The Wedding Plan

Chapter 7

Back at her desk, Eleanor was trying to work, but her mind kept falling towards that small encounter in Larissa's office. He doesn't remember it, so it's fine. He didn't recognize me. I'm the only one that still remembers that. She said to herself over and over until Larissa asked for her again and her dreams were chattered.

After Miss Clark told Eleanor that she had to go to Sebastian Crain's office before leaving the building, the minutes turned into hours and the end of her workday became a mirage. As for Sebastian's workday, it could not have been worse.

The young woman did not leave his thoughts during day, not even for a single second, which made his meetings a lot harder to endure than usual. He could only think of Eleanor's smile, and that she had completely ignored him. Why did she ignore me? He wondered.

He was used to being admired by everyone, women desired him, and men wanted to be like him. At least that was what the tabloids said about him in every single article, even though Sebastian wished things were different. That was how his life was ever since he came out to the public as the new CEO of Crain Enterprises.

No one knew his real self. No one seemed to care about that, and no one ever took their eyes off him. But he understood he was partially to blame for that. The media painted an image of him that stuck, and instead of fighting it; he went with the flow. It created the facade of him being a cocky billionaire womanizer, his charming appearance and indifferent attitude towards most people certainly helped.

Eleanor took a deep breath. Her cheeks were too red, hair was too messy, and she failed at removing a coffee stain from her dress. Why did Sebastian want to see her? Had she done something wrong that Miss Clark wasn't aware of? Or did he remember it, after all?

And how was she going to be alone in the same room as him when just one look made her feel so intimidated? She wasn't sure she could keep a calm and straight face. His blue eyes were too intense as they seemed to pierce her, searching for something.

'Please come in,' the CEO said from his chair.

'Excuse me.'

She walked in and looked around the office. She had never been in there before.

The office was enormous. There was a desk in the center facing the door, two black armchairs in front it, a few abstract paintings on the walls in gray and blue tones, on a thin table by the door were glass cups and a jar of water and on the other corner of the room there was a round cherry-wood meetings table with six chairs around it.

'Have a seat.'

She sat down on one of the black chairs in front of him and studied the décor of the space, avoiding Sebastian's eyes. She tugged her dress under her legs in a failed attempt to hide the stain, which he saw, and made him laugh softly.

'What?' She raised her head and their eyes met.

'You finally looked at me,' he said with a dangerous smile on his lips. 'And you're quite clumsy, aren't you?'

Her heart sank. Oh god! He remembers. She thought.

'What? Why do you think that?' she fidgeted.

He pointed his finger towards the coffee stain.

'Well, I needed the coffee and was exhausted,' — she nervously looked around the office — 'did I do anything wrong? When I talked to Miss Clark, this morning, everything was okay and—'

He smiled as he looked straight at her.

'Coffee. That's funny. It brings back a memory.'

Eleanor gulped and felt her cheeks getting redder and redder as she was feeling more and more flustered.

'Have we ever been introduced before?'

She panicked. She was still terribly embarrassed by the fateful accident from that day.

'He actually remembers, doesn't he?' she mumbled, not even realizing that she was speaking out loud.

'Remember what?' Sebastian said with a smirk.

He was amused; he knew exactly what he was doing to her.

Her face turned as red as a tomato.

'We bumped into each other,' — her voiced cracked — 'around four months ago at Montgomery Consulting.'

After seeing Eleanor's embarrassed look, Sebastian was now sure that it was her, the same Eleanor, the clumsy but charming coffee girl.

He laughed as the memory played back in his head.

'The coffee girl. That was you?'

'Yup. That was me.'

She looked to the side, to the floor, and her hair cascaded down, hiding her face.

Sebastian studied her for a bit. He thought she was beautiful back then, and even more so now that she wasn't hiding her face as much.

Her hair was still strawberry blond, long and disheveled with untamed waves, but now she didn't have a fringe. Her eyes were like two emeralds glowing as the light hit them, and the freckles that captured his attention back then adorned her rosy cheeks that contrasted with her complexion that was almost as white as snow. He was truly mesmerized.

'Sorry for not recognizing you sooner. You changed quite a lot since we first saw each other four months ago. You got rid of the bangs and the glasses, and you are not covered in coffee. Well, sort of. You have a coffee stain. I guess you didn't change that much after all.'

Eleanor felt her face burning. She was mortified yet again. She changed her appearance a bit so that she would feel like she belonged at a place like Crain — and she succeed in that — but she remained as clumsy as ever.

'How's your ankle?' he asked with a smirk.

'Fine.'

'I waited for your call. And I looked for you after the meeting.'

'You did?' she raised her head and looked at the man.

'Yes, but I was told that you had already left. Who would've thought that you'd end up here?' he sighed, and a mischievous smile danced on his lips. 'Did you quit at Montgomery?'

'No, it was just a three-month internship.'

'You barely said a word to me,' he said with a sad smile. 'You looked so scared and angry at the same time. I wasn't sure if you were about to yell at me or cry. I've never felt so ignored in my life as I felt that time. And for once I was trying to be a good person.'

Eleanor took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

'I was about to cry, and not about to yell. I was utterly and completely mortified.'

'Well, that's all in the past. Let's forget about that and start over. Sebastian Crain, pleasure to meet you,' — he stretched his arm across the table — 'come on, it's just a handshake, don't leave me hanging.'

She showed him a timid smile and gave him her hand.