Saving My Heroine

Chapter 11

15 December 2019

Celine fidgeted around in her seat, not quite comfortable. She glanced at Michael beside her out of the corner of her eyes, he was settling on his seats arranging his snacks. Celine picked up her drink, her throat had gone dry out of nerves and took a small sip, missing Michael's eyes settling on her.

They met outside the theater. Celine was waiting for Anna, unfortunately she called in a rain check then Celine met Michael who planned to watch the same movie that Celine and Anna planned to see. They decided to watch the movie together as there was no one else with them.

After the movie they walked out discussing the movie’s plot and its characters. They both enjoyed it a lot. When they got to Michael’s car Celine bid him farewell expressing her enjoyment of his company politely and turning to leave.

“Would you like to have lunch?" He asked. Celine paused and turned to stare at him, her gaze questioning.

“With me?" He continued, avoiding her eyes. Celine thought about it, ethically it was wrong but honestly, she was allowed to do the wrong things sometimes.

6th May 2020.

After Anna put Celine in bed she called Michael. Normally she would prefer to have Celine have this conversation herself but this time she felt that she needed to do this as soon as possible (She still planned to advise Celine to speak to him later).

“Hello Anna?” Michael asked, he was surprised by Anna's call. They had not really spoken after that small dinner, so they were not really close.

“Is something wrong with Celine?” his voice trembled slightly. It was the only reason he could think about her calling him so late.

“Calm down Michael.” She said “Nothing's wrong with Celine, at least nothing is wrong physically.”

Michael let out a breath, relief flooding him.

“I'm certain Celine told you about Coral's unexpected and unwelcome visit to her office.

Michael winced, Celine had sent him an angry message but aside from that he hadn't received anything else from her. He relayed that to Anna who pursed her lips and glanced at Celine's sleeping form.

“I know you're not to blame but Coral's visit really affected Celine and I know she wouldn't have told you how much, she probably would have hid it from me as well if I hadn't been there.” She said coldly.

“I– " “Michael," Anna interrupted not angrily but Michael could feel the protectiveness coming from her voice. “You’re Celine's boyfriend and she's very sensitive, you should know this by now. You have to set proper boundaries with the people around you and also think deeply at the type of relationship you want to have with Celine. This type of situation is not something I want happening often, or even ever again.” She said firmly.

“I understand Anna but I haven't really been in contact with Coral so what she did was really unexpected even to me,” he confessed.

Anna knew this of course, she also wondered why Coral decided to latch onto Michael again. In the previous timeline situations like this had happened a lot but Celine had kept them to herself so no one could really help, that was why this time she was determined to always be there and not allow her spiral.

“Michael, you know to me this just sounds like an excuse.” She said harshly, before he could defend himself she continued “Whatever is between you and Coral should end and warning about Celine should be given to the people in your life. I refuse to allow them to make her a punching bag because they believe she's weak and that they all have a say in your relationship.”

“Don't worry Anna, I will make sure to do as you ask. I should have done this earlier but I assumed that Celine wasn't ready to announce our relationship yet." He assured her.

"Well your ex-girlfriend has taken that choice away from her. She announced it in front of our colleagues and by the end of this week I believe the whole company will be aware.” Anna said dryly.

Michael chuckled helplessly, “It won't happen again Anna, I promise.”

"See that it doesn't." She shot back then softened her voice, “Good night Michael, take care of yourself.”

“Good night Anna.” he replied and cut the call.

His eyes immediately turned colder and an oppressive air covered him.

“Since the Clarke's don't wish for me to be happy, I will make sure they are so busy that my happiness will become the least of their problems.”

Anna was confident that Michael would take her words seriously. He was really a great guy, she knew he was pissed but he had been so kind with his words and attitude to her. That was probably because she was Celine's best friend. She stretched and climbed into the bed with Celine, falling asleep tired from the day's stress.

7th May 2020

Tim shot Anna a glance she didn't even flinch but kept typing away, at this point he was full on staring at her.

Tim had to give her her flowers, the entire office was looking at her with burning curiosity but she was acting oblivious towards them. Actually, it was quite obvious that she was aware but just ignoring them. He was itching to just go up and ask her if she was really going to continue ignoring everyone like that.

Suddenly, she stood up and walked out without sparing anyone a glance. The entire room stared after her and immediately started talking the second she left the room. Tim didn't know why but he felt laughter bubbling up within him.

He stood up planning to go after her when she walked back in with a cold bottle of what looked like banana smoothie. She dropped into her seat and placed a bottle with a loud thud — that drew everyone's attention — on her desk. she looked around with a sweet and deadly smile.

“I guess everyone is jobless now and I'm the new entertainment.” As the words left her mouth, everyone immediately went back to their work.

She shot Tim a glare and joined the rest. Tim pouted not knowing what he did wrong.

The second Anna got to work she knew yesterday's confrontation had spread. She expected this but still it had spread much faster than she expected. She paid zero attention to the gossip and focused on her work while worrying about Celine. The eyes from her colleagues on her made her blood boil so she took a stroll to calm down but still ended up snapping on her return.

She shot Tim an annoyed look which he returned with a confused and hurt look. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. If he had done his work properly she wouldn't have had to react.

During lunch she rushed to the cafe where she ate with Celine, Temi and Amy. Earlier she has filled the other women with the details about the event and her plan to try and distract Celine. They had immediately agreed, feeling annoyance on Celine's behalf.

“So she can't attack Michael but she can bully Celine?" Amy had hissed.

"Women like her really piss me off.” Temi had added, looking like an angry Chick.

When she got to the cafe Amy had already ordered a sumptuous meal for them and the other women were chatting while waiting for her. She slid in the seat beside Celine and noticed that her mood was already much better than it had been in the morning.

“Wow! We're you guys here before lunch? I could have sworn I dashed here immediately when it clocked 12." She said as she took her plate of food.

"Maybe you weren't as fast as you believed you were.” Temi teased.

Amy shot her a nasty side eye which only made her laugh heartily. Celine shoved a piece of food into her mouth, thoroughly hooked by Amy's recollection of a childhood event.

Anna smiled at that, focusing on her food, happy that she had picked good friends or rather good people had chosen to befriend her.

She recalled that Celine had a friend like that in the previous timeline but she couldn't remember her name.