I wasn't able to refill my water bottle. I hurriedly went back to my workspace and panickly packed my things in my bag.
"Why you're in a hurry? Going somewhere after work?" Reese asked.
She looked at me and pointed out that my face is like a tomato and also mentioned I'm catching my breath.
"Did you ran? Is someone chasing you?"
I shook my head. "I-I'll clock out 10 minutes early so I'll be going home. I've got something to do at home."
"Oh really? Have safe trip at home." She smiled at me.
I grabbed my shoulder bag, pushed my chair to towards my desk and walked towards the exit of the office.
I hurriedly pushed the down button on the elevator and impatiently waited for the elevator to arrive.
While waiting, a hand suddenly reached out to the elevator button from my back and invalidated the down button by giving it a long press. The elevator won't arrive to where I'm at currently.
I looked behind my back and it's Charles who did that. He's giving me a sarcastic smile. Now I got all nervous.
"Where are you going? I think you're escaping from me."
"Ugh... Uhm..." My mind went blank!
"We agreed that you're coming with me at the bookstore. You're coming with me, alright? Don't go home yet."
I broke my eye contact from him and I awkwardly said that I have matters to attend at home.
"Then what is it that you need to do at home?"
"... Uhm..."
"See? You've got no excuses to think of. You promised you'll go with me. The books at the bookstore will cry if you don't come." He said.
He humorously mimicked a child crying by rubbing his eyes and said the books will act like that if I will not come.
I laughed and my tension suddenly went away.
"You look ugly. What a waste." I jokingly said.
"It doesn't matter. As long as you laughed. Now, wait for me at the lobby and don't you dare leave me! I'll get my things first."
"Okay okay. I got it." I gestured him to shoo away.
"Good." He smiled then started walking towards the office.
I hold out my cheek and its burning.
Oh no, this is bad.
I fanned my face using my hand and tried to compose myself.
I am at the lobby and sat on the sofa. I heard two ladies nearby, talking about Charles.
"It's hard to approach Charles these days, aside from his colleague Zilly would shut us down with her laser eyes whenever we wanted to approach him." Said the lady with the red blouse.
"You bet! The only time we were able to approach him is whenever Zilly is not with him but now, if it's not related for work, he would shut us down with his cold and unapologetic look," said with the lady with the green blouse.
I knew that. He doesn't entertain anyone and because he's highly addicted to being a professional at work.
Hmph! He's not professional when he's with me but I know where he's coming from.
The red blouse lady excitingly said that she wanted to be eaten by him with his cold and unapologetic look.
I was taken aback. They don't have any filter! Oh well, office hours are almost done anyway.
The green blouse lady said "He might be good at pleasuring his partners since he's got that body of a hunk. He's to die for! Can't understand why he doesn't want to entertain some us ladies."
Now this is awkward. I can't deny that when he kiss-. HELL NO! Why am I thinking that ugly past!
"He's definitely single, as told by other ladies here and some of his colleagues in his department but Zilly thinks she has the upper hand in making him hers. How annoying, just because she's close with him." Said the lady in a green blouse.
Anyways, I don't want to hear those things anymore. I'll distract myself and see updates about Lucas.
I brought out my phone from my bag and I opened instagram.
Ahhh, his new magazine photoshoots are stellar. Lucas still hits my heart every time. He's much better from any other guys. He's sweet, talented, tall and handsome, and a pet lover too!
He's quite busy and I haven't heard anything from him since the outing last weekend.
I brought out a box that contains my gift to Lucas, the bamboo pen, from bag. I keep on looking at it thinking when will I be able to give this to him.
I don't want to disturb him because he said that he'll definitely be busy after our outing.
I suddenly heard Charles calling out my name.
I immediately returned the gift to my bag.
"Thanks for waiting. Come on, let's go." He said.
I stood up and walked past by the two ladies who were talking about Charles.
I suddenly heard two ladies talk about how lucky I am to be called out by him nicely. The red blouse lady said that I'm his colleague in the same department, that's why.
I sighed. You know ladies, you never how rude is he to me.
.
.
.
.
.
We're at the bookstore and I recommended several manga books. I put those in his shopping basket.
"These are a lot." He said.
"I think these stories are good for you."
I picked the titles that just caught my eye even though I haven't heard of those titles.
I just want to go home early. I'm all exhausted emotionally for all the things I heard today.
