Lisandra Micheli stood in the back of the room, watching as August Bergmen gave his annual speech at the Bergmen Industries Christmas party, and even though he was getting the laughs, she knew something was off. It was in his eyes, he wasn't completely all there, and even though she laughed, she worried. As the speech ended, she watched him make a beeline for the bar, and handed her assistant her drink.

Things have been different between August and Lisandra for a while. Getting lunches together, working late nights, gifts of teas, and bagels and other little things that she swears means nothing. Nothing at all. They're only friends and she knows that. Of course she sees David give her a bit of a contemplative look as she heads towards the bar to see August. She's checking up on him. That's it.

Of course, she knows it's not it. Because she could cut the tension between them with the heel of her Louboutin if she wanted and she knew that. Because things were more complicated now that she was dating David, and she felt bad that she was. She felt guilty, but didn't know why.

As she approached August, she waited for him to order his wine and asked him immediately after to spill what was on this mind. It wasn't the first time she had said something like that to him before. They had become confidants (saving someone's life will do that to you) and trusted each other. But as he spoke about his ex wife wanting him back, she felt anger. How dare that woman think she could come waltzing back into his life like that? Lissa felt relief when she realized August didn't take her back, and was at least okay with the fact that he didn't see the bright red shade her cheeks got when she realized she had been feeling jealousy. Thanks to him finishing his glass of wine, he didn't see a thing.

But she wasn't going to let him drink the night away. So she asked - no, demanded - that he dance with her, and the music changed to a slow song just as quickly as it had begun. She had thought he'd want to be away from her on the dance floor but instead was surprised when he held out his hand, asking if she still wanted to dance.

Immediately she was hit with memories of her helping him up from the nightclub years before, holding out her hand for him to take as if it was a lifeline and she realized the same thing was happening now. So she took it, and they danced.

As the song went on, they moved closer together. She could feel her cheeks getting hotter as she noticed how close they were, how her heart was picking up its pace. She distracted him by telling jokes, making them both laugh, as she realized she was searching for that smile of his. Then, it happened. She found herself looking at him, his lips, then his eyes, and she felt him move close. She moved it, completely forgetting all about...

"Lissa, are you ready?" David. She cleared her throat and her cheeks flushed red, as she looked to David, and away from August, breaking away from his arms around her. She stood next to him as David and August joked for a bit, and she avoided looking at either one of them. Finally, as David slipped his hand into hers, she looked at August, apologetic and guilty. "Merry Christmas, boss."

As David lead her out of the party, she was quiet. She had taken back her hand from his pretty quickly once they left the party, her hand instead resting on her lips, thinking about what would have happened had David not come over. If he hadn't interrupted...

"You're in love with him," David's voice cut through her thoughts, and she looked over to him in surprise. It was then that she realized they were in a taxi, and she had no idea how she had gotten there, she was so lost in thought.

"What?" She asked, and swallowed hard. Because maybe, he was right.

"You're in love with him, Lissa." David said, but with a smile and she couldn't understand why her boyfriend was so happy to tell her she was in love with his best friend. "It's obvious, and I don't want to stand in the way."

"David, what are you talking about? I'm not--"

"I see you light up around him. You're on cloud nine when he's near you. And on the dance floor, it looked like you guys didn't even know anyone else was there."

She swallowed hard again and looked at David, feeling guilty. "David, I..."

He grinned, "Am I right?"

There was a pause before Lissa finally managed to get out a small "yes", because she knew it then. She was in love with August Bergmen. And she was dating his best friend. "Oh god," she said and David put a hand on her shoulder.

"We are better as friends anyway, Lissa, I think we both know that," he continued, as he gave her shoulder a squeeze as the taxi pulled up to her apartment building. "Consider this my Christmas present to you. You won't have to deal with my dumb ideas anymore!" He joked, and she laughed before telling him that he'd always be stuck with her. He laughed and agreed.

"Thanks," she said, kissing him on the cheek as she got out of the taxi. David just nodded, smiled, and waved goodbye, and as the taxi drove away, she stood in front of her building dumbstruck for a moment. Finally, she headed inside to her home.

When she got into her apartment and shut the door, she dropped her things to the floor and kicked her heels off, immediately heading for the wine. It was a bottle in, while she was sitting on the floor of her kitchen that she finally decided to do something. Because if you love someone, they need to know. She had to tell August. She wouldn't let time go to waste.

Lissa gathered herself off the floor and pulled on her winter boots and picked up her purse and jacket off the floor and suddenly she was down the hall again, hitting the button on the elevator multiple times in a row, as if it would make the elevator come faster. The elevator arrived and before she knew it, she was in the lobby, running to the front dorm hollering for a taxi.

And in fifteen minutes to midnight, Lisandra Micheli was standing on the doorstep of August Bergmen's home, snow starting to fall, with her fist hovering over the door to knock.

But she froze. There was no possible way he felt the same as she did. Hell, she had to hear it from her now ex-boyfriend that she was in love, but she knew it to be true. The gifts, the excuses just to have their hands touch, the long nights at the office just talking, the long walks to their cars even though the garage was not that hard to get to, the fact that she was jealous of those he would date, and all the almost moments. She was in love.

But he was August Bergmen, and even though she didn't know who the billionaire playboy CEO was before, she knew him now. He could have any woman in the world that he wanted. He could never want her.

She moved away from his door and sat down on the steps, realizing the snow was catching up fast and making a pile quickly. In one minute, the world was rumored to end, and she didn't have the confidence to storm into his home and tell him how she felt. Because there was no way a man like that would want a woman like her.

So when the world didn't end when the clock struck midnight, she almost wished that it had. Because now that she knew what she was missing and had no idea how to prove herself to him, and see if maybe, he could learn to love her too.

She stood up from the front steps and walked home, her arms wrapped tight around her as the snow fell harder around her and she didn't look back. This was why she knew she had never acknowledged her feelings for August, the man whose life she saved, and the man who saved her life in ways he didn't even know.

There was no way she could love through another broken heart if he wasn't the one there to pick her up. It was a pain she couldn't take.

Back in her apartment, she locked the door and turned off the lights, and headed to bed hoping that if she slept, she could forget the night and forget her feelings.

Sleep never came.