Enraptured

Chapter 4

I stared incredulously at the little white bag in my hand.

I couldn't believe that I, the notoriously cold head of Nikolaos Industries, woke up early this morning and sent away my driver to personally go to a bakery near my apartment before work to pick out a few pastries for a woman.

For a woman that I barely even knew.

To add on, I ended up staring at the enormous array of sweets in confusion for so long that one of the employees had to walk up to me and offer to help me. It must've looked utterly ridiculous to see such a large figure hunch over the display, fretting over these tiny pastries.

I sighed when the elevator chimed, signifying that it had reached my office's floor. When I stepped out of the elevator, I was met with the usual greetings from all my employees as I made my way to the back of my floor.

To no one's surprise, I found Ms. Caddel already sitting in her glass office and typing away at her desk even though it was still far earlier than her actual start time.

I knocked lightly on her door, trying to make my presence known as to not startle her, but she still flinched at the noise anyway.

She looked up at me in surprise and swiftly made her around her desk toward me. She nervously shuffled behind the door, keeping it as a barrier between us, as she opened the door for me.

It was quite clear that she was scared of me. I still couldn't figure out what I had done wrong last night, but hopefully, these were enough to offer some consolidation.

I bashfully held out the white bag containing a miniature strawberry shortcake. "As an apology for last night. I'll try to remember to keep my distance in the future, so I hope you won't continue to feel uncomfortable around me. I truly didn't mean any harm."

Her eyes lit up at the sight of the strawberries instead the bag as she crept out from behind the door and graciously accepted the bag. Holding it in front of her, she bowed ever-so-slightly and softly whispered, "Thank you."

My eyes widened.

It was so quiet that I barely caught it, but it was definitely her voice. She had a lovely voice, one that was sweet but not in the sickeningly sweet way, the type of voice that naturally brought a sense of comfort to others.

Caught completely off guard, I stumbled over my words, "Y-you are... You're welcome, Ms. Caddel." I backed off from her doorway, diverting my eyes as I suddenly found it difficult to look straight at her. "Um... I'm going to go finish up some paperwork now. I'll see you later for our meeting with the architectural team."

I hurriedly walked away from her office and ducked into my own office, ignoring the stares I was getting from my other employees.

I immediately turned on the switch for tinting the glass walls of my office before dropping all my stuff on the table and slumping over in my chair. I was completely stunned by the turn of events.

What was wrong with me? I was never one to get flustered, not even when one of my mother's blind dates stalked me all the way to my office and sprawled herself across my desk completely naked. Yet, just the sound of her voice sent my brain haywire.

In all 29 years of my life, I had never felt like this before.

I spent all my youth preparing to inherit my father's company, and the moment I graduated, I threw myself into my work to bring it up to where it is now. Sure I went on dates here and there as per my mother's and Sebastian's meddling, but I never actually had a romantic partner before, one I would consider spending my time with.

Did I like Ms. Caddel? Surely, no.

I had only met her a few days ago and spent a total of less than 24 hours with her.