Mindful Beauty

10) Her Pain

"The weather is nice." Ella sighed in content, closing her eyes briefly to appreciate the warmth that bathed her free skin. For today, she hadn't put on any makeup on. After being bare-faced for two weeks, returning to that task had been harder for her than she had anticipated.

"It is." Damien nodded, checking a few emails on his phone.

"How have things been around the office?" She took a sip of her iced tea, waiting patiently for him to wrap up his business.

"Fine." Damien rubbed at his dark stubble, ignoring the throb of a small headache approaching. "What about you? How have things been at home?" He dared to ask, putting his phone back into his blazer's jacket.

Ella shrugged, her smile dimming a bit. "As well as can be." She stretched out her arms, looking around the cafe. "I'm sorry I left during the Parker evaluation. That was rude and unprofessional of me."

"You were busy. It's not really your fault or your responsibility." Damien reassured her, leaning back to observe her. She still seemed concerned and sad, but she also did seem like her little time off refreshed and calmed her a bit. Last time he had seen her, she left the building in tears, so at least she wasn't outwardly crying now. "Mr. Kim told me your parents stopped by." Damien mentioned after they had placed their orders.

"Yeah," Ella smiled a bit happier now. "They're the best." She tucked a few wavy tresses that were blowing in the wind from being in the outdoor cafe.

"Are you planning on returning with them to their home?" Damien awkwardly asked, mentally discouraging himself from sounding so inquisitive.

"No," Ella was quick to respond, shaking her head firmly. Her fingers lingered over her straw, mixing the beverage slowly. "Like you said, 'their home.' I like it here and... I don't know." Ella licked her lips, suddenly making Damien aware of them too.

"You don't know?" Damien asked, forcing himself to look away from her red-tinted lips.

Ella was surprised that Damien had been so chatty. She had expected that when she returned, he would work her to her bones, no time for chit chat, but quite the opposite had happened. He had welcomed her back, offering lunch in order to catch up on a couple of work details, but now they had ventured off into their personal lives. Ella didn't mind; she had nothing to hide. Besides, it seemed like Damien was beginning to warm up to her and talk a lot more. She had decided that she liked it. It made her feel warm; the way he listened and paid attention to her, those forest green eyes trained on only her sometimes when she didn't notice.

"There's a saying: don't stress about what hasn't happened because if it later happens, and you stressed beforehand, then you go through the stress of the situation two, unnecessary times." Ella winked, watching as Damien blinked in surprise. She laughed, and in response, Damien chuckled, noting the validity in her words.

"Alright. Fair enough." Damien agreed, changing the topic back to work related things for the rest of lunch.

Back at the office, they returned back to their routinely schedule with Ella stepping out of Damien's office to help the others around. Those moments were barely allowed, though, since Damien was obviously working her hard to make up for the all of the times she wasn't available.

"Okay," Hope was almost panting as she leaned against a wall after having to get Damien multiple documents from what seemed like were all over the place except in the place she looked in. "Can I just say that I'm glad Ellie is here?" She walked over to her seat and collapsed in it, checking the time on her watch before realizing it had run out of battery. "Dang it." She leaned over, tapping on Ella's phone. Ella had left it earlier after catching up, to check the time. "It's almost time to go."