Chapter 15
It was lunchtime.
The first-floor lobby of the Mercer Holdings branch was packed with employees coming and going.
Adrian's bright blue hair already made him impossible to miss.
Being the young heir to the company helped too.
People greeted him whenever he walked by.
And even when they didn't, they usually gave him a second look.
Emma was still just an intern, but she was practically famous around the office.
All because she'd spent more than a year relentlessly chasing Adrian Mercer.
Put a ridiculously handsome man and a ridiculously beautiful woman in the same room, and people were going to look.
Put those two together?
People were going to stop walking.
And whisper.
Usually, everyone saw the same scene:
Emma following Adrian around with a sweet, shameless smile plastered across her face.
This time was different.
For the first time, they were walking straight toward each other.
And Emma acted as if Adrian didn't exist.
She was too busy eating her ice cream.
They passed each other without saying a word.
Yes, technically speaking, life had no audience.
But somehow, there always seemed to be an audience anyway.
And right now, the audience had taken their seats.
Something's wrong.
Something is very, very wrong.
People who noticed immediately stopped walking.
The company shipping group was small, and most employees still had no idea that Adrian's supposed fiancée had shown up that morning.
So when the two of them crossed paths, everyone froze.
Then they saw something even stranger.
Adrian—the man who normally couldn't be bothered to look at Emma and occasionally spoke to her like she had personally offended him—reached over and stole her ice cream.
The entire lobby collectively went:
Oh.
What the hell?
And then someone noticed the important detail.
Wait.
That was the ice cream she was already eating.
This was no longer ordinary office gossip.
This was breaking news.
But the biggest shock was still coming.
Emma didn't smile sweetly.
She didn't apologize.
She didn't bow her head and beg him to give it back.
She turned around—
And grabbed Adrian by the hair.
He changed the color constantly.
He spent an absurd amount of time styling it every morning.
His hair was practically part of his personality.
And now—
Someone had grabbed it.
Someone who had spent the past year acting like his personal fan club.
Every employee who witnessed it had the exact same thought.
Secretary Emma.
You were a good coworker.
You will be missed.
Adrian hadn't even had time to process what was happening.
Someone had actually grabbed his hair.
And that someone was Emma.
The same Emma who usually apologized if he looked mildly annoyed.
But there wasn't time to think.
Emma yanked.
Adrian's balance went backward.
Unfortunately, the cleaning staff had just mopped the floor.
And the shoes Adrian was wearing had absolutely no grip.
"Whoa—"
His feet shot forward.
His entire body went airborne.
He hit the floor.
"Ah!"
At the same time—
The ice cream flew out of his hand.
And, through a miracle of terrible timing, the entire scoop landed directly on his face.
Adrian:
"......"
Emma, still holding several strands of bright blue hair:
"......"
Everyone watching:
"......"
The whole thing had happened in maybe three seconds.
Three.
Seconds.
People had been willing to watch Emma grab Adrian's hair.
Sure, they might get yelled at for it later.
But watching Adrian get humiliated this badly?
That was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
So everyone silently prepared three imaginary candles for Emma.
Secretary Emma.
Good luck.
May your soul rest in peace.
And then—
It was like someone had pulled the fire alarm.
Except there was no fire.
Just Adrian Mercer covered in ice cream.
Only Emma and Adrian remained.
The enormous lobby suddenly felt strangely quiet.
Except for the faint hum of the air-conditioning.
Emma stood there for a moment, completely stunned.
Then she slowly crouched down.
She stared at Adrian with her big, expressive eyes.
There was regret in them.
Shock.
Pain.
And the kind of heartbreak usually reserved for losing a loved one.
Because—
Her ice cream.
Her beautiful little $2 ice cream.
Adrian, meanwhile, was lying on the floor mentally going through approximately seventeen different ways to kill Emma.
That damn woman.
She actually pulled me down.
In front of all those people.
I'm never going to recover from this.
He was just about to explode when Emma looked at him.
Her eyes were clear and beautiful.
There was so much regret in them that the corners of her eyes had even turned slightly red.
Her eyelashes trembled.
She looked like she was about to cry.
Every angry word in Adrian's head suddenly got stuck in his throat.
He took a deep breath.
Fine.
She clearly regretted it.
She looked genuinely devastated.
He could be the bigger person.
Just this once.
"Why are you still staring?"
Adrian glared at her.
"Help me up."
The people who had supposedly left hadn't actually gone very far.
They were hiding behind walls.
Behind doors.
Behind decorative plants.
Anywhere that provided a decent view without exposing them to workplace consequences.
One employee whispered,
"Oh my God. He didn't even yell."
"I thought he was going to slap her."
"Are you kidding? Adrian's an asshole, not a psychopath."
"Guys, look. His ears are red."
"He probably hit his head."
"No, I think he's embarrassed."
"You want to keep your job, right?"
"His entire face is covered in ice cream and he still hasn't killed her."
A pause.
"I owe that man an apology. I've been judging him too harshly."
"What's gotten into Emma today?"
"She feels like a completely different person."
"Maybe she finally snapped."
"Honestly, if you spend a year chasing Adrian Mercer, something is bound to break eventually."
Emma was furious.
And heartbroken.
But common sense was slowly returning.
Don't get angry.
Don't get angry.
You already lost your temper once.
Emma had always been extremely protective of her food.
