Saving My Heroine

Chapter 2

November 6th, 2019.

There had been a very annoying deal in Haute and everyone was on edge.

For some reason the client kept reducing the timeline and putting pressure on the company but with persistence and long overtime they managed to finish and properly review the project a day before the end date.

Only for the client to call and request a big change that would cause at least half of the project to be null. This caused the workers who believed that they would be going home on time for once into a panicked mess of restructuring and fixing.

As for why they didn't just reject the contract, the deal was huge and the pay out was even bigger. Also a lot of time and resources had been poured into the deal and that would be an even bigger loss for them.

In the frenzy an important file went missing, the workers were thrown into more disarray and everyone kept shouting and blaming each other.

Celine was tired, frustrated and angry, it was the first big project that she had been seriously involved in, not as an assistant or an intern but as a full time employee. Looking back, Celine still could not understand what brought his attention to her specifically but for some reason Michael, their boss had decided she was the perfect target for his outburst.

Celine looked at him and burst into tears. She had always been a crybaby, any emotion she feels, she cries, of course it had gotten much better as she matured but this situation had pushed her to her limits and his angry outburst had broken her.

Michael had paused his tirade, and the entire room went silent in shock, only the sound of Celine sobs filled the room. He looked around, the active room had become still and everyone just stared at the girl who sat on the floor crying, but in their faces there was obvious tiredness, he sighed.

“Go home, everyone. If he can change the project, he can wait a few more weeks for us to plan properly." No one moved though, everyone was still shocked by the turn of events.

Micheal turned around and stretched out his hand to help Celine up.

“I'm sorry, I was also frustrated but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Celine looked at his hand warily, hesitating for a moment. Despite her reservations, she knew it would be impolite to refuse his offer to help, so she took his hand shortly.

“I understand sir. I'm sorry for causing a scene." She sniffled.

“Don't worry" he waved his hand with a laugh in his voice, “You cried for us all.”

That broke the spell and the entire company woke up from their trance. People rushed to their desks to pack up their things and leave for home, the thought of hope bringing joy and strength back to them all.

Celine bowed softly and joined the packing. Michael stared at her back. How interesting, he thought and moved to also pack. He was originally going to continue working but he decided to follow the lead of his employees. He turned back but she had already left. It's been a while since a person piqued his interest.

20th of March 2020

After Celine left, Anna immediately started planning, she couldn’t afford to waste any time. She moved to the small study desk she placed in her room for working and picked a book and pen to start jotting down important information. As she picked up her pen, negative thoughts began to cloud her mind and the pen left her hand.

Where should I start from? What should I start with? Can I actually do this? What if after everything I still can’t save Celine?

She scoffed, wiping her tears. I need to at least try. She picked up her pen once more and opened the book.

Let’s start with the simple things.

Cause of death: Murder.

Anna was shocked when she heard about Celine’s death but she had been even more shocked to find out that Celine had been murdered. She paused and added Michael to the cause of death. It was harsh but Anna felt that at the end of the day Celine’s death had been his fault or rather they both had evidence to believe that Celine had died because of her relationship with him. Unfortunately, Anna had died before they could find out who was behind it.

Time of death: 19th of August 2024.

She looked at the date, she had died roughly two months after Celine’s death. She thought of her parents and Celine’s parents in her original timeline. How were they coping? Celine’s death had shook them all and now she had died as well.

She wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe that the world paused after her death. She was grateful enough to have this second chance and even though she wasn’t quite sure she believed it, she was happy to try and protect Celine. She only wished that their parents would be fine, Celine had an older brother and she had a younger adopted sister. She hoped Marvin could take care of both parents and also himself.

She moved on to the next piece of information.

Place of death: This was one of the reasons she and Michael had believed it was her relationship with him that caused her to be targeted. Celine had been killed in one of the warehouses of Michael’s company. Of course, the warehouse was no longer in use, but it could not have been a coincidence. That was a clear message to Michael.

