All Chapters of Beautifully Ruined By Him: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

49 Chapters

Enjoy your little attention while it lasts

The knock on the door sounded so suddenly that my entire body jerked. Cael stepped back immediately, and the pressure around me disappeared so fast it almost made me dizzy. For one horrible second, neither of us spoke. I could still feel my heartbeat everywhere. In my throat, my chest, my wrists. God. What had almost just happened?? "Sir?" The assistant's voice came again from outside the office, and I moved quickly, stepping away from the desk so fast my chair nearly tipped over behind me. Heat burned across my face as I fixed my clothes with shaky fingers, and I couldn't even look at Cael. Not properly, not after this, not after him standing that close to me, not after the things he had said. "Come in," he said calmly. Calmly, like I wasn't standing there trying to recover my sanity. The door opened and his assistant walked in carrying a tablet and several files. She stopped for the smallest second after noticing me... just one second, but I saw it. The quick glance, the

I don't want to be attached to the CEO

I barely slept that night.Every single time I closed my eyes, I saw his face again.The way he leaned close to me, the way his hand held my waist like he already owned it, the way he said he had pictures of me on his phone.Pictures.My stomach twisted just thinking about it.I turned in bed again and dragged the blanket over my head with a groan. "Arghhh! This is a nightmare!"No response. Obviously, because I lived alone and my life was terrible.I finally forced myself out of bed after staring at the ceiling for almost twenty minutes, my body still feeling tired from everything that happened yesterday, and mentally I felt worse.I brushed my teeth, tied my hair back, and stood in front of my wardrobe trying to decide what to wear.Not too tight, not too short, not anything that would make him look at me like that again.The thought alone made heat crawl up my neck."Oh my God," I muttered, grabbing the first decent outfit I could find.I hated this, hated how aware I had become of

Do you plan on avoiding them forever?

The executive floor was too quiet.That was the first thing I noticed after exactly three hours of working there.Nobody laughed loudly, nobody dragged chairs across the floor, nobody gathered around coffee machines gossiping about people who weren't there.Everything upstairs felt controlled, polished, cold.Just like him.I sat behind my new desk trying to organize Cael's schedule while fighting the growing irritation sitting in my chest.Because every time I looked around this office, I remembered one thing very clearly.I did not choose this.He chose it for me. Without asking, without caring what I wanted.The connecting door beside my desk stayed closed all morning, but somehow I was still painfully aware of him being on the other side.The assistant from earlier, Lydia, had spent almost an hour explaining my responsibilities.Meeting schedules, call logs, travel arrangements, document reviews, coffee preferences.Apparently the CEO liked his coffee black and his meetings short.

Not a teenager with a crush

I left the office with my jaw clenched so tightly it hurt.The elevator ride down felt longer than usual. Every second gave me more time to think about what had happened upstairs, which was exactly the problem.I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about Cael, or the way he kept looking at me, or the way he acted like he could walk into my life and rearrange it however he wanted. Most of all, I didn't want to think about how close I had come to letting him completely take me in his office had Mr Shawn not arrived.Arghhh!You're so stupid, Nora. He is your boss and off limits. You shouldn't feel this attracted to him.The elevator doors opened. I walked out quickly and headed for the exit.The moment I stepped outside, cool air hit my face. I took a deep breath, then another, then another."Get yourself together, Nora."A few people passed by me on the sidewalk. Nobody paid attention, nobody knew that my entire life felt like it had been flipped upside down in less t

He brought dinner

The next day passed faster than I expected. Maybe it was because everyone was busy, maybe it was because the Meridian project was now hanging over all our heads like a storm cloud. Either way, I barely had time to think, which was probably a good thing. Because every time my mind slowed down, it immediately wandered back to Cael, and I didn't want that. Not even a little.Luckily, he wasn't in the office. At least not on our floor. I didn't see him all morning, didn't hear his voice, didn't get called upstairs, didn't receive a single message from him. For the first time in days, I was grateful, and I wasn't about to ask where he was either. The less I knew, the better."Nora."I looked up from my computer. One of the project coordinators dropped a file beside me. "We need the revised proposal before lunch.""I'll finish it.""You already said that two hours ago."I rolled my eyes. "And you'll get it before lunch.""You better." He walked away. I returned to my screen.The Meridian

