My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Kill Elara
John watched as Elara effortlessly curated a beautiful glass of wine and served it to him. Past and present clashed, and the glass in his hand shattered into pieces, mixing with the vibrant colors of the drink into a colorful sight.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I’ll have another.”

Elara nodded silently. Her bright smile dimmed and the cheerfulness of the surroundings was snuffed out.

John watched while drinking as she cleaned up the mess and couldn’t help but ask, “Is there anything you are not good at?”

Elara, holding a packer filled with pieces of glass blinked, “How so?”

“Writing, coding, chess, teakwondo….”

“You did your assignment huh?” she cut him off lightly.

“I guess I had a lot of time on my hands, and I’m a fast learner, so everything just worked out.”

She picked up the mob, “Besides, I mostly dabbled in them except writing.”

“And yet you are quite good at it, even above average. Like in this,” John swirled his wine glass, “You’re still as good as you were before. This… when did you learn it?”

She chuckled nervously, “Do you really want to know?”

He already knew. After all, he was smart enough to make a calculated guess but he still wanted to hear it from her mouth.

“Yeah.”

She sighed before leaving to dispose of the mess and place the utilities in their rightful position. She came back right after, making another drink which he sipped at, “Tasty.”

“Thank you,” she smiled gratefully before averting her eyes, “I learned it to approach you.”

There was silence for a while before he responded, “I know.”

She laughed, “I know you know.”

“You’re still keeping in touch with him aren’t you?” he suddenly questioned.

Elara stiffened; her reaction, although subtle, wasn’t missed, and John felt a pang of pride swell up within him that, for the first time in a long while, he had caught her off guard.

“You could tell.”

He finished his drink and asked for another, which Elara gave him right away.

“You were still happy. It was either that or you never really cared about him,” he responded.

“I could have simply pretended, though.”

“I guess so. Guess you fell for my trap.”

Elara smiled mischievously, then leaned into the male, who rapidly backtread, “You’re not stupid. I’m not. Yet we are both pretending to be. This won’t work if we continue this childish play, John. We are adults. We should behave like it.”

“Still haven’t lost that bluntness, I see,” he scoffed before asking for another drink, which he was served.

He burped lightly and a laugh came from beside him, “Someone also didn’t change.”

He glared, but continued drinking anyways.

“Come clean, and I will.”

His eyes met Elara’s calm ones, and for a while, he wondered if he was being played again. Hopefully not.

“I do have an ulterior motive,” Elara said, “But I’m hoping we can rekindle our flame, despite our terrible parting.”

She stopped, “My biggest mistake was parting without goodbye, but I was scared, you see. I was scared to confront the monstrosity of what I did to you.”

John’s lips parted, but then they closed, and feeling Elara’s eyes, he motioned to her to continue, “Guilt. Regret. Longing. I buried everything. I’m not asking you to forgive me, but if we can at least bury the past, even if you abhor me to the end of time, I will live with it. I want to take responsibility for my actions.”

John scoffed, “Why?”

Such a simple yet straightforward question, why indeed?

Elara pushed another glass to him, “Your last.”

He glared, “No.”

She leaned into his face with a smirk, pinching his chin lightly, “Your last, Mr. LeBron.”

Embarrassed, he shoved her away, eliciting a cheerful giggle, which made him flush harder.

This little imp had her hair in a bun, and along with the body-hug singlet that showed off her bust and casual pants, her dressing was anything but special.

But just like back then, she still held a charm so overwhelming it couldn’t be ignored or resisted. He bent his head and bit his lips subconsciously. She was still so mesmerizing.

“Fine.”

“Good.”

She took away the last cup of drink before returning.

“I will not lie that I’m not doing this out of selfishness but I refuse to run away from anything again— my old feelings for you that I buried to keep on living without confronting what I did and our past resurfaced,” Elara sighed, sitting beside him as she continued.

“I can only do so much to prove my genuity. I understand how cruel it is to tell you to give me another chance, but since you’re here why don’t we throw away all reservations and face it blatantly?”

