I stared at the empty office in confusion and glanced at my watch to double-check the time. It was just a few minutes past 6 PM, the time that I always made sure to reach her office by, especially after I completely missed it last week.
Usually, every time I came to pick her up, Jane would always wait for me at her office in Benedict’s building before our agreed-upon time; something about how I would make too much of a scene if I picked her up from the lobby. But she had never been late before, not even once.
Her bags and coat were still here, so I knew that she was probably still somewhere in the building.
Maybe one of her meetings was running overtime, or she simply forgot to tell me that she had something scheduled at this time.
Nevertheless, I decided to wait inside her office, reasoning that it would be too early to panic about her absence yet and make a scene against her wishes. I plopped down the white bag of pastries and dessert that I picked up for my two sweet tooth darlings on the way here and sat down on one of her free chairs in her office.
Loosening my tie, I leaned back into the chair with a heavy sigh as I waited for my angel to arrive and melt all my stress away with her presence.
I had just finished the board meeting with the set of prospective new successors for the outer families before coming here.
Though they weren’t bad by any means- all standing at the top of their classes, diligent with their current jobs, and good at listening- they seemed to lack the backbone necessary for leading a company properly. Maybe it was because most of them had such arrogant and headstrong older siblings who chipped away at their confidence.
But I needed them to be more assertive if I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t crumble under any pressure down the line such as when their older siblings might try to come back and forcefully take their seat back.
To add on, Joseph had just reminded me about my upcoming week-long business trip across Europe to check on the statuses of my international branches, which only added more to my compounding stress. Even though I wouldn’t have to leave for the trip until a week from now, I still didn’t like the idea of leaving Jane and Liam by themselves for so long.
Since I recently started living practically full time at Jane’s house, always staying the night with her since the first time we shared her bed after the gala, I could barely even stay a day away from them to even go back to my apartment to get a new set of clean clothes.
Call me needy, but I just didn’t like the idea of wasting time that could be otherwise spent with my two angels.
And on top of all my work-related issues, there were still so many other things in my personal life that I wanted to finish up before the end of the year.
I wanted to live together with Jane and Liam under one roof officially, so I was working on finishing the renovations on the castle as quickly as I could on the side. I hadn’t spoken to Jane about it yet, but I assumed that she wouldn’t be too against it based on how excitedly she described the place to Liam when we first got back.
I also wanted to help Liam find a university where he could officially enroll as a student rather than taking random lecture classes at different colleges in town. But I also knew that Jane didn’t want her five-year-old genius son to move out the house yet, but none of the universities in NYC were up to par for Liam’s IQ, so I was working on speaking to one of the professors in Princeton about letting Liam enroll as a remote student.
And finally, the thing that I wanted to do most was to get married to Jane. I knew that we were already engaged and were already both wearing rings, but I wanted to finish tying the knot properly so I could officially introduce her as my wife rather than just calling her my wife in my mind. I couldn’t even count the number of times when the urge the call her my wife almost passed through my lips before I caught myself at the last minute.
But there were just too many things that needed to be done before I could see Jane in a pristine white dress.
I sighed at the thought.
My life used to consist of only the company and making sure it was the best of the best. It may sound like a serious case of workaholicsm, but I didn’t know what to do with myself even if I didn’t have work, so I actually appreciated the busyness of the work.
But ever since Jane came into my life, I now had something else that I wanted to focus on in my life, something more important than work. So much so that I sometimes wished that I could hand off the company already.
“Why are you making such a weird face, Rafael?”
I removed my arm from my face, frowning as Benedict’s obnoxious face came into view, hovering just above me. “I’m not making any weird faces.”
“Sure, sure. I obviously imagined the frown lines and all the tension in your tight, muscular body.”
Annoyed, I shoved his face away from me and sat up in my seat. “Stop saying weird things that make people think we’re a couple.”
He hopped around me and pouted, “What’s so wrong with being paired up with me? I personally think I’d make quite an amazing lover.”
I grimaced at his words and grumbled, “Please don’t ever say that again. As one of the few people who knows about all the disgusting places you’ve stuck your dick in, I beg of you never to suggest such a thing again.”
He playfully rolled his eyes and peeked into the white bag. “Oh! Are these for me? I was beginning to think you forgot all about me after that sensational introduction of your new fiancee.”
