After a long week, that had been tiring for multiple reasons, Friday finally arrived. Elle had been running around to different departments during work that day, constantly travelling up and down through the building as she tried to discover the cause of the sales discrepancies she had noticed. Yet after a full day of running around and speaking to various managers Elle still wasn"t able to tell what was wrong with the system.Eventually Elle had to give up on inquiries. She sighed just thinking of the tedious task of individually tracing each sale to confirm the values, but that would have to wait for Monday. The end of the day had already long pa.s.sed, and the late hour brought Adam with it.
By this time the working day had ended a few hours ago and so Elle was alone in the building. Adam took advantage of the quite building to daringly enter the building and pick Elle up from her own office for once.
"It"s quite nice in here." Adam commented as he walked through the gla.s.s into her simple but warm office. "I"m surprised you have a plant." He added, noting the small desk plant Elle had on her desk.
"Why is that a surprise?"
"You seem like the type who would be clumsy and forget to water it."
"You"re right. It"s a fake plant." Elle mumbled.
Adam"s lips pressed in a tight line as he tried to suppress his laughter. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Yes." Elle grabbed her purse and her jacket and followed Adam out of the building hand in hand. Her heart beat quickly from the thrill of it. At any moment someone could spot them, but no one did as they quietly walked out of the building and to Adam"s car.
As always, Adam played the perfect gentlemen and opened the pa.s.senger door for Elle and extended one hand to help her in. Elle let out a heavy sigh and leaned back into the seat.
"Long day?" Adam asked, getting into the driver"s seat and starting the car.
"I"m just so fed up with our sales system. One report will show one value and another shows something completely different. Somehow our internet sales are being omitted, but I have no idea where they"re disappearing to."
"Are you sure you don"t want to go home first? You seem tired." Adam asked worriedly.
"No, I"m fine. I don"t want to waste our time together." Elle said, sliding her hand over his knee.
Adam continued to drive, Elle wasn"t paying attention until they suddenly pulled into the underground parking of a high rise condo. "Where are we?" Elle asked.
"My place." Adam replied evenly, pulling the keys out of the ignition.
"Your place?" She asked disbelievingly.
"Didn"t you complain that you"ve been eating out too often. Let"s have a home cooked meal for today."
Elle followed Adam up to the top floor and nervously entered his condo. It was decorated similarly to his office, with large windows that allowed the pale winter sunlight to poor in along with black furnishing.
"Take a seat and relax. I"ll have dinner ready in a bit." Adam said, rolling his sleeves up and heading towards the kitchen.
"You"re going to cook?" She asked in amazement.
Adam chuckled at the incredulous look on her face. "Is it really so strange that I can cook?"
"It just seems outside your character." Elle mumbled. "A cold and powerful man like you should live like a king."
"That"s unrealistic."
"This entire relationship is unrealistic." Elle said with a laugh.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you and I are an unlikely match."
"That"s not true, you and I are very similar."
"How so?"
"We both like to eat. I"m hungry, let me prepare dinner." Adam said lightly.
Elle smiled and walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Let me help you. My cooking is not so horrid that I can"t follow instructions."
"It"s fine go sit."
"I can"t let you do all the work by yourself." She said with a frown.
"Your modelling shoot is coming up soon. How do you plan to compensate me if you look this tired in the photos?" Adam threatened. Elle submitted and allowed herself to be led to the living room where Adam sat her down on the sofa and turned the television on for her.
Elle had no idea when she had slipped into sleep, but the next thing she knew she was waking up to the warm aroma of a home cooked meal that filled the air. Elle approached the kitchen to find Adam finishing up. She had only slept for a few minutes it seemed.
"Perfect timing, I"m almost finished." Adam and Elle both washed up before sitting down to the meal. Elle took her first bite and paused for a moment before looking up at Adam disapprovingly.
"What"s wrong? Is it not to your taste?"
"This is so unfair. Is there truly nothing you can"t do well." Elle complained. Adam laughed under his breath. "Now I get it. Of course you cook your own meals, a normal cook"s food probably doesn"t meet your standards." She continued.
"You exaggerate." Adam murmured, his voice was low and rich.
As their dinner continued they talked mostly about MK"s upcoming shoot that Elle would be taking part of. The date had been set for the following weekend. Elle pressed him for details, asking him about the theme or the wardrobe, but Adam simply told her she would have to wait and see.
Just as they were finishing up their meal Adam received an important call. Elle shooed him to the living room where he could take it in silence while she did the dishes.
"Something urgent came up. Do you mind if I quickly check an email before taking you back home?" Adam asked as he reentered the room.
"Of course not." Elle said with a soft smile.
So once the washing was done Adam led her up a staircase to his study where she admired the shelves upon shelves of books while Adam opened up his laptop and addressed whatever pressing matter had come up.
After a moment Elle glanced over to admire the look of focus on Adam"s face while he worked instead. She recalled how stoic his face looked when he was at work. And yet here, in the dim light of his own private study, Elle could see the tiredness reflected in his eyes.
She felt apologetic, but there was nothing she could do but quickly fix him a warm cup of tea and hope that her silent presence would bring him some comfort. Afterwards Elle found a quite spot in the rom and pulled out her phone; suddenly inspired to work on her book.
Adam"s strong personality reminded her of the strength that she had written for Rina. The strength Elle felt she lacked in herself.
"You smile and wave and never let anyone know how hard it is to bear." She wrote.