After Effects

Chapter 43 • After Effects

I turned in the couch, moving my legs from off the ground and onto the vacant space beside me.

He was watching me, I could tell, but I never turned to let him know that I knew. Instead, I looked at the clock again to check the time and my heart fell at the sight of the numbers.

10:06pm.

That's it. It was too late. I had missed it... and all because of him!

And your stubbornness...

And both of our stubbornness, I corrected my subconscious.

I dropped the remaining papers I was working on onto the coffee table and stood from the chair.

"I need something to drink," I announced, not even facing the bastard before trudging out. I couldn't even look at him right then.

I quickly made my way to the break room, noticing how empty of people the floor was. We were probably the only people still at the office apart from the cleaners, I had thought, but apparently I was wrong as just as I was passing the elevator, the doors opened and I was surprised to find whoever lurching from the inside, hugging me tightly.

"Hey who the heck— Harper? What are you doing her?" I asked lowly, sending a small glance back to the door of Riddian's office to see that it was still closed. I let out a breath of relief. I didn't want Harper getting fired for whatever reason she decided it was okay to show up here.

"What am I doing here? What are you still doing here? We've been waiting for you for hours! And we wanted to stay longer but then it started getting really late and so now only Jake and your dad are still at your house-" Harper suddenly broke off and sighed.

I gave a small smile.

"I'm sorry but... he held me back for more work because I refused to tell him what was going on this evening. I don't know, I think he may have worse of a stubborn issue than I had initially thought," I grumbled crossing my arms, ignoring the fact that I also contributed with my own stubbornness. At least I had every right to NOT tell him about my personal life... even though he told me a lot about his...

I slapped a hand to my forehead at my stupidity. I was only just realising what I had been doing all week. After Riddian told me all about his personal life, I withheld something that wasn't even an inch as important as his stories! I was only now seeing that the guy was only just pretending for the sake of his big, old pride and ego. He actually trusted me, and I was behaving like such a bitch.

He trusted me enough to tell me about himself, and all I didn't want to tell him was that-

"Happy birthday!" Harper whisper-squealed grabbing my attention.

....yeah, that.

"Ah thanks," I smiled and then looked down to see the small cupcake with two candles on top. She smiled sheepishly.

"The bigger one is at your house and I just got these on my way over here to make sure you're really alright in person. I didn't exactly get the chance to grab a match."

I laughed.

"After that many phone calls, I thought you'd be convinced that I was fine for a lifetime," I joked. "And are you kidding me? This is one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you Harper," I grinned taking the cupcake and then enveloping her in a death hug.

"You're welcome, but don't feel too bad. We were going to have your party but you didn't exactly show up for it so there wasn't much we could do," she scratched her head. "Oh and Julian's in the car outside but he couldn't leave because we saw this suspicious man walking around in the parking lot."