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Nope. I didn’t think so.
Before I could get to safety, which was anywhere but the office at that moment, people parted and my dad’s shiny shoes came into view right in front of me. There was no escape whatsoever.
My eyes slowly travelled up.
‘My office. Now, Charlie.’
I got up on my own – my face flushed, heart racing, stupid balloons bumping into each other – and moved my hands over my skirt to clean it, as if it would help out my situation. ‘Dad, I just need to change befo—’
‘Now!’ he snapped, and I winced. Turning his back to me, he walked away.
Closing my eyes, I let out a long breath. I knew everyone was staring at me and talking about me, but I was too far gone to care. I was dreading going to his office, but I was dreading coming face to face with him even more, so I avoided glancing back to where he had been standing with my dad. I dusted my knees and rubbed on my palms to ease the sting of the carpeted floor. Next thing I knew, Gayle was standing next to me and cutting me free from the balloons.
‘I’ll take these to the kitchen for you,’ she said quietly as I avoided her soft gaze.
‘Thanks,’ I muttered.
She gave me a small smile and attempted to walk away, but I grabbed her arm.
‘Where is he?’ I whispered a little desperately. Afraid to look behind me.
She frowned. ‘Who? Your dad? He is talking to…’
‘No. The guy. The new guy.’
‘Your dad is talking to “the new guy”, as you put it and, oh wait…’
Please, oh god, please don’t let them come here.
Leaning to my right, she looked over my shoulder. ‘Your dad is showing him his new office. Didn’t you listen to anything your dad was saying in the meeting?’
I listened to him talk most of the day. Who would blame me if I decided to tune him out every now and then. ‘Let’s assume I didn’t. Fill me in, please.’
Her gaze moved from mine to someone behind me and her frown deepened. ‘You’re in for a surprise then. You’re sure that’s the guy you told us about from years ago?’
‘Warm brown eyes, slightly curly hair where the ends falls to his forehead just a little. It’s messy and not perfect but somehow is really perfect to the point that it makes your hands itch to touch it. And the smile. Also the smile is still the same. A few days’ worth of stubble is pretty much the same as well. Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s him. Why am I in for a surprise?’
‘Huh,’ she grunted.
‘What?’ I asked perplexed.
‘Nothing.’ She shook her head and met my eyes, a smile curving her lips. ‘I like him. For you, I mean.’
‘For me?’ I sputtered, mortified. ‘He is not… I’m not still into… I only kept talking about him because he was just an example of what I would want in a guy, I don’t even remember that much about…’
‘Charlie!’ my dad shouted, and I jumped a little.
‘Go,’ Gayle urged, pushing me towards my dad’s office. ‘Your guy just closed his door, you’re safe.’
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I turned around, but paused. ‘He isn’t my guy. Don’t call him that,’ I announced very quietly to Gayle, then headed straight to my dad. When I was passing by William’s office, I made sure to quicken my steps and keep my head down. By the time I reached my dad’s door, I was already feeling a little lightheaded and a lot confused.
‘Close the door,’ he barked the second I stepped in.
Accepting my fate, I sat down on one of the comfy chairs in front of him, my back to the entire office.
‘Care to explain yourself?’ he started.
Eager to do exactly that, I leaned forward in my seat. When his eyes dropped to my shirt and hardened before he met my gaze again, I swallowed. I had forgotten about my see-through shirt. ‘It’s raining, Dad,’ I explained quietly. Hoping he wouldn’t notice, I pinched the shirt’s material between my fingers and pulled it away from my skin.
He raised one of his eyebrows, his face completely stoic. ‘You’ve never heard of an umbrella?’
‘I was trying to… the cake box, I was trying to save the cake,’ I finished quickly, knowing that he didn’t care one bit.
His stare would’ve made someone else crumble in front of him, but I was quite used to that disappointed look in his eyes.
After one last look at the state I was in, he shook his head as if I were a complete lost cause he didn’t know what to do with and turned his focus to his laptop. He didn’t say it out loud, but I could still hear the words he had already voiced more than a few times on different occasions.
