To Color Your Life - Chapter 68

His fingers were cool, her palms, on the contrary, were sweaty from feeling nervous.

Ever since school, she preferred to maintain a personal distance from people she didn’t know much. That even included those people who she knew, but didn’t allow close contact.

This same man was a complete stranger, and the first meeting was not the most pleasant.

Feeling the first comer poking in your eye is not the most pleasant sensation.

His close presence, and even more so, his touch, did not delight her. But there was no expected rejection either.

Ahh, now it’s clear why. He used the same perfume as Justin.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

By the way, she needs to ask her boss what brand he uses.

Oh, idea! I need to buy one for myself and use it at home as an air freshener! Hayes, this will be your personal aroma drug. Oh, Evans-aroma-drug! Write like that on top of it with a red marker!

The girl chuckled at her own delusional idea, but she liked the idea.

“That’s it,” the man said, but did not remove his hands, “Why are you smiling like that?” There was total bewilderment on his face.

The sign “I don’t understand women at all” was asking to be placed on his forehead.

A minute ago, she almost cried, and now she is standing and smiling.

Emily realized that she was looking at the stranger and picturing Evans in front of her eyes.

Well, Hayes, you’re quite cuckoo. Such violent fantasies are dangerous to health! After all, you can crash into a wall when your brains are somewhere in the clouds.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Thank you,” she nodded and took a step back.

The man looked at her in a strange way for a few more seconds, then turned away and reached for the crutch.

The elevator, after a forced stop, jerked and began to move.

And it jerked so strongly that Emily had to grab the wall. The stranger did not have time to grab onto his saving crutch.

“Be careful!” Emily put out her hands to hold the man. But how can you keep someone who is twice as big as you?

Her misfortune companion’s reaction was faster this time. He, too, threw both hands forward and rested them against the wall.

Emily was caught between them with her face buried in the man’s chest.

Yep, you wanted to help him, that’s right…

“Sorry,” the former brute pulled back, grabbed his wooden “assistant”, and turned to the opposite wall.

Emily saw his frowning profile out of the corner of her eye.

“I am sorry for my harshness earlier, too. If it hadn’t been for my leg, I wouldn’t have lost my balance and you wouldn’t have fallen either,” he added.

“Everything is fine. Anything can happen,” Emily replied. Getting an apology from someone who was hardly used to this (given how he reacted to the situation at the beginning) was a surprise.

She looked at the stranger again. His physique was strong and athletic. The polo shirt emphasized the pumped-up arms very well. The knee-length shorts did not hide the tan. He obviously loved to soak up the sun. Moving with a crutch for such a person was clearly a blow to pride.

Light brown hair was cropped short, he had a high forehead, a straight nose, a clear jawline. His profile would be perfect for an ancient coin. He looked a little older than her Justin. He was about thirty-five years old or so. Although Emily always had problems guessing the age. She could easily miss five or even ten years.

The girl glanced at her watch. To say that she was late is to say nothing. If only Mr. Barkens did not decide to call her to discuss the article, otherwise it is definitely a disaster.

If there was a person among her acquaintances who disliked being late more than she, it was Gregor. It’s amazing how he hasn’t killed Kelly so far, given her “loose” approach to planning the day!

“Where do you need to go to?” the stranger suddenly reminded of himself.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, which department? From the first floor, there are many passages to different departments. If you don’t know where to go, you can get confused. Considering that you had no idea how this elevator works, I assume that you may not know about the passages either.”

Oh, you have hit the nail in the head now! Emily had no idea how to get to her department from the Bermuda triangle where the elevator was supposed to take her.

“It’s department 30,” she replied and immediately added, “Pharaoh Magazine.”

“I know what Section 30 is, Miss.” The man’s tone turned cool, he looked at her again, from head to toe, fixing his attention on the badge. “Department thirty. Emily Hayes. Clear.”

What was clear to him, Emily did not understand. Now something else bothered her. How to get to the workplace and not get lost on the way for another half hour?

She opened her contact list and clicked on Catherine Joyce’s contact. If you don’t know where the exit is, ask someone who knows.

“The phone doesn’t work here,” her elevator colleague said again. Over the past couple of minutes, he has become suspiciously talkative.

Emily put the phone back in her pocket. Well, she will have to handle it herself.

For a remaining couple of minutes, they kept silent.

The elevator stopped. Emily got out and looked around. Hmm, the task turned out to be more difficult than she expected.

“Maybe you need a little help finding your way through, Miss Hayes?” the former rude man looked more and more like a well-mannered person by the minute. A little more, and he will increase his level to the one of the good Samaritan from the Bible.

“Aren’t you going back?” the girl was surprised. To be so enraged that he was late for a meeting, and now offer himself as a guide? Hmm, strange.

“It’s not important anymore. I-”

“Emily, there you are!” a loud shout interrupted what he was about to say.

Emily turned and saw Catherine. She looked as if she had managed to run a half marathon during Hayes’s absence.

“Justin called me and asked to meet you. I thought you had already left and got lost in the corridors. I went to look for you, and you are here. What took you so…” Joyce fell silent in mid-sentence and stopped a few steps from Emily. Her gaze froze on the man behind the girl, “Christian?”

“Hi, Catherine. How are you?” he answered.

Oh, do they know each other? Emily stared at her colleague with interest. This was the first time she had seen such an expression on Catherine’s face. It was not clear whether Joyce was happy about this meeting, or upset.

“I’m all right. What’s happened with the leg?”

Hmm, she was rather upset. Since now Kat looked serious.

“Fell badly at work,” this Christian explained.

“Did you fall out of the window or what?” Joyce grunted and stepped closer.

“Yeah, from the third floor,” the man confirmed.

Emily gasped, Catherine was even more shocked. “Are you… Are you kidding, Chris?”

Christian smiled, “Why would I be kidding? I’m totally serious,” he glanced at the watch on his wrist, “Okay. It was nice to see you, Catherine. Goodbye, Miss Hayes.” The man turned and walked, leaning on his crutch.

“Goodbye,” Emily replied after him, and Catherine stood by her side and silently watched the man go.

“Emily,” she tugged at Hayes’s hand. “Tell me, did he really smile now, or is it just me?”

“Uh, he actually did.” Probably. Or did Kat mean a special smile? “Do you know him?”

“I’m not sure about that now,” Catherine muttered to herself. “Damn, he really smiled,” she whispered, the girl’s gaze was as if she had seen the eighth wonder of the world.

“Who is he?” Emily was even more intrigued.

“It was Christian Denver,” Joyce replied, the tone of sadness was felt in her voice, “Your Justin’s main opponent. And my ex-husband.”

What?! Ex-husband?!

Wait… it was Denver?

The one with whom Justin’s father was supposed to meet?

God damn…

There is an eastern saying: because of the nail they didn’t batter in, they lost a horseshoe, because of the message they didn’t deliver, they lost the war.

Hmm, Hayes.. It seems like your eyelash was that nail. Well, that won’t lead to war, right?