Why Me ✓ (FINAL EDITS)

Chapter 17

EMERSON FINDLAY

He gave me a plant! A cute little plant!!!! Oh my gosh. It was the most lovely, warm and thoughtful gift I had ever had the pleasure of receiving. It looked like a little plantling, still not fully grown. It definitely needed a lot of care and affection. However, just seeing it gave me a certain amount of peace of mind. Now I knew exactly what else could help me fall asleep. Besides the man standing beside me that is. When I felt like I had wordlessly stared at it enough to make the entire room filled with awkward silence, I put it back in the box.

I took in a shaky breath and opened my mouth to express my gratitude. However, nothing came out. Words seemed to be stuck in my throat. I did not notice my body shaking until Adrian draped an arm around me and helped me stand up. He wiped my cheeks. I was unconsciously crying. Wordlessly, he took my hand, put his handkerchief on it and then put his hand on my waist, leading to the car.

"I saw this cute little plant the other day, and it instantly reminded me of you. It will grow flowers that smell as sweet as honey but, only if you take care of it and give it a lot of love. You cannot just bring it and forget about it. Okay?" He said while opening the car door for me.

"How does it remind you of me?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"Ahhhhh...... I have always felt like... um... that you never feel like you belong somewhere? Like you do not feel like you can call someone your own. So, I just felt like this cutie would help you, give you something that would always remind you, that it is there for you. And so is the one who gave it to you." He whispered the last part under his breath. "I hope you like it and give it a lot of love."

It was not even a question. There was no way I could not like it. "So, this was the important work you were talking about." I inferred.

He nodded. He wanted to say something about it. I just knew it as he swiped his tongue over his upper lip and swallowed. It was an old unconscious habit of his. Come to think of it, probably he even would not know that. As I stared at him, I felt like a creep and instantly turned away from him. It took us half an hour more as we reached the designated hotel where the annual ball was being held. The car was taken care of by some other bodyguards of Adrian who were waiting to receive him at the entrance.

As he got off, he offered me a hand and I accepted it as gracefully as I could. The smile on his face and his sparkling eyes were clear proofs of the admiration he had for me. But why? That was still a mystery to me. He hooked his right arm with my left and then, we took one step. That was the very second I realized that heels really were not my thing. If it was not for the man standing next to me, my face sure would have greeted the posh red carpet by now.

"We will take small steps. It's okay. You will be fine. Okay?" these soothing words were slowly whispered in my ear.

The hair on the nape of my neck was all on its edges. With a shaky breath, I nodded as he took a small step. Even when I was wearing heels, he was still taller than me. It didn't have to mean anything; it was just a general observation. I was glad that any media coverage of this event was not possible. Because, if it would have been so, I would not have been here. We soon reached the main entrance of the banquet hall where the ball was organized for tonight. It was an entire fucking floor that was booked. People cheered altogether as the C.E.O., the host of the party entered.

We were handed two masks by the wait staff because after all, it was a masquerade ball. As we got closer to one of the tables, my eyes scanned around the place. To say it was beautiful was as obvious as saying that the moon came up at night. There were two big chandeliers hanging across the ceiling with roughly thirty smaller ones scattered all around them. The main theme colours of the party were red and gold with a base of white.

The maroon-red curtains perfectly contrasted with gold tablecloths and white chairs. Golden and red coloured balloons were scattered on the floor. The smoke machine too was doing its job too well to make it look like a dreamy fantasy. There was a large stage in the center with a bar to the right and round tables with six chairs on each one of them were placed beautifully. To the far left was the food counter, probably where I was thinking about spending the rest of my evening. As the cheers died down Adrian was surrounded by a group of my female colleagues in the blink of an eye.

"Good Evening boss. Such a lovely party you have arranged here." One of them said.

"Glad that you all liked it, lovely ladies. Hope you like the dance and food too." Adrian swiftly replied.

I could only hear all of their voices because I don't know why, I had instinctively held my head down. It would be so problematic for him to have a partner as useless as me. Disgrace. I thought.

"So, is this lady your rumoured girlfriend? The new secretary on your floor?" another one of them asked.

My head snapped up at this. I opened my mouth to quickly deny it when he swiftly beat me to it.

"No, we are not dating each other. Yet." He said the last word under his breath.

My eyes widened when I heard him and just prayed that none of the ladies heard it.

"Oh! So that means that Mr. Rutherford is still available for other women." The third one said.

To this, he quirked an eyebrow and further elaborated. "Oh, I am sorry if I gave off a wrong impression Miss. I have already asked her out multiple times. So, I am completely devoted to her. The harsh reality is that she is the one taking her own sweet time to contemplate her options."

My eyes widened. What the hell was he blabbering about? I was ready to deny all his false accusations when he told them that we had to make rounds and pulled me away. Even though I was irked by his false claims, deep down, I questioned myself as to why my heartbeat increased at the thought of him getting on one knee to ask me out. Name a bigger airhead than me, I thought. This ball was sure going to be etched into my memory forever. and to be honest, I was anticipating what the slowly unfolding evening had in store for me.