Eat
917 Words
The next morning, Elena entered Adrian Stormfield’s office carrying his schedule tablet and several financial reports.
And immediately stopped walking.
The bouquet from Florista sat on his desk.
White lilies.
Dark red roses.
Freshly arranged perfectly inside a black crystal vase.
For a brief second, Elena simply stared at them silently.
Because somehow…
Seeing those flowers here felt strangely intimate.
Adrian’s office normally looked cold.
Black marble walls.
Glass windows.
Dark furniture.
Everything sharp. Controlled. Untouchable.
Yet the flowers softened the room unexpectedly.
And suddenly Elena realized—
They were the only gentle thing inside this office.
“You’re staring.”
His deep voice instantly pulled her from her thoughts.
Elena quickly looked away from the flowers.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Adrian looked up briefly from the documents in front of him.
Again with the apologizing.
His gray eyes shifted calmly toward the bouquet for one second before returning to her.
“Today’s schedule.”
Elena immediately handed him the tablet.
For the next several hours, the executive floor remained overwhelmingly busy.
Meetings.
Calls.
Conferences.
Reports.
Adrian moved through the day with the same cold efficiency as always while Elena followed closely behind handling schedules, documents, and business notes almost nonstop.
Yet somehow—
Adrian kept finding reasons to keep her near him.
“Miss Hart, bring the quarterly reports.”
“Sit in during the investor call.”
“Take notes.”
“Come with me.”
At first Elena assumed it was normal.
But around noon, even Ethan noticed the pattern.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Especially because Adrian usually preferred working alone whenever possible.
Meanwhile Elena barely had time to think properly.
By lunchtime, her head already hurt from exhaustion.
Still, she ignored it.
There was too much work left.
Inside Adrian’s office, Elena sat near the side desk organizing documents while Adrian remained focused on reviewing contracts near the windows.
The room stayed quiet except for the soft sound of turning pages and keyboard clicks.
At some point, Adrian’s eyes shifted toward her briefly.
Then narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
No lunch.
Again.
He noticed the untouched water bottle beside her desk too.
“You skipped breakfast.”
Elena immediately looked up in surprise.
“What?”
“It wasn’t a question.”
Her fingers tightened slightly around the papers.
“I was busy this morning.”
Adrian’s expression remained unreadable.
“You’re busy every morning.”
Elena stayed quiet.
Because honestly—
That was true.
Adrian looked at her for another moment before returning to the documents in his hands.
The silence stretched again.
Then suddenly—
“Ethan.”
Ethan looked up from his tablet immediately.
“Yes, sir?”
“Lunch.”
Elena blinked softly.
“…Sir?”
“You’re not useful to me unconscious.”
The coldness of the sentence somehow made it worse.
Because beneath it—
There was concern.
Hidden carefully beneath control and irritation.
Before Elena could protest, Ethan quietly left the office.
Twenty minutes later, food arrived.
Real food.
Warm pasta.
Juice.
Fresh sandwiches.
And fruit.
Elena stared at the table in complete confusion.
Adrian signed another document calmly without even looking at her.
“Eat.”
One simple word.
Yet somehow—
The room suddenly felt too quiet.
Too personal.
Elena slowly looked at the food again.
Nobody had cared whether she ate in a very long time.
Something uncomfortable tightened softly inside her chest.
“I could’ve bought something myself.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
The immediate response startled her slightly.
Because again—
He was right.
Adrian finally looked at her directly.
“You neglect yourself constantly.”
His tone wasn’t emotional.
It sounded observational.
Professional.
Which somehow affected Elena even more.
Slowly, she sat down near the small dining table inside the office.
For several quiet minutes, neither of them spoke.
Elena ate carefully while Adrian continued working nearby.
And strangely…
The silence didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.
At one point, Elena accidentally looked toward the bouquet again.
Adrian noticed instantly.
“You chose them well.”
The unexpected words caught her completely off guard.
Elena looked toward him slowly.
“You kept them.”
Adrian’s eyes lifted briefly from the papers in his hands.
“Yes.”
No explanation.
No justification.
Just yes.
And somehow—
That answer stayed inside Elena’s chest longer than it should have.
---
By the time evening arrived, the executive floor had mostly emptied.
Employees left one by one while the city lights slowly illuminated outside the glass walls.
Elena remained seated at her desk finishing reports quietly.
Exhaustion eventually became impossible to ignore.
Just for a minute, she thought.
Just one minute.
Resting her head lightly against her folded arms, Elena closed her eyes.
And without realizing it—
Fell asleep.
Almost forty minutes later, Adrian finally exited the conference room after another late meeting.
Ethan walked beside him reviewing tomorrow’s schedule calmly.
Then both men stopped.
Elena was asleep at her desk.
The soft office lights illuminated her tired face gently while loose strands of dark hair rested across her cheek.
Even asleep, she looked exhausted.
Ethan glanced toward Adrian carefully.
Waiting.
But Adrian said nothing immediately.
His gaze lingered on Elena quietly for several long seconds.
Then toward the untouched reports beside her.
And finally—
Toward the empty lunch plates still sitting inside his office.
Something unreadable crossed his expression briefly.
“You’ll ruin your health at this rate,” Adrian said quietly.
For once—
His voice didn’t sound cold at all.
- Writer
