Chapter 4: She is Relieved
She stared at those innocent-looking round blue eyes, his cocoa colored curly fringe, and his buttoned, neat white shirt that contained a slight cigarette smell before awkwardly croaking out, "Rowan?"
In response to hearing his name, he titled his head to the left and raised his eyebrows in anticipation. After getting no immediate reply from her, he looked around before giving a solid nod.
"I saw you on my way back from my smoke break. I came to check up on you because my observation had suggested that you were dangerously walking around in a dazed state," He backed away from her while he stiffly explained his actions to Ran.
Upon hearing his words, Ran felt her heart twist with emotion; she felt relieved that someone called out to her at her lowest, but she also felt incredible sadness that it was from someone she barely even knew. Abruptly, Ran felt something wet form around her eyes; she felt as if all of her built up feelings just crumbled at once. It took her a moment to realize that she was crying. Flustered, she quickly raised her hands to frantically wipe away at her never ending tears while simultaneously apologizing to Rowan.
"I'm so sorry for suddenly crying even though it's our second meeting. Ugh, I bet you have a terrible image of me now," Ran tried joking to lighten the atmosphere, but her attempt just made her feel more terrible and cry more.
She saw Rowan's motionless figure through her blurry vision and felt so embarassed at her pathetic self. "Sorry. I don't know why I'm crying so much. I had such a crappy day," Ran was so flustered that the apology just tumbled out from her trembling lips.
Meanwhile, although Ran saw a motionless figure in her perception, in reality, Rowan was also extremely flustered. He didn't show it physicially, but he was freaking out internally. His brain was whirring out possible ways to console a crying person, all of which he felt didn't match the situation. After rejecting all the solutions, Rowan quickly ran out of ideas. After all, he had little interaction with people who straight up cried in front of him, seeking his consolation.
Realizing that his brain was of little help, Rowan gave a small growl of frustration at his own pathetic self. He stood there for a moment, helplessly staring at the crying Ran. But suddenly, as if a brilliant idea had come to him, Rowan quickly moved closer to Ran, opening up his arms.
"Apologies but since I have little interaction with consoling crying people, I have decided to mimick what I have seen on popular TV shows," Rowan explained with a slight apologetic tone as he gave Ran a huge bear hug.
Ran felt his strong arms sweep her into his embrace before she even said anything. His sudden action caught her off guard, her tears immediately coming to a stop due to her shock.
In his embrace, Ran was slightly suffocated by his pungent cigarette smell mixed with his cologne scent. Obviously, he's never given a proper hug to anybody before due to how weirdly he was holding her. He first placed his hands on her waist but whether he found that improper or not, he quickly switched to her back until finally he just left them to touch the air. It was amusing for Ran to feel his hands constantly change positions.
Yet within this amusing situation, there was a trace of warmth and comfort that Ran found to be relaxing and somehow healing. His strong hold of her made her feel assured of her safety. His grasp also made it so her head was directly on top of his chest, so she could hear his loud, steady heart beats. The sound helped to calm her's down. She also liked how his cold body temperature cooled her slightly swolen eyes and hot head.
This... this was defintely something Ran needed to calm down.
However, while Ran was beginning to calm down and stop her tears, Rowan was on the verge of exploding. Although it wasn't his first time getting into close contact with somebody of the opposite gender, Ran's hot breaths traveled through his thin white shirt and hit against his cool chest. It was a tickling sensation that he strangely enjoyed but also desired to break free from. Once he felt those breaths slow down until it followed a steady rhythm, Rowan didn't hesitate to pull her away from his grasp.
"I-I have come to the judgement that your mood has calmed down, so-uh so excuse my rudeness? Yes rudeness," Rowan apologized with his head down, his curly hair covered his eyes but Ran could clearly see his deep red ears.
She gave a little laugh while drying off her tear-stained face, clearly unaffected by Rowan's abrupt push. Instead, Ran found it extremely entertaining to see his ears turn red and hear his usual stiff sentences break apart with his stuttering.