“No, I got them for Jane, not you.” I quickly tucked the bag down by my side before continuing, “And what do you mean ‘sensational’? All I did was announce my engagement to the public to avoid rumors.”
He cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Have you really not seen any of the posts? Your engagement was the headlines of almost all of the papers in town with a marvelous shot of your possessive display of affection right in front of everyone.” He pulled out his phone and swiftly typed a few words before handing it to me. “The public has been going wild, asking who she is, when this happened, why you’re suddenly deciding to settle down, and all sorts of other things of the like.”
I scrolled down the post, stopping at the frontline picture zoomed in on Jane and me when I impulsively decided to kiss her in front of all the reporters right as we arrived at the venue. Even in heels, she barely came up to my chest. But it didn’t seem to hinder me at all by the way I leaned down and nearly lifted her off the ground by her waist to claim her lips.
With the way her lavender dress fluttered in the evening breeze, she looked like a little flower fairy that had been captured by a massive beast. All of her delicate features clashed against my sharp looks. She was so much smaller and more fragile than me that it looked like I could snap her in half by accident at any moment.
“Are you really admiring your girl after I just told you that the public went into an uproar from your terrible choice of method of the announcement?”
I choked in embarrassment and quickly handed the phone back to him. “I’m not really bothered by the public’s reaction as long as they don’t create false rumors about Jane or try to tear her down in any other way, but… Jane doesn’t like being at the center of attention…” I glanced up at Benedict worriedly. “Do you think she’s seen those posts already? She hasn’t been acting weird these last few weeks, so maybe she-”
“She’s seen them.” Benedict abruptly responded, cutting me off. “I think she saw them on the first day she came back to work and started hyperventilating in her office, but she refused to let me call you about it. She probably took it a pretty hard as you expected, but she got better when a few of the girls around the office congratulated her on her engagement sincerely.”
I pursued my lips, wishing that she would’ve at least told me about it. I wanted her to share her worries with me and vice versa. It shouldn’t be something she felt like she had to hide from me.
Easily reading my expression, Benedict continued, “You can’t fix everything for her, Rafael. I know that you’re more than capable of resolving things with a flicker of your hand, but Danary has been working here and living in the city for more than three years by herself already.”
I nodded reluctantly. “I just don’t like seeing her get hurt.”
“Well, if it helps, all of the guys around the office are too scared to get close to her now because of her oh-so frightening fiance.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line and grumbled, “I’d prefer to be her husband, though…”
His eyes widened, catching the words I didn’t mean for him to hear.
Realizing that he heard, the tips of my ears immediately started to burn. “You didn’t hear anything.”
I abruptly stood up from my seat and grabbed the bag, trying to leave ASAP before the situation became any weirder, but Benedict easily caught me or, rather, launched himself onto me to stop me.
He stared up at me and dramatically cried out, “Who are you, and what have you done to my friend?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Irked by his response, I tried to push him off of me, but he only clung to me even tighter. “Am I not allowed to want to be married to the woman I proposed to?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but we’re talking about a woman you’ve only known for a bit over two months. All of this is just so unlike you. You’re making all these decisions that you never would’ve considered a few months ago… Don’t you think you’re rushing into it a bit too quickly? I know you wanted to propose to her to return the gesture, but I thought you would at least be engaged for half a year before thinking about a wedding.”
“I don’t see what’s wrong with getting married on a bit faster timeline than conventional couples when I know that I won’t want anyone else besides her.”
“But how can you be so sure? You’re engaged, but you don’t even live under one roof yet. Yet, you already want to get married. I get that you share a close emotional connection with her, but do you really know her? She has so many unknowns. Have you even had sex with her yet? I bet-”
“Don’t ever talk about Jane like that!” I cut him off and harshly shoved him off of me, using more strength than I intended and making him fall onto the floor. Even with Benedict lying on the floor, staring up at me with wide eyes, I paid no mind and continued, “You don’t know anything to be saying such things about her. I know how hard it is for her to get close to people. I know how she was left all alone to fend for herself when she was younger. I know how others take advantage of her kindness. I know how people are constantly putting her down to the point that she thinks that she could never be good enough… I may not live with her under one roof yet, and I may not know everything about her, but I’m working on it. It may take me years or even decades, but time doesn’t matter if we vow to stay together til death parts us. That’s how serious I am about her.”
CRASH!
