Mindful Beauty

6) Her Invitation

It had been a long yet short, two weeks. Ella had managed to stay busy some days when Damien had her running some extra errands for him. He had seemed to get comfortable enough, and Ella had even managed to set up a comfortable station in his office. Of course, she still made sure she was never in his way or bothering him, and that was really the only reason Damien kept her around.

She was quiet enough that he almost didn't notice her lounging around, but she was also mostly there when he needed her to go fetch a file or a copy of something. She had even held a few meetings in his place whenever he found himself tangled up in one of Kim's extravagant schemes that seemed to only get even more mischievous as time passed by.

"Ms. Cortesa," Damien didn't bother lifting his eyes from his work after hearing Ella stand up from her seat.

"Files?" Ella didn't even need Damien to confirm before she swiftly plucked the sticky note and went on her merry way. A short few minutes later, she returned. Now that she knew her way around the case room, she knew exactly where to go and would have them back to Damien in no time.

As soon as she returned, she placed down the files and noticed that he had some papers on the corner. Realizing that they were the notes that he had taken for the upcoming meeting, she went off to go print the seven copies before returning them.

"Thank you." Damien murmured, feeling the gust of her scented fragrance hit him. "Could you also copy th..." he trailed off, noticing that she had already done them. "Thank you, then."

"You're welcome." Ella provided before returning to her seat.

That was typically what would Damien ask of her whenever he needed the extra help. When he didn't, because there were some days where he would spend the entire day out of the office, going to clients or meeting with people that would help him build his case, Ella would have to stay cooped up in the office. Those were the days that she would find herself wandering around to the balcony and then back to the lobby where she would just browse online or read a book. She missed her job terribly, but at least here she could occasionally lend a hand whenever needed.

"Ms. Cortesa," Damien called from his desk, signing off on another contract for his client. He received no response, so he looked up to find that she wasn't where she usually sat, which was on the sofa that was up against a wall that was almost concealed from his sight.

He sighed, deciding that he would just do it himself. Grabbing the sticky note of files to grab, he made his way to the case room, but not before passing by Oliver's room where he caught a glimpse of Ella.

Figures, he thought before continuing his own merry way. Oliver had expressed his obvious attraction to the young woman. She was pretty, Damien concluded. It wasn't every day that you could see someone with such class and with at least an average level of intelligence like Ella.

Hours passed by, and Damien continued to do his own work and errands since Ella had yet to return to his office. As time passed by, he checked his watch, upset to see that he had lost some valuable time by having to do the small details he had quickly gotten used to not doing.

Suddenly, his office door opened. He looked up in relief only to realize it was Mr. Kim. "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy to see me." Mr. Kim joked, closing his door before moving to unceremoniously throw himself onto the sofa, right above Ella's purse. "Ow!" He wailed loudly, rolling off instantly.

"Ms. Cortesa's purse is there." Damien let him know a little too late. Kim only grumbled incoherently under his breath.

"Yeah, thanks." Kim sarcastically huffed, setting the pale pink bag onto the coffee table that was in between the two sofas before he settled down again. "I heard you're working Ella like a dog." Damien threw him an unamused stare. "Just kidding. She would never say anything like that. The poor thing is having trouble coping without work right now."