Saving My Heroine

Chapter 5

Temi huffed and puffed as she entered the office. Anna and Amy shared a look then looked at her. “What's wrong?" Amy asked, pausing her work. Temi was rarely angry but she seemed to be really upset. Anna passed her a piece of meat,

"Have you eaten?” Temi took it gratefully.

"Leeno is so annoying, I'm so happy to be done with my collaboration with her." She sighed at the taste. “This is so good." She stretched her hand out for another so Anna gave her the plate. She took it and continued “I'm done with the preliminary budget, from the beginning I should have just done it myself and sent it to the development team to add or remove."

Anna could understand her anger, it was like people loved frustrating financial officers. " At least you're done for now and we can all breathe easy a little more.” She consoled and went back to her work. The remaining day was spent talking and handling other small projects.

After work, Anna bid farewell to the other members of her team. She had made plans to have dinner with Celine so she had to wait as Celine still had some things to do.

As the office grew quieter, she settled into her chair and reached for her phone to pass the time until Celine was ready to leave. However, just as she was getting into her game, James approached, the documents in his hand suggesting he still had work to do.

"Hey Anna, could you do me a favor?" James asked. "Could you please take this document to Masen for me?”

"No problem," Anna said, pocketing her phone and standing up.

James handed her the document. "I would take it myself, but I need to finish up this report before I can go home. Thank you Anna, I really appreciate it," James added, his eyes still focused on his task.

"It's not a problem," Anna assured him, taking the document, “If Celine gets here, tell her I'll be back soon." She requested. James nodded and she turned heading to Masen’s office.

As she headed for Masen's office, she bumped into Michael. It was the first time she had seen him since her rebirth.

“Good evening sir." She greeted and he nodded, seemingly in a hurry. She glanced at his back, the CEO is leaving but the CFO is still around? She wondered then shrugged. He had probably finished his work and it was not her business anyway.

Standing outside Masen's office, Anna placed her hand on her chest as if to calm her racing heart. Calm down, she thought, just drop the document and leave, it's not hard. After a moment she took a deep breath and knocked.

“Come in." A cool and gentle voice called. She pushed the door and stepped into his office, her eyes wandered briefly across the room but quickly moved to Masen who had paused his assault on the mountain of paperwork on his desk to focus his attention on her.

“Mr James asked me to bring this to you." She said handing the document to him, eyeing the documents already on his desk, she felt a wave of pity— With great power comes great responsibility indeed, she thought.

“Oh?" He raised an eyebrow as he collected it.

“He would have brought it himself but he's busy with something else." She explained. He nodded and smiled, his eyes shining in delight

“Thank you, Anna."

She sucked her head, he was very handsome. She bowed softly and excused herself from his office. She closed the door and sighed. Well she had finished that conversation without embarrassing herself at the very least, she thought.

Anna entered the department room, her eyes fell on Celine waiting patiently for her.

“Celine!" Anna said, smiling as she walked to her desk. She picked up her bag and phone then turned back to her, "Ready to go?” She asked.

"Yes! I'm hungry.” Celine whined.

They bid farewell to James who was also getting ready to leave and made their way out of the office.

As they stepped onto the sidewalk, Celine started fidgeting, opening and closing her mouth, obviously hesitating to say something. Anna glanced at her but did not ask, she took out her phone to order a ride when Celine managed to find her words.

“N-No no need to c-c-call a ride.”

"Oh?" Anna smirked, today has been very interesting but it seems like Celine was going to make it more interesting. “Why not? I don't plan on-”

A black car came to a screeching stop in front of her, the driver door opened and Michael stepped out and smiled at them both.

“Nice to meet you Anna, I'm Michael." He introduced nervously, his hands fidgeting as if he wasn't about extending his hand to shake or not. Anna stared blankly.

In the car she leaned in her seat, staring at the couple. She was amused at their nerves, she bit her lip gently to stop her laugh, enjoying their discomfort.

To the other occupants in the car she looked like she was biting her lips in anger, her face was cold and eyes blank. This caused them to be more nervous, they shared a glance in the rear view mirror to support each other.