"Wait here and try to look some other titles that you might like. I'll go to the magazines section." I was about to walk away and go to the magazine section but he stopped me by grabbing my hand.
I was surprised and yanked my hand away from him.
He apologized and said that he'll come with me. He also said that the books that I picked for him is enough.
I got flustered. I wasn't expecting he'll grab my hand.
"I-it's okay. Then come with me at the magazine section." I said.
We both went to the magazine section and I hurriedly picked out the magazine when I saw Lucas and Conrad's face on a magazine cover. They're not the main cover page but they're just a segment about them.
The magazine is all about voice actors, by the way.
"Oh my goodness. Conrad's getting recognized! It's my first time seeing him in a magazine!"
I pulled out my cellphone from my bag and took a pic of Conrad's and Lucas's face from the cover page located at the lower right of magazine cover.
"Hey, why did you take a pic of that magazine?" He asked.
"I'm going to send this to Conrad to let him know I saw him in a magazine for the first time. Oh, and Lucas is handsome here!"
I'm typing my message to Conrad saying that I saw him on a magazine and attached the photo to the message. However, I did not send the pic to Lucas because I might disturb him so Conrad's the only one that will receive a message from me.
My message is now sent!
I'm totally buying this magazine to support Conrad and Lucas!
I immediately went to the cashier and paid for the magazine. As I received my magazine, I received a message from Conrad and said that he felt shy that I saw him on the magazine and said his thanks for buying the magazine.
I returned my phone to my bag and I just realized that I left Charles. I went back to the magazine section but he was not there.
I went to the manga section and I can see him reading the summary part of a certain manga.
I went close to him and I apologized for leaving him. I'm expecting that he'll be mad but apparently he's so calm.
"It's alright. Anyways, is this the title that I bought for you last time?" He showed me the manga and I said yes.
"I kinda like the premise of the story. Might as well buy this." He put the first volume of The Lover's Sun on his shopping basket.
However, I impulsively grabbed that manga and I returned it to the shelf.
"I can let you borrow that title with its volumes. So far I have that title starting from volume 1 until its latest."
He brightly smiled at me and said "Really?"
I nodded and said yes.
"It's a girl genre. I don't know if you will like it though." I added.
"It doesn't matter. I'm open to different types of genres." He said.
I told him that I can bring the volumes tomorrow.
I asked him if he really read the mangas I recommended to him last time. There's a possibility that he just bought those just to please me.
"You doubt me why I finished all the mangas for a short period of time? Well then, let me tell you the story of each title from its first volume." He said.
It's no joke... he read it all. He narrated all the happenings that happened from volume one in each manga titles correctly.
I made him buy the first volume of each titles last time. He's accurate in narrating what he read on the first volume.
"Amazing. You read it all. Are you enjoying so far in reading manga?" I asked.
"Yep, I do. I never read manga or comics when I was younger. If only I discovered this when I was younger, I would be a fanatic just like you." He then chuckled at me.
"I'm proud to be a fanatic of mangas. I find comfort in reading it and I can imagine myself that I'm in the story."
"When I am blue or whenever my day is so stressful, manga or anime is my comfort ever since I was in elementary school." I added.
Oops. I better not be carried away. I shouldn't tell him about that.
"What made you sad or stressed when you were younger?" He asked.
"Ugh... How about you? Have you been so stressed when you were younger?" I said.
"You remember what I told you at the park when we were in high school, right? I was stressed with the pressure I get from my parents expectations. The piano is what makes me sane during those times."
"Oh yes, I do remember that."
"Don't dodge the question. What made you stressed when you were younger?"
I'm reluctant to answer his question because it's painful to remember but I think alright to share some chunks of my dark elementary and highschool life. He shared some of his past so maybe I could do so too.
"Wait a minute. I should pay for these first. Want to go and grab something to eat after I pay? We'll continue this conversation at the restaurant."
I paused for a few seconds because I'm conflicted if I want to go home now because I told him earlier that I will go home straight after going to the bookstore or go with him to tell some of my past.
In the end, I agreed to go with him. He also said that he will pay so I kind of agreed.
Charles paid for his books then we went outside of the bookstore. We walked along the sidewalk going to the casual restaurant that Charles knew of. It's just near from the bookstore.
We entered the restaurant, settled ourselves, ordered food, and we're now currently waiting our food.
Charles asked me to continue to tell my story.
I only told him about the superficial things such as my classmates likes to make fun of me for being too quiet, having few friends and never went to prom.
