Darcy sat at the edge of his bed getting dressed as I devoured my breakfast in bed. I heard the clatter of his housekeeper from the kitchen. He seemed like he was lost in his thoughts as he tied his belt with a deep frown. I debated with myself about whether or not I should ask what is bothering him.

"Do you like your eggs, Liz?" he asked as he put on his socks with a feeble grunt. I was caught off guard.

"Y-yes! Of course. They're great" I replied hastily almost swallowing a gulp of carrot juice too large for my mouth. His housekeeper Mr. Blakemore ( British of course, appointed by his father) had laid my clothes on the settee at the foot of the bed. I got a bit embarrassed thinking about it as I remembered how I scattered them all around the bedroom last night in a fit of crazy lust and haste. I wondered what went through the mind of this old brit. I was hoping that I would get an opportunity to dress before Mr. Blakemore came back to take away the tray but as if on cue; as soon as I pushed the little table away from me he entered noiselessly and without looking at me mechanically took the table away. He turned around from the door and asked, "Will there be anything else, Mr. Darcy?"

It might sound very stupid but seeing someone like him address frank like this made me feel a bit weird.

"No Ansel. I'm fine thank you", he said looking up from the newspaper as he sat in a large armchair; one which was not large enough for him but made me feel like I am sitting in the premise of an ancient absurdly large temple.

Blakemore gave a smile and swiftly went away. I got up from the bed and went towards the settee. I was glancing around the room when I caught Darcy's eyes looking at me. He flustered a little and went back to staring some random photo in the paper. I saw him blush. It gave me weird sense of power.

I got dressed and as I was wearing my shoes I asked, "Can you drop me by the library? my car is still parked there" I waited for him to reply for almost 30 seconds when I looked up and saw him staring out of the window.

I cleared my throat a bit but it had no impact on him. I walked up to him. The back of the armchair came up to my shoulders and for a small moment before I nudged him I saw his face in the pale grey snow-swept morning. His expression of seriousness was something that I have never seen before. He looked like he was in genuine pain.

"Frank?" I said gently as I placed my hand on his shoulder. He wasn't startled, in fact he quite smoothly turned away from the window and looked up to me. He looked at my face for a few seconds and when he realized how confused I was, he broke his frown and smiled. He looked up and down my body a bit and by my waist pulled me into his lap. The big armchair felt a lot smaller now.

He slowly moved his hand up and down my back. But I was too distracted by now.

"Is everything okay?" I asked in a low voice, avoiding his gaze.

"What do you mean?" he said bringing his face closer to mine.

"You seem worried about something" I said trying to pull myself away.

Me making eye contact with him made him change his expressions. A ghost of that pained look came back to his eyes as he slightly gestured pushing me away. I complied and stood away from him.

I waited for a couple of minutes for him to say something but he kept looking at the floor.

"Let me drop you off at the library" he finally said as he got up and walked out the door.

I stood in the large bedroom for a few moments. I did not know what to do. Should I push him? Is it something serious? I hope it's not his father…

The 15 minute drive to the library was silent but not uncomfortable. He stopped the car before the main gate. I looked at him but it was difficult to gauge his expressions as he was wearing sunglasses. It was stupid because there was no sun.

"Have a good day at work" he said trying desperately to sound cheerful.

"It's Sunday. Its my day off" I said while looking intently at his face, "I'm thinking of heading to meet dad from here instead of my apartment".

"Why?" he said a bit alarmed.

"What do you mean why?" I asked equally puzzled. "it's been a while since I've met dad".

"You should rest a bit first don't you think?" he said as he seemed a bit flustered.

"What?" I asked. He fell silent.

"Is your dad okay frank? Because you have been acting very weird this morning" I asked finally, making sure I was loud enough.

"Yes of course he is" he replied.

He was right in a way though since I was pretty tired. I didn't want to play these endless games with him anymore I wasn't in the mood for it. "Whatever it is, either you tell me or I hope you find a way to handle it" I said to him as I got out of the car.

"See you soon Liz" he said as I closed the car door.

Henrietta opened the door and took my coat while I asked her where dad was. She said he was in the living room with a visitor. She led me through the hallway and gesturing towards the living room asked if I need anything. I asked her to bring a glass of water.

I entered the room to find dad engaged in a serious discussion with someone sitting with his back to me. He was surrounded with stacks of files and papers and had his frameless glasses on as he was holding a bunch of more papers. I cleared my throat as neither of them noticed me coming and dad looked up to me. An expression of pleasant cheer came on his face as he emitted a jolly laugh while standing up, a pile of papers that was on his lap sliding down in the process.

I gave him a big bear hug. It was a relief to see someone greet you like this. Almost cut down the chilliness of the December air.

I turned around to look at the other guy and immediately was greeted with a familiar face. A grinning Aidan was standing in front of me holding a laptop.

"Aidan?" I asked as I looked sideways to dad. He flayed his hands in a "Yes-it-is-Aidan!" manner.

I stood there awkwardly looking at him until he gave a sheepish smile and gestured for a hug. I snapped out of my surprise and hugged him too. He smelled very mildly of cologne and coffee.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Your father needed some advice from me about his firm. Something regarding partnership" he said.

"Very well then Aidan" said dad to Aidan, "I'll ask my assistant for the papers you asked me for and we'll talk about it later" he seemed a bit uncomfortable as he said this and he was avoiding my gaze.

"Okay" said Aidan, drawing out the O, "I'll see what those have to say about your…. situation" he said back.

"Say hello to your parents from me" said dad as he started to move towards the door.

