Loving My Enemy

Chapter 7 - Last Minute Call

Rickard kept glancing in Eleanor’s direction as he watched through the open door of his office as she worked at her desk. Every crease on her face, he noticed, changed as she worked on her laptop, her expression continuously changing with the emotions she went through. It was like a mirror of her mind. What she had on her mind was expressed on her face clearly. A quality people lacked these days, he thought and glanced at her hair. They were as usual tied in a ponytail. Why did she not bother to dress up like other women? He wondered. Did she lack the time or she wasn’t concerned with how she appeared? But he couldn’t deny that she looked beautiful anyway.

At first, Rickard had thought of Eleanor like the women around him; mean, greedy, gold digger, and selfish. But as he got to know her in the two months she had worked at his office, he could tell she was different. He was glad about it because if it was the other way then it would have been a problem. A problem he had warned his father about and was taking advantage of it as well.

As Rickard kept thinking and staring at Eleanor, she looked up and caught his gaze. Her eyes went wide first then she looked away with her cheeks turning red when Rickard smirked. He was fully aware of what effect he had on her and he wouldn’t deny that he felt attracted to her in ways he had not thought of. He had not thought that his interest in her would extend far from business. He had thought of her as ordinary but his body craved her touch, her feel, her scent, and everything about her. It infuriated him that he couldn’t have her. If he could for just once this agony of his would end but he couldn’t. That day when she had confronted him about the files, he had almost kissed her but he was glad that she had stopped it before it escalated further. It would complicate things for him and for his organization.

Sighing, he pondered how long it would take for his father to agree to his proposal. Only then he could think of Eleanor’s situation, a situation she was blissfully unaware of. He wished it remained that way, it was wrong of him but he wished it anyway.

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Eleanor was sending the last email of the day when she received a call from Rickard. He had left early and Eleanor thanked God for that. The way, he kept staring at her, through the open door of his office, unnerved her and ruined her concentration on work. She could swear he knew what he was doing to her with his eyes and it was cruel that he was deliberately doing this to her. She was going to tap on the send button but then he called her and it wasn’t a good sign.

One hand on the touchpad of the laptop and the other on her phone swiping to receive the call, she picked up the call and was about to say ‘Hello’ but he beat her to it.

“Eleanor, did you prepare the financial analysis I asked you to?”

Someone’s in a hurry…But why now? I was about to leave.UGH!  She thought to herself and closed her eyes in defeat.

“Yes, I did,” she said and prayed that he didn’t ask her anything else at this time of the day.

“Get the file and come here.” He ordered and Eleanor scowled. Did he take a look at the time? The work was almost about to end and he was asking her to take the file to him. Sighing, Eleanor quickly took the file from her drawer and went to the address he sent her. She would quickly drop the file at his place and go home; she planned and took the cab.

But what she didn’t know was that his place wasn’t a place, it was a palace. She stared wide-eyed at the property, it was huge and breathtaking. Gulping, as she took in the expanse of the property, she took a step inside and the guard asked her about her business. After getting her information, he allowed her inside and she walked inside. There was a lush garden with the mansion and was decorated with beautiful flowers. Her feet moved on her own towards the garden and she breathed in the fresh scent of the flowers. Her hand caressed one of the flowers, it was an English Rose. It was blissful. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, inhaling the beautiful scent, and smiled.

What she didn’t know was that someone was watching her from above. Unaware, she turned around and went through the main door of the mansion. Inside the mansion, she entered a big hall where there was a living area, a dining area to the corner, a fireplace, and a staircase. Just like the outside, the inside of the mansion was remarkably decorated. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a servant.

“How may I help you, Miss?” She was greeted with weird stares from the servants as they looked at each other for clues.

“I am Eleanor, Mr. Hansen called me here.” The servant nodded and quickly waved for her to sit on the couch and wait.

After a while, an elderly man appeared with the servant. He was dressed in a casual shirt and trousers. With brown hair and blue eyes, he resembled a lot with Rickard. Was he Rickard’s father? Eleanor wondered and upon realizing she felt like slapping herself. She should have clarified which Mr. Hansen called her here.

“Hi, Ms. Eleanor, I don’t recall calling you here.” The elderly man said with a frown.

Eleanor quickly stood up and shook her head in embarrassment. She was about to say that there was a misunderstanding when Rickard’s voice interrupted. “I called her here.”

He came from behind her and surprised her. Eleanor stared at him with surprise and at the same time sighed in relief for Rickard interrupting at the right time.

“Dad, meet Ms. Eleanor Harrington. Eleanor, that’s my dad.” Rickard said and watched his father’s face changing color as if he was shocked. Eleanor was confused but as she glanced at Rickard, he threw her a glance and smiled.

Smile? Eleanor’s mouth fell open seeing him smiling, for the first time. She could swear the world was ending, what else could be the reason behind his smile? In these two months of working for him, she had never seen a smile on his face. She hadn’t recovered from her shock when Rickard interrupted, “Eleanor, come with me.” Rickard said and went in the direction of a passage.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hansen,” Eleanor said to a shocked Mr. Hansen and quickly ran behind Rickard who was strutting towards a door in the passage.

She quickly got inside the door which Rickard was holding open for her and heaved out a sigh. It was an office, she figured out by the setting of the room. “Here’s the file you asked.” She held out the file. He took it and went in the direction of the table.

Eleanor slowly stepped further into the room and asked, “If that’s all, can I leave now?”

Rickard looked up at her with a confused face and shook his head. “No, I am confused about some investments here. Sit down. This is going to take a while.”

Annoyed, Eleanor sat down on one of the couches and placed her bag in the corner, and watched him read the file intently. He was dressed in casual attire making him look different than the stern businessman he was. Eleanor wondered if he felt emotional towards anything at all. Were love, hate, compassion in his dictionary or was he void of all these emotions? One emotion she was sure he felt was desire. She had seen the desire in his eyes and what man like him would be left alone from women. Of course, he fulfilled his desires somewhere. With the thought, Eleanor felt a bitter emotion and felt herself getting upset.

Trying to take her mind off the disturbing thought, she took out her phone and sent a text to Rebecca to not wait for her as she will be late. Her throat felt dry all of a sudden but she didn’t bother to ask for water. It would probably waste time because she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Eleanor, come here… What are these costs?” He asked when Eleanor came to stand beside him.

She looked closely at the figures and held out her hand towards the file when it began trembling. Rickard saw it and frowned. He looked at Eleanor who was sweating as well.

“I – I …” Eleanor said while blinking, trying to clear her vision which was getting blurry, and then it all went blank.