In the archives

Mr. Shawn looked up from the stack of files on his desk."Nora, I need a favor."I didn't even look away from my laptop. "That sounds dangerous already.""It'll take five minutes.""Definitely dangerous."He sighed dramatically. "The archives."I groaned. "No.""Yes."I narrowed my eyes. I was practically doing all the work here. "Why me?""Because everyone else is busy."I pointed around the room. "Half the floor is empty.""And you're closest."I stared at him. He stared back. Unfortunately, he won.Ten minutes later, I was standing in the archive room at the far end of the building. The place felt ancient, with tall shelves stretching from floor to ceiling, filled with old reports, contracts, and project files. Everything smelled like paper and dust.I checked the reference number Mr. Shawn had given me, muttering under my breath as I searched. A

Don't move

The rain started sometime after nine. At first it was only a light tapping against the glass windows, but it quickly grew louder and louder. By ten o'clock, the entire city had disappeared behind sheets of water.I sat at the conference table with my laptop open, trying to focus on the Meridian presentation and not think about what just happened in the archives.Fuck, I had gone too far. And the worse part, I wasn't sure I wanted to take back what happened.Something is really wrong with me!The executive floor felt different at night, too quiet and too empty. Every sound carried farther than it should: the click of a keyboard, the rustle of paper, the distant rumble of thunder. Everything felt amplified.Mr. Shawn was still there, reviewing reports on the other side of the room. I was grateful for that. At least with him around, things felt somewhat normal.The elevator dinged. I looked up automatically. Cael walked out, of cour

You clearly want me

The emergency lights stayed dead, leaving the entire executive floor wrapped in thick, heavy darkness. Rain hammered against the windows like it wanted to break through. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. Cael’s hand stayed wrapped around my arm, firm and warm, keeping me from hitting the floor.“Careful,” he said, his voice low and close. Too close.I tried to step back, but my foot caught on the chair leg again. Everything happened fast. One second I was pulling away, the next my body tilted forward and my lips brushed against his in the dark. It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t supposed to happen. But there we were.For half a second I froze. Then I felt his other hand slide around my waist, pulling me in. The kiss deepened before I could stop it. His mouth moved against mine, slow at first, then hungrier, like he had been waiting for this. I tried to pull back, pressing my hands against his chest, but he didn’t let me go far. One of his hands came up to cup the b

The Morning After

I barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes, memories from the previous night pushed their way back in. The storm, the darkness. Cael's voice, his stupid face, his stupid confidence, his stupid everything.By the time my alarm rang, I already hated the day.I groaned and rolled onto my back. The sunlight coming through the curtains felt far too bright for someone who had barely managed four hours of sleep."Perfect."I sat up slowly. My neck hurt, my head hurt and my pride definitely hurt.The worst part was that I kept replaying everything in my mind no matter how much I told myself not to.I grabbed my pillow and threw it across the room."Get a grip, Nora."The empty apartment offered no response. Of course not. Because unlike me, the apartment had common sense.I dragged myself out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. The mirror immediately became my enemy.I stared at myself, then stared some more. My hair looked normal, face looked normal, everything looked normal. So why did

A mother's worries

DIANE — POV SHIFTI haven't slept properly in days.Not real sleep, just short breaks where my mind pretends to rest and then drags me back up again.Nora's name is the reason.Always Nora.I sit at the edge of the bed for a long moment, staring at my phone like it might suddenly decide to bring her back to me.It doesn't.Of course it doesn't.Five days. Maybe more.No visit, no proper call, just silence that gets heavier every time I try to reach her.I press my fingers to my forehead and exhale slowly."She's fine," I whisper to myself.But my voice doesn't believe me, and neither do I.Downstairs, I hear movement.A maid passes the hallway, humming softly while adjusting curtains.I call out before she disappears."Have you seen Nora's last location update?"The maid stops and turns."Madam Diane… she's an adult now. She will come back when she is ready...."I stare at her."That is not what I asked."The maid shifts uncomfortably."I mean… maybe she is just busy with work. Young

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