John blinked, surprised by her directness. He smiled; he seemed to have forgotten; this was one of the traits he liked most about her.

“I like the sound of that,” he finished his wine and kept it aside, “I actually came to make you suffer but here we are again. It’s almost like I could never win when it comes to you.”

He pulled her into a hug, “Hm. Seeing you now, I realized… It’s not revenge; I want. It’s your company. Still, it feels so wrong to be so easy… You destroyed me Elara. I hate your guts so much…”

She giggled, “John, you’re drunk.”

“I hate not being part of your life… you’ll take me in, hm… But you have to pay… I’m so unwilling to let you off this easily…”

Watching the drunken male go from coherent to incoherent Elara simply swooped his large figure into her arms.

“Eeik! What the…?!” John’s drowsiness momentarily cleared up, and, on noticing their position, screamed in horror.

“Ack! My ears! Calm down!”

“You are still doing that thing…!?” he roared, struggling to escape from the lady’s arm. But oddly enough, her grip managed to outdo his struggles.

A lady effortlessly overpowered him. He should be ashamed. However, when it came to this freak, everything she did somehow made sense. But still, his pride!

“Nooo!!!”

“Dumbass! Stop making my job harder!”

By the time he stopped struggling, Elara had tossed him in bed covered him with a blanket, and was panting.

Watching the bleary-eyed male glare at her from the covers, she suddenly felt it wasn’t so bad; seeing this asshole make such a cute face was well worth the effort.

She shook her head in defeat, “I’ll go get you water.”

She was about to leave when a grip stopped her.

“What do you really want, Elara?”

Their eyes clashed, and suddenly, a wave of pain washed over her. So terrified of her yet willing to try again, honestly, if given a chance, her idea would be to permanently cut ties with John.

She had hurt him too much; that type of hurt was better to be buried along with the person who caused it, but then he was back, and she realized— he needed her presence to recover.

Their bond had been special. Even more than friends, they were siblings. She was the sister he never had. The only one he completely opened up to.

She knew he was desperate for real company; after all, that was why she approached him in the first place— lonely people were easier manipulated.

Something told her that even back then he had suspected her but was so desperate to keep their relationship he ignored the signs.

Looking at him, how bad was his life after? Did he not live happily ever after like she thought he would? How did he end up even worse than before? It was almost like the universe was forcing her to face her mistakes.

And she would this time, she’d never hurt him again. She had to make up for what she had done.

“I’m for real okay? I know it’s difficult but please try. I don’t have anything to prove it to you so here I am shamelessly asking for your trust once again despite what I did.”

He rolled his eyes, but their sparkle betrayed his sarcasm, “Since I’m stupid enough to give you a second chance if you’re gonna fully destroy me, then do.”

Elara laughed, “Permission to screw me over if I do! You know what, why don’t we live together so I can tell you all my secrets, and if I mess up in the future, you can fuck me up with it?”

It was a nice idea. So despite his misgivings, he immediately lept onto it as he leaped onto the opportunity to have a link with Lara back then. That proved to be a very bad decision, but hey, you only live once, don’t you?

“Fine.”

She lept in joy, “I knew you’d agree!”

***

Elara sat on the couch languidly, while flipping through the channels as a yawn escaped her.

‘Living together huh…’

She was serious, although her angel would most definitely not want this. This was a decision she had to make.

‘It’s always Elara going about hurting people. But don’t worry, Sarah will fix this… Sarah will fix it all,’ she thought drowsily before falling asleep.

Her mind briefly drifted off to a certain memory. That time, John had wanted to speak to her. She could have explained. She could have pleaded. She could have tried to have him understand. But she berated him, ignored him, and ran away like a coward.

She was scared of facing the monstrosity of what she had done to achieve her goals. She was afraid of facing ELARA. Deeply so. Hopefully, when they reconcile, she can finally bury that phantom, fully.

She had hurt too many people. Forget paying the price— Elara needed to die.