HEART OF THE ROSE

CHAPTER 11

KEIRA hesitated to shake her head because she already guessed what the young man would say next once she answered the question. "Not yet, Sir, I am about to go to the cafeteria," she decided to tell the truth eventually.

"Is that so?" he stood up and then approached the dining table. "Come here, eat with me, after all, I also can not finish all this," her boss offers her.

The young lady shook her head consecutively. "Oh no sir, it's embarrassing," that's true. But she could not deny the thrill that pierced her heart because she saw the concern registered on the young man's face.

Charles clicks his tongue, and with big steps, he is in front of her without even noticing it. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the table, making her sit on a chair.

After a while, the young man leaves her to take a glass, plate, spoon, and fork, in the small kitchen of its office.

When he returned, he continued to take care of her.

He started putting food on her plate, and that was when all the rejections and resistance that she has suddenly disappeared and instead was replaced by extreme shame so that she seems to have lost the capacity to say no.

 "Thank you, sir," Keira told Charles, and then she started to eat.

It was when Charles nodded. A few moments later he started eating too. 

 It was then that she saw the opportunity to tell the young man about Shara.

 "You did the right thing," he said taking his glass of water and drink on it.

It was only then that she seemed to wake up.“The truth is I don't want to lose my job sir, so I decided to tell you this. Because just in case you and Miss Shara reconcile again, what she told me is not impossible to happen, because for sure you will be on her side," Keira said in a low tone of voice.

 "Who told you I had plans to get back with her?" it was Charles who shook his head. "And one more thing that you should know about me Keira is, I am not that kind of person. I know what is wrong from right, " he even added.

Keira could not understand but she had heard her name spoken by anyone. But in those moments even though it was not the first time Charles had mentioned her name, she felt a strange caress in her heart because of the way the young man spoke of it. And that is the main reason why she was unable to control herself from smiling.

"Oh, why are you smiling?"

Keira was surprised by that question so she seems to be absent-minded or not in her usual self when she stared at her boss.

It was then that he saw the amusement in the young man's eyes which in turn caused a tickle in her heart.

 "Nothing, I just feel happy when you mention my name," the young lady decided to tell the truth.

Charles' thick eyebrows rose because of that. "Yeah? Why?" the amusement in his face remains.

Because I have a crush on you, sir!

That would have been what she wanted to say but she decided not to.

"I don't know also," she said then started to clear the table but Charles stopped her.

"Just call a utility man to clean that," he told her.

"Okay sir," she said following what her boss wanted to happen afterward. "by the way Sir Charles, thank you for the free lunch," Keira told Charles afterward.

"You're welcome" was his kind answer then he smiled sweetly at her.

Keira wanted to dream that she would be the woman Charles would take seriously one day. Not because he is rich, but because she can see how wonderful it is to love and to be loved to be the young man.

But it is very hard to hope or even expect something from Charles. When a woman as beautiful as Shara he did not regret leaving and now the woman is doing all the possible things that she can to get the young man back. 

Just in case, what would be her assurance that what is happening to Shara will not happen to her?

That was when Keira felt a draw of pain in her heart.  

She could not bear it. Because now that she thinks about it it's painful already. What if it happens and she is already experiencing it?

_____________________

IT WAS a modern nipa hut but the size is still like a mansion. That was the house that Charles and Keira stayed in when they reached Palawan before lunch on Saturday.

The big house is in the middle of a huge piece of land surrounded by tall coconut trees.

"Your family owns this si-- I mean Charles?" when she remembered what the young man had told her the last night he gave her a ride to their house.

 They were side by side in the back of the vehicle that picked them up at the airport earlier. And from there she could see the whole mansion.

The young man smiled broadly and then he put his arm around her shoulder, which surprised her."Yeah, did you like it?" he asked in a very tender tone.

What Charles did caresses Keira's heart, the same reason what the young lady was unable to control herself from smiling as she spoke. 

 “Very much, it seems like I can only dream of having such a beautiful and big house in a dream,” she said in an admiring voice.

"All dreams can come true, all you have to do is try to get it," when she turned back on Charles she saw that he was staring at her.

She saw a strange viscosity in the young man's gaze on her so she quickly looks away.

But Charles held her hand. And when she felt the strange warmth of his palms, Keira's nervousness intensified.

 "I get all my dreams," the young man told her.

Keira held her breath because of that meaningful statement from Charles, but on the other hand, she still insisted on saying something. "Yeah?" 

A light chuckles pass through the young man's throat. "You do not believe me, don't you?"

Keira rolled her eyes because of what she heard. "I did not say I do not believe you, sir," at the last she mentioned, Keira bit her lower lip.

But something else happened when for the second time she stared into Charles' eyes. She saw the strange glow of joy and success there.

And before she could think of anything else to follow her thoughts she had lost her sanity already when Charles's lips quickly dropped on her.

Fortunately, driver Gaston got out of the car already. That kiss lasted for a while but it managed to get her out of the real world and take her beyond.

 Then she sighed loudly again when she felt Charles caress his finger around her lips because of her scattered lipstick.

 "That was my first kiss!" she said in a trembling voice.

"Do you remember what I said about that punishment the other night once you called me sir?" he said smiling maliciously.

Keira's eyes widened at what she heard. "You mean?"

 The young man nodded. "Now do you believe that I can achieve all my dreams?" his meaningful question.

She nodded in agreement. "I'm hungry," she thought to say to change the subject.

The young man moved and pushed open the door.

Then Gaston, who was standing next to her, did the same.

Along with Charles, they walked the long pathway to the mansion. When Charles held her hand, she did not refuse even though the beating of her chest did not change.

"I have something to tell you," he said releasing her hand then carefully pulled her waist.

"huh?"

The young man gave her an amused look. "The seminar is not true," said the young man without hesitation.

"What?" Keira asked as her eyebrows met.