Saving My Heroine

Chapter 13

Tim was amused by Michael's sudden melancholy, “At least you know better now." He offered, “You can set boundaries with her, so something like this won't happen again."

“Crazy enough, Anna said the exact same thing." Michael chuckled.

"You spoke to Anna?” Tim asked.

"More like she gave me a serious dressing down. It sounded like she wanted me out of Celine's life.” He winced.

“Well, you know how much she cares for Celine. You can't blame her too much.” Tim replied dryly, thinking about Anna’s involvement in the whole thing. For a second he almost believed that she expected Coral to show up and that's why she had been visiting Celine so much but it's not like she knew Coral so it was impossible that she would have expected it. It could have been a best friend thing though, he mused, amusement dancing in his eyes.

He looked at Michael, his eyes were shadowed with exhaustion. His shoulders sagged, head bowed, his earlier aggression replaced by weariness. He was probably tired from his family event, little Miss Coral just had to add to his already stressful life.

“I cut off some Clarke funding roles.” he confessed, voice quiet, “Gave some projects to rival companies as well." He finished his drink and placed the bottle on the ground.

Tim gave a low whistle, “I expected worse but at the same time I didn't actually expect you to go this far." He admitted, voice was mixed with shock and disbelief.

Michael chuckled darkly, “I definitely went easy on them but only because of our families old friendship."

Tim nodded, Michael was right, he needed to be strict if he wished to protect Celine.

Anna was amused by the atmosphere in the office for the past few weeks. Something that didn't happen in the previous timeline.

Michael had posted a picture of him and Celine on his socials announcing their relationship. He also weeded out some people Coral instigated to spread malicious rumours about Celine and make her work life harder. After that, the entire office got the point — Michael didn't play about Celine.

Amy and Temi had teased Celine relentlessly when the news came out, while Anna stylishly added fuel while enjoying the chaos in the background.

“I'm glad she's better now." Amy leaned in to Anna, her voice a soft murmur. She glanced at Temi and Celine as they discussed the company's new fashion line with full interest.

“Me too, I'm also very happy about how Michael dealt with the rumours as well." Anna agreed, satisfaction dripping from her words to her face.

Amy’s eyes lit up and she turned to Anna, “You probably didn't know but he taught the Clarke family a big lesson as well.” She whispered gleefully.

Anna's satisfaction tripled, that was exactly what she wanted to hear. It needed to be obvious that Michael had Celine's back to everyone. " Did he really?” She smirked.

"He did.” Amy affirmed, "They are facing a lot of issues and while most seem unimportant or small, together they make for a good headache.” She giggled.

Anna's grin widened in satisfaction then she turned to Amy in wonder. “How did you know though? I mean, it's not exactly public knowledge."

"I'm an elite.”

Anna's eyes went wide, "You are?”

"Yep,” Amy nodded. "There's actually quite a number of us here. This is where most of us come to when we don't want to work in the ‘family business’.”

Understanding dawned on Anna, " Haute Style is very prestigious.”

"Exactly, if you're here you're good. My family is into tech but I'm not interested at all, not even in the numbers and I know my mom wishes for me to come back.” She sighed.

“So that's why you weren't really impressed by Masen, you grew up with him." Anna teased, a mischievous smile on her lips and her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Not really, No.” Amy chuckled."I knew him but we weren't friends. “ She shrugged.

Anna nodded in understanding, not everyone was friends.

“Anna!" Celine called out, dragging the two other women's attention back to her and Temi.

“Is this dress really better than this?" She asked, pushing her phone in their faces to compare two outfits.

The preview of the new fashion line has dropped today and the office was buzzing with admiration and amazement. Anna had worked with Tim closely and still felt very amazed by it. He was really good at his job. The timing for the drop was also quite suspicious, she felt that it was dropped to cause a distraction and it was working. Not a problem, Anna thought, it's better people moved on from Celine faster anyway.

Masen steps slowed as he passed by Anna's office, his eyes catching sight of her through the glass door. He smiled unconsciously as he watched her work.

She arranged documents while conversing with someone else. She was really beautiful as she focused and he couldn't help but stare longer.

While she had shed her carefree side which she showed during their date he couldn't help but admire this side of her as well. He shook himself, continuing on his errand.

When he got back to his office he noticed that his parents had sent him a message asking him to come home. He frowned, the vacation he spent with them had already drained him and he wasn't really ready to be around them soon.

He loved his parents a lot but their over involvement in his life was one of the reasons he went to school abroad but they were yet to get that. He massaged his forehead gently, his parents had been quite negligent with his older brother and tried overcompensating with him.

He wondered what he could do to divert their attention when he remembered the rumours that were circulating after their small vacation. It seemed that he wouldn't need to do anything, it was only a matter of time before news got to his family. He felt a bit of pity for Celine, she was Anna's friend and dealing with his family was not something he would normally wish on anyone but this time he was grateful to her. She would have to meet the family anyway so dealing with them would be inevitable.

He picked up his phone, his hands danced across the screen as he sent his parents a polite yet vague excuse. Then he sent Anna a quick text, smiling at their previous messages. He was tempted to reread them but shook his head and went back to work with a renewed energy in him.