Maisara's pov
Whatever I told Oliver is partly true. 'Planning to leave soon' includes a time range between right at this moment to a few hours later. I'm planning on following the first one. I don't see any necessity in staying here any longer after knowing the only person on this floor other than me is Oliver.
Locking the door of my office room, the first thing I do is prepare myself to leave. Shutting down the laptop, I put it in the bag followed by other things. It doesn't require more than two minutes. Lastly, grabbing the keys from the table and shoving them into my pockets, I hurry my way towards the door. Just before walking out of it, I pause to take a cautious look through the one-sided glass of the door.
This door reveals what's on the outside without revealing what's on the inside. Every glass door of this building does the same.
No sight of Oliver is seen in the hallway. I don't know where he went after I came here. He can be in his office or anywhere else. I just want to get out of here without bumping into him once more. I'll do the rest of the work at home.
I'm not really scared of him. Because I know if the time comes, I'll be able to defend myself. I have been defending myself against all odds for the past four years. It won't be difficult to do so now. But I'm not stupid enough to wait for that time to come. Prevention is always better than cure.
Slowly, I unlock the door and pop my head outside to check once again. Nope, the coast is all clear.
Stepping out of the office and locking the door behind me, I hurry my way towards the elevator. The click-clacking of my heels against the tiled floor sounds obnoxiously loud in the empty office. But I have nothing to do about it.
My phone has been vibrating with nonstop incoming notifications since I stepped back into my office. Allah knows who it is that suddenly decided it's the best time to message me continuously. I can check that later. My first priority now is to get out of here and get into my car.
I make my way to the elevator in no less than one minute and press the button. The time that the elevator takes to reach my floor seems impatiently long. When it finally comes, I jump in and start pressing the button to close the door repeatedly until the door closes and the elevator finally starts descending.
A sigh of relief leaves my mouth. Damn, I need to calm down and behave logically. I'm panicking so much and there is no practical logic in it. He's not gonna do any harm on office premises. Even the rumors don't say that he did so to anyone. I'm safe in the office and I will be safe on my way home.
I start feeling a little less on the edge. I notice that my phone has also calmed down. Whoever it is that was texting me nonstop has finally decided to give it a break.
A few moments later, I am finally on the ground floor. I swear this is probably the longest amount of time this elevator has taken to reach the ground floor.
Another few minutes and some awkward jogging with heels later, I'm finally beside my car trying to fumble the key out of my bag. That is the first time I notice my hands are shaking so badly that it's becoming hard to do anything using them.
I just have to stop panicking so much. I can do this. I have to do this.
After an eternity of fumbling around and mentally cursing myself, I finally manage to get the key out, unlock the door, and get inside the car. Then I go to start the engine and that's when my luck betrays me again.
The engine somehow finds this the right time to stop working. No matter how many times I try, it doesn't start.
Push, turn, pull. Push, turn, pull. Push, turn, pull.
Nothing. Even after trying five times, luck doesn't favor me. After the sixth time, I give up.
Throwing the key on the passenger seat, I lean my head against the steering wheel. With panic and desperation running through my veins, I feel the back of my eyes sting. There is no logical reason to feel that way. But my panic is robbing my logical thoughts and actions.
I need to fucking stop panicking. I need to calm the fuck down. But that's the only thing I'm totally unable to do right now.
A knock on the window makes me jerk up. I glance up to see the generous person who has decided to check up on me. I feel the exact moment my heart drops to my stomach and my blood runs cold as soon as I see who it is. It is the exact same person from whom I was trying to run away.
Apparently, my brain has stopped working too as it requires a full minute to understand that he's gesturing me to lower the window so that he can talk. I debate not doing so. But I'm kinda stuck here so there's no use of not doing that.
Slowly I roll down the window and his voice reaches my ear. "You leaving already?"
My eyes travel past him to the man standing like a statue beside a black SUV, Oliver's assistant, whose name I still haven't remembered. I don't know if it's a good thing that his assistant is here but at least we are not all alone.
"You are as well," I reply, gulping down the urge to say, "You also find it the right time to leave." I can feel my hands shaking again and clench them into fists over my lap so that he doesn't notice it. If he tries to do anything here, I have no idea what I will do. But let's just not think ahead now.
"Yeah." He briefly glances inside my car before looking back at me. "Any problem?"
I force a smile. "Nope. All good."
He glances towards the dashboard, specifically towards the steering wheel and the screen beside it. "You sure? I can give you a ride if you-"
"No, I'm fine." I shift in my seat. "Everything's fine." How do I get out of here?
He leans forward a little, a look of determination in his eyes. I refuse the urge to visibly move backward. My nails dig harder into my palms.
As I expected, he insists, "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you but I feel like something is wrong. You don't have to hesitate. I can drop you off if you-"
A voice cuts him off before he gets to finish that sentence. "She said NO."
A voice so familiar that I can recognize it even if I lose my mind. A voice so soothing that I can fall asleep even when he's yelling. A voice so close to my heart that I will undoubtedly carry it to my grave.
My heart does a random stupid squeezing thing and my body slumps back on the seat in a sudden newfound relaxation. I let out a shaky breath and blink back the tears that are suddenly threatening to leave my eyes. Biting my lips to stop myself from sobbing out loud, I look in the same direction as the one Oliver is staring at.
Felix walks into our viewpoint like a main character walking into the frame of a stage performance, at a deliberately slow pace with a relaxed posture that involves his hands shoved into his pockets. His formal attire makes him look ten years older and ten times more serious than he normally is. The new addition to him that manages to take my breath away even in this situation is his golden brown hair tied back into a man bun.
Well, he's actually looking badass right now.
"Pardon?" Oliver seems dumbfounded by either Felix's dramatic entry or his words. He blinks a few times as if trying to make sense of the situation.
Felix's footsteps come to a halt just one step away from Oliver and at least two steps away from me. His eyes are fixed solely on Oliver. And the looks in them-Damn, I never thought I would live up to the day to witness Felix Reyes with a deadly look in his eyes. His jaw twitches as he replies in a hushed tone. "That woman said no to your 'offer'."
The way he says 'offer' sounds so much more nasty than it actually is. I cringe inwardly and look down at my forearms just in time to catch a glimpse of the hair rising there. Subconsciously, I rub my palms over my forearms.
"And who are you?" Oliver's response pulls my attention back to them. If Oliver is glaring at Felix, I can't see it from here.
"That's none of your business." Felix raises his eyebrows, his tone is smooth like a gentle breeze as he continues, "But what's actually your business is that she said no and you don't keep insisting on anything when a woman says 'no' to you."
Felix never once raised his voice the whole time he said that. But his anger in those words is so audible that even I flinch.
"I'm well aware of what she said," Oliver counters back. "But it seemed she was stuck in a difficult situation and needed help."
"She wasn't." Oliver probably would have said something more but Felix's deadpan tone shuts him off. Felix leans in a little, a slow smirk painting his lips, his hands still tucked into his pockets. "She was waiting for me."
My heart does that squeezing thing again as I swallow hard. How long has Felix been here, noticing what's going on or noticing that I'm in danger?
"Is that so?" Of course, Oliver doesn't seem convinced. He glances in my direction. "You know him?"
My eyes automatically go to Felix, only to find him staring back at me. And I swear time has paused the moment our eyes meet.
Where is that badass-looking guy who looks like he is gonna snap someone's neck at any moment, possibly Oliver's in this case? Where is that dead look in those deep-set eyes? Where did he go?
I only see the familiar gentle and cheerful Felix, who gets into trouble way more than he can handle, who needs someone to constantly protect him, who sees the world through rose-tinted glasses. His light-colored eyes are staring back at me with hope and admiration, like they always do, even in this situation. And I swear I even see his lips turn upwards a little.
"Yes." I force my eyes to look away from the radiating positive energy of Felix and meet the dark energy of Oliver. "He's right. I was waiting for him."
The intensity of Felix's eyes is burning me, yet I refuse to look in his way. If I look in his eyes now, I'll break. And that's not something I can afford now. Not in front of Oliver, at least.
Whatever Oliver is feeling right now, he is pretty damn good at hiding it. He looks from me to Felix and takes time to form his response. Finally, when he finds it, he flashes his notoriously kind smile with his honey-dripping words, "If you say so, Maisara, I have no other choice but to believe it. I'm leaving you to him. If you need help, you can give me a call."
The gesture he shows in the last sentence seems oddly personal. Immediately, I know that he did this to trigger Felix. He then waves at me and takes off in the direction where his assistant is waiting. My eyes go back to my savior only to find that he actually got triggered by Oliver. He is shooting daggers with his eyes in Oliver's direction. It almost seems like he is barely restraining himself from hunting Oliver down and breaking his neck.
It isn't until Oliver's assistant climbs into the car behind him and they drive out of the parking lot Felix finally fixes his gaze back on me. But this time, that delightfulness and the easiness are no longer shining there in his eyes. His lips are pressed together into a thin line. Just looking at the way he's clenching his jaw hurts.
He doesn't say anything to me, nothing at all as he pulls his right hand out of his pocket and pulls open the door of my car. His eyes never leave mine as he holds out his hand for me to take when the car door swings away and makes enough room for me to get out of it. And when I glance at his hand, I finally understand why he was keeping them in his pockets this whole time.
His hand is shaking just as violently as mine.
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