My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Beautyphobia
“Elara?”

She heard mumblings. She heard discourse. But the most infuriating thing was the music that drifted into her ears.

‘Could anyone turn that stupid thing off?!’

She roared in her mind and then her eyes snapped open, and facing her was a pair of cobalt eyes. Her visage fell sharply.

“Who the fuck are you?”

The lady gasped.

“Doctors! Quickly! Come!”

She stared blankly in shock.

What…? What was happening?

***

“She seems to have suffered from amnesia. Can you tell me how long you’ve been friends for?” the grey-haired lady, dressed in all white, asked, donning a stern look.

She hummed attentively while listening to the blue-eyed lady’s report, taking notes of the needed details.

Done with the conversation, she stood up, and the lady followed.

“It’s difficult to pinpoint from which exact point her memories remain. We can only ask her.”

She opened the door and they stepped into the large room filled with the aesthetics of pale blue and white.

A bed was in the midst of the room, and on it, a lady dressed in a pale blue overall with bandages wrapped across various parts of her body.

Her hair fell fluffily across her shoulders, drawing a deep contrast to the paleness of the environment.

Her attention was fully allocated to the window beside her, large and transparent, but that was all. There was no special thing to see.

The windows were closed, and its design couldn’t be more ordinary, except there was something to it—something not typically observed unless with precision and depth of knowledge.

“That,” she pointed at the window, never once looking at the visitors.

“Did I try committing suicide before?”

“Huh?!” The cobalt-eyed lady exclaimed, followed by a chuckle from the doctor, who went to the patient’s side to attend to her.

“No. But someone here once did. How did you know?”

She did a quick check-up on the lady, who obliged calmly.

“In a luxurious room like this, only the windows are ordinary, and after observing it meticulously, I could guess from the mechanics that it was built to prevent passage by force. Or at least hold up for a moment. Just a guess, though. But recognizing the type of glass it was built with was helpful.”

She shrugged.

“Anyways, I seem to have lost my memories. Let’s continue with that.”

The grey-haired lady laughed.

Now done with the check-up, she motioned towards the cobalt-eyed lady whom her patient fondly referred to as Blue.

“Do you know her?” she asked.

Elara shook her head after a bit of pondering.

“Nope,” she responded, popping the “p” in an exaggerated manner, which left Blue feeling awkward.

“Star, I’m Star. Don’t you remember?”

She pressed on with little optimism, which was crushed by the lady’s reply.

“Yeah, no.” She looked at her all over. “Pale, short black hair, magnificent blue eyes, commanding respect, but with an amiable presence which suppresses the air of royalty. I know no such person. I mostly hang out with idiots I can control. And I dislike pretty people.”

“…”

The elderly lady laughed again.

“Well, your friend seems to be quite the eccentric. And from the look of your face, you never knew.”

“She really mellowed out in her adult year…”

“Seems like it.”

“No, she most definitely did.”

Looking at the humming lady who completely ignored her presence while staring across the room, she seemed to have suddenly lost her literacy in English. She couldn’t form any credible words.

This version of Elara—blunt, nonchalant, with an air of bravery that claimed she was the type of person to do whatever she wanted, however, she wanted it, and whenever she wanted it—was the complete opposite of post-accident Elara, who was tactful, careful, and with an air of responsibility and maturity that came with age.

‘Could it be?’

“Elara, how old are you?”

The curious lady blinked.

“Oh, it seems I’m 16. Fresh out of high school. Well, at least my memory is….”

[Crash!]

A loud crash turned their attention to the entrance. Standing there was a grey-eyed man with a shocked look.

“What?”

Star was buffed, and before she could respond, the man had already arrived beside Elara, who flinched at his speed.

“You… are?” she asked wearily.

His beauty was too dazzling to not worry her. Beautiful people always raised her guard. And someone this pretty… yeah, he could never be trusted.

“You… You… You…” He stuttered furiously before coming to a stop, and then he whispered with a voice so fragile that her heart melted into liquid.

“Lost your memories?”

“I…” She stopped, then averted her gaze.

What was this immense sense of guilt devouring her from within?

