Chapter 16
"Emma! You seriously expect me to go into the women's restroom?!"
Adrian finally managed to pull himself free from Emma.
He stopped right outside the women's restroom, refusing to take another step.
Emma turned around.
"Then go to the men's room?"
It was all the same to her.
One minute. That was all she needed.
The first-floor restrooms were practically empty most of the time anyway.
"No! The men's room isn't happening either!"
Adrian immediately pictured the urinals.
What if he walked in and some random guy was standing there using one?
Absolutely not.
Emma rolled her eyes.
"So the men's room is out, and the women's room is out. What exactly do you want me to do?"
Adrian's eyes widened.
"Emma! Did you seriously just roll your eyes at me?"
He pointed at himself in disbelief.
"What kind of attitude is that?"
When did she get this bold?
Emma rolled her eyes again.
"What do you want?"
Adrian:
"......"
Emma had never rolled her eyes at him before.
Not once.
And Adrian was furious.
Who did she think she was?
She was supposed to be the girl who followed him around like he was the center of the universe.
And now she was rolling her eyes at him?
Still...
For some reason, it was kind of cute.
Adrian immediately shut that thought down.
What the hell am I thinking?
He frowned.
"Whatever. We're not going in."
Emma turned around.
"Fine. Then clean your own face."
Adrian's eyes widened.
He immediately grabbed her arm.
"No. That doesn't work either!"
Emma looked back at him.
"You made the mess. You clean it."
"No. You made the mess, so you clean it."
Emma took a slow, deep breath.
For the past year, she'd been paid $100,000 a month to put up with Adrian Mercer.
For that kind of money, she could tolerate almost anything.
His temper.
His ridiculous demands.
His mood swings.
His spoiled-rich-kid attitude.
All of it.
But that arrangement was over.
She was now a secretary intern making $3,000 a month.
At that salary?
Having a little attitude was perfectly reasonable.
Emma pulled her arm free.
"Go deal with it yourself. I have things to do."
Adrian stood there, stunned.
He stared at her back for three full seconds.
Then—
"Emma!"
She stopped.
"Your boss is standing right here! What could possibly be more important?"
Emma turned around and smiled.
"Lunch."
She pointed toward the clock.
"It's lunch break. That means it's my time."
Three thousand dollars a month meant clear boundaries.
I'm not working one second of unpaid overtime.
Adrian stared at her smile.
For some reason, he froze.
That smile was different.
It looked like the Emma he knew—
but not quite.
He couldn't put his finger on what had changed.
He just knew something about it bothered him.
Emma turned around again.
Adrian clenched his fist.
"Come back!"
She kept walking.
"Fine! The women's restroom. We'll use the women's restroom!"
Emma stopped.
She looked back over her shoulder.
Annoying.
But Adrian had once been one of her biggest clients.
There was no reason to completely burn that bridge.
She sighed and walked back.
"Seriously..."
Adrian tugged at the silver chain around his neck.
"You go in first and make sure nobody's there."
Emma stared at him.
"You're unbelievable."
She walked into the restroom.
A few seconds later, she stuck her head back out.
"It's empty. Come in."
Adrian hesitated.
He looked around.
Nobody was there.
Fine.
He walked in.
This was officially the first time in his life Adrian Mercer had ever stepped inside a women's restroom.
Mercer Holdings clearly took its cleaning staff seriously.
The place was spotless.
There was barely any smell at all.
If anything, it actually smelled nice.
The women's restroom wasn't much different from the men's.
There was a huge mirror, a polished marble counter, and expensive-looking fixtures everywhere.
Adrian walked up to the sink.
Then he looked at himself in the mirror.
His expression darkened.
Damn it.
I look awful.
How much damage had this done to his image?
He was supposed to look effortlessly cool.
Not like he'd just lost a fight with a bowl of ice cream.
Adrian immediately turned on the water.
He washed his face.
Then he wiped the ice cream stains from his shirt.
Emma grabbed a huge stack of paper towels from the dispenser.
When she turned around, most of the ice cream was already gone.
Water droplets slid down Adrian's handsome face.
He ran his wet fingers through his blue hair and glanced sideways at her.
"What are you waiting for?"
He tilted his chin.
"Come wipe the rest off."
Emma raised an eyebrow.
She had to admit—
the guy was annoyingly good-looking.
His features were sharp.
His eyes were striking.
When he didn't smile, he looked cool and intimidating.
When he did smile, there was something almost boyishly cocky about him.
If he hadn't gone abroad for school, he'd basically be a college junior back home.
The kind of ridiculously handsome college guy who could walk across campus and have half the students turning their heads.
Unfortunately—
he was also a spoiled rich kid who had been pampered his entire life.
When he'd gone overseas to study, his household staff had practically gone with him.
Housekeepers.
Drivers.
Assistants.
Personal staff.
There had been more than a dozen people taking care of him.
His mother herself flew over constantly to check on him.
Apparently, the greatest hardship Adrian Mercer had ever experienced was—
Emma walked over.
Then she started vigorously wiping his face with the paper towels.
Adrian immediately leaned backward.
"Easy!"
Both hands braced against the marble counter.
"Are you trying to kill me?"
Emma glanced at him.
"What species of delicate princess are you?"
She pressed the paper towel against his cheek.
"Paper towels aren't going to kill you."
"Princess?"
Adrian stared at her.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
If anyone around here was the princess, it was probably her.
No.
That thought was even worse.
Emma was still annoyed, but she did ease up.
Unfortunately, for someone who had just been practically scrubbed raw, the lighter touch was almost worse.
A faint tickling sensation spread across Adrian's face.
Emma was standing very close.
