Inside Elias’s car...
Elena stared out the window in a daze, her mind replaying Noah’s words.
She had told herself she wouldn’t let him affect her anymore. Yet, he sohow managed to hurt her all over again every ti he appeared in front of her.
A lone tear slipped down her cheek. She wiped it quickly, afraid Elias would notice.
But no matter how hard she tried to hide it, he noticed anyway.
"Elena, are you okay?" Elias glanced at her while driving.
Elena couldn’t face him. She refused to let him see how upset she was. When she turned to him, she forced a smile onto her face.
"I am fine."
But that smile faded the mont she saw the traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. "You are hurt."
Only then did Elias beco aware of the dull ache in his jaw and the stinging pain in his nose and lips.
Before he could say anything, she pulled out a handkerchief from her bag and reached out to wipe away the blood.
Elias stiffened. His foot slamd on the brakes. The car ca to an abrupt halt.
Elena’s whole body lurched forward and collided with his. Their eyes t instantly.
Elias’s heart stumbled in her chest.
Very few people genuinely cared about him. When he saw concern for him in Elena’s eyes, he couldn’t stop his emotions from spiraling out of control.
The sudden urge to kiss her almost beca unbearable. But he didn’t move an inch from his place. Only his fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
He didn’t want to push her. He would wait until she was ready.
Across from him, Elena tensed beneath his intense gaze.
"I..." She moved back. "Do you have the first aid kit here?"
"Hmm." He nodded toward the dashboard compartnt. "There."
Elena opened it and found a small white box.
After taking out the antiseptic cream, she squeezed a little onto her fingertip and gently applied it to the torn corner of his lips.
"Hiss..." He winced.
"I’m sorry." Elena imdiately withdrew her hand. "I-I..."
"It’s okay," he said softly, catching her hand. "This is nothing. I am fine."
Elena’s body went rigid. She suddenly beca hyperaware of everything – the warmth of his hand around her wrist, the clean scent of his cologne, the heat radiating from his body, and the way his breath brushed softly against her skin.
Strange Sparks flew through her nerves. She suddenly thought that every cell in her body had grown sensitive.
At that mont, she forgot those painful words Noah had said, the agonizing mory of betrayal, and everything else. All she rembered was the man a few inches away from her.
She wanted to move back, but she didn’t. She kept looking into his dark, deep eyes as if so invisible force had trapped her in her place.
At that mont, she truly noticed how handso he was.
The sharp bridge of his nose, his chiseled jawline, the perfectly sculpted contour of his face – everything looked so perfect as if the craftsman had crafted him carefully. Even the black strands of hair falling over his forehead seed unfairly attractive.
And those thin lips...
Her eyes lingered on them. Her throat suddenly felt dry. She swallowed.
A strange thought appeared in her mind at the ti. She couldn’t help wondering what his lips would taste like.
"If you keep staring at like this," he whispered, "I’ll think you have fallen for ."
At that, her trance broke.
She turned away so fast that her neck almost hurt. When she realized what she had just been thinking, embarrassnt flooded her entire body. Heat blood on her face, turning her cheeks bright pink.
"It’s... I..." She struggled to form a sentence.
Elias smiled, amusent dancing in his eyes.
"I was just checking where else you were hurt," she finally managed. When she looked back at him, she masked her embarrassnt beneath a curious look.
"By the way, you were not in the hall when the auction was going on. How do you know soone gave an expensive necklace?"
She rembered everything. She had not forgotten what he had said to Noah earlier.
Her eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion. "Were you there? If you were, why didn’t you co to ?"
Elias stilled for a mont. He had not told her about his real identity. And saying it right now might make her furious.
He was afraid she would misunderstand him and hate him. He decided he would tell her properly when the ti was right.
"I wasn’t there. But so friends attended the auction. They told everything that happened."
"Oh?" Elena raised an eyebrow, still unconvinced. "But why would the heir to the Rowan family, the owner of Novacrest Global, give the necklace?"
She stared deeply in his eyes, searching, assessing if there were any hidden secrets in them. But there was nothing. All she saw was warmth and affection.
"He was pleased with your work on the Zenith Core deal," Elias replied.
That part was true.
The mont he learned she had convinced Damien Knox to agree to a fifty-percent profit share from the AI project, he had decided she deserved sothing unforgettable.
"He wanted to reward you."
Elena’s expression was a mask of surprise. "What? He knew about it!"
Elias smiled even wider. "He is the boss. Of course, he knows everything."
Elena took out the velvet box from her bag and opened it. The necklace sparkled.
She ran her fingers over the green erald gemstones. "This is beautiful," she mumbled. "The rarest kind."
A proud look crossed his eyes. At that mont, every penny he had spent felt worth it.
"But it’s too expensive." She looked up at him. "We should return to him."
"What?" Elias’s smile vanished. "You don’t like it?"
All his pride and excitent disappeared right away.
"I do... But it’s way too expensive. I can’t accept it."
"This is a gift, Elena," Elias pressed. "Returning it would be rude."
Elena fell silent.
Elias was right. A gift wasn’t ant to be returned. If she insisted, she knew he wouldn’t stop her. But it might upset the boss, and that was not good for him.
Elena would never let him fall into trouble.
"Stop overthinking." He reached over and closed the box. "If you don’t like it, don’t wear it. But keep it."
Elena put the box back into her bag. "I’ll definitely wear it on special occasions."
Her smile returned. But then, curiosity crossed her eyes again. "Where were you the whole ti? I thought you’d be attending the auction. You missed the whole event."
There was a hint of disappointnt in her voice. But she was more curious to know what kept him occupied.
Elias didn’t reply right away. Instead, he reached into his coat pocket and took out a rectangular, red velvet box. He then placed it in her palm.
"What is it?" Elena asked, her curiosity deepening.
"See for yourself." He smirked, eyes sparkling.
Elena opened the box, and her breath caught. Shock flashed across her face before lting into overwhelming emotion. Tears instantly gathered in her eyes, though a smile spread across her lips.
It was the pendant her father had given her.
"You fixed it," she breathed.
"I did," Elias replied. "The designer called earlier. So I went to collect it."
Elena didn’t know how to thank him.
When Tessa had broken it, she had been devastated, thinking it was gone forever. But Elias had restored it perfectly.
There wasn’t even a trace of damage. It didn’t look like it had been broken.
Her heart swelled with gratitude. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Thank you so much," she whispered.
Elias went rigid for a second. Then he relaxed and hugged her back. A wide smile spread across his face.
’To make you smile, I’ll do anything,’ he vowed silently.
User Comments
0 comments from readers