Anna couldn't stop laughing in her head, she couldn't understand what they were so nervous about. Celine had already told her about Michael, not a lot but enough for her to know him. Did they think she was angry about Celine not mentioning that Michael was their boss? She would have to be living under a rock to not have recognized him when Celine showed her a picture. Thinking about it, they had behaved the same way when she met Michael in the previous life but it hadn't been this bad.

Celine glanced at her, only to see that Anna was already staring. She gave a trembling smile and Anna returned it with a smirk, she glanced away quickly, feeling a little calmer. It seemed like Anna didn't disapprove of Michael, she knew that if she did the relationship would not last. Celine really liked Michael and would honestly prefer to not break up with him.

They arrived shortly at a restaurant and stepped out.

“Reservation for Michael Todd please." Michael said to a waiter as they entered. The waiter nodded and led them to a more private room on the second floor.

Anna smiled as she took a seat on the table. They had picked one of her favourite restaurants. She nodded at Michael, “You have good taste." He smiled, this was the first thing Anna had said to him.

As the server took their orders, Celine and Anna engaged in easy conversation, discussing work, friends, and the latest gossip. Michael, on the other hand, remained relatively quiet, observing the two women and occasionally interjecting with a thoughtful comment or witty remark. Anna was amused by his silence. Micheal was a very talkative person but he was quite introverted and most people expect him to be quiet. This makes him seem quiet until he becomes comfortable with you.

The waiter brought out their food and they paused their conversation to eat. As they ate, Anna noticed Michael’s gaze on Celine. His eyes were so full of admiration as he looked at her. She smiled to herself, one thing she was always certain about was Michael's love for Celine.

When they finished eating, their plates were whisked away, the waiter returned with a tray of dessert, shortly after he was gone and three different flavours of small cakes were on their table. Anna immediately cut a piece of all three, she saw Michael serve a slice of banana cake to Celine and her eyes lit up with mischief.

She cleared her throat loudly, drawing the couple's attention.

“So, may I know why you're here Mr Todd." She asked.

Michael blinked in confusion, before understanding dawned on him. Earlier he had forgotten to introduce himself as Celine's boyfriend but he couldn't understand why Anna waited till now to ask him. She had ridden in his car and ate the meal he ordered, why would she question his reasoning now.

Celine shoved her gently, “You're asking this now?" Anna burst out laughing, being with this couple always made her laugh. Michael smiled, realising that Anna was teasing him.

“I wanted to meet my girlfriend's amazing best friend." He threw back. This caused both ladies to pause, Celine blushed furiously and Anna cooed.

“That's so sweet." Anna grinned. "And I must add, Celine had excellent taste in friends.”

Michael chuckled, "And even better taste in boyfriends, I hope.”

“Not too shabby from what I've seen.” Anna nodded.

Celine rolled her eyes but her smile betrayed her amusement. She was happy to see them get along.

“How did you guys, you know, get together?" Anna asked, picking up her fork and taking a bite of her cake. She already knew of course but it would be suspicious if she didn't ask.

They both stumbled over each other, saying different versions of the story. Celine claimed that Michael had sprang the question on her.

“That's a lie!" He cried, “We went out and Celine gave me this beautiful watch then said ‘I saw this and thought of you, I've always loved couple outfits’ so if anything she sprung it on me.”

Anna let out an exaggerated gasp, “How bold of you, Miss Celine.” Celine rolled her eyes at them both and countered.

“Oh please, we were already together by then." Then she turned to Anna, "Didn't I learn my boldness from you."

As the conversation continued, the banter between the three grew more comfortable and natural. Michael opened up more and Anna fell back into an old and easy routine she hadn't felt in a while.

They spent the next few hours teasing each other and as the night came to a close, they left the restaurant in joy and made their way back to the car. Anna climbed into the backseat while Celine sat in the front with Michael at her insistence. The car ride was spent discussing Anna's new job at Haute Style.

Shortly later, Michael got to her place and dropped her off. Celine came down with her and walked her to the door.

“So…… What do you think?” She asked, rocking on her heels. Anna smiled and gave her a hug.

“I don't want to keep you, I'll call you when I wake up tomorrow." Celine nodded and went back to Michael.

Anna watched them leave then entered her house.