“Sorry.” Nicole instantly said before turning around, not planning to stay there any longer.

Since the time she had come to know about Victor’s past, she had been feeling utmost guilty, and avoiding him as much as she could.

She had already apologized to Victor and Victor had calmly replied that he had forgiven her, but she couldn’t help and felt even more guilty.

“Wait.” Victor immediately spoke from behind, slightly disturbed by Nicole’s recent behaviour.

Nicole stopped in her tracks, before turning around, trying to present a fake smile with utmost sincerity, even when she was terribly failing at the same.

“How can I help you?” Nicole asked, her voice sounding robotic and a little funny.

“Do you have some time?” Victor asked.

“No no. Not at all. I am busy with a tightly packed schedule.” Nicole said, only wanting to finish this conversation and not stay for another second in the same room as Victor.

“Sorry.” Victor said, making Nicole’s eyes go wide in shock.

“Huhh?” Nicole asked in a confused voice.

“I am sorry for shouting at you the other day. I must have been out of my mind to yell at a female that way. So I apologize for behaving wrongly and scaring you unnecessarily.” Victor said in a truly gentle and apologetic tone.

“Ahh.. No you don’t.. you don’t have to apologize! It was my mistake… I am sorry.” Nicole said in a flustered way while waving both her hands in front of her, trying hard to deny, looking way too cute and childish while doing so.

Victor looked at her frozen, his eyes constricting and darkening for a moment. Something was changing in his eyes while his heart beat accelerated.-.

And Nicole who was flustered looked into his constricting eyes, his intense gaze making her feel a cold shiver run down her spine.

Both of them didn’t understand what was happening, but the air around them was turning fierce with sparks flying all around them.

Victor, who was deep into his daze felt a very foreign yet an all too familiar feeling spreading through his body, coursing through his veins.

He instantly shaked his head, as if trying to clear his mind, not wanting to experience those emotions again.

“Cough.” He cleared his throat, bringing Nicole back to the present.

Nicole’s cheek turned a deep shade of pink while she was back flustering and fumbling, unable to understand what just happened seconds ago.

“I will.. I’ll take my leave now.” She said and instantly turned around, literally running away towards her office.

“What happened, Miss Nicole?” Joel, who was about to enter the office, saw her coming out.

“N.. nothing.” Nicole said while rushing away.

Joel gave her a puzzled look but she was already gone. Though Joel didn’t miss out on how her cheeks had gone all pink and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He turned back towards the door, knocking on it in confusion.

Meanwhile Victor, sitting inside, was no less confused.

‘What the hell just happened. Uggghhh Victor, just stop doing that. She is different and you are definitely going to scare her away this way.’ He thought while having a sip of water.

He heard the knock and instantly composed himself.

Joel entered the office but he definitely wasn’t expecting Victor to be sitting inside the office.

“Hello! Morning Mr. Victor. Where is Young Madam?” Joel asked.

And with that Victor explained everything that happened last night. He felt that Joel, being Markus’s closest man, should know whatever was happening with Kizy.

By the time he was done, Joel’s mouth was left wide open, not believing that all these things happened in one single night.

“I.. I never expected that Young Madam would do something like that. How is she now?” Joel said in a worried tone, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

“I guess she will be fine. Both Jason and First sister had a good talk with her and I know both of them care for her a lot. They won’t let anything happen to Second sister.” Victor said in a convincing tone, which was somehow able to calm Joel down a little.

The duo talked for some more time, discussing Kizy’s condition, Markus’s arrival and company matters.

Joel explained to Victor the project Kizy was working upon recently, making it easier for him to understand.

“If there is nothing else, I’ll take my leave.” Joel said.

“Thank you for helping out. You truly reduced a lot of work and made this easier.” Victor said in a calm tone.

“Anytime for you and your team Mr. Victor.” Joel said.

He was about to go when he suddenly remembered something.

“Well, did something happen between you and Miss Nicole?” Joel asked, remembering how he had seen Nicole leaving this office.

“Why though?” Victor asked, intending to know what Joel meant.

“Before entering here, I collided into Miss Nicole outside the office door. She looked distressed, as if she was about to cry maybe.” Joel expressed what he felt.

“Seriously? Crying?” Victor asked in shock.

He knew things were not right between him and Nicole, but he thought she was a strong and mature girl who would let such small incidents pass away.

He never expected to make Nicole cry from such a negligible scene.

“I think so. Her face was all red while her forehead was covered in sweat. I thought it was Young Madam inside and decided to not intervene in family matters. But I never expected it to be between you and Miss Nicole.” Joel said honestly.

“There is some misunderstanding between us. We started on the wrong foot I guess. But I never expected that I would make her cry. Do you know where she went?” Victor asked in a distressed tone.

“Guess she went back to her office. I think you should talk things out. Maybe that will help clear up the misunderstanding.” Joel suggested.

“Hmmm.” Victor said while getting up, intending to visit Nicole, while feeling guilt ridden.

“I will take my leave now.” Joel said and turned, walking directly out.

Victor similarly walked out of the office, thinking everything through.

He turned towards the direction where Nicole’s office was situated. He had even walked midway when he paused and turned around, walking in the opposite direction.

But he simply passed by the office, without entering. Instead he went to the cafeteria.

“One hot coffee and choco-chip cookies.” He ordered.

One thing he never missed doing was making sure that girls ate well. Even when his relationship with Nicole was kinda off, he felt that first he should make her eat something before discussing anything.

Thus he ended up buying these sweets for Nicole, paying for them before leaving for her office once again.

Once he reached Nicole’s office door, he composed himself, before knocking on the door.

“Come in.” Answered Nicole.

Victor felt odd hearing Nicole’s near perfect voice, far away from someone who had cried or was about to cry, but he just shook his thoughts away before entering.

And true to his doubts, Nicole was there, simply sitting on her chair, reading documents with a pen in hand, nowhere near the cry thing that Joel had mentioned.

Though unknown to the fact Nicole wasn’t reading anything before he came. Instead she was replaying the scene, the one where he had locked her on her spot with a single intense glare.

Thus her face was still flushed, though he wasn’t clear about it as she had lowered her head.

Victor just stood there, assessing the situation when Nicole finally lifted her head, only to jump in her chair from shock and cough hard after watching Victor standing in front of her.

Within seconds, she was coughing so hard that tears started flowing down her eyes. Victor had to come ahead, pouring her a glass of water before rubbing her back.

“Careful.” He said while she sipped the water.

Finally after a few moments, Nicole was able to come back in her original form, cursing for making a fool out of herself.

“What made you come here?” Nicole asked, glad that her voice came out normal, not embarrassing her any further.

“Uhh.. that.. you see, I thought our conversation didn’t end well and I was worried that I must have scared you off, something that I never do with females. So I thought this would be a good idea.” Victor said while pointing towards the bag he had bought.

“Here.” He said, placing the bag on her table.

“Eat up and don’t worry about anything else. Also sorry if I might have scared you moments ago. I’ll leave now.” He said before turning, feeling awkward as consoling girls or having a little normal conversation with them was definitely not his thing anymore.

“Victor, wait.” Nicole said immediately, worried that Victor might leave instantly.

“What happened?” Victor said while turning back, thinking Nicole had something serious to discuss with him.

———————

Sorry for the late chapter. Had 15 superb surgeries to witness today!! Also posting anither 1.5k words long chapter. Don’t forget to comment and vote with powerstones and golden tickets. Take care everyone!!

– Kizy.