The CEO's Secret✔️

iii: H O P E

August 2018

H O P E.

Katie gathered up her things and put on her coat before saying goodbye to Cheryl and heading downstairs to go home. She noticed a fuss at the front door with some of the security guards and kept her eye on them as she began to exit the building. She was surprised when she saw the two men talking to Colin who looked outraged.

"Look, we told you a couple weeks ago, you aren't welcome here-"

"What's going on? Colin, what are you doing?" she noticed how his face lit up instantly once he set eyes on her and felt terrible because of it. If she was going to stand her ground and not forgive him, she didn't deserve to so easily make him feel the way he did when he saw her.

"Trying to see you."

"Is everything okay here?" One of the men asked, about to step in because Katie was frozen in her spot, her indecisiveness glowing on her face. She took a minute to nod at him slowly.

"Yes, it's fine. You can leave him." She said before taking his arm and guiding him down the street before she stopped and turned to him.

"Colin..." her voice was a warning that he would never take full notice of, he was blinded by his love for her, by his hope of reconciliation.

"Katie I just wanted to see you."

"You have to stop showing up at my office, it's not fair on either of us. You need to get over it and go home."

"I haven't been in a couple of weeks but I just thought I'd try again."

"Well you need to stop trying."

"Why? You never stopped trying for us, so why can't I be the one to do that now?"

"Because there's nothing left for you to try for."

"Katie, I just want you to give me one more chance-"

"You had plenty of chances and you fucked all of them up. I can't even describe how happy I am for you that you've pulled yourself together and you're clean now Colin but that won't change a thing anymore. We aren't meant to be together, it took me a long time to understand that, and you need to now too."

"Please, just have coffee with me and then I won't ever turn up at your office again. I just need to know, I need to know what happened to you after you left. I want to know how everything's going, I want to make sure I didn't fuck up your life completely-"

"One coffee, as soon as I'm finished, that's it." She knew she was caving, but she couldn't help it. Ever since his first appearance at her office, Katie couldn't keep her mind off Colin. She wanted to know how he finally got the help he needed, she wanted to know he was okay after all these years.

"Great. Let's go then." His smile squashed all her doubt for a single moment as they stood looking at each other on the street. For that small second, Katie felt like she had been transported back to the first few months she met him, the first few months when that smile was new to her. It was contagious, and Katie used every piece of self-restraint she had left to keep a straight face. She felt sorry for him, for how her rejection was making him feel, for his desperation, and so, agreed to meeting up with him.

"Oh no, I can't go right now. I'm busy." That wasn't a lie, but Colin felt like it was. The smile fell straight from his face until she spoke again. "Give me your number and we can organise it another day when I'm free."

And just like that, Colin felt so uplifted again by the few words that came out of her mouth.

Hope. That was exactly what he felt. Hope and nothing but it.