Enraptured

Chapter 24

Days have passed since Sebastian found out about my budding relationship.

Although nothing had changed between Arabelle and me, I felt more stressed than ever before.

I still went to her house in the evenings for dinner and helped Theo with his university-level problem sets, but I was never able to bring myself to ask about her past. I feared that she would try to leave me once I reminded her of the person with whom she still held attachments for, so I buried it deep down inside of me and tried to pretend that everything was fine.

Even though my body itched to hire a private investigator to look into her past and figure out who it was, I cared too much about her to invade her privacy like that. She would only hate me if she ever found it.

Instead, I kept myself as busy as possible so that my mind wouldn't wander in the middle of the day. Meetings stack upon one another such that there was always someone new wandering into my office to give me a report. Paperwork for finalizing overseas investments. Branching out to new factories and warehouses for my production system, even though I had originally put it off as a 5th-level priority that didn't need to be completed until next year.

As my difficulties with sleep became worse, I ended up starting work at 4 AM in the morning and continuing straight until 7 PM in the evenings. Only signing out at 7 PM to not miss my daily dinner plans with Arabelle and her son.

But whenever I returned to my empty apartment for the night, I would be left alone to my own devices with those haunting thoughts, so I would work on leftover paperwork in my home office in an attempt to occupy myself until I passed out at my desk.

Even though it was tiring, I would never blame those two for my own intrusive thoughts. It was my problem that I needed to figure out how to handle by myself. I needed to figure it out soon because there was no way I would be able to give them up now, not when little Theo's clever but mischievous personality started to grow on me and when Arabelle's soft touches became the highlight of my day.

I sighed as I closed my books for today. Noting the small hand of the clock that lingered right passed the seven mark, I stuffed my items into my bag and hurried out of my office. Most of my floor was already empty, including Arabelle's dark office. She must've started to head back by herself already.

I glanced at my phone and found a short message confirming my thoughts.

"I saw that you were still working in your office and didn't want to bother you, but we'll be waiting for you at home. I'm making croquettes with Theo's help tonight, so try not to work too late otherwise, it's going to get cold by the time you get here and that's no good! (≧▽≦) ~Arabelle"

I chuckled at her adorable little emoticon attached to the end of the message.

It was things like this that made me wonder if I was just being paranoid for thinking that she might ditch me at any moment for another person. That I was just overthinking.

Because if she was... Would she have opened up this much to me and treated me this warmly?

With a small smile on my lips, I tucked my phone back into my back pocket and stepped into the elevator, going straight down into the garage. In less than 30 minutes, I managed to make my way all the way to upper Manhattan and parked in my usual spot out in front of her house.

Smoothing out my shirt, I walked up to her front steps and knocked on her door.

In just a few seconds, I heard the usual series of pitter-patter coming up the door before a familiar set of violet eyes popped out in the lower left window panel next to the door.