Enraptured

Chapter 18

Shit, this wasn't how I wanted her to find out. If it were up to me, I would've never wanted this situation to happen in the first place, for her sake. She didn't seem like someone who liked to the center of attention and I didn't her to be unnecessarily bombarded by paparazzi just because she was seen with me.

But what's done is done.

I let out a heavy sigh as I quickly turned my phone off, blackening the screen. When I turned around to glance down at her, she was still staring at the blank screen of my phone with her eyebrows completely scrunched up and her thumbnail locked between her teeth.

I gently pulled her finger out of her mouth, not wanting her to hurt herself from chewing on her nail. I softly apologized, "I'm sorry, Ms. Caddel. I should've been more careful."

Her hand tightened, squeezing only two of my finger in her little hand. She looked up with bright violet eyes, quivering as tearing threatened to spill. "I-I... Um... Y-you..."

I lightly brushed the tears out of her eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, now... It's going to be alright... I'll do my best to make sure the paparazzi don't find you or Theo, okay? I'll make sure none of them will ever even have the chance to get close to you two. I promise to keep the two of you safe. So please don't cry..."

I spoke as softly as I could, trying to soothe her, but tears only began to spill out faster. Her grip tightened even further around my fingers as she sputtered, "B-But, Mr. N-Nikoloas shouldn't have been s-seen with us. W-we're n-not p-part of y-your world. W-we're n-nobody. T-they're g-gonna say b-bad things about y-you!"

Was she more worried about how the media would try to damage my reputation rather than herself? While I was glad that she cared about me, I was more angry about the fact that she would think so lowly about herself, to think that she was below me when she was nothing but that.

I hooked my finger under her chin and forced her to look at me in the eye.

Her eyes widened when her bright violet orbs finally met my grey ones for the first time after knowing each other for weeks already. She stuttered as she tried to divert her eyes, "M-mr. N-niko—"

"My name is Demetrius."

"B-but you're M-mr. Niko—"

"My name is Demetrius," I repeated even more firmly than before. I want her to understand that she wasn't worth any less than me, that she was not below me in any way.

Her cheek turned bright red. "D-d-d-deme..."

I waited silently with my eyes piercing right through her, waiting for her to say my name.

She squeezed her eyes tight and sputtered, "D-Deme-tri-trius."

I smirked at her adorable expression. "Good, I want you to call me by that name and only that name from now on."

She whimpered as my thumb lightly glided across her cheek but made no moves to pull away. "B-But you're the h-head of N-Nikoloas Industries, and I'm o-only a-an o-ordinary office w-worker. I-It w-would be t-too d-disrespectful."

"That has nothing to do with anything because I am personally asking you to call me Demetrius."

Her lips pressed into a thin line as her eyes lowered despondently. "But why? I'm—"

"I like you, Ms. Caddel."

Her eyes widened as they instinctively fluttered in my direction out of surprise.

This wasn't how I was planning to reveal my feelings, not after she had just been harassed by another male and shocked by the impending threat of the public media. But the words just fell uncontrollably passed my lips, and it was too late to take them back.