The Wedding Plan

Chapter 13

'You don't think you're pretty enough?'

'It's not that. Stop dodging the question. And besides, that's not the point.'

'It may not be the point, but I'm interested in understanding why you don't think that you are a fitted choice.'

'I'm small and clumsy and shy. Not the sexy type of woman. I'm the cutesy type one. The complete opposite of what someone would expect as your date.' She shrugged and showed him a sad smile. 'I don't think we mesh well together. I doubt we can look like a couple.'

'I disagree,' Sebastian Crain said with one of his dazzling smiles that made the small Eleanor turn red.

'Your charm can't solve everything, Sebastian Crain. And as sure as hell, can't make me believe in you.'

'Oh, so you do think I'm charming?'

'Shut up. You are not that great.' She looked to the side, trying to shield her eyes from his. 'Stop putting me in uncomfortable places.'

'I can't promise that,' he teased.

As the rest of the lunch went by, they talked much more, their gazes interlocked too many times. The man drove her insane with mischievous smiles, and she responded with timid lost frowns and jokes.

Sebastian paid for the lunch, and they left the hotel in different directions. Eleanor had to go back to the company, and he had a meeting somewhere else. But before they parted ways, he called for a car to take her back so she wouldn't have to worry about paying for a taxi, even though she insisted so many times that it was unnecessary.

As she arrived at the office, no one suspected a thing. It was just a normal lunch break, except for Larissa. Her gaze followed Eleonor as she walked down the hall, walking towards her desk.

'Five minutes. My office,' Larissa said as they crossed paths. The young woman simply nodded with a faint smile.

With her heart pounding in her chest, Eleanor knocked on her boss's office door, dreading what she had to say.

'Come in.'

Eleanor politely walked in and instead of sitting on the chair as she usually did, she stood by the door.

'About Sebastian and the wedding. I have something I would like to talk to you about,' Larissa announced, with her fingers crossed and her elbows on the desk.

'I know. You must think I'm such an idiot. Why could I possibly have said yes? What was I thinking?' Eleanor talked way too fast and hid her blushed face with her hands.

'No, not really. That's not what I was about to say.'

'You weren't?' She raised her head.

'No, and please, have a seat, Eleanor. You don't need to be so scared.'

Surprised, Eleanor sat on the chair in front of Larissa's desk and anxiously waited.

'I know how he can be, and I also know that you are too good to have said no to him. I know you didn't say yes because of the job or the degree or because you want something from him.'

'You do?' She frowned as she tried to understand where the conversation was heading.

'Yes. I am aware that you said yes because you don't have the courage to deny someone help when they ask you for it.'

Eleanor gulped. Larissa had come to know her quite well in this last month, and it was a good thing that her boss knew she didn't have any ulterior motives to have said yes. And yet she felt uncomfortable. She felt naked as Larissa saw right through her.

'I see that every day in here, at the office, I see how much you help everyone, even though you need to work extra hard to do so. So, having said that, I just want you to be careful.'

'Careful?' Eleanor was definitely at a lost.

'Treat yourself kindly and take care of yourself before taking care of others, you don't need to help everyone all the time.'

'I know that.'

'And don't fall for Sebastian. There's no way that would end up working out.'

'I won't,' she promised, embarrassed, even though she didn't understand why Larissa brought that up.

'I'm not saying this because he is a bad guy. He is not. As a friend. He is a big jerk sometimes, but not as bad as the magazines make him. Nonetheless, I like you too much to see you get hurt and ruin your chances here. The chances that you have to build a successful career with that amazing brain of yours.'

'I won't fall for him. We are only going to a wedding together and I don't even know him, nor do I know anything about him. I wouldn't fall for someone I just met.'

'Well, I believe you believe in that,' Larissa said with a tender smile. 'But in front me I see a young woman with a good heart and who's too naïve and sweet.'

She smiled and took into consideration Larissa's worries. Instead of being her boss, she was being a concerned older sister, and that was heart-warming. Especially for an only child like Eleanor.

'Thank you, Miss Clark. I'm happy that you are worried about me, but I promise you there's nothing to be concerned about.'

'Hope so.' Larissa smiled in a motherly way, and Eleanor blushed even more, thinking about what the woman just warned her about. 'Don't get me wrong. I've known him for years. We grew up together, me, him and Lina. I do believe he deserves happiness and a sweet girl with a good head on his shoulders like you, but not like this. Not in the mist of such an elaborate and idiotic scheme. And don't think I'm being silly about bringing this up.'

'I don't.'

'Honestly,' — Larissa sighed — 'I don't even know what has got into him to come up with such an idea.'

As Larissa's words were ringing in her ears, Eleanor went back to her desk. She was not going to fall for Sebastian. She was certain of that. But changes were already happening in her, although she wasn't yet aware. I'm just helping him out. That's it. Larissa's worries are unreasonable. She thought.

There was no space in Eleanor's life for love, and for the looks of it, there wasn't enough space in Sebastian's life either. So, this should not pose a problem for either of them.