My Achilles Shoe | ONC 2024

○ Chapter 04 ○

It was a day of exhaustion. After almost getting scared with that scene in my office cafeteria, I was ready to retire for the day. But not before taking a relaxing bath. I could really use that.

I rummaged through my purse for my house keys as I walked upstairs to my apartment. The moment I looked up from my purse, I let out a muffled scream. "What are you doing here?!"

Wesley looked up from his mobile phone, not at all surprised. I assumed it was because he must have heard my footsteps. Leaning away from the door, he folded his arms across his chest. "You're not gonna invite me in?"

Panicked, I looked around me and spurted out some noises in nervousness. Finally, taking a few deep breaths, I said, "You're not surprised to see me. Meaning, you already knew it was me back in the office." It was not a question. My assumption was true, after all.

"I do now. I had my suspicions. It all made sense. I joined the two and two together when you were beginning to escape the shoe fitting and apparently I had also seen you exiting this building earlier in the morning. But I didn't think much about it then," he explained, trying to seem nonchalant but he was still frowning.

"Why go to such lengths to hunt me down? You didn't have to come to my office." I fumed. It took my entire willpower to rein in my embarrassed anger.

"I didn't." He shrugged, giving me a bored look. "I wasn't going to actually but then, I talked to your grandparents downstairs-"

"They're not my grandparents!"

"-And they somehow managed to slip out where you work."

"Wait, so you're telling me that they willingly told you my office address?" Mr. and Mrs. Brown frightened me more than a criminal. Did they hand out my work address to just anyone?

"Not the address." He shook his head, seeming to understand the change in my expression. "Not the address, just the name. Bones International Imports & Exports. I know that name."

That still didn't make it any less scarier. Knowing the name was enough. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Brown were unaware of Google Maps. Giving out the name to some stranger was dangerous. Not that Wesley was dangerous or he seemed like he was, but they could still make it a habit to not disclose just about anything to anyone.

"And what do you mean by willingly? Do I look like someone who would force the information out of people? And least of all, senior citizens?" He sounded offended.

"Sorry... it's just sometimes I'm worried because of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. They trust everyone," I explained to him. Everyone but me, I sneered internally.

He nodded his head silently.

I stared at Wesley for a few seconds, not knowing how to say my next words that were almost dancing on the tip of my tongue.

He beat me to it as he handed me my shoe. Happiness was what I felt as I took it from him. It was really nice of him to hand it back to me instead of just throwing it away.

"Thank you," I mumbled with a small smile.

He gave me a single nod and was about to leave when I stopped him quickly, "Wait!"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Don't want me to leave or something?"

I just blinked at him, hoping that my face didn't betray me. "It's not that," I told him with conviction. "I wanted to ask, is Ms. Bones going to fire me or... I mean, so that I'm prepared!" I quickly spoke the last statement when he looked at me like I had grown two heads.

"Why would she do that?"

"Because someone from her office threw a shoe at her nephew and since that someone is me..." I trailed off with narrowed eyes.

"Oh." And with that, he started laughing like my words brought him great amusement. And at that moment, he seemed like the most handsome man to me. With his head tilted back, his eyes squinted, his hand on his chest, he seemed like a perfect muse.

Forcing myself out of the trance, I glared at him. "What's so funny?"

His full blown laughter slowed down into small chuckles. "It's nothing. You really thought that I would tell this to my aunt?"

"Um..." I averted his gaze as I fidgeted with my hair. "So, you're telling me that you told your aunt - my boss - that you're literally looking for your Cinderella?" This time, it was my turn to laugh and his turn to give me a dry look.

"Something like that." He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You know what? I thought you were some creepy dude with the way you were smiling and waving up at me." I smirked. I couldn't tell why I was talking to Wesley. It was like I didn't want our conversation to end. Something about him just made me want to come out of my shell and rebel with him.

Wesley's thin lips soon stretched into a big smile at my comment. "Please. I was drunk last night and you just happened to sing one of my favorite songs."

"No way!" I squealed excitedly. "That's also one of my favorite songs!"

"Oh, really? I couldn't tell... Kristen," he spoke sarcastically before uttering my name. There was a fire in his blue eyes. I could feel them pulling me in and he knew it. He knew I couldn't resist the way he was smiling, the way he was laughing, the way he was gazing at me and saying my name-

I quickly backtracked my thought and stared at him weirdly. "How'd you know my name?"

"Well, your grandparents-"

"They're not my grandparents, for Pete's sake!"

"-told me," he finished with a wink.

I couldn't help the blushing smile on my face as he winked at me. "You're annoying."

"I know. Anyway, I gotta go." He ran his hands through his hair as if he didn't want to leave either.

I had to resist the urge to stop him and invite him inside my apartment but that didn't seem like a good idea to call a new acquaintance in just after one meeting. "Bye." I waved, while watching him leave.

Opening the door of my apartment with a huge smile on my face, I entered inside. I leaned my back against the door after closing it behind me.

Was it possible to start developing a liking toward someone I had just met? I couldn't be sure about the possibilities but I was definitely one of the cases. Who knew such a stupid incident could lead my heart to beat so fast for a handsome guy?

That night as I was getting ready for the bed and a giddy feeling overtaking my whole body, my phone chimed. The first thing that my eyes fell upon was the time on my wall clock. It was 11.15 pm. Quite an odd hour for my cell phone to ping with a message. Not thinking much about it, I picked it up from the bedside drawer and saw a message from an unknown number. It read:

Unknown Number: Stop talking to him.