Her Suited Savior

Chapter 22

Calla Stewart's POV

Before I knew it, Mr. King was entering the bedroom with purpose. I backed out of his way and stood awkwardly at the end of the bed. Meanwhile, he made himself welcome and took a seat on it. He looked around the room, taking in my personal belongings scattered about. I continued observing him, and to my embarrassment, he must have felt it. He glanced at me and gave a few gentle pats to the spot next to him, "Come sit." 

Before I could overthink it, I scurried over and perched myself next to him.

"Hi," I blurted, not daring to look directly at him.

He gave a gentle smile, "Hi again. Sorry for intruding on you."

I blushed, of course. Everything I did around him felt so stupid. 

Before I could sputter anything he was easing out more words, "That's actually what I wanted to come in here for... To apologize. I should have asked you, but I ended up crashing on your couch last night. I wanted to make sure you were okay and I didn't want to pile on," he said sincerely, "I hope I didn't surprise you too much."

He wanted to make sure I was okay? Okay. 

It seemed like last night's conversation was really sticking with him. I tried to hide the surprise I was feeling, "Oh- umm, it's no problem... I'm uh, s-sorry if you had to hear me singing," I tried to joke.

I had no idea what to say to him, so I stupidly tried to deflect what I couldn't begin to understand by bringing up another embarrassing encounter. How helpful of me.

He looked at me and gave a lopsided smile, "No, it was fine... You have a nice voice," he complimented.

Mr. King's eyes had a sparkle in them as he spoke to me, and I found my cheeks burning so hard it was almost all I could feel. Even the tips of my ears were hot. He seemed filled with extra confidence and sensitivity today. Meanwhile, I had nervous energy thrumming through my body and mind. Nobody had heard me sing since I was a careless child, let alone compliment me on it. I was a private person and didn't like letting loose around others; it always felt like I had to pretend or something bad would happen.

His reaction was more comforting than I expected. Mr. King was probably just being nice anyway - that's what people did. No need to dwell, Calla. He's just being polite. Besides, I was the one dumb enough to bring it up. I should have asked him how he slept or something.

"Um, thanks," I replied.

I looked down at my lap to hide myself. I felt exposed. Hopefully, we would never talk about this again. I twiddled with my fingers while it seemed Mr. King's gaze never left me. It was about time for this conversation to be over.

Glancing up at him, I almost thought I saw a blush on his cheeks too, but I brushed it off. My boss rubbed a hand over his face; he seemed to reset and prepare to say something else, "Anyway, sorry about earlier, I just needed to check in with you. I feel like all you ever hear from me is apologies, but I also wanted to say sorry for overwhelming you last night. I should have realized, and I know I ended up making things worse."

He shook his head to himself while I stared at him with wide eyes. "N-no worries, Mr. King... Everything kind of just felt like a lot last night. I-I could have said something to you too."

He only nodded slightly at my response. Mr. King's attitude had changed since we met. A part of me still wondered if this would all somehow end up being a complete manipulation. I was anticipating his behaviour to switch up at any given time, but I also couldn't help but notice his effort. He wouldn't do that with ill intentions, right?