulders and slowly push down the dress. Revealing her breast to know that she hadn't wore a bra made him hard instantly, it was a good thing that he was sitting by a table.

And then, looking over Serena carefully, he would carefully run his hands over the stiff nipple as she moaned against his touch. Making her crazy, he would take one in his mouth and sucked, brining her to a near orgasm by just the soft licking and hard sucking. Promising to make her have the time of her life.

He would then run his fingers lower as he reached her mound.

And slowly would he rub his fingers against her as he felt the dripping wetness against his hand. Groaning himself, the pleasure of just touching her made him want to come right there. But he knew he couldn't. It wasn't the time, and it was definitly not the place to do it. It was hard for him to have her make him think that way.

But before he could continue his thoughts, a voice broke out next to him, "Darien..you never told me that Serena and Seiya were starting a hotel project together"

"What?" He asked alarmed as he tried to get himself to think straight, and push down his needed desires.

It was then that he remembered about the anger he had felt towards Serena. And before he knew it, the desire that had been there was replace by anger. And the anger was driving his head into a big headache.

He didn't know what happened to them. But one week they were fine, and then the weeks and months after that, it was continuous fighting or yelling. He couldn't take it anymore without hearing them yell at each other. It had actually felt great to be away from her for awhile..to not talk to her or else they would just start another argument.

But deep inside, he knew that he couldn't just ignore her. Unknown to her, he would lay awake each night, just to look at her face and dream, dream of what they would do. But the thought of what had happened months or only days before would erase the needs and want. He was temperamental, he knew it. And it was the thing that was driving them apart.

Or so he thought...but he would never know then.

He missed her, missed her badly. But right now, seeing her with Seiya was just making him angry. He knew that once he was home, the silent treatment would just keep on going and going. He had wanted to end it soon..but now..he knew that he couldn't..not yet. It hurt him to even confront her about it.

He wouldn't do it...no.

The past few months had been hell. It had always been Serena that had comforted him. He had thought that it was Serena who had that special power over him, but lately, he began to notice how his wife's best friend Ami was influencing him. After each fight with Serena, he knew that Ami would help him...help him get over the pain.

He knew it was wrong...but he couldn't help it.

Unclear with his thoughts, he got angry again. It was all Serena's fault. It was her that made him feel this way. If she didn't slip into his mind so often. Dammit. Not getting control of his pressure, Darien slammed his fist onto the table, making a hallow sounds throughout the room.

He could see Seiya ignoring the sound and continued to talk, but Serena's eyes were straight on him, pained. He hated it, why did she have to look at her like that? Couldn't she just stick those damn eyes back into her sockets and leave him alone? Clenching his fist, he could feel himself growling.

Darien was so confused, he didn't know what was right or wrong anymore. All he held was the anger that was driving him.

"Darien." Ami whispered as she put her hands on his back and began to stroke him.

Calming down a bit, he managed to say, "Sorry Ami...what did you say there about Serena...and Seiya?"

The answer was not what he expected.