When Louis leaned in, I completely froze.
A wave of heat spread from the spot where he'd lightly brushed my cheek, crawling up my neck and flooding my entire body.
He quickly stepped back, as if he had sensed my sudden shock.
I stood there, stunned. "Why–why did you suddenly do the cheek kiss thing?" My voice came out shakier than I expected.
"I'm sorry. You're just too adorable." Louis looked down at me, his sea-green eyes sparkling like sunlight on the ocean. "I wanted to kiss your cheek, but I was afraid it'd be too forward. Aurora, I really like you. Will you be my girlfriend?"
I froze, staring at him. My mind spun like a carousel. My coworkers' teasing suddenly made sense in a way I hadn't expected. Louis, the general manager of our branch—half-Russian, half-Belgian, young, accomplished, and undeniably magnetic—was asking me out.
It felt unreal. My personal interactions with him had always been professional, with just a hint of warmth.
Like the night I stayed late obsessively practicing Belgian, exhausted and nearly asleep at my desk. When I woke, there had been a soft blanket draped over me. He hadn't said a word about it, but the gesture spoke volumes.
When Louis wasn't talking, his expression looked stern. "Working overtime isn't advisable," he had said once, in that sharp, matter-of-fact tone.
Getting scolded by your boss is always awkward. I had opened my mouth to explain when I saw a flash of mischief in his eyes—like a kid who'd just pulled off a prank.
"But hard work deserves praise," Louis said in English, leaning slightly closer. "Aurora, you teach me English and I'll teach you Belgian. Deal?"
I was flattered. There was no reason to say no. With his help, my language skills improved rapidly. Two weeks into my new job, I landed a huge deal.
It should have been a victory. But it backfired.
It also threatened a colleague's chance at promotion. He tried to use my nationality as an excuse to isolate me, rallying others against me. The whispers followed me from desk to desk, every glance from a coworker like a knife. I felt like I was walking on ice, one wrong step away from shattering.
I hadn't realized Louis had noticed any of it.
So when we held a company-wide meeting—with over a hundred people crammed into the auditorium—Louis praised me lavishly. He even called me out by my first name.
It was clearly a warning to everyone else. And a very public way of standing up for me.
My coworkers were stunned. They whispered that they'd never seen Louis go that far for anyone.
'Oh,' I thought calmly. 'So this is what it feels like to be Rhea.'
Honestly, since coming to Belgium, I rarely thought about Orion anymore. I'd always known my leaving wouldn't affect him at all. No expectations meant no disappointment.
Besides, Orion had always been steady as a rock—unshakable. There was no way he'd turn into one of those melodramatic CEO male leads from the cheesy romance movies he hated. No way he'd randomly show up in the country I was in.
I was wrong.
"Rora!"
I flinched and looked up.
At that moment, I saw a man striding toward me with a dark expression—a man who had no business being here.
Before I could even widen my eyes in shock, Orion pulled me into his arms, almost losing control. His breathing was uneven, desperate."I thought I saw—just now, I thought—"
Louis's slightly surprised voice came from beside us. "Mr. Durnavelle? You know Aurora?"
I froze.
'How did Louis know Orion?'
I was about to push Orion away when he seemed to suddenly remember there was a third person present.
He loosened his grip but didn't step back. Instead, he stayed right at my side.
His tone was flat, businesslike—but his right arm locked around my waist like an iron bar, keeping me firmly in place.
"I forgot to mention before I came here," Orion said coolly. "Aurora's my girlfriend."
The air went dead silent.
Louis's gaze dropped to Orion's arm around me, then lifted slowly to his face. The smile he usually wore vanished completely. "…Is that so?"
I had no idea what Orion was doing so without thinking, I blurted out, "Let go of me! We already broke up."
At those words, Louis's eyes narrowed sharply. He turned to Orion, his sea–green gaze as cold and cutting as ice.
"Please let her go. You may be our client. But I have to ensure the safety of my employees. Otherwise—"
The two men stood there, evenly matched in height.
Even their faces—devastatingly handsome, impossibly sharp—seemed on equal footing.
The air between them thickened instantly, charged with tension so heavy it felt like it could snap in half.
Orion's entire aura darkened, a palpable storm radiating from him. For some reason, he seemed… hostile toward Louis.
"A company's general manager suddenly giving an employee a cheek kiss," he said, his voice low and icy, a cold laugh escaping through his nose. "Is that… even appropriate?"
He took a deliberate step closer, and the temperature around us seemed to drop. "I don't think that's particularly professional behavior."
Louis didn't flinch. His jaw tightened, and he tilted his chin slightly, a subtle challenge in his stance. "I don't think harassing one of my employees is professional behavior either," he said evenly, his tone razor-sharp.