One (h.s.)

november 2016

Charlotte was really getting tired of Evan. Time and time again she had told him the one and only simple rule that he had to follow all the time: to be on time.

And it was currently quarter past nine, which meant he was fifteen minutes too late.

"Didn't I tell you to be on time this week?" Charlotte asked him, eyes still on the article that Sasha had written for this season's magazine. Her pen clicking as she edit some bits on it.

"Sorry, Miss Brown. The alarm didn't go off and-"

"Please let this be the last time," she interrupted. "It's a busy week and you being late isn't helping anything." She finally lifted her head and looked at his grey eyes.

"I'm really sorry, again."

"It's a really big advantage that you're one of our best stylists. Otherwise you would've been out months ago."

He gulped.

"Now go do your business. I expect the chosen outfits for the winter issue to be on my desk before I leave today. Understood?"

"Yes, Miss." And with that, he left her office.

"Harsh," he said beside her as soon as the door closed.

She groaned loudly and let her head fall on top of the papers on her desk. "It's probably the twentieth time he's been late and he only began working here a month ago."

"Still. That was harsh. You hardly even looked at the poor guy," he laughed.

"Bloody hell. Why are you even here again? Don't you have work to do? Cause I do. We're meant to be releasing the winter issue in two weeks. Two bloody weeks! And Evan's late 99.9 per cent of the time, Sasha really cannot get her pictures in the right place, Gordon is running around the office with his dog-"

"Dog?"

"His girlfriend left him again. And with a dog this time. He said he couldn't leave it at his flat because he would feel too lonely, so I let him bring it to work."

"Ah, well that bit's your fault isn't it?"

She glared at him.

He stood up from the leather couch in her office and walked towards her. When he was behind her chair, he placed his hands on her shoulders and began massaging them, while she threw her head back at the feeling.

"Relax, Charlotte. You've got plenty of time. You're the best woman to do this whole thing, even if you only have two weeks to complete the issue."

"That feels really good," she mumbled, closing her eyes.

He chuckled behind her. "I know."

"So," she moaned, "Why aren't you at work today?"

"You forgot I have monday's free?"

"Oh," she exhaled, "Yeah, sorry. Too much in my head."

"I've noticed."

He carried on massaging her shoulders for a short while, stopping when he realised she really did not have much time to complete her tasks for today.

"I'm gonna just sit here and observe you while you work. It's my favourite hobby," he joked, strolling back to the black couch and falling on top of it, one arm on the top and the other on the arm rest while his body was turned towards her.

"Thank you," she glanced at him before retrieving her pen again and making more notes. "Why don't you go back home though?"

"I want to see something," he told her.

"See what?" she asked, going over Sasha's article once more to check everything was perfect and then moving to the next article on the pile. But it wasn't an article. Not even pictures from a photo shoot. There were only four words on that piece of paper, repeated over and over and over. "Harry? What's- What's this-" When she glanced back up towards him, he was already standing beside her.

And then he knelt down on one knee on the floor beside her spinning chair.

"We've been going out for nearly two years. Did you really think I was going to wait any longer to do this?" he grinned at her, hand reaching into the pocket of his shirt to pull a small burgundy velvet box. "Charlotte Brown, will you marry me?"

She didn't really have much words in her mind. But one specifically was going through round and round.

"N- Yes. Of course I would!" she jumped on top of him and kissed his lips.

"I thought you were gonna say no then," he mumbled into the kiss. His arms wrapped tight around her waist, one hand holding onto the box.

"I wanted to see your horrified expression," she mumbled too, pulling away right after so their lips were only inches apart. "Worth it. It was so funny."

He pouted and now their mouths were literally millimetres apart. "That wasn't really nice."

"I said yes didn't I?" she smiled, pecking his lips once.

"Oh yes you did. And I couldn't be any happier," he grinned, pulling away and carrying her so she sat on the edge of her desk. Her legs open so he could stand in between them. "Do you want to see it then?"

"Yes, pleeeeeease," she begged with a high pitched voice while her arms wrapped around his neck.

In between their bodies, he opened the small box and showed her the ring.

"Expensive?" she asked looking at it in awe.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But worth it."

She looked into his eyes again that were so bright with happiness. Her eyes were certainly looking the same. "I love you," she whispered, eyes flicking between his and his lips.

"I love you," he whispered back and kissed her lips again for a brief time. He pulled out the ring from its place and held out his palm, asking for her hand. She placed her hand in his so he could slide in the ring.

When he twisted it a bit so it was in the perfect place, she held it up to admire it some more. "It's so pretty," she breathed out.

"Pretty ring for a pretty fiancée," he told her, arms wrapping around her waist tightly.

And then, Charlotte turned her head a little so she was back to kissing Harry, her soon-to-be husband.