Ophelia began to take slow, calculated steps as soon as she walked out of the room. Thoughts ran through her mind of what had happened; there was no need for him to kiss her when she was just giving him updates about her life, but here he was sucking down on her lips.
“Why did I run away?” she murmured to herself as she approached her door. “How long more should I bear this emotion?” she added as she stopped at her door. Her hand was on the handle of the door as she held on to it tightly. She dropped her hand to her side, turned around, and began walking back to the room.
She pushed his door open to see him still sitting where he had been squatting earlier. “What are you doing here?” he asked, and she walked to him.
“Can you please stand?” she asked, and she scrambled to his feet quickly.
“I might regret doing this but I have to do this” she muttered looking down at her feet as she began to feel fear overwhelm her. She began to think that maybe coming back to confess her feelings to him was not the best idea.
“Doing what?” he asked looking at her face intently.
“I think I like you,” she said before she could think about it and she let out a nervous hiccup.
“What?”
“I think I like you,” this time her words came out much more confident like she owned it.
“But you said…”
“I know what I said earlier. I said I was not going to fall for you but it happened and it was all your fault”
“My fault?” Cade could not believe he was getting blamed that she fell for him. “What did I do?”
“You were being so kind and charming, cleaning up after me, carrying me when I was drunk, making tasty meals for me it was like this was all your big plan to make me fall for you,” she said.
“I planned nothing of sorts”
“Really? Remember when you told me you were reading the books I recommended and using the strategies in the book I gave to you, you are clearly doing this on purpose”
“Ophelia I was not doing any of this on purpose, I was just being a nice gentleman and you coming out to tell me that you like me all of sudden now is strange news to me and I do not know how to process it”
“I know it stupid that I am saying I like you to a guy who does not believe in any of these kinds of things but the truth is that I am dying inside. Do you want to know the real reason I was at your office this morning?”
“Because of Harper,” he said and she nodded.
“Yes because of her but not in the way you think. I was there because I was scared that she would actually sabotage our marriage and I would have to be separated from you and not because we can not lose the company”
“Oh”
“And do you know why I went with you to the station a couple of times?”
“Is it also because of our relationship?”
“Yes it is, I was really worried that you would get hurt and I could not stand by and watch that happen so I took matters into my hands and got my dad involved even though it is always difficult to talk to him”
“So are you saying that?”
“I just want to ask what did that kiss mean? Was it because you also feel some kind of spark for me or was this because in some way you were at a vulnerable moment and I was somehow around so that caused you to kiss me?” she asked, hoping that he would say he felt some kind of spark between them even though she was sure he did it because she was comforting him. She wondered if it meant that if Harper was the one comforting him then he would have kissed her. She kept the Harper question to herself because she did not want to seem too crazy.
He shuffled on both feet and looked away awkwardly. “I do not want to suffer from your awkward position and posture; I want to hear it from you, so please tell me,” she said, staring him down. She was not exactly comfortable with the staring but there was nothing he could do to make it stop.
“Ophelia, this is a rough time for me; I mean, I just found out that my mom is alive and that…”
“Caused you to kiss me because your emotions were all over the place?” she asked. He nodded. “Okay cool there I have it my answer and I am grateful to you for your honesty” she gestured to him while trying to still play it cool. “It is fine, I am not the first person to have been humiliated because they wanted to confess something they were feeling” she added.
“Ophelia”
“Stop right there,” she said with a bit of her hand in his face. She was trying to cover it up so she could walk away like she owned the situation. “I get it; I totally do. I was the one who screwed up and brought up feelings when we already had an agreement. This is all my fault, and I take complete responsibility,” she stopped when she noticed that she had started rambling, which resulted in a spiral.
“I should go,” she said, stopping and turning to the doorway.
“Ophelia, wait,” Cade called, but she was out of the room.
“I did not handle that well,” he murmured as he sat back to the floor.
Ophelia stood in front of the mirror, she had stood in the cold water shower with all of her clothes and makeup on. She thought that maybe she could wash away the feeling of humiliation she was feeling right now, but when she went to work, it only seemed to make her feel worse, not only emotionally but also physically. She sniffled and dragged back the snort in her nose as she stared at her pathetic self. She had been so sure that there was no way that she would fall but here she was the one going head-first into love.
“This is not a big deal; I can survive seeing him after this. We would just be the fake loveable couple in public and strangers at home,” she said with a nod. She stared at herself, hoping that her entire body would just go numb so she would not have to feel anything more. She let out a cry and bent her head.
“I cannot do this at all.”