The secretary pushed open the door to the President’s Office. Approaching the desk, she looked at the handsome and distinguished man, her heart thumping nervously.
"President, there’s a lady downstairs claiming to be Miss Amelia Shaw. She’d like to see you. What are your instructions?"
Thomas Shannon looked up, his gaze shifting from the file to the secretary’s face, his deep eyes growing even colder. "What?"
"Miss Amelia Shaw is downstairs. She wants to meet with you. Is it... possible?" The secretary’s heart raced, and she found herself breathing carefully.
The file folder closed.
The secretary tensed, frowning slightly and closing her eyes, bracing for the storm she expected when Thomas Shannon spoke, his voice cold, "Let her come up."
"Yes... yes, President!" The secretary breathed a sigh of relief and turned, leaving quickly.
The receptionist hung up the telephone. "Miss Shaw, the President invites you upstairs."
The receptionist warmly ushered her into the elevator, pressed the floor button, and watched as the doors closed and the elevator ascended.
Amelia Shaw had been miserable all night and through the morning. Now, she finally felt a sliver of hope. Thomas Shannon’s willingness to see her at the company—that was the best proof.
Exiting the elevator, the secretary was already waiting.
"Miss Shaw, this way, please."
Amelia Shaw offered a slight, elegant smile. "No need to trouble yourself; I’ll go find Thomas myself."
The secretary smiled. "Very well, then. I won’t see you further."
Arriving at the office door, Amelia Shaw took a deep breath and knocked.
The man’s deep, cold voice seeped through the heavy door.
Amelia Shaw’s heart gave a sudden lurch. Taking a breath, she pushed the door open, her pulse racing like a startled deer.
The man stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, one hand tucked into his suit pants pocket, the other holding a cigarette. Faint smoke curled up from his fingertips.
The scent of nicotine permeated the spacious office.
His silhouette, tall and imperious, was like that of an emperor surveying the ten thousand miles of landscape beneath his feet.
Seeing her enter, Charlie River quietly excused himself, closing the door behind him.
Amelia Shaw placed the snacks on the tea table and gracefully approached him, step by step.
Finally, she stood behind him.
She slowly reached out, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She pressed her cheek against his broad back, nuzzling him affectionately.
Thomas Shannon raised his hand, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and exhaled thick white smoke from his sexy, crimson thin lips. The smoke, like a life of reckless abandon, or like bewildered leaves that had lost their way, soon vanished into the air.
"I missed you, so I came to see you..."
Thomas Shannon chuckled lowly. Missed him?
A smirk touched the corner of his mouth as he gazed into the distance. "If you had said that two years ago, perhaps I would’ve been thrilled. But now..."
He lowered his head, cruelly prying her fingers loose one by one. "It’s too late."
"No, it’s not too late. It’s not!"
Amelia Shaw shook her head frantically, her eyes red and brimming with tears. "Thomas, I love you... I was immature and didn’t understand my own heart back then. Now I know, I understand, and I deeply regret rejecting you and hurting you so much. I don’t dare ask for your forgiveness, only for a chance. A chance to prove myself. Please?"
He consistently rejected her.
With his own hands, he had erected an invisible, towering wall between them.
She couldn’t touch him, couldn’t get any closer. And he, from the other side of that wall, coldly watched her flounder in agony.