"Thank you for your consolation. It was greatly needed," Ran felt a sudden urge to feel the fluffy hair directly in front of her. But before she could do anything, Rowan suddenly raised his head and revealed a wide, relieved smile, similar to the one she saw when she first woke up with that headache.
"H-how about I treat you to a meal sometime? In thanks of your effort," Ran spouted this out unknowingly, caught off guard by Rowan's adorable smile. Although she did say it by accident, she felt that she truly needed to thank Rowan. Even though they weren't even friends, he helped her when she was at her lowest, both when she had a headache and just earlier.
"Thank you, but I'm rather busy with work. In fact, I work overtime everyday since my boss is rather strict," Rowan politely declined Ran's offer. Ran felt rather upset hearing him reject her. She could obviously tell that he was pushing his work as an excuse to reject her. But this is what she propably deserved after depending on him so much when he was a just a stranger.
As if he could see through her disappointment, Rowan immediately offered to escort her home. Ran looked at him with her eyebrows raised and jokingly slapped his chest lightly.
"A worker who takes unusally long smoke breaks... won't he be reprimended by his boss?" Ran scolded his carefree nature, "but since you've offered it, I would love for you to take me home."
Immediately after those words left her lips, Ran suddenly frowned and furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait...home?" She pondered over her words before loudly cursing, "I forgot my home disappeared!"
She raised her hands and ruffled her dry curly hair in frustration before focusing her attention back on Rowan. "Thanks for the offer, but I need to find a temporary place before finding my real one. Thanks for your help today Ro!" Ran was the one who rejected him this time. She suddenly became full of energy as she quickly waved Rowan farewell and dashed off towards the streets renowned for having plentiful hotels/motels. Her figure quickly grew smaller and smaller, until she finally disappeared after entering a street.
Rowan stayed standing motionless in his spot with his arm awkwardly raised in the air. Her last sentence was echoing through his mind endlessly. Until, he suddenly showed a childish smile as he recalled the words 'Ro.' It was the simplest and laziest nickname he's ever received from anybody, yet somehow he also really liked it. Or perhaps what he actually liked was her glistening baby blue eyes and wide smile full of endless amounts of energy when she shouted out that nickname in adoration.
He ruffled his curly hair with his fingers before slowly heading back to ATE's main building to continue his work. After all, his smoke break did last for far too long, but did he care? The curves of his lips lifted to reveal a childish smile while he purposely took his time walking down the brightly lit main street.
...
"So, the deal should consist of 3 million."
A man wearing a black suit with downturned amber eyes was lazily staring at his computer screen while nonchalantly talking with another person through his personal phone. His black hair was slicked back, though a few strands did escape from the hair gel's grasp. He leaned back against his large black chair and took off his work glasses.
"Yeah, send it to my personal account. You know. The one I created most recently,"
He started to tap on his table, his impatience growing. This continued until he received a small notification.
"I got it. Yeah thanks. Yeah see you," After receiving the money, he didn't bother to continue talking with the other person and quickly hung up. He opened up his bank account information on his laptop and took a look at the amount. He frowned when he saw the numbers his screen displayed, his thick arched eyebrows raised in confusion.
He clicked to see all the transactions made from his account and did indeed see the 3 million that was sent just a moment ago. But the figures didn't match up! He was extremely meticulous with even the littlest details, especially when it concerned his personal life. He scrolled up and saw something quite unusual. Apparently somebody had used his account to take out 300?
"Gerard," He raised his lazy tone and waited until another man popped his head in through the door, "Run an inspection for me while I head to my next meeting."
He played with his long slender fingers while showing a mischievous smile, his amber eyes containing a glint of malice.
"Now, who is this brave little soul who dared tamper with my money?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
smitkims
smitkims It is I! I dared to tamper with your money!
Sorry for the lack of updates! But I'm still determined to release another 3 (or maybe 4) more chapters by Saturday since I promised to. So, expect daily releases till then? Or maybe I'll upload everything all at once on Saturday lol (sarcasm).
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone