The Wedding Plan

Chapter 36

Can you come to my office? Said the text from Sebastian that Eleanor had just received. She jumped in her chair as she read it. What could've possibly had happened for him to be asking for her in the middle of the workday? She had not yet recovered from the trauma caused by her last visit to his office. She could not handle more surprises like that, specially not in the same week. One time had already been enough.

Dreading what he had to say to her, she got up and walked down the hallway to where Sebastian's office was. As soon as she approached the door, he was waiting for her on the other side. When he heard her steps, he immediately opened the door and grabbed her by the waist, dragging her inside, almost lifting her from the floor.

'Is everything okay?' she asked, trying to compose herself after Sebastian hauled her so quickly into his embrace.

She barely had any time to speak. As soon as they were inside the office; away from everyone's eyes; he wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed her. Eleanor could not help but to kiss him back. At first, she responded with shyness, but eventually she let herself go and matched his intensity and desire. Despite knowing that this was not the most appropriate place for the situation.

'We are at work.'

Even though Eleanor grumbled, she had a stupid smile on her flustered face.

'I know' — he placed a soft and tender kiss on her lips — 'but no one is here, so we can—'

'Still, we should keep things separate when we are here. We have responsibilities. Specially you.'

'I know. You right. I just want to ask you something.'

'Why didn't you just text me the question?'

'Fine,' he sighed. 'I wanted to see you and to ask you something. Is that okay?'

Nodding, she looked down, covering her blushed complexion with her hair; with Sebastian's arms still around her.

'Are you free for dinner?'

'I am. But what about you? Haven't you been busy lately?'

'I'm always busy.'

'You know what I mean. You've been busier than usual.'

Eleanor wanted to have dinner with Sebastian, but it was a busy time at Crain. Especially with him leaving for Lina's wedding. A lot of things had to be taken care of before he could leave, and she could see how exhausted he was.

'I think I can leave a little earlier today. Not at the same time as you, but I'll pick you up at home as soon as I'm done. What do you think?'

'Sounds perfect. Then I have time to change before dinner.'

'You already look perfect.'

Eleanor blushed.

'I need to go back to go back to my desk. I still have work to do. Don't distract me again,' she said with a timid smile. 'Otherwise, we might both end up staying here after everyone is gone. Again.'

'That doesn't sound too bad,' he said with a smirk, and Eleanor felt the blood rising to her cheeks.

She left the office, but not without Sebastian stealing one more kiss first.

***

Eleanor was at home getting ready when her phone buzzed. It was Sebastian.

'Hi,' she said, surprised. 'Are you here already? It's still early. I'm not ready yet.'

'No. I think that I'll have to cancel tonight. I'm sorry.'

'It's fine.' Eleanor could not help but to feel disappointed, and she could hear it too in Sebastian's tone of voice. 'Is everything okay? Did something happen?'

'Nothing serious. Just some bureaucratic stuff that needs to be solved today if we want to meet our deadlines. It isn't anything difficult, but it is annoying. We need to go over some clauses on the contracts with lawyers.'

He sighed.

'Don't worry about dinner. Just focus on finishing that and we will talk later.'

'Thank you. I'll call you as soon as I'm done with this, okay?'

'I'll be waiting.'

Eleanor looked at her reflection in the mirror. She already had a dress and makeup on. She was too lazy to change back, so she went to the kitchen dressed like that, put on an apron and cooked dinner for herself.

After eating, Eleanor sat on the couch half a sleep, she kept on looking at her phone screen hoping the Sebastian would call her once he was finished with work. But he didn't, and time was passing.

Eleanor was napping on the couch when a knock on the door woke her up. She opened door and saw Sebastian standing there. At first, she wasn't even sure that it was him; she thought that she was still in the middle of her nap and that it was just a dream.

Sebastian smiled as soon as he saw her. He wanted to see her so badly; he felt guilty about canceling on such short notice, and he thought that a simple phone call would not be enough. He needed to see her, to apologize in person, and to spend time with her.

'Hi,' she said, surprised as she come to her senses and was now fully awake. 'What are you doing here?'

'I,' — Sebastian was at a loss for words — 'I'm sorry.'