The Traps of Black Swan

Shea was continuing without taking a breath so that she could complete before Shawn would kick her out of his sight, "Today, I was so scared when I was falling on a rose plant. If I had lost my eyes, I couldn\'t be a doctor. My whole life would have been ruined. I only become careless and dumb with you. I don\'t want to take the risk. So I thought I should stay away and focus on my studies. I don\'t want to go back to Coasta, they will get me married to a random stranger. I better be dead than becoming a housewife and demure lady which I am not..."

She was yet to continue, Shawn stopped looking right to left and vice versa. He even spun around watching her twice, trying to catch her babbling.

Shea who went around him ran into his steady masculine back and stumbled, "Ouch…" The hit on her nose caused her eyes to fill with tears due to sharp pain. She grimaced inwardly, gently pressing her nose. She pressed her lips and stared at him.

Shawn turned around and fell speechless looking at her putting on a strong facade when she was really in pain. He didn\'t understand even a single word of her other than analyzing that she becomes clumsy as a dolt around him. She wasn\'t stupid else she wouldn\'t have got admission to a top university. However, he wasn\'t satisfied with her reason for her behavior with him. 

He noticed Shea was stepping away from him. If she takes two more steps she would bump into his Planetarium table clock antique piece from 1770. It was the rarest, one and only timepiece in the world. The clock was designed uniquely, there was a connected glass globe on top of the clock. The globe had a mini solar system and each planet in it moves right according to the rotation and revolution time of real planets. 

"Shea!! Stop right there." His voice came out like a warning.

Shea saw Shawn\'s pupils grow a little large, his expression turned grave. She flustered thinking she made him angry instead of solving the misunderstanding. When he took a long stride towards her, she panicked as though he would grab her and throw her out. She took a long step back and bumped into the wall. The wall had Shawn\'s collection of rare items.

"Ahh…" Shea groaned when her head hit something hard. She stumbled in reflex and turned around to see what it was but she tripped on her footing.

Shawn wanted to save his precious clock. His mind was split when she was falling with the clock. He didn\'t want to lose an item from his collection. If he loses it, he is damn sure he will scold Shea very badly. 

Shea\'s heart fell to the button of her stomach when she was falling and something was falling with her. Unwilling to get to his bad side, she reached out and hugged the timepiece.

Shawn held air in his left hand when the timepiece slipped his hand and another hand involuntarily wrapped around Shea\'s waist without even thinking. Shawn froze, he just wanted to save his timepiece as he thought he was angry at Shea. But…

Looking down at Shea, he blinked at her who barely had her footing on the floor, lying in his arms while her eyes were tightly shut, waiting for the pain. Her pursed lips, slowly released when the pain she expected didn\'t inflict. He gulped hard when his eyes traced over her pink parted lips which looked too delicious. 

He unawarely licked his lips thinking how she had tasted. He couldn\'t recall it. All he cared about then was his physical desire. Now, he craved to kiss her.

Shea opened her eyes, slowly and worriedly. She avoided his eyes afraid he would be angry. She slowly pulled up whatever she held. Her eyes desperately tried to find any flaws in it. Nevertheless, she wasn\'t ready to face him if there was anything wrong.

Meanwhile, Shawn admonished himself when he caught the frightened hazel eyes looking at his clock, holding her breath. She looked like she would burst into tears before he could even scold her. Yet he knew she wouldn\'t cry.

He made sure she was holding his clock when he slowly pulled her on her toes. Shea breathed in relief when she didn\'t find a crack and clock working fine. \'So I didn\'t hit this but the shelf and disturbed this.\' She thought. \'My head hurts.\' She cried to herself.

As soon as she realized she was on her feet, she slipped his arms and placed the clock back on the spot where it belonged.

Shawn berated himself and forced himself to focus on his artifacts. So he stood close so that he could save his treasure if she knocked on anything with her clumsiness.

He hissed when she kept the clock too close to the wall. "Not there." He held the timepiece and kept it in the center of the open shelf. 

Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. He thought of putting a glass slider door for the shelf so that she doesn\'t bang anything down to the floor. Then he was bewildered. It wasn\'t like she was going to live in his room.

"Perfect." He uttered, watching the artifact with his hands shifting to hold the shelf. An enticing smirk graced his face looking at the undamaged clock.

The poor heart in the chest of Shea was thundering when Shawn\'s warmth wrapped her like a warm blanket in the cold winter. She wanted to go away before she does another stupid thing. But his arms were on either side of her and her back so close to him that she weirdly craved to lean.

\'What the f**k am I thinking? Shea, stop daydreaming.\' She chided herself. Her back stiffened when his relaxed, pleasant voice floated to her ears whispering what he didn\'t say.

\'Oh god, I am going crazy.\' Shea quickly turned around to face Shawn so that he could scold her. He could bring her out of her fantasy; her mind was weaving around her.

Shea gasped, regretting her decision to turn around. He was too close for her comfort. She stumbled back again.

Shawn was quick to react and pulled her away from the shelf with little too much force. Shea crashed into him. If the previous position was uncomfortable, the compromising position withdrew every possible comfort Shea wanted to draw between them.

Shawn\'s intention was clear; to save his shelf. So he was as shocked as her. More than the shock, the closeness was ticking up their desire for each other.

His hands trembled, fighting to pull himself away which was harder than he imagined. The gap he tried to create was merely a hair gap. 

Shea\'s face was buried in the crook of his neck. The blazing fire was too strong and it was being fueled with his intoxicating scent. Her fingers curled into a tight fist until her knuckles became white as a sheet, her eyes hooded with the heat. She tried hard to hold her breath to avoid fanning the fire. She also wanted him to leave her before she did something disastrous. 

She was only able to whisper in her shaky breath, "Shawn…"

.... 

The expected drizzle on the night started pouring heavily with the rumbling of the clouds, thundering, and lightning, upon the Rivas brothers.. Alerting them the disaster they have to welcome the next day.