CEO's Cat Lady [Complete]

Chapter 18

"Ms. Amy, Mr. Schwarz is waiting for you at the conference room. He says the two of you have a lunch date set for today. What should I tell him?" Amy's secretary told her through the intercom.

Amy pressed back the button to answer. "Alright. Please tell him I'll go there in a moment. Thanks."

Amy sighed as she finished organizing the documents she had just finished reading. These past few days, Trevor had been going to the hospital so that both of them could eat lunch together. She couldn't do anything, especially when she learned that her brother had already given his permission to the hotel heir. Amy, for her part, would admit that she had been being used to Trevor's presence and this new routine. If only the media would stop stalking them everyday…

Still, she was doing her best to look as normal as possible so as to avoid anyone detecting anything different about her. Thankfully, the morning sickness always happened before she went to work and the fainting spell had not happened after the time with Jensen last Monday. Amy had not yet been to the ob-gyne, as her time was taken by the pressing issue of the hospital renovation. Instead of resting, she spent every morning reviewing the bid submission of modern hospital equipment suppliers, familiarizing herself with the organizational structure of the hospital, and even doing some interviews.

The pretend game was especially difficult with the lunches with Trevor, since her stomach was being especially difficult with her. Trevor constantly asked her if she had problems with her food, as he caught her a lot of times avoiding the look or smell of some food he ordered. He would also look at her with some disgusted puzzlement whenever she brought out the Tupperware of pineapple chunks that she munched on as dessert after every meal. She had to make him believe that she just really liked the fruit so much, to which he nodded, unconvinced.

She knew that the pretension would have been even more difficult if she did not have Jensen's support. He was a big help, as every night she came home, he would be waiting outside her gate, go inside with her in the modest apartment, and ask her about her condition. Only the two of them knew about her pregnancy, and Amy appreciated the fact that there was at least someone in this world she could talk about it freely. She was especially touched when he gave her some pregnancy books, for with her busy schedule, researching about her condition slipped her mind a lot. One thing her male friend always reiterated though was about not tiring herself too much.

Amy wished she could do that too, but if she was trying to hide her condition while she had no plans yet, not fulfilling her duty would definitely get her brother's attention. For now, she was trying to take care of herself as best as she could without it affecting her newfound duty, that apparently included having lunches with the heir of the Snowdrop Hotel Chain.

"You're three minutes late.," Trevor commented when she opened the conference room. He looked bored as he always did.

Amy assumed an offended façade, frowning as she answered. "Well, sorry for having less time than you have. You see, I'm a newbie learning the ropes of managing a hospital."

The hotel heir snorted, in his usual indifferent way. "You're so easy to rile up." He got up from his seat and went towards her. When got close enough, he sought her left hand. "How's your wound?"

She looked down at the scratch marks he was softly tracing with his fingers. "Eh… It's healing fine," she shrugged. "I told you I'm used to cat scratches. My Beerus gives them to me every time he mistakes me as his scratching post."

The hotel heir's cold eyes roamed her face, as if determining if she was telling the truth. After a while, he told her: "Come on, I'm famished."

"Alright." Amy then turned around to go out the door, but was prevented when Trevor pulled on her hand. Raising her questioning eyes to him as if asking, Trevor spoke.

"Don't go rushing without waiting for me." He then walked ahead of her but without letting go of her hand.

Amy had no choice but to follow him. Ever since that night she helped Trevor take care of his newly adopted cat, the one she named (since he told her he couldn't think of any names) as Jemima, from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, he had been taking her to lunch.

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She was currently inside Trevor's penthouse at the rooftop of the Snowdrop Hotel. When she agreed last night to help the hotel heir with his cat problem, she did not expect for him to actually bring her to his bachelor's pad. She remembered the curious eyes of the nurses, patients, and doctors that followed Trevor and her as they got inside his Mercedes Benz. He surprised her greatly when she found out that he waited for her at the conference room of the board members until the end of her office hours.

Worried about the impression she might leave to her new colleagues, she chastised him, telling him that it seemed 'unprofessional' that she might be entertaining men while she worked. Trevor silenced Amy when he pointed out that her older brother knew about his visit. And now, she was currently sitting in his couch, clutching her bleeding left hand. Jemima, the cat, had swiped her with her paw when she tried to move the feeding tray closer to the wary feline.

She ignored the first strike (which had started bleeding immediately) but did not stop at holding her ground with the feisty cat. Normally, she would be giving the cat its space, but it couldn't work here because Jemima was not eating. If the cat continued to distrust them, it could starve. Amy wanted to calm the feline tonight at least.

"You're either crazy or brave, but I think I'm gravitating to the former." Trevor then settled in front of her and placed the first-aid kit on the center table in front of them.

He was livid when he discovered that she got scratched too many times when she was attempting to befriend Jemima. It was because Amy told Trevor to leave the guest room where he kept Jemima first so that the cat wouldn't feel threatened more.

Amy decided to humor Trevor. "Well, obviously, I'm crazy. I won't be called a crazy cat lady for nothing," she answered as she started to rub antiseptic on her wound.

