My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Settling In (2)
“Woah!!” Elara roared in excitement while holding tightly onto Terra who somehow managed to balance herself on the surfing board despite having Elara wrapped around her like an octopus.

Terrence sat at the shore with only a pair of boxers looking like an angry Greek god. He sipped his drink harshly, crumpled it, and suddenly ran towards the ocean where the two ladies were having the best time of their lives, with an unseemly speed, leaving Star and John who remained on the shore under the shade adjusting their sunglasses to better enjoy the drama that was about to unfold.

“Despite the ridiculousness of everything, doesn’t it feel quite good to have Mr CEO who Elara had once showered endlessly with love being treated like a curse?” John whispered sardonically.

Star stared at the stone faced male incredulously, wasn’t his expression too straight for someone saying something so wicked? Great, she was the only sane person here…

“Actually,” she chuckled, “Yeah.”

… Scratch that. They had officially lost it– every single one of them.

It had been days since they finally started living together. Elara stuck to Terra like glue and treated everyone else like air, except Terrence. He was treated like a curse.

She’d shriek at every of his attempts to come closer, refused to speak or look at him and would cling unto Terra, treating her like a shield to protect her from him until he disembarked. Indeed, he was being treated like a literal curse.

She seemed to hate seeing him, and could barely hide her relief when he was away handling business… or her displeasure when he returned. It was like she hated the very reality of his existence and no one could make her consider otherwise– even Terra.

It was a complete 180 from her behaviour with Terrence before the accident. It begged the question: What could be the issue?

“Maybe because he’s the best-looking one among us?” Terra had once suggested.

It was ridiculous but the best reason they could come up with. Others like internalized hate was too far-fetched to consider.

“Ahhh!!” Elara shrieked on top of her voice nearly deafening Terra who she clung onto tighter while pointing at the approaching Terrence in a panic.

“Get him away!!” she yelled.

He ignored her and persistently approached like an inevitable being.

Before Terra could do anything, Elara agilely leapt unto the waters leaving everyone gasping in shock. She ended up swimming out on her own after much begging and promises of Terrence being kept in check was given.

The entire thing was comically absurd and Star made sure to capture it for… the future. There was no way she was letting the new teen live this down when she regained her memories.

Elara: … Why do I feel like someone is plotting against me??

“Say ahh~,” Elara brought a spoonful of ice-cream to Terra’s lips who ate with relish.

She sighed in satisfaction, there was nothing better than the waters and ice cream on a boiling summer day!

“You know she’s sixteen right?” Terrence who was a bit farther from the group of five spoke begrudgingly.

Elara glared at him sharply which was returned with more intensity leaving her dwindling into her peach shield’s trusty protection. She rolled her eyes, how hypocritical, if Mr CEO had even 30% of the attention she gave Terra, he’d be the one in jail!

“So?” she raised her brow, “I’m not doing anything suggestive to her though?”

“Except advances that are concerning enough to involve the police. You know what, maybe we should.” His eyes glinted wickedly.

Elara gasped but Terra beat her to it, “Just say you’re jealous blondie, our relationship is as innocent as it gets~.”

Elara’s eyes were licked and she stared with astonishment at the crafty cat-like ones of the lady, “See. Totally~ Innocent~.”

Her grin provoked him but he bit the inside of his cheeks to avoid escalating matters. Nothing else happened after that except Elara being fed by Terra, stealing food from the lunchboxes of the others who allowed her dotingly– a beautiful image was painted and he wasn’t among it.

He recoiled his gaze to his phone. On it was a message: ‘Stop staring so much. I’ll give you candies later, deal or no deal?’

His eyes softened and he smiled in exhaustion, it was quick but he caught her sneak a glance from him leaving him a bit relieved. All she needed to do was so little to have him reeling… even then and now she always had him wrapped around his fingers with no way of escape.

He sighed internally, clenching his juice box till it spilled, it was but for a mere moment. He could endure this, for his Ela.

***

He had to leave due to business matters the next day and his mood was quite sour until Star gave him a pack of candies from his Ela. A ping caught his attention and a picture had been sent. It was a box filled with candies.

‘Mum got ’em for me, I don’t like sharing but you look pitiful enough.’

Blunt. Brief yet caring. He chuckled.

“Tell her I said thanks.”

“You’re telling me the CEO is finally back?” Mrs Anne whisper-yelled to Emily who nodded vigorously.

“Not only that, but his aura is terrible. I heard he’s stricter and far less amiable than usual. Everyone is tiptoeing about him,” Emily sighed, “I can’t help but wonder what happened when he was gone.”

“It’s terrible,” Divine who had suddenly popped up added, wherever there was gossip his tail was sure to be there, “My supervisor is using the situation to torment us. The one-week deadline for submission of our latest project has suddenly been shortened to three days! And I booked a date thinking I had some free time….”

Mrs Anne shook her head in pity. “You poor thing.”

“It’s nothing much,” Divine shrugged, “But what about Elara? There’s been nothing since then?”

Both Divine and Emily stared at Mrs Anne who gestured a negative. “Nothing. Pin drop silence. Even more troubling is how silent the upper echelons is, about the matter, it’s like they know something that we don’t. I just hope that she’s okay.”

They all murmured in agreement and there was a moment of silence right after before Emily jeopardized it.

“What if,” she suggested, “Elara is the reason the CEO is how he is? I mean–”

“Please keep your conspiracy theories about the CEO to yourself,” Divine interjected harshly, “You know what happens when you take his name lightly. I have no contingency plans for being fired except going broke and possibly homeless.”

“Fair enough,” Emily grimaced, “What about you Mrs Anne, what are you going to do about Elara?”

Mrs Anne frowned, “I’ll try reaching out to her anyway I can. Until now I never realized how little I know of Elara even though our closeness had reached to the extent of babysitting my kids.”

“Yeah, that’s how Elara is,” Divine confirmed, “She’s a delight to be around. Very kind and would shower you with kindness once she has a bit of fondness for you. But that line remains there, you’ll barely know anything about her.”

“Did you check where she lived? Do you even know where?”

Mrs Anne nodded. “Yes, I went there but it was empty and closed off. The neighborhood around is mostly fenced with gates and didn’t even know who she was when I asked.”

“Damn, that’s hard. Don’t worry, you’ll get something eventually. Hopefully.” Emily consoled.

Mrs. Anne sighed. She hoped so too. She also followed her author page due to her kid being a huge fan and even then still had no clue. The only thing that had been divulged to the readers was that she was on general hiatus due to ‘personal matters’ and would be back soon. Nothing else was disclosed– even when her return would be and she was lost as they get.

She remembered the abruptness of it all. One day she didn’t show up for work and the days rolled into weeks and weeks into months and somehow everyone got used to it, especially the higher uppers– they already had others take over her work.

There were no complaints. No questions asked. And, even more suspicious, no official dismissal which would have been the normal course of action when an employee disappeared for so long without prior notice.

She had even mustered the courage to ask and was merely brushed off, only Mr Lex who she was quite close with told her the matters concerning Elara were sensitive and it’d do her well to disembark, so she had no choice but to give up finding any clues from the office.

She was worried– very worried. After all, Elara had done so much for her, how heartless would she be to ignore her if there was even the slightest possibility she was in a dire situation? Her radical imagination as an author wasn’t helping matters either, at least Emily was tame in suggesting the CEO and Elara were involved. She, herself, had once concluded she had been sold to him…

She grunted. “Don’t worry, since the higher uppers are in on this, she’s probably okay, let’s just do our very best.”

“Roger!”