My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Her Worst Hater
Terrence woke up to the fresh smell of earthy sweetness. It permeated from the kitchen to his room and left him drooling. He yawned, reaching out to his phone and was startled into nearly dropping it. His eyes were as wide as his gape. Who the hell bakes bread at 3 a.m.?!

Apparently, a certain teen escapee did. When he entered the kitchen, he found her braids tied up in a high bun with an apron and hand gloves, holding a pan of freshly baked bread. Before he could say a word, the lady burst out laughing.

“Oh my gosh, Hello Kitty?! People say Hello Kitty girls are either the sweetest or fucking psychos. Then what about old men wearing Hello Kitty?! Hahaha.”

He stared at her with a sarcastic gaze, but before he could say another word, the lady smiled at him sweetly.

“Sorry for being mean.”

Her eyes were apologetic. “I just couldn’t help it. Don’t mind me. No one does it better! I’m serious, I’ve been to lots of sleepovers, and no one has pulled off a Hello Kitty better than you.”

He squinted his eyes, unconvinced. Was this a special way of insulting someone that only teens knew?

But Elara did nothing else, truthfully. She dutifully placed the bread down before moving to the other ovens and bringing out a medium-sized velvet cake and, lastly, a bunch of croissants. Terrence was in awe as she blew at a piece of bread before tossing it into her mouth.

“Yeah, better let it cool now,” she murmured, moving towards the wide array of cupboards.

He watched the lady cover up the pastries before facing him—he had been standing through it all.

“Since when…” he finally asked, “Have you been awake?”

Elara shrugged off the gloves before reaching out to her apron. “1 a.m.”

“What?!”

“1 a.m.,” she replied casually.

Terrence’s mind wandered to the day before. The teen had dragged him from the movie theater to the game café, to the amusement park, to the zoo, before finally arriving home, where they played chess till about 11 a.m. because she couldn’t accept the amount of defeats he gave her. She had stubbornly persisted until he forfeited on his own before finally retiring to her room with a pout, leaving him speechless.

He had never been so exhausted in his entire life. He wasn’t exactly the going-out type of person, and even before the accident, his Ela was the one who mostly initiated their hangouts, but only every once in a while. That was how he knew she was extroverted but not to this extent!

He was in his mid-thirties, for goodness’ sake. It wasn’t even a matter of being older; they were around the same age bracket… kinda.

That was a whole other matter. The issue now was, “You barely scraped three hours of sleep?”

How was she even still so energetic? Of course, he could do even more, but his mood would be nothing to write home about.

Elara blinked. “Who said I slept? I spent all night reading manhwas, and by 1 a.m., I was too pumped up to lay in bed anymore.”

Observing the male’s paleness, she giggled. “Don’t worry, it’s just a tiny bad habit of mine. My body will soon demand justice, and I’ll have no choice but to pay back what I owe!”

Then don’t owe in the first place?!

She could read the words on his face, which had her laughing maniacally like a little menace.

Terrence: Oh dear heavens…

Was this how he would turn from a lover to a parent? Someone please save him from this vicious curse!

***

“I’ll be leaving soon, so this was actually my thank-you-and-goodbye gift~. Come visit later~,” Elara explained while serving Terrence, after much to-and-fro between them, a plate of neatly sliced cake, bread, and croissants, along with a large carton of soy milk.

Contrary to his expectations, he wasn’t mocked. Instead, Elara finished an entire cup of soy milk, sat before him to watch him eat—because she didn’t yet want to—and fell asleep right there and then. He stared at the sleeping female speechlessly and felt a helpless sigh escape him.

Maybe he’d send her home with lots of soy milk if that was the secret to having her sleep. Thinking of it… he should talk to the others later on to monitor her sleep schedule. Who knew how deep this bad habit ran?

He took a bite of the cake and was blown away by its deliciousness. Combined with soy milk, it was a devastating relish that sent him to heaven and strung him right back. An absolute delish!

As he ate, his mind wandered off to his Ela.

After the beach incident, her attitude suddenly changed. One minor thing that nailed down this conclusion of his was her newly adopted act of immediately apologizing whenever she teased, mocked, or did anything she thought would offend him, which was cute because nothing she did could ever offended him.

He liked everything… even till now.

He had knowingly ignored it before, but now, observing the peacefully recharging teen, he smiled. There was no rush. None at all.

***

When Elara woke up, she found herself on her bed, covered, with a lamb plushie in hand. Eh? She had an odd dream where she confiscated this thing out of jealousy that a certain blonde held it too long… no way that was her memory, right?! Someone tell her she didn’t turn out to be a yandere!

