Chapter 33

[RECAP: IMOGEN HAS AGREED TO GIVE HAMES A CHANCE AND THEY WENT ON A ROMANTIC DINNER WHERE HE CONFESSED THE CRAZY THINGS HE HAS DONE FOR HER]

***

"We'll burst the door open then yell 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY'." Lila whispered.

"Silly, it's not Mia's Birthday." I whisper-yelled with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, again. I'm just too excited, so it's making me confused."

I glanced at the small cake in her hands then back at her face. "Be sensible."

She rolled her eyes. " Whatever. Don't forget; Mom, not Mia."

"Yeah, right."

"Be sensible." She added.

I turned the doorknob and pushed the door inwards, walking in first with Lila following behind me.

"Happy Recovery!" I said at the same time Lila said—

—"Happy Birthday!"

Mia, who was seated on the bed, chuckled.

"Lila," I glared at her.

"Sorry, sorry, whatever." She walked past me and to Mia on the bed, arching her back to kiss Mia's cheek.

Mia giggled. "Thank you."

I also advanced to her and kissed her cheek, which made her giggle again. "I'm glad the surgery is finally over."

"I am too, thank you so much."

"We brought cake," Lila extended the cake, grinning.

"Thank you too, but I can't eat cake right now."

"Yeah… that's sad." She dropped the cake on the table beside her bed. "Anyway," she sat beside her, "we hope you'll enjoy this mini-party."

"Mini-party, I definitely will. I'm also glad you were able to save for my surgery." She lifted her hand to hold Lila's face.

"It's all thanks to Imogen." She winked at me.

"Me? I didn't pay up to half of the surgery."

"Duh, but you completed the money. Ma, she added Twenty thousand dollars to the amount, to complete it."

"Whoa, really?" Mia grinned proudly.

"Yeah."

"Thank you, dear." She extended her arms to me and I stepped in to give her a hug.

"What are daughters for?" I chuckled, pulling apart from the hug and reached for a random chair to sit on.

"Mom, you won't believe who Imogen's dating now." Lila slieked.

"Lila, I'm not dating him." I glowered at her.

"Who's he? Who's he?" She asked, tugging at Lila's shirt.

"Hames Hendrix, CEO of HamIX International." She informed her.

"Hames Hendrix? I know him, he's such a hot gentleman." She wiggled her eyebrows at him. "My daughter's dating a Millionaire. Is the relationship genuine?"

"Yes, it is." Lila replied on my behalf.

"Does he love her?"

"Definitely, yes! He had secretly been in love with her for two years, that's why he asked Kade to transfer her to him, to work as his secretary."

"You no longer work for Kade?" She wore a sad expression.

"I don't anymore. I was transferred to Hames."

"That's sad."

"Hames pays me more." I shrugged.

"Really? Is he as good as Kade?"

"Nope,"

"It's still sad. I always wished you were going to marry Kade but I should be glad it's Hames now, right?"

"Jeez, Mom! We're not getting married, I'm only giving him a chance, and Kade has a crazy girlfriend."

"She wasn't ready to give Hames a chance, till I made her do so."

"Not giving him a chance? A Man who has loved you for almost two years? That's bad. Giving him a chance doesn't mean getting married to him. You'll try him out, if he isn't going enough, you'll leave him."

"She says he's too cold, and they might end up like you and Dad."

Mia's face went blank. She gazed at me, blinking at short intervals. "My story? So what? Not all men are the same, not every story ends up the same way, but wow, this story sounds interesting. I definitely have a lot to know about. Please tell me everything in detail."

"You definitely do, and I'm ready to fill you with every detail I know." Lila cleared her throat. "So…"

Lila started my story like it was hers. I knew this was going to take longer than forever so like I had been since last night, I was going to think of Hames' gentle side and sweetness, his gentle touch that affected my brain, his kiss that could make me go crazy, the fact that he loved me so much...

Though I didn't want to, he had been on my mind since last night, and I was trying my best to get him out of my head for even a second but it wasn't possible.

***

"Gosh, I'm late again. Couldn't you have woken me up earlier? What was the point of sleeping over at your house if you won't wake me up?" I complained.

"I'm on a one-week leave so I'll sleep till whenever I want to wake up and not bother about a weirdo like you being late to work. Plus, your boss shouldn't complain anymore, he loves you."

"He claims to have loved me for almost two years but has been anything but nice to me, you need to know how he barks at me for being late, and that would happen again, all because of you."

"It's not my fault your dumb alarm didn't wake you up. Get out."