I don't want to tell him the about the deeper parts such as the one I told Conrad about my bullying.
"I fell for you despite you being so simple. It's what the inside matters. For the prom, if only I had contact with you during my senior prom, I would definitely invite you as my date and it would be the same for you for your prom, you'd invite me too." He said.
Our food has arrived and we started eating.
During our meal together, he asked if someone had a crush on me or had almost in being my boyfriend during those years.
"No. I only had crushes and they were all onesided and..."
A scene in my head suddenly popped inside my head. I remember seeing this a while back.
I was smiling at a certain guy with a blurry face inside my high school classroom. There's also a scene that I was hiding behind the lockers.
A felt a sharp pain in my chest when that scene popped inside my head. I suddenly feel like crying.
"And?" Charles is asking me to continue my sentence.
"And..."
My eyes suddenly became watery and eventually it rolled down on my face.
Charles suddenly panicked at me. "W-why you're crying?!"
I wiped my tears with my hands. I don't know why I suddenly feel sad. That scene is kind of familiar but at the same time it's not. Who is that person with a blurred face and why I am smiling to that person?
Another scene played into my mind. I was on the floor that looked like I fell down from the floor. A hand reached out to me and I grabbed that hand to stand up.
What is that?
"You could stop. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. It looks like I triggered something." He said.
"Anyways, that's why reading mangas makes me happy to forget my stress up until today." I said.
"Up until today? What made you stressed up until now?" He asked.
"You should know it. I suffered emotionally at work primarily because of you."
He gestured using his hand to stop me from saying any further. He lowered his head and said "I truly regretted that. I'm really sorry."
"I get it. You changed already, you don't give me much stress like before."
He immediately raised his head and looked at me with his relieved smile.
"Then... do I not make you uncomfortable anymore? Are my feelings reaching to you now? " He excitedly asked.
I never seen this side of him. He's all strict and acted so professional at work but when work mode is off, he's like he's a total different person.
I laughed at him. "You're so different at work."
"Personal things and work should be separated, you know. However, I did become too personal at times when we're at work when it comes to you. That's immature and unprofessional of me. Well, my strong feelings for you made me that way, that's why."
I got embarrassed all of the sudden when he said he has strong feelings for me. He also mentioned that earlier at the office!
"S-stop mentioning that!"
"What? Me being immature and unprofessional?"
"No!"
"What is it?"
He paused for a few seconds and he realized what I am saying.
"Ah! My strong feelings for you?" He then gave me a sly smile.
"Do you like me know?" He began to tease me because of my reaction.
"No way!" I protested with disgust.
The restaurant suddenly became noisy. It looks like it's raining so hard outside.
I looked at the window at my side and I can see the rain is really pouring hard outside.
"There's a heavy rain. I know there's an upcoming storm from the news but they said it will come tomorrow." He said.
"Yeah, the local weather said it will come tomorrow."
I immediately opened my bag to check if I brought my umbrella. Turns out, I forgot to bring my umbrella.
I'm extremely worried on how will I go home now.
"Shoot. I forgot my umbrella at home! How will I go home?"
"I'll drop you home. I have a car." He said.
"No thanks. I want to commute."
A guy entered the restaurant and asked the waiter if he could stay a little while because the wind is getting stronger outside. The guy's clothes looked disheveled because of the weather outside.
"Do you think you can commute in this weather condition?" He asked.
I grabbed my cellphone and searched for the weather update.
It says the storm unexpectedly arrived early and would go away in early next morning.
How can this be? The weather was nice earlier!
"Maybe the rain will stop later. The weather might change since the morning weather report was inaccurate."
"Okay then. Let's see if the rain will stop until we finish eating our food."
"Alright."
We were almost done in eating our food and the rain is still pouring hard. I'm now getting worried.
Finally, we're done eating, paid for the meal and the intensity of the rain still hasn't changed. I'm now extremely worried on how will I get home.
"The rain hasn't stopped. You've got no choice but to ride on my car to let you go home." He said.
I agreed in defeat. I received a text from my mother and asked how will I go home because of the weather.
I replied to her that Charles will give me a ride home. However, my mom said that she's worried that it's unsafe to drive during heavy rains and she notified me that public transportation is temporarily suspended, especially the trains.
Oh no. What should I do?
I looked at Charles and he looked dumbfounded with his eyes on the table.
