Chapter38

*** I returned to work in quite a very good mood. An hour later, while I was busy with the work Christina had given me, her personal assistant came in with a few files. "Christina said you should edit them and after that, hand them over to Heather." I smiled and collected the files. Perfect excuse to go to her office or to see her. "Sure. I'll do that right away." When he left the office, I started with the editing. I was really fast and after about forty five minutes, I was through. I got up and headed for her office. I reached her door and knocked. She asked me to enter. I got in and the first thing I noticed was her hair. I felt my heartbeat slightly speed up. She looked even more like the Heather I'd known, with beautiful and fully brown hair. She looked up from her computer to see who had entered her office. Heather's POV: When I saw that it was Ace that had entered my office, I didn't really know how to react. He smiled nervously at me. "Good afternoon, Heather." I managed a shy smile at him. "Good afternoon, Ace. Take a seat." He came over and sat down. "You're very beautiful with your natural hair color." he said. I felt my cheeks burn. How did he– Anyway, it was evident. My mom and Sawyer were complete brunettes so I was surely one. "Thank you." I smiled shyly and tucked my hair behind my ear. "You're welcome. Here." he gave me some files. "Oh, thanks." I collected them. Ace's POV: She was always so shy. If only she knew how much her smile, when I'd entered her office, had warmed my heart. I was happy she was putting in effort to act normally and treat me nicely. I decided to try out something. "Miss Heather?" "Yes?" "Do I scare you?" I asked courageously. She looked at me in surprise, her eyes a little more open than usual. "W– what??" "I have the feeling that you don't really like me." Her mouth dropped open. She was clearly speechless. I tried not to smile. "What? Why do you think so?" she asked nervously, her face reddening. "Because you've been avoiding me ever since I started working here. And it's only because of that elevator incident that you actually seemed to be polite or at ease around me." Her mouth was still open. I knew she was even more nervous but I had to pass through this conversation to clear things out with her. "N– no, you shouldn't think that way." she stammered, "It's not like I don't like you, I do like you." I smiled at what she'd just said. She blushed. "I mean I do appreciate you as much as any other employee here." "Thank you. That really consoles me. Does this mean there are possibilities of us becoming friends?" I asked. She looked at me lost. I stared straight into her eyes. "Um, I guess." "Thank you. I'm happy to hear that." I stood up with a smile, "Because I wouldn't want to give a bad impression to the most beautiful girl working in this company." She smiled back in a shy manner. "Thank you, Ace." I nodded politely before excusing myself and leaving her office. Heather's POV: The days slowly went by and Ace and I greeted each other often. He was nice but I still kept a little distance. He was quite courageous and would approach me when I didn't approach him. I could say we were sort of friends? I didn't really know yet. Maybe just colleagues. "You're kinda funny." I giggled after he'd had told me a little joke. We were drinking our espressos close to the machine down the hallway of our floor. "Kinda funny? That's it?" he asked playfully. It was the Thursday of that same week. "Okay, okay. You're funny." I looked at him and when he stared back, I felt my cheeks go red and I looked away. But he didn't look away. He was still staring at me. "Always so shy, miss Heather." he said slowly, taking a sip of his espresso. I smiled shyly but still didn't look at him. "Have always been." I said. "Do people often complain about it?" he asked. I finally looked at him. "Yeah. But I can't help it." "Even your boyfriend?" he asked. I stared at him. "How do you know I have a boyfriend?" "I work here now. Of course I know." True. I drank from my mug. "He does complain at times." I admitted. Ace was silent for some time, just staring at me. "What? You want my picture?" I teased him. I was shy but a little sassy at times. My question surprise him. "Oh, not so shy after all." he stated and I laughed. "I find shy girls very attractive." he added with a smirk. I felt goosebumps take over my skin. I was more than nervous but I tried to play tough and not show it. People shouldn't take my shyness for weakness. "Good for you." I teased again with a smile too. He smiled back. We continued sipping the hot drinks and that was when Sawyer passed by. "Hey Heather, hey Ace." "Hey." we both replied. She then turned to me. "Mom said we should leave work by five PM to go and prepare some food. Visitors might be coming tonight." I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay. I've heard ya." She walked away and I dropped my mug. "Now that I have to leave the office earlier, let me go finish my work." I told Ace. He looked at me. "You're twenty two, beautiful and independent. Why are you still living with your mother?" "Oh, I'm packing this Friday into my own apartment." "Oh, nice." "Yup. I can't stay in a house that does not belong to us and pretend it's ours." Ace frowned a little. "What do you mean not yours?"