She didn't have many principles in life.
But food was different.
Food was sacred.
She'd been that way since childhood.
No one had ever successfully taken food from her.
When she was in middle school, she attended school in the nearest town.
She brought lunch from home every day.
There were a few older troublemakers who liked hanging around the roads and stealing things from younger kids.
One day, they stole Emma's lunch.
Emma was twelve.
Skinny.
Short.
And completely unimpressed.
She picked up a brick and cracked one of them over the head.
The older boys were seventeen or eighteen.
Tall.
Loud.
The kind of teenagers who thought hanging around outside convenience stores made them intimidating.
They had absolutely no idea what had just happened.
They'd never met a twelve-year-old girl with that particular personality defect.
After that, they stopped stealing from her.
Sometimes, they even went out of their way to avoid her.
It wasn't just people.
Even animals knew better.
When Emma was little, she'd once taken steamed buns with her while helping out in the fields.
A stray dog grabbed one and ran.
Emma chased it.
For nearly three miles.
She eventually caught up, took her bun back, and gave the dog several enthusiastic smacks for its criminal behavior.
After that, the dog started crossing the road whenever it saw her.
So when Adrian suddenly stole her ice cream—
Emma's reaction had been pure instinct.
Her hand simply moved.
She hadn't even thought about it.
The part where Adrian actually lost his balance and went flying?
That had been completely unexpected.
Now that she was standing there looking at the mess she'd created, Emma could only feel one thing.
Regret.
Not because she'd pulled Adrian's hair.
Not even because she'd knocked her boss onto the floor.
She regretted one thing:
Why didn't I just finish my ice cream outside?
Adrian had suddenly decided to steal her food for no reason.
What was wrong with him?
They used to eat lunch together every day, and he'd spent half that time complaining that she ate like she hadn't seen food in a week.
And technically, Adrian was still her boss.
She had knocked her boss onto the floor.
That wasn't exactly ideal for job security.
Emma sighed.
There was nothing she could do now.
She reached down and helped him up.
Once Adrian was standing, Emma prepared to leave.
Adrian remained where he was, rubbing his sore backside.
Then his anger returned.
"Emma!"
She stopped.
"You're seriously just going to walk away?"
Emma turned around.
"Mr. Mercer, do you need something?"
Adrian pointed at himself.
"Look at me!"
His handsome face was covered in white ice cream.
There was even some on his shirt.
Standing there covered in dessert, he looked less like the heir to a billion-dollar company and more like someone who had just lost a fight with a soft-serve machine.
Emma looked at him.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered the stray puppies back home.
Sometimes they'd fall into a muddy ditch while playing.
Then they'd climb out, covered in dirt, and start barking at everyone as if the entire world had personally offended them.
Emma almost laughed.
She quickly swallowed it.
Instead, she calmly explained,
"You stole my ice cream first."
Adrian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
For a brief moment, he had no argument.
Then he remembered who he was.
He was Adrian Mercer.
He didn't need arguments.
"I don't care!"
He pointed angrily at his face.
"Clean this off. Now."
Emma:
"......"
"Or I'll make you regret it."
Emma knew Adrian well enough.
Trying to reason with him was like expecting a bulldozer to apologize.
So there was no point.
Besides, she was still technically his secretary.
She didn't have to flatter him anymore.
But if her boss gave her an order?
She still had to do her job.
"I don't have any wipes," Emma said.
"Let's go back to the office."
"No."
Adrian immediately refused.
"We'd have to take the elevator. There are people everywhere."
He pointed angrily at his face.
"Do you think I haven't embarrassed myself enough today?"
Emma stared at him.
She had no idea why Adrian insisted on calling himself Master whenever he talked to her.
Maybe he genuinely thought she was his servant.
Honestly, considering how much work he'd dumped on her over the past year—
he wasn't exactly wrong.
"Fine."
Emma grabbed his arm.
"Let's go to the restroom. I'll help you clean your face."
By now, there were even more people gathered outside the lobby.
The building's first floor had a modern glass-heavy design.
The front entrance was practically transparent.
Someone had even stationed themselves outside to stop people from walking in.
"Wait a minute. Don't go inside."
"Why?"
"Trust me."
So instead of entering, dozens of employees were now pressed against the glass like zombies at the end of the world.
Eyes wide.
Phones out.
Absolutely unwilling to miss a single second.
Emma glanced over and nearly jumped.
There were people everywhere.
Adrian noticed them too.
His ears turned even redder.
They're all watching.
And Emma—
Emma was holding his arm.
Right in front of everyone.
The moment the crowd realized Adrian had noticed them, everyone instantly straightened up.
Phones disappeared.
People suddenly became extremely busy.
One employee put a phone to his ear.
"Mr. Wilson? Yeah. Your dog had babies."
Another nodded seriously into his phone.
"Babe? What do you mean you're leaving me for my boss?"
Another one stared at the ceiling.
"Wow. What a beautiful ceiling."
Someone else pretended to check their email.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm looking at the quarterly numbers right now."
Not one person was watching.
Obviously.
They were all just extremely dedicated employees who happened to be facing the same direction.
By the time they reached the first-floor restroom, Emma still had a firm grip on Adrian's arm.
Adrian hadn't pulled away.
And neither of them seemed to realize just how suspicious the whole thing looked to everyone watching from behind the glass.