He looked at me and said "How will we go to my car in this kind of weather. I parked it two blocks away from here."
"We could run for it." I said.
"Yeah, you're right but I'll be the one to run for it. Just stay put."
He stood up from chair and walked past by me but I grabbed his arm.
"I'll come with you. It'll be a hassle if you would go drive and go back to this restaurant to pick me up."
"What? You'll get wet. Just stay here and wait."
"No big deal! The wind laid down and my bag can serve as my umbrella. Look at the road, there's traffic. You'll take a long time to pick me up."
He looked outside and there's indeed traffic going on outside.
He sighed and reluctantly agreed.
We went outside of the restaurant and we stood by the exit of the restaurant because it has a roof that protects us from the rain.
"On the count on three, we'll run." He said.
He suddenly looked at my feet and he said that he didn't realized that I'm wearing shoes with heels. He asked me if I'll be alright running with heels.
"I can run with these. It's not that high."
"Just hold my hand just to be safe."
"W-what?"
"I'm not thinking any other meaning aside from keeping you safe."
He chuckled and said that I'm the only one thinking some other meanings.
I got annoyed and reached out my hand.
"I'm not thinking other meanings!"
"Then let's go." He grabbed my hand and started to count.
On the count of three, we started running through the side walking hand in hand. My other hand is holding my bag that is protecting my head from the rain.
Charles, on the other hand, just used his other free hand to cover his head though it doesn't make any difference.
We successfully arrived at the open parking lot and entered in his car.
I was catching my breath but I noticed he doesn't. I realized that he has a good lung capacity, it's obvious that he works out because of that body of his.
"There's a dry pull out tissue box inside the compartment in front of you. You could use those." He said.
I opened the compartment and brought out the tissue box. I grabbed three pieces and used it to dry my face and hair. I don't have dry tissues on me, I only have wet wipes.
We're extremely wet. The rain is too hard so our clothes are definitely wet from to to bottom.
"I'm sorry I got your car wet." I said.
"It's inevitable. Okay then, we'll drive to your home now."
He turned on the engine and we're now hitting the road but the worst part is, we're stuck in a traffic jam.
I searched over the internet through my phone and searched the reason why there's a traffic jam going on.
It turns out to be there were two trucks collided and the contents of each trucks were scattered on the road. A truck carrying panels of glass were shattered on the road and the other truck carried cement that flipped and spilled over the road.
Now the road is blocked.
"Is there any road alternatives to go to my home?" I asked.
"I'm afraid this is the only way going to your home." He said.
"What a bad timing. The rain is still pouring hard and there's a road accident that caused traffic in the area. The traffic isn't moving at all. We'll get sick if we stick to our wet clothes for a long period of time." He added.
My phone rang and it was my mother was calling.
I heard my parents voices asking me where I am right now. I told them that we're stuck in the traffic and the rain is still pouring hard.
My mother was extremely worried and said that we should be careful because it is hard to drive with zero visibility due to the poor weather.
My father recommended that if I have a friend living nearby that I could spend the night there because the heavy rain and storm would definitely last until early morning and also it is getting late.
"I don't have friends living nearby, dad. Do I really need not force myself home?
Both of my parents are insisting that it's a bad idea to force myself to go home in this kind of weather.
Charles suddenly mentioned that he has sister that lives just nearby and could stay their until the rain stops.
I told what Charles has said and I relayed it to my parents and they agreed. They said that it's better to be safe than sorry so they insisted that I should accept Charles offer. They were alright with it because Charles's sibling is a female and it's not jus the two of us.
My parents ended the conversation a by giving Charles their gratitude for letting me stay in his sister's house. I ended the call and placed my phone inside my bag
"Hey, is it really alright? I'm worried that I'll be imposing your sister's house." I said.
"She's a nice sister, no question about that. She's living alone in her condinium and doesn't have a family of her own so we could definitely crash there."
Charles turned around the car and we're now headed to her sister's condominium.
It's pretty near and we arrived approximately 10 minutes from where the traffic was.
We're in the parking lot and got off from his car. He called his sister from his phone.
He told what happened to his sister and from what I understood from Charles's responses, he gained approval to let me stay.
"What?!"
I startled when I heard that from him.
"You're not here at your condo? Then were are you? At Dylan's house?"
This is bad.
He ended his call and looked at me. "My sister is not here but we could stay here for the night."
»»»»»End of Chapter 42«««««