She had to rise slightly onto her toes to reach his face.
Her breath brushed against his cheek.
Adrian suddenly became painfully aware of how close she was.
His back pressed against the marble counter.
He slowly leaned farther back.
For some reason, being in a women's restroom made the whole situation feel strangely forbidden.
And somehow—
that made it even more distracting.
His heartbeat sped up.
His throat moved as he swallowed.
His fingers tightened against the marble.
Emma knew Adrian loved finding fault with everything.
So if she was going to do something, she either did it properly—
or didn't bother doing it at all.
She carefully wiped away every last drop of water from his face.
Little by little.
Until she suddenly realized—
Adrian was practically lying against the counter.
And without noticing, she'd followed his position.
She was almost leaning over him.
Emma frowned.
Adrian noticed it too.
Their position was getting weird.
He blinked.
Then pressed his lips together.
"Too light."
Emma stared at him.
She was starting to lose her patience.
"Do you want me to be gentle or rough?"
Adrian looked at her irritated expression.
For once—
he didn't have a comeback.
A strange hesitation flickered through his eyes.
Gentle...
Or rough?
Which one did he actually want?
Before he could answer, Emma straightened.
At the same time, she grabbed the silver chain around his neck and gave it a tug, trying to pull him upright.
Adrian wasn't expecting it.
He lurched forward.
Suddenly—
they were extremely close.
Their faces were only inches apart.
Their breathing mixed between them.
Neither of them moved.
For one strange second, they simply stared at each other.
Then—
"Ah!"
"You—"
"Oh! I'm so sorry!"
Both of them immediately looked toward the doorway.
A cleaning lady stood there.
She froze.
Her eyes widened.
Then she immediately covered her face.
"Oh! Sorry! Sorry, Mr. Mercer!"
She turned around and hurried away.
As if she'd just witnessed something she absolutely did not want to be responsible for knowing about.
Emma blinked.
"The cleaning lady needs to clean."
She tossed the paper towels into the trash.
"Your face is fine now. Let's go."
Adrian's assistant hadn't followed him downstairs for lunch.
He'd conveniently disappeared right after returning from the cafeteria.
Apparently, even assistants needed survival instincts.
When he saw Adrian returning, however, he immediately noticed something strange.
Adrian's ears were red.
Very red.
Against his bright blue hair, it was almost impossible not to notice.
His eyes also looked slightly unfocused.
The assistant frowned.
"Mr. Mercer, are you okay?"
Adrian waved him off.
"Get out."
"Sure thing!"
The assistant immediately left.
Adrian's office was actually a suite.
There was a bedroom inside, complete with its own bathroom and a bed for resting.
The moment the door closed behind his assistant, Adrian practically ran inside.
He threw himself onto the bed.
Then buried his entire face in the mattress.
What the hell was that?
What the hell was that?!
Why was his heart still beating so fast?
Emma had done nothing.
She'd just wiped his face.
That's all.
And yet—
she wasn't the same as before.
She'd been rude.
She'd rolled her eyes at him.
She'd snapped at him.
She'd even told him to clean his own face.
Logically, that should have made him even more annoyed with her.
So why—
Why did he suddenly think she was ridiculously cute?
Adrian stayed there until he could barely breathe.
Finally, he rolled onto his back.
He stared at the ceiling.
His bright eyes were filled with confusion.
After thinking about it for a while, he grabbed his phone.
He opened his messages and texted his best friend, Noah.
The reply came almost immediately.
Adrian:
"......"
He typed.
Noah replied almost instantly.
Adrian immediately hit the voice-message button.
Noah replied:
Adrian stared at the screen.
He knew explaining himself wouldn't work.
So he gave up.
Why would he have a picture of Emma?
It wasn't like he took pictures of her.
Although Emma had plenty of pictures of him.
He'd caught her secretly taking photos more than once.
Noah replied:
Adrian frowned.
Emma was the creep.
She didn't just take pictures.
She followed him around.
Noah answered:
Adrian stared at the message.
He was slowly being convinced.
There was no need to secretly take a picture.
He could just ask Emma to stand there.
She'd definitely listen.
She always had before.
Except—
Emma didn't come to his office.
Not once.
The entire afternoon passed.
Adrian grew increasingly irritated.
Is she still mad?
What is she, a punching bag?
He couldn't stand it anymore.
His hand reached for the blinds.
He pulled one of the slats aside.
He was going to see exactly what the hell that woman was doing.
But Emma wasn't at her desk.
Adrian frowned.
"Mr. Mercer?"
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.
Adrian froze.
He immediately released the blinds.
"It's filthy."
He stared at the window.
"This blind is disgusting. It's covered in dust."
He turned around and frowned.
"Why did you come in without knocking?"
Damn it.
She scared the hell out of me.
Emma pointed toward the door.
"It was open."
Adrian slipped one sweaty hand into his pocket.
Then he returned to his chair.
"What do you want?"
Emma walked over.
There was an envelope in her hand.
She held it out to him.
"Here."
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
Emma turned around.
"You'll see."
Adrian watched her walk away.
Without realizing it, the corner of his mouth lifted.
A love letter?
Well, well.
Look who's finally learned how to write one.
The last time he'd received a love letter had been in elementary school.
He hadn't even read it.
He'd thrown it straight into the trash.
But this time—
he could give Emma a little credit.
He'd read hers.
Adrian opened the envelope with his long fingers.
Pulled out the paper.
And froze.
Several large words stared back at him.
I'm not interested in being a secretary.
I'm off to save the planet and maintain peace throughout the universe.
Goodbye!
Adrian:
"......"
He stared at the letter.
Then at the door Emma had just walked through.
His expression slowly darkened.