"In a way, it is." I scoffed, opened the car door, got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"You're outta your mind, bye." She zoomed off.

"Silly!" I yelled.

I inhaled and exhaled four times before turning around to walk into the company building.

Okay, he had been nice to me and had promised to do anything to have me so he was definitely not going to yell at me this time, hopefully.

I walked to the counter and was once again greeted by Sarah's annoying deep voice. "You're late again? You still haven't learned how to work with Mr. Hendrix without getting into the trouble."

"Shut up, Sarah." I huffed, picked the pen and wrote my name in the attendance book.

She laughed. "You can't shut me up from saying the truth. Anyway, Good morning and welcome back from Australia. I also heard about the news of you and the boss, is it true?"

"No."

"It sounds like a lie, else why would you always arrive late to work and not be dead yet? Anyway, I'll catch up with you at lunch?"

"Maybe, if I'm not dead from too much work already." I said and she burst into laughter.

Still in a hurry, I left her sight and used the elevator to transport me to the 68th floor.

After the doors of the elevator reopened, I ran out of it and to mine and Hames' office. I took my card from my bag and used it to open the door, getting into it.

As expected, Hames was already in his seat, with a mug of what I had to assume was coffee sitting beside his laptop.

I shut the door and wore a smile. "Good morning, Hames." I greeted, hoping he was going to get blown away by my smile.

He raised his head from his laptop, wearing his usual frigid face that made me gulp in fear. I thought he had agreed to change for me, were we back at this stage?

"Come here," he said in a quiet voice and rose to his feet, picked his mug of coffee and walked to stand by the window, gazing outside, with his other hand in his pocket.

I rolled my eyes then walked to stand behind him. "Yes, Mr. Hendrix." That just sounded like the perfect thing to call him right now.

"Please sit."

I walked over to sit on the chair across from his, mumbling words to myself. What happened to the sweet and smiling Hames two days ago who could do anything for his dear Queen? The Hames I couldn't seem to stop thinking of. Scoff.

"Why are you late?" He asked, still gazing out the window and took a sip from his mug.

"I'm sorry." Here we go again.

He pivoted and walked up to me, sitting on the table right in front of me.

I really hated this face, so bad. It was intimidating. "You agreed to change, now we're back at this face?"

He gazed at me without a word for a while then chuckled. I lifted a confused eyebrow at him. Did he just chuckle wearing that expression?

"Of course, I agreed to change for you." He dropped the mug on the table, holding my hands and wore a smile that was relieving. "I've been grumpy all morning because I haven't seen you and a stupid company we're supposed to work with had the work mixed up and create problems which had made me furious all morning. You shouldn't be late to work but that doesn't mean I'll yell at you anymore. I promise to not be strict with you over issues at work or in our personal life.

"Next time, if you walk into a room and notice me frowning, it's either because I haven't seen you yet and I was missing you, or it's something else and you shouldn't hesitate to ask me about it. You can calm me down with a touch or make things even better, a kiss." He held the arms of my chair to cage me. "You are late to work today, you'll have to pay for that." He smirked.

"P-pay?"

"Yes, in a gentle way. You made me wait for you for so long, don't I deserve a kiss? Why are you always late?"

"I already stopped arriving late, even before we travelled to Australia."

"I don't believe that, you're late today, again, so you must pay for it." He pulled my chair closer to him and drew his lips to my ear. "I love you." He whispered into it. The way his lips grazed my ear made goosebumps form on my skin, from my neck.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "I have to resume work."

"You work for me, it shouldn't bother you if you're not working yet, as long as it's because of me. By the way, when will you ever say you love me too?" He moved his lips from my ear, making them be a few centimeters away from my lips.

I could already tell he wanted to kiss me, and there was no escape for me. Love him too? Only heavens knew when I was going to say that. "Don't kiss me. We're at work, it's inappropriate."

"How? I own the workplace." He was way too close to me; the smell of his cologne was getting into my brain from my nose.

"It doesn't make it not wrong." I shrugged, moving my face backwards but he closed the gap again.

"If you say so, I don't mind doing something wrong right now. I missed you."

"Just let me go." I pushed him away gently and rose to my feet but he held my hand and rose to his feet as well, curling an arm around my waist to pull me to his chest. "Hames, please stop this." I glanced at the door, assuming anyone could barge in anytime.

"If you don't want a kiss right now, say you love me too."

"You love me too."

He frowned. "Don't joke around, my life depends on hearing those words from you."

