I updated earlier today, make sure you read chapter 22 before reading this!
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Luckily Liam leaves to get back into working on finding who is stealing our money. I am left alone with Niall once again who is still looking down into his paper cup that no longer has any coffee.
I observe him with intensity waiting for him to realize I am staring at him.
"Can you stop staring at me like a creep?" He asks with his eyes still fixed on the cup on his hands.
"I am just trying to figure out what's wrong with you." I say touching my chin.
"There is nothing going on with me." He says looking into my eyes.
"C'mon Niall I know you for way too many years to know when you are lying." I say.
"I am not lying. Everything is peachy." He says sounding irritated.
"That just makes it more obvious that something is wrong." I say.
"It's nothing. I am just tired I guess." He says rubbing his closet eyes.
"Oh so you are telling me that nothing is wrong between Joanna and you?" I ask with a raised brow.
His head snack up as soon as he hears her name. His face yet again confirms that something is wrong. He tries to cover it up by looking somewhere else.
"Nothing is wrong between Joanna and I. I don't know where you got that from." Niall says.
"I don't know maybe because you always talk at least 'thank you' or 'hi' and today you didn't even look at each other?" I asked.
"I-I" He started but he didn't finished because he sighed loudly. "It's nothing you have to worry about."
"It is since you are one of my best friends and she is my secretary." I say.
"No, Harry there are things I can't talk about and that's one of them." He says.
"Niall you can tell me anything. I am not going to get mad. Something happened while I was away, just tell me what it was?" I ask. "I am asking this as Harry your best friend not Harry Styles the CEO."
"I...yeah it's something that happened while you were in Paris." He finally confirms.
He reminds in silence and I wonder if he is going to elaborate or not. Luckily he continues.
"You don't know what is like to see you all so happy. Louis with Eleanor and Violet and you. Then there is me, the lonely lad without a girl that lasts him more than a week." He sighs.
"Wait! What does this have to do with Joanna?" I ask confused.
"Nothing. She is another story." He says but I detect that it has some kind of connection.
"Fuck! You like Joanna?" I ask as soon as I realize.
"For god's sake! I have liked her for the first moment I saw her on that table outside your office." He says. "I still remember how beautiful I thought she was. She was just sat there typing away on her computer with her hair on a bun on top of her head and a pair of glasses covering her big blue eyes and I just felt something I have never felt before."
"Niall, Joanna has been working here for 3 years. Why didn't you say something to me back then?" I asked.
"First, because I thought you will make fun of me. Second, because I thought that you may be having an affair with her since you know that's very porn like to have a boss/secretary affair. Third, because you all were getting girlfriends and I was afraid to face my feelings for her. She just intimidates me." He explains.
"Your second excuse is awful. Joanna and I never ever will have had an affair. I may have been a ladies man but I will never be unprofessional." I say. "But yes, you are right on the first excuse, I would most likely have made fun of you back in the days."
"Thanks for admitting it." He says. "And I knew there was nothing going on but my brain just kept that door open for a while."
"Never even cross my mind. I mean, Joanna is a gorgeous woman but I never saw her like that. She is more like a little sister to me I don't know." I say.
"I am glad to hear that." He says with relief.
"But now let's get serious. How come you are afraid of making a move?" I ask.
"Oh that...I messed up real bad. When you were in Paris, I took care of your work so I spend large amounts of time with Joanna. We got on well as always. We laughed and we grew closer. I took her out for lunch on lunch time, always making sure it was friendly even though I thought they were dates. Everything was fine, I even thought I may have a chance but I blew it." He explains.
"What did you do?" I ask with a raised brow.
"We stayed late at night working on one of the projects and we took a little break. The break turned into hours talking about lots of personal stuff that we didn't know about each other." He smiles at the memory. "It felt great and right so I thought it will be now or never and I kissed her."
"What?" I ask surprised.
He plays with his hands nervously before nodding. "Yeah. I kissed her and let's say I didn't get the answer I wanted."
"She didn't kiss back?" I ask.
"Oh god! Don't fire her for this." He warms me.
"I will not I promise." I say.
"She did kiss me back and things got a bit touchy. It was above the clothing so nothing happened I swear." He says. "But all of a sudden she stopped kissing me and going all emotional wreck at how she was not being professional and how she should have never done that."
"Oh so she is afraid I will find out, get mad and fire her?" I ask.
"Yes. She says that it will not be professional of her to have something more than a friendship with the COO. So basically she does not want anything to do with me." He says with a sigh.
I sigh to myself as well. It's obvious that Joanna likes him back by the way she was acting today as well as the fact that she kissed him back. I just needed to let her know that's it's okay if she likes him to go for it. It will not be unprofessional. Yes, Niall is above her but she is working for me not him.
I needed to get them together because I can see how much Niall likes her and I have never seen him this way before. Maybe Joanna is Niall's Violet. Talking of Violet, I know who can help me get this two together.
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A/N: so Niall is in love with Joanna, who guessed that? I know someone did back when I said Niall will have a love interest in the sequel.
It's funny because when I started working on MrCEO, I always imagined Joanna as a middle aged woman but I never say anything about her apparence. So when the book grew and I decided to make a sequel I wanted someone for Niall and I thought about her. So in my mind she turned to someone on her 20s that looks like Alycia Debnam Carey (gif on top!). You may know her for playing Lexa on The 100 (great series btw). I just think she fits my idea of Joanna and she will look cute with him lol
Also I forgot to mention on my previous update that the lovely @Fatemahhoran is going to edit MrCEO for me. She will be sending me the chapter edited and I will publish them. I am just letting you know because when I start updating them you may get notifications from it but it's not actual updates it's just going to be changes to correct grammar errors and such.
PS: how great were 1D on the X Factor? Loved the interview for the Xtra Factor with two of my faves 1D and Rochelle Humes. She is so hot, goals. Anyway, I laughed so much when the were playing the 'best quotes ever' games and Niall got all embarassed about saying that his favorite word for boobs was chicken filled. God I still remember that Sugarscape interview (missing the fetus times)! Oh gosh and the advert afterwards!! They are the best! I love them so much