Mirage | 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣

Chapter 13

"Are you okay?", was the first thing I asked Louisa as we reached back to our floor. She waited for me to go out first, part of her usual protocol. But I wasn't reaching out to her as a boss, but rather as a... friend?

I heard Louisa sigh and then smile. "Now I'm fine... I feel... free", she said, and her smile only widened. I felt my heart going wild at the sight of her sweet smile. I looked at another direction before she could notice my blush, quickly wiping my nose. God, I really seem to have a crush on her. "But did you mean it, though?", she asked me, and I looked back at her, tilting my head.

"Mean what?", did I say out loud? Oh my God... If I said it out loud...

"That you're no longer involving me in your plans", she asked, and I sighed in relief. She furrowed her brows at my sigh.

"I meant it, Louie", I said and then quickly went silent. What did I just call her? I'm going crazy, yes, this heart has something that is making me go mad... I'm definitely going mad.

She laughed. "Are we now stepping in the comfortable zone?", she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"I like you, you're a good employee", I simply said and cleared my throat.

Louisa took a step closer to me. "Or... you realized I wasn't the bad guy?"

I couldn't explain the amount of relief I felt when I read her background story. It was as if I already anticipated it, but even if she was involved in all that shit... I knew that something in my mind would disassociate her with all of that. Because my feelings for her have been growing and they've been out of control.

I don't even know where they come from, but whenever I look at her... I can't help but want to be with her.

"It is what it is", I told her as she rolled her eyes, her smile intact in her face.

"I'm just glad that I can keep the job"

"Tsk, tsk... a new job, with an amazing boss"

"I don't know, I haven't heard wonders about him"

I know that I started joking with it, but I couldn't help but stop in my tracks and look at her with squinting eyes. "I know people talk about me, but what do you think about me?", that was impulsive from me, but I was genuinely curious.

"Mm... how can I say it?", she mumbled to herself, but I already knew she said it like that to annoy me. She then laughed and looked at me. "I used to think you hated me, like, you wanted to kill me"

"True", I nodded, and she looked at me with furrowed brows. "You said used as in past tense, it's true, I mean it as a past tense too", I explained myself.

Louisa took some of her hair and put it behind her ear. Ooh, she has a mole in the top of her ear, that's so cute... I smiled to myself as she bit her lip. I don't think she likes me in the same level I like her, but she was truly happy to see the wall between us starting to crumble down. I was happy for it, too.

"Now I think that what you did for me was really noble, Michael", Louisa said as she looked straight into my eyes.

I had wished so many times someone would defend me the way I had just done. As a kid, I've found shelter in forgetting all about my past. But as I grew up, I knew I had to fight these demons inside and out of my head to finally bring some closure for me, my father and my mother.

You can call it noble; I call it justice.

"I'm just doing what nobody did for me", I mumbled, a little bit bitter, but not at her. But bitter at the past.