The Wedding Plan

Chapter 6

Eleanor walked into her superior's office. Larisa had always been nice towards her, but she could not help but to feel intimidated. Her boss wasn't only gorgeous, she was also a very intelligent and talented woman, with a successful career, and she wasn't even thirty-five yet. Larissa was the embodiment of everything Eleanor hoped to achieve someday, and the sooner the better.

'Have I done anything wrong?' Eleanor said with as her voice cracked, giving her nervousness away.

Larissa charmingly smiled. 'No, not at all, have a seat.'

'Then why—'

'We are thrilled about your work. It's not a promise. I cannot have favorite interns at this stage yet. You have only been with us for a month. But I will put in a good word for you, so that you can stay with us once the internship ends.'

'Thank you so much, Miss Clark.'

'Call me Larissa. Please.' Larissa winked at the younger woman that smiled in response. 'I can't promise anything yet, although it is likely. I thought I should let you know that your hard work has been paying off.'

The two women talked a bit more and discussed the details regarding the internship, future opportunities and interests, while an annoyed Sebastian rushed through the corridor and, as Larissa had done before, entered her office without knocking on the door.

'Larissa, I need your help,' he paused and stared at her. 'Now.'

'You forgot to knock,' she said firmly.

'Look who's talking,' he grumbled with his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door frame.

'I'm busy,' she pointed towards the young woman in front of her.

'No, you're not.' He pouted, just like a little kid.

Sebastian finally looked down at petite Eleanor. She had to stretch her neck so she could look up at him. She studied him a bit and observed the handsome man.

'Excuse me, Miss?' he asked, gazing deep into her eyes.

'Eleanor.'

'Just Eleanor?'

'Yes. Just Eleanor. Thank you, Larissa,' she said to her superior with a smile and tried to avoid Sebastian's gaze.

'No worries, sweetie. We'll talk later.'

'Excuse me, Mr. Crain.' She quickly glanced at the CEO that stepped aside so that she could go through and walked out the door.

Eleanor rushed back to her desk as her heart was racing. He was way more intimidating that what she had expected. She wasn't ready to face him again. She always thought she would not even get the chance to meet him face to face, and yet, this was the second time that she bumped into him. Though, luckily, he did not seem to remember the first time at all. Eleanor sighed with relief.

A curious Sebastian followed the woman with his eyes — even though he rarely cared for the people walking around his company — there was something about her...

Just Eleanor, was it? Can it be? No, probably not. Sebastian wondered, she indeed looked familiar, but he wasn't sure.

Although she had never paid too much attention to the charming CEO, Eleanor had to admit to herself, as her heart was still banging against her ribcage, that he had got even more handsome in the last few months. His gaze on her was way too intense for her to keep her composure.

Eleanor only observed him from a far, and most of the time she ignored what the media released about him, but that fateful day occasionally popped in her mind. She could not help but to remember his arms around her as he picked her up. His hands around her swollen ankle and how mortified and embarrassed she was.

'Did that girl just ignore me?' He looked back at his friend with a confused frown.

'She politely answered and left.'

'No. I'm pretty sure she ignored me.'

'Are you annoyed because she's not drooling all over you?' she mocked.

'Maybe a little, I'm not going to lie.'

He laughed, and Larissa rolled her eyes but couldn't avoid laughing too.

'It seems that you just found someone immune to Sebastian Crain's charms. You just found your nemesis.'

'Hilarious Larissa. Just tell me, who is she, exactly?'

'Her name is Eleanor. She just told you.'

'And? I want more than that?'

'She works here. Why do you need to know who she is? You don't know anyone's name on this floor. Or any floor, for that matter. I pretty sure that in this entire building you only know my name.'

'That's not true. I know a few.'

'Keep lying to yourself. Why do you want who she is?'

'I think I've crossed paths with her before.'

'Of course you have seen her before. I just told you she works here. Sometimes you are really dumb. I often ask myself how you have got this far—'

'Not from here, Larissa. I think I met her somewhere else a few months ago. When did she start to work here?'

'No. No and no, Sebastian. You better stay away from my interns.'

'So' — he peeked into the open space office and searched for the girl — 'an intern?'

His eyes found her immediately. Walking around the office, Eleanor was helping everyone, always with a smile on her face, not taking a break to breathe, and somehow, she still managed to get her own work done.

He could not help but to observe every single movement that she was making, and found himself smiling for no apparent reason, ignoring Larissa breathing down his neck.   

'Stop it,' Larissa whispered right by his ear.

Sebastian jumped away from his friend.

'Don't do that,' he scolded her as he covered his ear with one hand.

'And you don't gawk at my interns.'

'I'm not gawking. I'm just looking.'

'Same thing.'

'Tell her to go to my office, please.'

'No.'

'You can say no to me. I'm your boss. And I even said please.'

'I hate you.'

'No, you don't.'

'Lucky you, that I don't. Yet.' They bickered, sticking their tongues out at each other, like they were back to being children.