She glanced at the beautiful man again and felt an explosion go off.

“Get off!” she screamed, stunning everyone, including the doctor, who had become one with the wall—vanishing from the perspective of the three who ignored her.

There was a bit of silence, and Elara glared at him with clenched teeth.

His red lips parted, and then he stopped. His eyes melted into molten gold, and an expression of fury brewed within them.

“I refuse,” he retorted, and before anyone could say a word, he clung to the lady by her waist, declaring shamelessly, “You would have to drag me away.”

After two maddening weeks, he finally saw his Ela, and somehow, they expected him to leave. What a joke.

Everyone was collectively left speechless. The doctor, who pondered if her eyes were deceiving her, was too flabbergasted to react. She had heard from her co-workers how deep the CEO’s obsession ran, but she didn’t know it was this bad.

“Sir…”

“Then!” Elara rebuffed with a furious gaze. “I’ll leave myself!”

And she was serious about it. She reached out for the IV drip in her hand when a pale hand stopped her.

Star sighed.

“All right, we’ll leave.” She nodded at the tense doctor, who stared at them with pleading eyes.

“Terence, we have to leave.”

He ignored her, but when he met his Ela’s distrustful gaze.

He bit his lips in dissatisfaction and without saying another word, left. Star waved at the doctor and then at Elara before following after.

Elara observed for a while until she was sure they were gone for good, and then she sighed in relief.

***

All needful discussions were concluded outside Elara’s room due to her… Decision.

And when John arrived, huffing and puffing, he met the two seated outside of the hospital, a few feet from each other, staring blankly into space. His heart leaped into his stomach.

“What happened?” he murmured, afraid, yet bracing for impact.

Star shook her head.

“Calm down. Nothing much happened, except Elara turned 16 years old.”

“She what?!” A sharp voice exclaimed from behind.

There stood Terra, with her signature peach-colored hair, eyes, and aesthetics. Except she appeared duller than usual.

Two weeks ago, when she heard of the terrible news, she canceled all that she had and came back to L.A. to visit her dearest.

Luckily, she was mostly fine, just a few injuries here and there. And the nasty concussion the doctor swore wouldn’t have much of a drastic effect, but now it had reverted her to 16.

What kind of shit show was that? No wonder Mr. Loverboy looked like he had years of his life taken away from him— which wasn’t far from the truth.

“She remembers none of us. She says she doesn’t trust beautiful people and doesn’t want Terrence close to her because he’s ‘too dangerous’.”

John and Terra were left baffled.

Indeed, something was very wrong.

“But what are we going to do then? We’re all gorgeous, after all.”

Everyone:…..

Star wanted to cover her face and shout to the people, glancing at them curiously, that she had no idea who this idiot was, but it probably wouldn’t work. Narcissism aside, they were good-looking.

She never really thought of it, but what was with Elara and her ability to attract very pretty people? Could one metric of hers be people being pretty?

That… oddly made sense.

If teen Elara was the direct opposite of adult Elara, as she had seen, then the former’s “I-don’t-like-beautiful-people” motto might have changed to “I-only-like-beautiful-people.”

The more she thought about it, the stupider it seemed. But why would she hate beautiful people when she was pretty?

John spoke the thoughts of everyone.

Star suggested, “I guess the difference is that, while Ellera is beautiful, her beauty is more conventional. I don’t know exactly how to put it, but I’m guessing she’s more conventional beauty and we’re more like an exotic type of beauty that is rare to find or something like that.”

“Oh, it’s the difference between beautiful and model-like beauty?” Terra hit her fist on the other.

“No, Elara is prettier than most models,” Terrence replied adamantly.

John interjected, “Yeah, Star’s explanation makes more sense.”

Looking at the three nodding along like a bunch of turkeys, Terra pouted. They completely missed what she was trying to convey. Maybe it was her choice of words, but still!

“Well, whatever.” Star stood up.

“At least she can tolerate me to an extent. The doctor says she’ll be in perfect health in about a week. We’ll take her to her family.”

“That… Actually…” Terra grimaced.

“What is it?”

“Her family is still in Nigeria.”

“What?!”