After walking out of her father"s office Elle returned to her own department"s floor. She was only a few minutes behind them but all of her team member"s had rushed home as soon as they could so by now so the floor was deserted. Elle was eager to return home as well so she quickly gathered her things from her office. While she was there she also took a moment to send a text message to Adam."I"m about to leave work now. Tonight I"ll wait up for you." She wrote. Elle waited a minute but there was no reply. Elle didn"t know what projects MK currently had, but Adam had been returning home late for the past several days. It was understandable that he would be too busy to check his phone so Elle didn"t think much of it and left the building as usual.
The weather had finally begun to turn as spring approached. Although the days were warmer, and filled with rain instead of snow, the evenings were still frosty.
Elle wasn"t a fan of the cold weather and intended to make a beeline home, but as she got outside she suddenly stopped her steps. Elle paused in the middle of the pathway, frozen in surprise. A familiar black Maybach was waiting for her against the side of the road.
Elle was confused and curious but she quickly recovered herself before walking over to where the car was parked. Adam got out to greet her as she did.
"What are you doing here?" Elle asked. "Won"t you be working late again tonight?"
"Not tonight." Adam replied.
"Is it okay for you to be here?" Elle glanced around them but it was already quite late in the day. Not many people were around at this time.
"What type of man would I be if I didn"t properly celebrate your victory with you." Adam asked with a soft smile and the mischievous glint in his eyes that Elle had come to love so much.
"You know?"
"Of course I know." Adam said with a chuckle. "Get in quickly. The nights are still cold."
He opened the car"s door and offered his hand to help Elle into the pa.s.senger seat. Elle took it, but instead of getting into the car she stepped into Adam"s embrace and wrapped his arm around herself. She nuzzled herself into his chest, holding herself close enough to him that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.
She couldn"t imagine how busy Adam was yet he treated her as his first priority. With the setting sun lighting the world orange, on the quite street Elle got onto her tiptoes to daringly kiss the person she loved so much.
"Has your victory suddenly made you this bold? We"re still in public you know." Adam murmured.
"It"s okay. It"s late and no one is around." Elle said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
After a moment Adam pulled away, "Okay, that"s enough. Hurry up and get inside." He mumbled.
Elle laughed as she watched his ears turn red. "What"s wrong? "Why are you suddenly getting shy?" She teased.
"Do you want me to be serious them?" Adam asked. His tone of voice suggested that it wouldn"t go well for her.
"No, that"s fine." Elle replied while quickly getting into the car. Adam suppressed a laugh and shut the door behind her before getting into the driver"s seat himself.
"Is there anything you want for dinner? It"s your celebration after all."
"Hmm." Elle thought for a moment before blurting out "Barbeque. I want Korean Barbeque."
As always Adam obliged her. They drove a bit further than usual to a well known spot.
Following the dynamic of their relationship Adam took care of grilling the meat, leaving nothing for Elle to do but stuff her face with the delicious food.
About halfway through their dinner Adam"s phone suddenly started to ring. He looked at where it sat on the table and then back to Elle with a guilty look on his face.
"Go on, take it." She encouraged.
"Sorry. I"ll be right back." Adam took the call and left the table in search of a quieter spot to talk.
Elle didn"t mind at all; she knew he must have left a lot of work undone in order to meet her tonight. While he was gone she picked up the tongs and continued to grill the food. Adam returned a few minutes later but even then he was engrossed with his phone and was busy sending messages back and forth.
Elle had no idea what had come up but, a.s.suming it was an issue with his work, she didn"t say anything. She let him take care of his business while she quietly grilled meat and placed it on his plate.
Dinner pa.s.sed by quickly with Adam spending most of it occupied trying to arrange something.
"I"m sorry." He said as they got in the car to return home.
"That"s okay. I had fun."
Adam frowned, but there was nothing more he could say. As they drove back Elle lazily looked out the window, admiring the night sky.
Adam"s phone buzzed as he received a message. Adam glanced down at his phone then smiled. "There"s somewhere I want to go before we head back." Adam said suddenly.
"Sure." Elle said, not particularly paying attention to him. However, she was surprised when Adam pulled over at one of the busiest parts of the city.
They were at an intersection between the city square and one of the largest malls in the city. It was, arguably, the busiest intersection in the entire city. Hundreds of people probably pa.s.sed through it, even at such a late hour it was bustling with people.
"What are we doing here?" Elle asked, looking over at Adam.
"Close your eyes." He said with a smile.
"What?"
"Go on, close them."
Elle looked at him in disbelief, but he was insistent. After a moment Elle relented and shut her eyes. She didn"t see, but heard, Adam get out of the car and then come around and open the pa.s.senger door.
"Here, follow me. Carefully."
With Adam"s instruction, Elle got out of the car. Adam covered her eyes with one hand, and used the other to hold onto hers tightly. He slowly led her over to a spot just outside the square. After turning her so the angle was just right, he finally seemed satisfied.
"Okay. Now open your eyes." He withdrew his hand, and Elle opened her eyes.
She blinked against the neon lights at first, but after adjusting to the light she saw what he had planned. Since it was one of the busiest spots in the city it was a popular spot for advertising. Several electronic billboards lit up the dark streets with bright colours. On the largest, and most central billboard, a picture of her wearing an elegant lilac gown was up for the entire city to see.
"MK"s advertis.e.m.e.nts are out." Elle breathed, suddenly understanding what he had been arranging through dinner.
"It"s a shame they had to crop the face, but I think your beauty still shines through." Adam commented. Then, in barely a whisper, his deep voice asked "What do you think?"
Elle"s breath was caught in her throat. To keep with the same theme as the first modeling, and she a.s.sumed out of consideration to herself, MK had cropped the faces of all the models in the advertis.e.m.e.nts so only the lower half of their faces showed.
Even so, the girl in the image looked powerful and radiant. Elle looked up at it with mixed emotions. The girl in the picture wasn"t the same her who existed just a few months ago. The old version of herself was recluse, and unconfident. Nothing like the girl in the image who exuded strength. Elle could recall the moment this photo had been taken. It had been when she noticed Adam watching over her during the shoot. Before she had been nothing but a bud, but under the constant shower of his love someone as insignificant as her had blossomed into something beautiful.
"Thank you." Elle said in a shaky breath.
"For what?" Adam asked with a light laugh. "I didn"t think you would get this emotional over it."
Elle shook her head and turned into him, burying her head into his chest. "For everything. Thank you."