Our eyes widened mid-fight as we slowly turned our heads toward the source of the sound, only to find Jane standing at the doorway in shock with a cracked tablet at her feet.
I quickly let go of Benedict’s collar and backed off of him. Shit, I never meant for Jane to see me like this. I always made sure to keep these sorts of things out of her sight, knowing that it would only scare her if she ever saw me shouting at full volume and physically threatening others.
Holding my hands up in surrender, I attempted to approach her cautiously and softly cooed, “Jane… Please don’t be scared… Benedict and I just got into a bit of a spaz… We’re not actually fighting…”
“O-okay…” Her eyes darted nervously back and forth between Benedict and me. “M-my meeting ran over t-time, b-but I-I c-can give y-you t-two more time if you w-want…”
“No… It’s alright, Jane… Benedict and I are done for today.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her eyes to the ground, nodding silently with no other reply.
I carefully skimmed my hands down the sides of her arms, scared that she would pull away, unraveling her arms cautiously until I finally reached her hands. When she made no signs of pulling away, I interlocked our fingers and gently pulled her closer to me. I whispered softly, “How much did you hear?”
Her eyes flickered to the side of me toward Benedict before looking back down and mumbling quietly, “U-um… w-when M-Mr. S-Serman a-asked about o-our s-s-s-sex l-life…”
I grimaced. Of course, that’s when she arrives.
I had been trying to reassure her not to pressure herself about it, but she has still been a tad insecure about that topic since those girls harassed her at the gala. And it most definitely didn’t help that Benedict- her boss and my friend- was now also berating me about it or the lack thereof.
I gently tilted her chin up to look at me. “Jane, remember what I told you before. We’re not doing anything until you’re fully ready… And I’m sure that Benedict didn’t mean it in a bad way. He simply had a lapse of judgment and blurted it out by mistake. Right, Benedict?”
I turned to the side to unblock Benedict from Jane’s view and shot him a sharp glare to answer.
He sweat-dropped and immediately replied, “Yes, yes… I didn’t mean to offend you, Danary. I simply misspoke…”
Jane shifted uncomfortably by my side before tugging lightly on the edge of my button-up shirt. “Um… Achilles… Please don’t f-fight with him anymore… I-I just want to g-go home now…”
I sighed and nodded.
I placed my coat over her shoulders and grabbed her bag for her. Trying to take her mind off of things, I handed her the bag of desserts and whispered softly in her ear, “I got off work a bit early today and decided to pick up some sweets on the way here. You can share it with Liam when we get home, okay?”
Her eyes lit up at the sight of the strawberry tart sitting at the top, and she nodded eagerly.
I chuckled as I planted a quick peck on her cheek. “Why don’t you go grab us an elevator while I gather the last of my things in here, okay?”
She nodded again and leaned on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on the base of my jaw in return before scurrying out of the office, completely forgetting the other person in the room.
Once she fell out of earshot, I turned back to Benedict’s anxious figure and warned, “I don’t want to ever hear you insinuate such things about Jane again. You have no right to judge her when you know nothing about everything she’s been through.”
His grip tightened around his arm. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, Rafael… And I’ve known Danary for years, and I know that she’s a good person, but it just all seems too fast to be right…”
I frustratingly ruffled my hair. “I know you’re just looking out for me, but you have no idea how hard she’s been trying to open up to accommodate me. I’m sure about Jane. She really isn’t trying to play any games with me…” I looked out of the glass wall of her office, glancing at Jane’s little figure as she joyfully bounced on her heels, excitedly glancing into the pastry bag while waiting for the elevator. “I originally offered her a better position at my company as the head of her own business with a higher pay, but she was the one who insisted on coming back here to work for you, so I hope you will continue to treat her well as your employee… If not for my sake, then at least for Jane. She’s someone you’ve worked with for a several years already…”
Benedict nodded meekly. “I will… It was never my intention to treat her poorly anyway…”
He looked so beaten down with how he stood, shoulders slumped and his back falling limp.
I sighed and patted him on the back. “If you don’t believe me, just come over to dinner at my parent’s house again, and you can see how well Jane fits in. It’s been a while since you joined us anyway, and I’m sure my mother would be happy to see you.”
He perked up ever so slightly at my suggestion and nodded happily.
To think that my best friend would get so put off by me settling down…
Maybe I should pay him some more attention in the future…