His hand slipped to the back of my head, fingers gentle but firm. The other found my waist and pulled, slowly but deliberately.
My breath caught.
His mouth was on mine.
Not tentative. Not soft.
Claiming.
The kind of kiss that knocked the air out of me, not because it was sudden, but because it was him. Cold, calculated Aaron, kissing me like he didn't know how to say sorry, but this was the only language he had.
My hands went to his chest automatically, half out of shock, half because I needed to hold onto something.
He pressed closer. One of his hands moved to the small of my back, the heat of his palm grounding and overwhelming all at once.
When he finally pulled back, I was breathless.
And lost.
"I don't know how to say things the way you want me to," he said, voice low now. "But don't ever think I don't feel them."
I stared at him, lips parted.
My brain was scrambling to catch up.
"You were just doing your job," I murmured again, but this time even I didn't sound convinced.
He looked down at me. "Exactly."
But I knew.
We both knew.
That wasn't all it was.
I hesitated by his desk, lips still tingling from that kiss, trying to find my voice beneath all the confusion. Beneath all the ache. "Is Katherine… part of the reason you gave me that punishment?"
Aaron didn't answer right away.
He just stared at me for a second too long.
And that one second was enough to make my stomach turn.
But then he blinked and shook his head, cool and smooth again. "There's nothing between us."
I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath until it slipped out of me.
"You shouldn't worry about things like that," he added, already lowering himself back into his chair. "Just focus on your work."
I nodded, trying to believe it. Trying not to overthink it. "Right."
Of course there was nothing going on. Aaron wasn't that kind of man. He was direct. He was firm. He didn't… play games.
Except for the part where he didn't look me in the eyes when he said it.
But I ignored that.
Just like I ignored how tight my chest suddenly felt.
"Did you change something?" he asked out of nowhere, voice a touch lower than before.
"Huh?"
He tilted his head. "You smell different."
My eyes widened a little. I sniffed myself instinctively, embarrassed. "Oh, yeah. I tried a new perfume yesterday. Something vanilla-citrus from that little store near my place."
Aaron just stared at me for a moment, expression unreadable as always. Then, with the faintest flicker of emotion, he said, "I liked the old one better."
Oh.
That… shouldn't have stung.
But it did.
Even if he said it softly. Even if his tone was almost fond.
I'd bought that new one during my shopping trip with Kieran. He was the one who had pointed it out. The one who insisted I try something different. Something bold. Something new.
I smiled faintly. "Okay. I'll switch back."
Aaron nodded. Then, as if the entire conversation hadn't just shifted the atmosphere in the room, he leaned back in his seat and said, "After you clock out today, I'll send my driver. There's a restaurant I want to take you to."
My heart fluttered. "Oh."
His lips barely twitched, an almost-smile. "You can consider it a date. Or compensation for what happened today."
I flushed immediately, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "You don't have to…"
"I want to."
That shut me up.
I nodded, cheeks still warm. "Okay."
"You can go now."
I stood, still a little dazed. "Right."
As I stepped back out into the hallway, the weight of the morning still clung to me, but a little lighter now. The noise at my desk, the eyes that watched, the whispers, they were all still there. But his kiss and his words… they dulled the sting.
Even if something still didn't sit right.
Even if part of me kept thinking back to Katherine's smirk…
And that voice in the back of my head, calling me out for pretending not to see red flags.
But I ignored all of it.
Because Aaron wanted to take me out.
Because Aaron kissed me.
Because I mattered… right?
Right?
I walked back to my desk like a ghost in my own body.
Everything felt like static. Blurred edges and white noise and the vague thud of my heart in my chest. I sat down, the chair cold against my skin even through my dress.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard, but I didn't type.
I blinked, and I was somewhere else.
It was almost a year ago.
The first time I stepped into VANTA CORP, I had gotten lost five minutes after checking in at the front desk. I was supposed to wait on the fifteenth floor, in one of the lounges for my interview, but I pressed the wrong button and somehow ended up wandering around the executive wing like a clueless idiot.
It wasn't even the wrong floor that made me panic.
It was the time.
I was already two minutes late and still hopelessly spinning around sleek glass hallways that looked like the kind of places where important people walked fast and judged silently.
My shoes were squeaking. My palms were sweating. And right when I was about to have a full-blown breakdown, I turned a corner too fast and smacked right into someone.
Not just anyone.
Him.
Aaron.
Back then, he looked the same. Sharp, clean. Cold.
Hair slicked back, not a strand out of place. Black suit that looked like it was sewn with actual power. Shoulders like they could carry the whole company. And those eyes, those cold, distant eyes that looked at me like he could see everything.
Everything and… nothing at the same time.
I froze, my mouth hanging open in horror as I realized,
"Oh my god, I- I'm so sorry, !"
His iPad was on the ground, face-down.
The screen was cracked.
Cracked.
As in, hundreds-of-dollars-in-damages cracked.
I looked at him.
Then the iPad.
Then him again.
"I-I'll pay for it!" I said, frantically pulling out my wallet like that would magically fix things. "I swear, I'll, oh my god, I didn't even see you, !"
His expression didn't change. He just raised a brow like my panic was… excessive. Which it was. But still.
"You don't have to pay," he said calmly. "It's just glass."
JUST GLASS???
My lungs were trying to collapse on me when he crouched down, picked up the iPad, and inspected the damage. Then his eyes flicked back to me.
"I haven't seen you before."
"I'm here for an interview," I whispered, still hugging my bag like it might protect me from spontaneous combustion. "F-for the junior analyst role."
He looked at his watch, then at the hallway behind me. "You're on the wrong floor."
"I, yeah, I, I don't know where to go, "
"Relax." His voice cut clean through my panic. "Panicking won't help you."
And for a second… it actually didn't feel like the world was ending.
It just felt like him. His voice. The quiet calm in it. The fact that someone like him, who looked like he belonged in the pages of a luxury magazine, was standing there, talking to me like I wasn't a complete idiot.
Then,
"Sir," a voice said suddenly, and a man in a navy suit came jogging toward us. "The execs are waiting in conference B."
Sir?
The man glanced between us, then blinked at me. I tried not to shrivel into a raisin.
Aaron nodded once, then turned to him. "Show her to the fifteenth floor. Lounge two. She's here for the 9:15 interview."
The man looked surprised, but nodded. "Of course."
Aaron turned without another word.
And I stood there, frozen, watching his back as he walked away like nothing had happened. Like he didn't just casually rescue me from an emotional breakdown with all the grace of a shadowy prince from a Korean drama.
And I… may have fallen in love right then.
Like a dumbass.
…
My ringtone cut through the memory, pulling me back to my desk.
Back to the present.
Back to the lingering whispers and the ache I couldn't shake from my chest.
I blinked at the screen. It was just a reminder alarm. No call. No Aaron.
I sighed, pushed my hair behind my ear, and went back to pretending I was fine.