"Okay, I love you too." I said in a rush.

A smirk crawled up to his lips and he nodded, staring at my lips. There was no way he still wanted to kiss me. What was wrong with this Man? Couldn't he respect the fact that this was an office?

"You've escaped this time," he held my chin up, grazing my lips with his thumb, "but you'll be on my lips very soon, kissing the life out of me." He turned my face, pecked my cheek and let go of me. "You'll have to resume work, we have a lot of work to do. And, you'll need to fix my schedule,"

"Okay." I nodded.

"At 4pm, you'll have to go to Mr. John Hawthorn to grab some files, then we might go on a date." He winked at me, seizing my breath by that simple act.

I nodded, moving backwards.

He grinned, staring at me with his eyes flashing with different emotions. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I've travelled to different countries in the world but I've never met and I'm certain there isn't any woman as beautiful as you."

I could feel my face go red at his compliment. "Thank you." I muttered and immediately turned around to leave for my office.

"You can blush all you want," he teased.

I didn't look back at him but left for my office. Hames was a strange person. Firstly, he'll look so cold like he would rip you apart if you uttered any words. In the next minute, he'd be sweet, begging for a kiss, and complimenting me.

I chuckled, still feeling myself blushing at his compliment. The most beautiful woman in the world? I had never seen that in me, though I knew I was very beautiful, no doubt.

***

"Are you done with today's work?" He turned to me, massaging his temple.

"No," I replied, stopping in front of him.

"Why are you here? You wanna spend time with me? Fine, I'll leave what I'm doing." He attempted to reach for my hand but I slapped his hand away, earning a glare from him.

"It's 4pm, I'm here for Mr. Johntan or Harshton, I don't remember."

"Oh, I almost forgot that. Mr. John Hawthorn." He turned his chair to his table again, opened the drawer and took out a file from it. "He'll let you know a few things which you should write down, then hand this over to him. He'd sign them and return it to you then also give you some files. You'll go with my car because you're a special person." He winked.

"Okay," I simply nodded, feeling exhausted as hell.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm only tired."

"Tired? You can go home and you'll resume work tomorrow. How tired are you? I hope you aren't sick? Is it—"

"It's not such a big deal." I chortled, amazed by his concern. "I'll do it today, I'm not sick, I'm only exhausted."

"You can eat something, I'll order something for you to eat."

"No, thank you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You'll have to go through the file, you can still leave an hour later, you'll be able to eat."

"I already had lunch, thank you." I wore a smile.

"You'll go through the file then leave, the address is here." He placed a card on the file.

I took the file from him, and picked the card up, staring at the address of the company.

"My driver will drive you there. Do I have to accompany you to the car?"

"No, thank you. People are still talking about the news of us being together on the internet. I don't want further news about us flying around the internet, okay? We still have to find a way to end the rumor."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, it's not like I want the rumor to end. It's not such a lie."

I shook my head at him and walked away, scampering out of the office and to the elevator. I got out of the building through the backdoor.

"Miss Mark, right?" A random man asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll be your driver."

"Thank you." I flashed him a smile.

He led me to a car and opened the door for me. After I got in, he shut the door.

Whoa, I had never expected to be driven in such an expensive-looking car in my entire life!

He turned around the area and got into the Driver's seat.

"Hang on, I have to go through this file first." I said after remembering that and dropped my bag beside me.

"No problem."

***

"I'm here to see Mr. John Hawthorn." I said to the receptionist.

"Who are you, please?" She flashed a smile at me.

"Imogen Mark, from HamIX International." I returned her smile.

"Hames Hendrix's girlfriend, I knew you looked familiar the moment you stepped in."

I glowered at her and her smile immediately left her lips.

"I'm sorry if I said anything wrong." She quickly apologized, picked the telephone and hit its keys. "Mr. Hawthorn, someone from HamIX International is here to see you…" silence. "Okay, sir." She dropped the phone. "Third floor, fifth door." She said.

"Thank you."

I left her sight and used the elevator to the third floor. I got out of it and located the fifth door, since it had '5' on it.

I gave the door a knock.

"Come in." A deep masculine voice said.

I opened the door and got in. The blonde I assumed was Mr. Hawthorn was on his chair with his head buried in his palms.

I didn't know why but there were red and white candles around, roses and balloons, with red and white curtains. There were woods that formed door frames with flowers around it, for some reasons I was unable to understand, as well as logs of wood with white and red designs on them. Other logs of wood were joined together with a woman's painting painted on them, which I had to admit looked beautiful but why logs of wood, in an office?