I turned towards Aidan. He was looking at the ground intently. Realising that I was looking, he immediately looked up and forged a smile.

I realized something was up but I didn't wanted my curiosity to be too apparent.

I saw Aidan picking up his briefcase while he was deeply engrossed in some thoughts.

"Shall I drop you to your car?" I asked. He looked up in surprise, "Oh don't bother at all Lizzie" he said.

"No it's nothing" I said as I walked towards the door.

He caught up to me and we walked side by side towards the entrance. I fished out a cigarette from my coat that was hanging by the door and quickly lighted it as he waited for me half-opening the door.

We stepped out in the cold air which had gotten bitterer than it was when I came in. I glanced sideways at him as we walked in silence. When we crossed the driveway halfway through I asked him casually, "what brought you here in this biting cold?" as I imitated shivering.

"I told you, your dad needed some advice" he said getting all defensive.

I stopped dead and looked at him walking a few steps before realizing that I had stopped. He turned around and looked at my face and gave a sigh of exasperation.

"How about you tell me the truth Aidan" I said standing right where I was. He looked around a bit with a snigger as if I was being irrational but when he saw that I was not budging he looked at the ground and walked towards me.

"Your dad wants to divorce your mom, Lizzie" he said as he drew closer to me.

I stared silently at his face. I was facing the wind and I felt it falling on my face like knives. He sighed again, this time sympathetically.

I slowly started walking towards his car and he followed my lead. "Were you here to "advise" him about alimony and stuff" I asked in a slow voice.

A new wave of discomfort gripped him this time as he said, "No actually, I was here to advise him against getting a divorce". I slowly lifted my head to look at him. I thought he was trying to be funny.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my confusion rising with every step.

We reached his car by now but we stood near him. He stood by the door and leaned on it.

"It's rather complicated Lizzie" he said kindly. "I don't care. They're also my parents Aidan!" I said as loudly the bitter wind would allow me to. The grey clouds gathering made the morning darker.

"Mr. Darcy's father acquired your father's law firm last year and this divorce would hurt him in more than one ways" he blurted it out as quickly as he can.

It took me a whole minute to understand the logic of this sentence. It took me another to process my reaction.

"That doesn't make any fucking sense" I remember myself saying in a haze.

"It actually does" started Aidan, pretty much in the way he used to explain something back when we were in school, "not only is Mrs. Bennet a major stakeholder in the firm, she is responsible for the clients that it served as well. Especially regarding its business in Europe. She is practically an asset. Mr. Darcy cannot afford the break-up of the firm, now that he is finally gathering roots in places like London as well as Los Angeles" he completed in a matter-of-the-fact manner.

I looked at him dumbfounded. "You can't be serious Aidan?" I said as I forced out a cynical laugh.

He shed his nerdy serious expression and softened a bit. "Also, the divorce would look really bad for Bingley too. Mr. Darcy really hopes that the positive press of Bingley marrying someone like your sister Jane would really help him cement his place in Hollywood as an A-list producer. Now that we have most of them fired or in jail for sexual harassment and child-sex trafficking cases, there virtually a vacuum in Hollywood right now. It would really help for his image. Try to see it from Mr. Darcy's perspective, it's a good opportunity"

I listened to all this then I stubbed my cigarette in the snow. It had started snowing now.

"Do you know why he wants to divorce mum?" I looked up at him with inquisitive eyes, "please be honest Aidan".

A pained look came across his eyes as he sincerely struggled for words. He looked at the sky as if to predict how much snow will fall. "I don't know Lizzie. All I know that he is a good man, and I wish things were not like this"

He suddenly looked down as if he caught himself saying something bad. He hastily looked at me and said "Mr. Darcy always treated your father well. He is still the complete owner of the firm. And he has also been very happy with the business it has done. Your mother left no stone unturned to make it what it is now".

I felt like I swallowed a brick. "but don't you think he (I was too self-conscious of saying his name in front of Aidan in any way) should cut dad some slack?"

Aidan smiled at me like you smile at the innocent question of a child. "Let me be a bit honest here and promise you will tell no one about it because he is my boss" he said in an incriminating way, "you don't negotiate with Frank Darcy, at all. He will fight tooth and nail to get what he wants. I am sorry lizzie but I wish there was something I could do about it. I hope you understand, I'm just doing my job". I nodded awkwardly while nursing a pain and devastation in the core of my very being.

He took my hand in his and came closer to me. He put his other hand on my cheek.

I don't know whether it was the warmth of his hand on my cheek or not but I suddenly felt my eyes melting into a slow stream of tear. I sniffed heavily in the cold air as the snowfall was speeding up.

"Did anybody tell you, you have the most beautiful freckles ever?" he said in a low but clear voice. I looked into his hazel eyes.

He slowly leaned his head forwards and planted a gentle soft kiss on my cold lips. His mouth was mysteriously very warm and for a split second I got a bit conscious about cigarette-breath.

He dreamily opened his eyes and said, "if you ever need to talk to anyone, or you ever feel lonely and cold, you should know that you have a friend in me, okay?" he said still holding my face in his hand and looking into my eyes with both eyebrows raised.

I nodded enthusiastically. He gave a wide authentic smile and opened the car door. I stepped back a bit and saw him start the car. I saw him smiling at me from behind the foggy glass and I smiled back with hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

I stood there as the driveway and the lawn was covered in a thick layer of snow. It seemed like I stood there for ages. After either 10 minutes or an entire lifetime, I heard Henrietta calling me, "Miss Elizabeth! I have made some soup for you!"