Mindful Beauty

14) Her Warmth

Damien had been waiting for her call since that Friday evening, but it was useless. Ella didn't call him that night, or the night after, or even the night after that one. The whole weekend had passed since he had asked her to go on a date, and he was beginning to think he had overstepped her boundaries.

Perhaps she already had a boyfriend, and while that thought really irked him, what was he going to do? Or perhaps she didn't want to take it further with him besides the professional path. He was going to have to think of a way to gently let her know that he had spoken carelessly and did not mean to make her uncomfortable. Then, right as he was coming up with a plan, Ella knocked and entered as beautiful as ever.

Ella had her own storm brewing inside of her. After her reassuring conversation with Erica on Friday night, she had more of a clear idea of how to approach the subject with Damien. She trusted that they were both mature adults that could come to a conclusion for her confusion.

"Good morning." Ella greeted him with a smile, nervous as to how to explain to him that she didn't really have the guts to call him after all.

"Morning," he gave her only a nod, and Ella rolled her plump lips in before taking a deep breath in.

"I have a question," Ella spoke up, approaching Damien's desk with caution. Damien only looked at her, ignoring how beautiful she looked with her hair pulled back. He needed to put a stop to those thoughts. It would only make their time working together harder for him and awkward for her. "First of all, I couldn't really give you an answer this weekend because I think I misunderstood." Ella really did feel bad. She had once asked a boy out when she was in middle school, and that day alone had made her heart race more than when she took her final to get her degree.

Damien tensed, unaware of where the conversation was heading towards. "What... misunderstanding?"

"When you said... that you wanted to get to know me better, did you mean a date?" Ella ripped the band-aid off.

"Ella, if this makes you uncomfortable, then forget I ever said anything. I sincerely apologize for overstepping," Damien was going to continue speaking, but Ella placed her hand up to put a pause to his apology.

"I... that's not my problem. I, I actually would like to get to know you better too." Ella stated firmly. If he was dubious, then she would have to be his pillar of strength and confidence during this new journey.

Damien fought to hide his smile, but ultimately lost when he saw Ella's. Just then, however, Mr. Kim entered with a couple of files.

At the start of every six months, Kim would take on eight pro-bono cases, cases that clients had no money to pay for, and Jihye was willing to spend a little extra money on getting them resolved. It was his way to help give back to the community and also write it off in his taxes. Eight free cases was a lot of money when it all added up.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Mr. Kim waltzed in, dancing around with the heavy files before sending two flying dramatically to Damien's desk. He also sent a couple of loose papers flying around. "Annyeong!" (Bye!)

"I'll get started." Ella bent down to pick up a few papers before switching those out for the fresh file, immediately going back to work.

With the appearance of the new pro-bono cases because Damien got two, the pair had been very busy and had to shuffle around Damien's schedule. On top of that, since Damien had caught himself in the middle of Kim's shenanigans, Ella had to even attend some meetings for Damien. Fortunate enough, those meetings only entailed common sense and note-writing, which Ella was great at. Throughout the entire week, Damien and Ella were lucky if they saw each other once in a day; they were that busy.