Love, Eternal

Kayla stretched her arms upward to lessen the stiffness of her muscles. Finally, this ends another tiring day at the office!

She switched off her Company-issued laptop and started tidying up her table.

“Hey, where are you going?” Drake, their team lead called out to her just as she was about to leave.

“Home?” she innocently answered. She did a quick look at her watch to check if she was not leaving early by mistake.

Nope! Just in time!

“Don’t you remember? We have a team dinner tonight?” continued Drake.

“We do?” Kayla suppressed a sigh. She can’t understand why they need to go out together once a month when all of them know they do not exactly get along and the dinners do not exactly help with their relationship. She was in a team where she was surrounded by self-absorbed individuals who do not exactly take her seriously since she was much younger than all of them, regardless of skills of course. Why do they have to pretend they were okay when they weren’t? Such a waste of time...

Okay, relax! It’s just dinner and it’s not like you are paying for it…

“Sorry! ‘Must have slipped my mind” she flashed her well-practiced fake smile and got herself seated again while waiting for her teammates to finish what they were doing.

By the time her officemates were done and they were walking to the restaurant, her smile started faltering. She walked after them to avoid being caught frowning.

She was busy calculating how fast she should eat to end the torment as quickly as possible when someone grabbed her arm. Before she could even scream, she found herself caught in a warm familiar embrace.

Familiar? What the ---

She pushed herself free and a gasp escaped her lips the moment she laid eyes on the stranger. A handsome stranger who was now looking at her longingly.

Wait! Does he know her? Because Kayla was sure she doesn’t know him. Who the hell would forget such a perfect face?

Handsome or not, he’s still a stranger!

“Let me go, Mister.” She said when she finally regained her wandering sanity. She held his other hand that was still holding her arm and tried taking it off. She got slightly bothered by the warmth of his hand but she ignored it. Who knows if the guy was a kidnapper? A handsome kidnapper nonetheless.

When the stranger finally lost his grip on her arm, he started to stagger. He lost his balance and went ass first on the cemented floor. Still, she did not hear any words from him. Instead, he caught his face on the palm of his hand, looking somewhat in pain. Was his fall bad?

She bit her lips out of guilt. Had she pushed him too hard? Was he not feeling well? But how was that her fault? It was he who hugged her when they do not even know each other!

She was tempted to just leave the guy and follow her officemates, who, by the way, did not seem to notice the scene and were now farther away from them. But the miserable look of the guy in front of her just kept bothering her.

A frustrated sigh escaped her lips before she crouched down. She can’t smell any hint of alcohol on the man so she was sure he was not drunk. Was he sick then?

“A-are you hurt? I’m sorry for pushing you too hard. I didn’t---“she stopped mid-sentence when he suddenly removed his hand from his face. That longing on his eyes again. And as if to answer, her heart started beating erratically.

Is this normal? Her system reacting this way to a handsome man? It’s not even her first time seeing a handsome man in person, for Christ’s sake!

“A-are you okay? Do you need to go to a hospital? I can call an ambulance for you.” she continued.

“Eliza…” he half-whispered.

God, even his voice is immaculate!

“Wait, who? Do you have her number? I’ll call her if you just---“

Instead of answering, he lifted his hand. Her eyes went wide when his hand started to reach for her face. Scared of how her body would react when it makes contact, she tried moving backward but eventually lost her balance. She ended up sitting on the cold floor.

Was that hurt she is now seeing on his lovely eyes? Hurt because she rejected his touch?

“I’m sorry, I---“

“Kayla! What are you doing? What happened?” her officemate, Sylvia, held her shoulder. When Kayla looked up to her, she wasn’t surprised when instead of looking at her, Sylvia was looking at the handsome man in front of them.

“I don’t know. He just---“ she begins to answer when another man comes running towards them. The second man immediately crouched down beside the handsome yet miserable looking guy and held him by the shoulder.

“Sir, are you okay? Are you hurt?” he didn’t even wait for the handsome man to answer and he quickly turned his attention to Kayla.

“Hey, it wasn’t me! I mean I did push him, but that was because he suddenly hugged me!” Kayla explained immediately, her hands waving.

“He hugged you?” Sylvia interjected.

“Yeah, and I don’t even know him so…”

“It’s fine, Liam. It’s my fault.” Kayla’s eyes went back to the handsome man when he suddenly spoke. His face was now devoid of any emotion. Is this the same man who was looking at her longingly just a few minutes ago?

The man stood up with the help of Liam, who might be his assistant by the looks of it.

Kayla gasped when the man focused his attention on her again. Stunned, she didn’t get to say anything when he held her upper arms and helped her up.

“I’m sorry if I have startled you. I’ve mistaken you to someone I know.” He calmly apologized. Looking at him now, it was hard to remember the man who looked miserable just a while ago. He now appears to be dignified and well-mannered. Is this guy suffering from dissociative identity disorder or something?

Whatever! Just get this over and done with.

“It’s fine.” Looking at the man now, he looks composed but still a bit pale. “You should probably get checked still. You don’t look so good” she commented before she could even stop herself.

What happened to “getting it over and done with”?!

“I mean you can do whatever you want. Sorry for being nosy” embarrassed, she bit her lower lip.

Just then she noticed his lips curved into a smile. Or was she imagining things? Because the next moment, he was back to an emotionless statue.

“We should leave.” Kayla decided. She grabbed Sylvia’s arm and dragged her away.

“Who is that yummy creature?” Sylvia asked while still looking back to the two men they left.

“I don’t know.”

“He hugged you, girl. Of course, you know!” She insisted while giving Kayla a disbelieving stare.

“I really don’t,” Kayla answered unrelentingly. “He just came out of nowhere and grabbed me!”

“Well, it’s not like you lost something. That guy’s a jackpot.” Sylvia lazily answered.

“Excuse me?” Did she hear it right?

“Well, in case he went back for you and you don’t want him, just pass him to me. I’ll take that gorgeous specie any day.” And to prove her point, Sylvia winked at her before walking ahead of her.

Kayla’s jaw dropped.

So much for her worrying about me…

She sighed and before moving forward, she did a quick look back at where they came from. She flinched when she found out the guys were still looking at her. She quickly turned her gaze to the retreating back of Sylvia and marched forward.

Calm down. You’re not gonna be seeing him anymore.