“Well, I’ve always been close to that path, so I’m not even surprised…”

She stumbled out of the room into the living room and was met with Terrence playing one-person chess. She sighed internally. He really liked playing chess, huh? No wonder he beat her so effortlessly… not that she had given up!

“Terry,” she called out to the male, who looked at her with the literal embodiment of cartoonish shock.

She blinked. “What?”

“Terry?”

She flinched, and a shy smile graced her face. “…Don’t like it?”

“No!” The man stood up with a start, nearly scattering his chessboard and pieces. “I do! I like it very much.”

“…I’m not proposing, so no need to be that eager, yeesh…” she whispered lowly, an odd embarrassment overwhelming her.

She shrugged it off. “Erm, I’ll be leaving soon, so I wanted to have one last conversation.”

He adjusted his position before pointing to the opposite sofa. “I’m all ears.”

She sat down with unease. “Erm, I’ve been seeing glimpses of my memories.”

“WH–”

“Wait! Before you react, let me first ask you something.”

Terrence bit his lips in anticipation but obliged. “Go on.”

“I…” She was hesitant but continued. “I seem to have become like this because of my terrible high school experience.”

Her head hung low. “So I’m trying to change to, as you said, be more likable. Not just because of my adult-self halo, but for me. I know I…” She sighed.

“I’ve been terrible to you, so I wanted to apologize. And about my behavior—apart from the tests and skeptical thing, it’s actually a bad habit of mine since long ago. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

Terrence frowned. “No…”

“Are you dumb?” Elara blurted out before her eyes widened, and she muttered a sorry, leaving Terrence chuckling.

“No, cutie, but you have to be clearer so I can understand what you’re saying.”

She pouted. Who was cute?! Surely not her with all her adult charms! Though… she was a teen. Ugh, whatever.

“I’m saying I’m a bad person and have hurt lots of people in the past. Sure, I had reasons, but that doesn’t justify it, so I want to change. I want you to know I’m working towards that, but it’s only fair you know how terrible I’ve been…. You have no idea.”

Elara’s countenance fell. Was it simply playing with people? The consequences were something else. Apart from the hurt they left, some people’s social lives tanked, and some even got bullied hard. And she… suddenly the room became suffocating, and all her words ran out.

She did nothing. Even at the peak of her madness, she orchestrated bullying. Sure, her friends were trash and even bullied a fair amount of people themselves, but no one really deserved to be bullied. And she herself… she never did it out of justice but for fun. Not to mention the innocent ones that got implicated.

Just thinking about it physically hurt her soul. It wasn’t just teenage angst. When she said she’d give them trauma… she truly did.

Thinking of it, her friends got bullied so hard they dropped out. And then she had the gall to later mock them. And one of her ‘lovers’ attempted suicide because… she disparaged him. Granted, she didn’t know his mental state was already terrible and tanked it mistakenly.

She did a lot of horrid things back then. And after the memory of the classroom unlocked, they came flooding in like a wave, and this awful thought in her head just wouldn’t leave her. Kill Elara and become Sarah. What even was that?!

She finally got a hint… she’d have to look through her adult-self’s belongings to know if she could find any clue. To be honest, despite her cheerfulness, she was finding it very hard to live with what she had done, and that was why she was losing sleep.

A fair hand touched her forehead, bringing her back to reality. Her eyes met Terrence’s, and suddenly she felt fear! What if… he… also hated Elara enough to kill her? What even is this…?!

“Elara.” His voice snapped her out of her daze. “I know. Even your friends know. And you, yourself, tracked down every single person you ever hurt and apologized to them. Granted, the damage was done. What’s wrong?”

She stared up at him with a bewildered look. And then a strained smile followed before she clenched her lips with her head hung low.

“I…” Her tears fell, light trickles of crystallized drops running down her cheeks into her clenched lips, leaving a salty aftertaste. “…Do I really need to be replaced?”

A large build overwhelmed her, and her fists tightly clenched onto the male’s shirt, her face stuffed into his shoulder, staining him with a cool wetness.

He sighed while gently caressing the teen. He still couldn’t understand even till now. As for his Ela’s past? Of course he knew. The only person that didn’t know probably was Star and John. He and a certain nuisance surely couldn’t hold back their curiosity.

He didn’t mind. He never did. His Ela had changed and the past was in the past but… What was this awful gut feeling within that told him that there was more to this and that: No one hated Elara more than herself?