The Wedding Plan

Chapter 24

Another workday went by where Eleanor did not put her eyes on Sebastian. He seemed to be extremely busy as of late. Meetings constantly kept him away from the office. He always arrived after everyone else had already left and stayed late into the night.

Eleanor arrived home. Took a shower, changed into a tight fit white T-shirt and small gray pajama shorts, had some leftover rice and vegetables for dinner, tried to get on with her life and usual routine. And to forget about Sebastian Crain and everything that had happened between them.

Neither one of them was ready to admit it, but they cared about each other much more than they had anticipated. Eleanor was trying to prevent her heart from being broken. She was trying to avoid falling for Sebastian. She hadn't realized that it was already too late for that.

The young woman sat on the couch eating ice cream for dessert and watching some random documentary about whales. Not that she was paying attention to what was on, since her mind was drifting into a different type of ocean.

Her phone buzzed. After almost three days of silence, Sebastian had finally called and left some messages. But she thought it was best not to pick up the calls or read the messages, otherwise she knew that she would change her mind. She also knew that if they went back to their original agreement, she would end up getting even more hurt.

Sebastian had some time to think, and he was not going to give up. He was not ready to. At least he wanted to have a proper conversation with her before ending their agreement definitively. Even though he was too stubborn and proud to understand why he was so upset, he now understood his feelings a little better. Though he was not yet ready to admit to Eleanor what he was feeling. But that did not stop him from showing up at her apartment in the middle of the night.

He tried to call her and sent her a few text messages, but since she refused to pick up the phone; he decided that — despite the possibility of him looking like a stalker — he should take the risk and knock on her door.

Someone knocked on the door and Eleanor wondered who could be at such a late hour, so she carefully approached the door and was shocked to see Sebastian standing outside.

'What are you doing here? Have you looked at the time?'

'No, I haven't. I'm sorry. Is it that late? I just got out of work. I wanted to stop by earlier. I mean, I just wanted to talk to you. If you at least picked up the phone, I would not be standing here looking like a creep and—'

'What you mean, you just left work? Were you trying to beat your own record and spend another night at the office?'

She was worried about him. He had bags under his eyes and although he was still as charming as ever, she had never seen him look so tired. Despite being busy all the time, he was always an energetic person, and this seemed too out of character for him.

'Something like that,' he yawned.

'Come in,' she sighed. 'You can sit on the couch if you want to.'

Sebastian sat on one end of the couch and Eleanor on the other, cross-legged, as she looked at him.

'I work to distract myself from other things, and it usually backfires, and I end up overdoing it,' he confessed, as he rested on the couch and looked at the ceiling. 'Hey look, I guess that, after all, we do have something in common.'

'I guess we do. What do you need to talk to me about so urgently that you couldn't even sleep first?'

'Don't give up on our agreement just yet,' — he gazed deeply into her eyes — 'don't give up on me just yet.'

Her heart almost skipped a beat as she saw him looking so vulnerable, as she saw him beg her to stay beside him.

'There's just a couple of weeks left. I understand that if it had happened anything that night, it would've made things a lot more complicated for the both of us, but nothing happened.'

'But it almost happened. Why, Sebastian? Why did it almost happen?'

'Why Eleanor? You were there too.' A sad smile appeared on his lips.

Neither one of them wanted to answer that and both looked away, keeping their gazes away from each other.

'Fine,' she sighed. 'We are both adults, so I don't even know why we are making such a big deal out of this,' she said with a soft smile.

'Thank you,' he answered with another yawn. 'I shall go now. Sorry to barge in like this.'

'Are you okay? You look too tired to drive.'

'Perfectly fine,' he lied as he slowly blinked.

'Don't you have a driver today? Or can't you call a driver to pick you up?'

'No. I like to drive my cars. Otherwise, why buy them? And I let my drivers have a life too, unless I let them know beforehand that I'll be needing their services.'

'I don't really think that it is safe for you to drive. You might fall asleep. Then take a cab.'

'I won't. I'm fine, thank you for your concern.'

'You are not a kid anymore, Sebastian. Stop being so stubborn. You know it is reckless.'

'Drive my car, then. Take me home.'

'I can't. I don't have a driver's license.'

'Then it is explained why you always use public transportation, even though it is filthy.'

'You do are conceited,' she mocked. 'At least let me offer you some coffee before you leave.'

'Thank you,' he yawned once more. 'You were eating ice cream,' he pointed out with a smile, looking at the salted caramel ice cream box on the coffee table.

'Do you want some?'

'No, but thank you. Although, I do have to ask, where you in a romcom type scenario crying over me while eating caramel ice cream straight for the carton?' He had a stupid grin on his face.