Suspects: This was the tricky part. She had no idea who it could be. Michael came from old money and he was very successful on his own, so he had no shortage of business rivals but Anna couldn’t understand why they would go for Celine, when that would only put Michael on their trail. Unless they were someone powerful, rich or cunning enough to believe that they could escape him.

Anna laid her head on the table, then turned her face towards her bed, how could she handle a person like that? She had no resources.

She rubbed her face and raised her head up, well, she’ll deal with it when the time comes. She hesitated and wrote down some names, it might not have been a business rival but someone else with a different motive.

She looked at it, all the problems started with the fact that Celine was dating Michael. Celine would probably be safe if they broke up. Also, they had a lot of problems in their relationship, they would not have to go through them if they weren’t together, she thought. It was best if they broke up.

She closed the book. She had already written out the most important things and thought of a perfect plan as well. Now all she had to do is find the perfect reason to convince Celine to break up with Michael. She stood up from her chair and moved to her wardrobe, she opened it and took a simple pajama and then moved to the bathroom to prepare for bed. She brushed her teeth and did a quick cleanup.

She left the bathroom and settled on her bed, preparing to go to sleep. She’d had a very long day but she remembered that she hadn’t checked on Celine and immediately picked up her phone to text her. Confirming her arrival at home and urging Anna to go to sleep as she was tired and had to go to work the next day.

Anna ended the call, luckily for her she had a break.

She stood up from her bed once more and picked up her laptop.

If I really want to fix all the problems, I need to go to where most of the problems started. I need to apply to Haute Style. She thought seriously.

Anna had read Accounting and had originally planned to work in Haute Style along with Celine but one of her professors had introduced her to her current job and it was amazing with great benefits. Honestly, she was sad to leave, she had made good friends there but unfortunately Celine’s life was more important and trying something new might be fun. She hummed gently and started typing out her resignation and arranging her portfolio to apply to Haute Style. She had been on an educational leave and was supposed to be resuming in a month to the senior financial analyst position waiting for her but now that she won’t be returning, she could at least write an official resignation. She blew out a breath, the things she does for love.

While grumbling, Anna was happy that she could be confident about applying into Haute Style, her grades were good, her resume was even better and luckily there was an opening.

She paused, something like a light coming up in her head. What are the odds that she would wake up at the right time to apply to Haute Style? Could that be why she had woken up today? But Celine had been bullied out of the company, couldn’t she have woken up then? Or before Celine and Michael had gotten involved? Anna sighed.

I don’t really understand, so I’ll just focus on the part I can handle for now.

It’s a good thing she woke up at a good time and she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She forwarded her resignation email to her company’s HR, and finished tidying up her Resume.

When she finished that, she turned off her laptop and went to bed. Lying down, she immediately drifted off to sleep, anything else could wait for tomorrow.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Two weeks later

Anna looked up at where her new workplace would be for the next few years. Celine gently pushed her shoulder with hers, jostling her out of her thoughts.

“What do you think?” She asked, smiling with sparkling eyes. Anna looked at the tall building, it was indeed very beautiful. Whoever designed it was amazing, as expected of a top real estate company. The building was in a unique form of the letter H, with beautiful glasses that had subtle flower designs on them and rows of decorative writings across the wall of the buildings. The design was really stunning and Anna was impressed.

She smiled at Celine “Beautiful, I’m really looking forward to this.” She nudged Celine’s shoulder back.

“If you guys plan on staying out forever the least you could do is allow other people to go in.” A cold and slightly annoyed voice said and both women instinctively ducked out of his way.

When they looked up, he had already passed them and his broad and attractive back was all they saw.

“Who is that?” Anna asked, staring.

“I have no idea.” Celine replied. “But we were not even in his way.” She hissed.

“Yeah, I just moved instinctively when I heard his voice.” Anna frowned.

“It's always the cute ones that are rude.” Celine said, rolling her eyes, causing Anna to give her a side eye. “Mhm.”

“Well, he was right about something, we can’t stand out here forever.” Celine said and pulled Anna in.

As they both entered, Anna looked around once more at the building and thought. Let operation ‘Save Celine’ begin.