„I don’t know, C.“

This was not what Josh wanted to hear. He took a deep breath. 

„Why not, Justin?“

„I’m still deeply confused about my own behavior. You know I am driven by my emotions. If there were no feelings, I would have never behaved that way. But it’s not like I stopped loving Jess. I still want us. I have no idea how we should ever fix the mess, but I didn’t give up, yet.“ 

Josh processed the information. Then he continued talking. 

„Eve is mine. She always will be. I will never allow you having her. Do you understand that?“ 

„Yes.“

„Good. If you wanna makes things right, make her talk to me, as she blocked my number.“

„She blocked mine as well.“

„I don’t care. Do whatever is necessary to make her talk to me.“ 

„We could ask Mateo for help.“

„I can’t ask him for another favor.“

„Why not?“

„Because yesterday we went together to Santa Monica. Unfortunately things didn’t end up well. Now Mateo has to deal with the consequences for helping me.“

„Jeeeeez, I told you not going to Santa Monica!“

„I know, but I didn’t listen.“ 

Justin sighed.

„Look. I suggest we give her few days to calm down, before doing the next step.“ 

One week later Sarah was engrossed in her work. Eve was keeping her busy recently. She realized she needed an own assistant and was testing Sarah’s skills before considering to offer her the job. Sarah was grateful for doing some more challenging work, instead of just taking care for the front desk. She didn’t notice when someone entered the lobby. But then she heard someone clearing his throat. Sarah looked up and turned immediately pale. 

„Holy shit…“ She stammered, with her eyes wide open. 

„Good morning.“ Justin said with a sexy smile.

He enjoyed shocking women this way. It never lost its thrill. 

„Good.Morning.Justin.Timberlake.“ Sarah replied, still being in deep shock. 

„I’m here to see your boss.“ Justin explained.

„You mean… Eve Miller?“ Sarah asked.

„Yes, I mean Eve.“

„Ehm… well… do you have an appointment?“ 

„Do I need to have an appointment?“

Sarah flushed a little, feeling completely uncomfortable. 

„Well, yes. Usually she’s not seeing anyone without an appointment.“ 

„Do you believe this includes me as well?“ He played with his status and enjoyed it even more. 

„Dunno…“ 

Justin pierced her with his deep blue eyes, making her more nervous with every further second.

„You must know, Eve and I are good friends. Really good friends.“

„Okay… ehm… just let me do a quick call.“

„What’s your name?“ He asked, before she grabbed the phone. 

„It’s Sarah.“

„Sarah, please just give me a visitor pass and let me in.“

Sarah was completely sweaty now. The last thing she wanted was upsetting Justin Timberlake. 

„Ehm… okay. Here you go.“ She said and handed him the pass. 

Justin entered the open space office. Immediately all eyes were on him. Nobody said a word, being in deep shock. Justin didn’t expect anything else. He was used to those situations. 

„I’m looking for Eve.“ He said into the round. 

„Conference room.“ One guy answered, pointing in its direction.

„Thank you.“ Justin replied. 

The conference room was having glass walls. Justin stopped in front of it and crossed his arms. He looked inside and waited, until Eve would notice his presence. She was standing in front of a flip chart and making some notes, while talking to her team. Mateo was sitting at the table opposite of the glass wall. He was the first who noticed Justin.

„Oh shit.“ He suddenly said.

„What’s wrong?“ Eve asked confused.

Mateo was staring at Justin. Justin smiled and waved him. Mateo waved back. 

„This must be a joke!“ Eve complained, finally seeing what was going on. 

The rest of the team looked in the same direction. Everybody immediately got excited. 

„Is this Justin Timberlake???“ One of them squeaked.

„No way! It’s really him!“ Another one yelled. 

„Calm down.“ Eve said, still looking at Justin. 

He smiled innocently like a little boy. This look was making her weak. She couldn’t be mad at him when he was acting this way. He gestured her to come outside. She rolled her eyes. 

„Mat, can you move on, please? Looks like I need to kick someone’s ass.“ Eve said, before leaving the conference room. 

„What do you want here?“ She asked, standing in front of Justin now. 

„Having lunch with you.“

„It’s not lunch time, yet.“ 

„I take this as an agreement.“

„It’s not an agreement.“

„M, I will stay here as long as it takes until you say yes.“

„Why are you doing this? The whole team will need ages to recover from your sudden appearance.“ 

„Sorry. Not sorry.“ 

Eve sighed. 

„I need to finish that meeting.“ 

„Take your time. I’ll wait in your office, if you don’t mind.“

„Fine. But leave everybody alone.“

Justin asked for the way into Eve and Mateo’s office and sat down at her desk. He noticed a picture frame lying in the corner of the table and picked it up. There was a selfie of Josh and Eve inside. Josh was embracing her from behind, his head resting on her shoulder. They were smiling all over their faces. Justin stared at the picture for a moment. They looked perfectly happy together. Then he set the frame next to her screen. 

Eve and Mateo entered their office one hour later. 

„Here you are.“ Justin said.

He was standing in the middle of the room and playing office golf.

„Do you enjoy your own gift?“ Mateo teased. 

„I do. It’s more fun than I expected.“ Justin replied cheeky. 

„You wanna play or having lunch?“ Eve asked. 

„Lunch.“

Eve grabbed her bag and left the office with him. When they were passing Sarah, Eve suddenly stopped and went to her desk.

„I know he intimidated you. That’s why I am willing to forget that you let him pass without any warning.“ Eve said to Sarah. 

Sarah flushed. 

„I’m sorry. But he was pretty… persistent.“

Justin listened to their conversation and smiled smugly. 

„I know. He’s pain in the ass.“ Eve replied. 

„Don’t be that mean, M.“ Justin complained half seriously and put his arm around Eve’s shoulders. 

She rolled her eyes before they finally left the building together. Sarah watched them disappear and was asking herself what was going on between Eve and Justin. 

„T, I know this is not just a random lunch between friends. So, what exactly do you want?“ Eve asked, after ordering drinks and food in Justin’s favorite diner. 

„I want my best friend back.“ Justin answered. 

„Good for you. But that’s not my business.“ 

„It is.“

„Why?“ 

„Because he wants me to make you to talk to him.“ 

„This is ridiculous.“ 

„Call it whatever you want. I’m just doing my job.“ 

„We tried talking, Justin. It didn’t work out well for both of us.“ 

„So, what’s your masterplan instead?“ 

„I have no masterplan.“

„But you want him back, right?“

„Did you forget about Jen?“

Justin sighed. 

„Eve, come on. Why you still persist something happened between them?“

„Because I still got no logical explanation why he was seeing her after leaving me.“

„It was the dog.“

„The dog?“

„Yes. C asked Jen for seeing Bronson. And she agreed. That’s the only reason why they met.“ 

Eve was sorting her mind. The explanation made sense as she knew Josh was missing the dog. But still, she was not ready believing it was simple like that. Justin noticed she was fighting with herself if to believe him or not. 

„C would never hurt you, Eve. I swear, this is not the way he’s dealing with those situations.“ He said to convince her. 

„But he hurt me with the things he said when he showed up in Santa Monica.“

„Like what?“ 

„He spoke down to me claiming, that I kissed you, because I’m your fangirl.“

Justin looked at her for a moment. 

„Did you…?“ He asked carefully. 

Eve closed her eyes and sighed. There was some truth in Josh’s claim and she knew it. Then she looked at Justin again and continued talking. 

„I admit kissing you was exiting because you are who you are. But I also see you as a human being and not just as a superstar. The reason why I kissed you is… complex…“