After a moment of hesitation, he decided to enter the birthdate as the door code.

To his astonishment, the door swung open without hesitation!

As the door creaked open, Holden stood there, his disbelief freezing him in his tracks.

Whether it was fate playing its fickle hand or some other cosmic twist, Holden didn’t have the luxury of

pondering it. Ariana, in a sudden burst of energy, attempted to shove him aside. Before he could react,

she had already pushed him away, running to the nearby flowerbed, where she started a bout of

uncontrollable retching.

Holden followed, feeling utterly helpless, and got out a handful of tissues for her. To his astonishment,

Ariana pushed him away once more, extending her arms in a wide embrace of a nearby pillar,

serenading it with a heartfelt, albeit slightly off-key, tune. She adamantly refused to step inside.

With no other recourse at his disposal, Holden tried to coax her, doing his utmost to lead her away from

the pillar after a prolonged tussle. Yet, even after he had successfully coaxed her down, Ariana

remained obstinate, firmly declining to cross the door into the house.

Following more commotion, Holden managed to carry the nearly unconscious Ariana inside.

Gently placing her on the bed, he proceeded to tenderly wipe her face with a warm towel and applied

ointment to her injured arm.

After he had finished attending to her, he perched himself on the edge of the bed, watching as Ariana

drifted into a dazed state.

In the tranquil night, he found himself reluctant to leave.

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Holden’s eyes remained fixated on Ariana, and without thinking, his fingers traced the contours of her

eyebrows and eyes as if drawn by an invisible force.

His heart was filled with joy just by looking at her in this manner.

He knew he should keep his distance from Ariana, but no matter how resolute his efforts to remain

composed, she possessed an irresistible allure that tugged at his emotions. Her mere presence could

effortlessly stir his feelings, even during his professional pursuits.

Of all the people he had crossed paths with, she alone possessed the capacity to evoke such

sensations in him.

Holden gazed at Ariana with pure adoration, a palpable desire compelling him to lean in for a kiss.

He inched closer and stopped mere inches away, his heart galloping like a wild stallion. Yet, reason

admonished him that this was taking things too far.

Thus, summoning sheer force of will, Holden put an end to his wayward intentions. He straightened up

and, unable to bear the sight of the figure lying on the bed any longer, fled the room like a man

escaping a maelstrom.

Descending from upstairs to the living room, the gentle night breeze offered some solace to his restless

soul. He glanced toward the door and noticed that when he had carried her inside, he had left it a bit

open.

Contemplating the door’s peculiar security code, he couldn’t help but wonder at the uncertainty of it all.

How could such an unlikely occurrence be? He began to suspect that the code lock had malfunctioned.

Stepping over, he shut the door and made another attempt with the code.

To his astonishment, the code lock functioned flawlessly, and only one particular date had the power to

open that door — his birthday!

He stared at the now locked door, lost in reverie. He couldn’t fathom the mystique behind why Ariana’s

house had his birthday as its passcode.

The following day, Ariana stirred from her hangover-induced slumber, and the clock’s hands pointed

close to noon. Her head pulsed with a painful rhythm, and as she gingerly propped herself up, she

noticed that her clothes had been changed. It appeared that someone, likely Sonia, had escorted her

back home and done it.

Recollection trickled back to her, reminding her that she had sent a message to Sonia, imploring her to

come to get her at the bar when she had felt the first hints of inebriation. But beyond that, her memory

was a labyrinth shrouded in fog.

She clambered out of bed, holding her throbbing head, and ventured toward the bathroom. Leaving her

room, she heard sounds emanating from the kitchen. As she approached, she found Sonia adorned in

an apron, frying eggs.

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