Guardian ✓

tree shade

EMMA WAS DETERMINED TO LET THE PAST GO.

She treated what happened as a setback. Emma knew if she spiraled back into the mess she knew she could become – if she became the girl Kevin wanted her to, there was no point of her escaping his prison. It wasn't even that she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. She did not care for that. Emma just didn't want Kevin to have control over her future.

Back when she lived with her biological mother, she dreamed of escaping and never looking back. She used to dream about what she had now – freedom. She wasn't going to mistreat something that people took as luxury.

Ergo, over the next few months, she got to applying to universities. While she had the grades to get into any that she wanted, Emma had to take into consideration that she couldn't be seen by the public eye. She didn't really mind the predicament. In fact, she loved the privacy.

Her relationship with the people closest to her – Noah, Valeria and Matthias – became stronger. While her mother became her personal finishing school teacher, teaching her ways of etiquette she hadn't even seen in her mother, Matthias took a little time off as Noah's head of security to teach her how to drive. Thus, her two favorite outdoor activities became visiting her cottage and driving one of Noah's cars.

And Noah. The person who resided in her heart since the first time she saw him became the reason behind her strength. He was the person who soothed her when she had nightmares every night. He became the person who taught her how to fight. While both of them hated violence, Noah made sure she practiced martial arts every day for an hour. Exercise and practicing patterns was a fun break from other stuff. Sparring? Not so much.

That's why they did it once a month.

And Noah made sure to treat her with extra care afterwards which ultimately became a win-win situation. Now, a few months later, even as Emma started to enjoy sparring, finally realising that while strength was not her major suit, she could dodge bullets with her speed, she still pretended to dislike sparring. Just so that her precious person would leave work for a few hours to spend time with her and pamper her more so than usual.

"Let me kiss you."

Noah paused for a moment before he put down his pen to regard the person who stood in front of him. Her thick, silky hair came up to her shoulders, framing her small face. Today, she wore a brown, tweed blazer over a cream jumper and black, pleat shorts.

His lover looked positively mischievous as she stared at him with a small, teasing smile. Instead of getting annoyed as he would have been if it was anyone else, he felt a strange, wonderful tug at his heart as he stared at her. She was so stunning it made him lose his breath.

"My other interns don't say that," he replied softly, leaning back in his chair.

Upon looking up from the plethora of paperwork in front of him, he realised it was dark outside. Time really did fly by when he was doing work. And now, he had a person with whom time flew by even faster.

It had been his mother's idea to have Emma intern at one of his offices. Of course, it was completely his idea to have her intern for him. While his mother suspected something between them, she never did say anything out loud. And Noah did his best to keep his hands to himself when he was in her presence. Emma made it easier by not coming with a ten mile radius of him when Valeria Solomon visited or vice versa. While amusing, it was disconcerting too. Noah knew he would have to deal with a lot of tears when it was finally time to tell his mother.

After all, he planned on proposing when Emma finished university.

"Please?" She whispered, kicking off her heels before settling in his lap.

Emma cupped his face, letting out a soft laugh before she peppered his face with kisses.

"You," kiss, "look," kiss, "so," kiss, "handsome," kiss, "when you work."

Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.

By the time she pulled back, there were faint lipstick marks all over his face that Emma took great care of removing. It was eight pm which meant everyone in the office was gone. Security (aka Matthias' team) knew to turn off the CCTV cameras in Noah's room when Emma entered so they were safe from anyone seeing them but one could never be too sure.

Matthias had an awful habit of cock-blocking when he thought Noah was going too far.

Noah pulled her flush into his chest so she won't witness the faint blush that coated his cheeks at her words. No one had ever been this tender. The women he went out with before knew work was his first love. Thus they either wanted financial luxury or were too intimidated to initiate anything. No one, however, was as genuine as the person who sat on his lap.

"My office is a professional space, Miss Solomon." Noah tried to keep his voice serious, stifling a smile when Emma stiffened in his embrace before pulling back and looking at him with wide, apologetic eyes.

"I am so sorry–"

He picked her up before standing up from his chair. "That's why there's a penthouse waiting for us," he finished, smiling down at her teasingly as her expression morphed into one that one could aptly put as adorably upset.

"Xavier never teases Lydia like that." She was pouting as he pressed the close button in their private elevator.

Noah rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to scoff. Xavier? Never teasing Lydia? The probability of pigs flying and singing was higher than that.

"And Lydia told you?" Noah couldn't help the sarcastic tone.

He wondered if it was a good idea to let the two get acquainted. Lydia and Emma had become completely inseparable upon their first meeting. Their baking sessions and sleepovers took quite of bit of Emma's time with Noah. But he wasn't actually upset. If it made his Emma happy then he was willing to move mountains.

"I inferred," she replied faintly, making Matthias chuckled from where he stood in front of the elevator, rapidly texting someone on his phone. Probably getting the security to bring the car forward. Due to safety reasons, they never took the same elevator twice in the same week.

Unbeknownst to Emma, Isaac was nowhere to be found. Even the likes of Xavier who probably had the ability to wake the dead out of fear, couldn't find the man. None of the CCTVs in Upper Midlands, where he resided, captured him. His credit cards were not being used. It was the most frustrated Xavier had been. Noah was no better. However, he knew how to hide it from Emma. Lydia, on the other hand, had to handle her man-child boyfriend's mood swings that were worse than a pregnant woman's.

Nevertheless, as they entered the car, Noah couldn't help but let a genuine smile grace his lips. Amidst all the bad, there was one good thing.

His Emma was smiling.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