Trevor sighed tiredly, possibly the most emotional she'd seen from him. "I just don't like seeing the woman I like get hurt." He then got a hold of her wounded hand and started putting band-aids on her scratches.

Amy was stopped by what he said and looked at the hotel heir in transfixed amusement. "Were you really serious about that?"

Trevor stopped what he was doing and impassively stared at her. "Were you thinking I wasn't when I told you?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah.," she answered matter-of-factly.

Trevor finally finished wrapping up her hands and settled into the couch and watched her with his cold eyes. "Why is it so hard for you to believe it?"

"Uhmm…" Amy shrugged. "It's just so unbelievable, you know? I mean, I'm not exactly a beauty, and I'm sure you've already been with more beautiful girls. I don't see why you should "like" me, as you said," she told him, putting air-quotes to emphasize her point.

Trevor's eyes were piercing as he answered her. "True, I've been with women before… maybe taller and bigger assets than you do. But as you can see, they all failed. And now, after quite a long time, I got interested in someone who may not be like those women, but she's really someone I find fascinating."

Amy chuckled after she heard what he said. "Fascinating? Dude, I'm telling you. I'm the most boring person ever. Even my former officemates called me that behind my back. I'm afraid you'll be greatly disappointed."

"I believe it should be me who should be the judge of that."

Since Trevor's words brook no argument, she just teased him. "Nah. Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"Does the idea that someone liked you sound so alien? Has really been there no one who expressed interest in you?" Now, there was genuine curiosity in Trevor's voice, although to the common listener, it might sound merely monotonic.

"Ahmm… Well, there's someone who seemed interested too… you know, invited me for coffee and such. But I don't really take it seriously. He's just being nice because he's that kind of person, I think."

"Who?" Trevor's eyes were chillingly cold.

"Just my new neighbor." Amy smirked. "But for real though, he's always so kind."

"What's his name?"

Confused as to why Trevor was asking the question, Amy answered him. "Jensen. Jensen del Rosario, if I remember right. Why are you asking?"

Trevor suddenly leaned towards her until their noses were almost touching as he answered: "Because I would need to tell him to back off what's mine."

Amy came back to the present time when the car stopped in front of the Snowdrop French Restaurant where they've been having lunch these days. Well, it was just as good as she felt hungry a lot of times these days. It might be because she was eating for two now.

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There's a new power couple to watch out for! Reports of seeing the newly introduced heiress of the Ledesma conglomerate and the elusive, highly-sought after bachelor, the CEO of the hotel giant Snowdrop Hotel Chain going for romantic dates are surfacing. CEO Trevor Schwarz has been spotted dropping off at the hospital Amethyst Ledesma is managing. Everyone is dying to get an exclusive scoop about this secretive couple…

"I have a bet that they're totally being arranged for marriage. What do you think, Chris?"

Chris was jolted from his intense concentration while watching the television at the cafeteria at the basement of their building as Regine asked him a question. He was currently having lunch with his colleagues at the department when the lunchtime news report aired, complete with scoops about celebrities. The whole cafeteria tuned in with interest when their former HR Head was shown in the pictures walking with their company investor on the middle of what seemed like a parking lot.

"I don't know.," Chris answered seriously. "It's hard to understand the ways of the rich anyway."

On the table, the discussion of Ms. Amy's secret life took over again as Chris silently ate his lunch. In contrast with the issue of gossips regarding their former HR Head, Chris thoughts were about his plans to apologize personally to the woman. Would he even be permitted to come close with Ms. Amy? She would probably have bodyguards around her. Chris truly didn't know how to go through his plan, now that Ms. Amy's true identity was revealed.

"Hey, Chris. Are you free on tomorrow? I'm wondering if you could accompany me to the movies since it's the weekend?" Regine asked him again.

Chris chewed and swallowed his food first before answering. "I'm sorry. I have plans for the weekend." He was planning to go to Ms. Amy's address actually.

"Oh." Regine pouted. "That's too bad. If you change your mind, you can give me a call, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Chris nodded, although his mind is already made up.

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"Hello, Mr. Ledesma." Trevor greeted Amy's older brother in a formal manner over the phone.

"Mr. Schwarz." Arthur Ledesma's cold tone answered back on the other line. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Trevor responded in his own impassive tone. "I am planning to visit Amy's apartment this weekend. I am just letting you know."

"As long as Amy's alright with it. May I know why though?"

"I want to confront Amy's neighbor. It seemed like he's also trying to win over your sister. I don't like rivals." Trevor was direct regarding his intentions.

"Neighbor?" There was confusion in Arthur's tone. "I don't remember Amy telling me about any interested suitor. What's the name of the man?"

"A Jensen Del Rosario, if I remember it right."

There was suddenly a grave silence on Arthur's line. After a while, he spoke back. "Did you say Jensen Del Rosario?"

Trevor sensed that something was wrong with Amy's brother. "Yes. What's the matter?"

Arthur's next words were particularly chilling. "Mr. Schwarz, that man is very dangerous. He should be kept away from Amy at any cost."