I noticed a sign that said, 'Will You Marry Me, Melissa?'. Now I knew the reason for this, but why in an office?

"Good evening," I greeted.

"Melissa?!" He jerked his head upwards with a smile but the smile slipped as his eyes met mine. "She's not coming back." He said disappointedly. "Who are you?" He frowned.

"I'm Imogen Mark, Hames Hendrix secretary, from HamIX International." I introduced myself, walking over to him while kicking balloons and roses from my way.

"I thought Mr. Hendrix was coming over. Why are you here in his stead?"

"He's very busy at the moment."

His glare intensified. "Please sit," he gruffed. Didn't he realize he was being so rude?

I sat on the chair opposite to his, with a huge mahogany table between us. "You're to sign these." I dropped the file on the table, taking the card from it.

He frowned at the file too then rose to his feet. "I'll be back, please do something, I don't know," He rose to his feet, his grey eyes were red with anger that scared me.

"Okay, sir." I nodded.

I wondered if he was drunk, judging from how he staggered out of the office and slammed the door shut.

"Another weird person," I rose to my feet. My back ached as hell, I needed to stretch my entire body.

In the process of stretching my body, I noticed something green and red in the sky, through the thin space between a pair of red and white curtains. Was that fireworks? Gosh, I loved fireworks!

I scurried to the curtain and separated them to take in the view of the beautiful fireworks.

I couldn't read the words because they were in either Chinese or Japanese, but there were designs around the words that made them look even more beautiful.

"Wow," I grinned. I knew I could stare at them forever, they were one of my favorite things; fireworks.

Soon enough, I began smelling something weird. I scrunched my nose up and moved backwards.

A gasp escaped me as I noticed the end of the curtain on fire. "Fire!" I screamed. Oh God, there was a stupid candle beneath it and it must've caught fire when I separated it to view the fireworks. Oh no, oh no. "Fire!" I screamed again.

Wasn't there a fire alarm in this company? What sort of stupid company was this?

The fire was spreading so fast and it connected to the second curtain. I was so confused and wasn't aware of what I was doing anymore, that made me pick a random red pillow with 'I Love You' on it, and began hitting the burning curtains with it to turn the fire off.

I only realized how stupid my decision was when the pillow also caught fire. I gasped again and threw the pillow across the room. In the process of doing that, my heel bent and made my ankle twist, causing me to fall. Instead of just falling on the floor, I fell on a tray with three candles on a stick on it, and they (the tray and three candles) dropped to the floor.

There was alcohol that was open and was pouring on the floor so the fire from the candle connected to it and it started an even wilder fire which was spreading fast.

I turned my head to the pillow I had thrown and gasped again after realizing it had landed on one of the sofas here, also causing another fire that was spreading crazily. "Oh God, no!" I cried. "Somebody, help!"

The fire from the trail of alcohol spread and stupidly made contact with the logs of woods, forming a greater fire.

"Help!" I continued screaming but to no avail.

Like the speed of light, the fire transferred around the room.

The curtain the fire had started from had burned completely and it fell. I was quick to remove my legs before it fell on them.

"Help!" I cried again. Could no one hear me? Why was there no fire alarm or alarm button?

I tried to rise to my feet but my sprained ankle didn't permit that.

I reached for a stand, probably the only thing that hadn't caught fire here, holding onto it to help me rise to my feet, ignoring my sprained ankle.

I began hearing screaming noises from around, people were screaming for help. Had the fire spread that much? I needed to get out of here.

I was blocked from walking any further when a large log of wood that was also on fire dropped in front of me. I squealed, jerking away from it but there was also fire behind me. Things were breaking from the fire and dropping on the floor to further increase the fire around.

The smoke from the fire was beginning to choke me, I couldn't breathe properly anymore. The heat from it was cooking me.

"Help," I said, coughing. I was in a trap of fire, nowhere to go.

The deafening sound of people screaming coming from outside warned me that there was extreme danger here. Heavy things continued dropping, mostly wooden. Sound like loud sparks was reoccurring being heard.

The smoke from the fire had suffocated me so much, life had gone out of me. This was beyond my control.

My ankle twisted again and I fell to the floor. This time, I couldn't return to my feet.

I was coughing so hard, sweat had formed on my entire body, my eyes were watering. I couldn't breathe.

The smoke suffocated me till the point of darkness overtaking my vision. Was this how I was going to die? I still heard screaming noises before my eyes gave up completely.