When Carla stepped out of the dressing room, she met the frowning face of Damien, he looked like he regretted his choice.
"Too showy. Hand her this." He gave the manager another white dress and Carla would have cursed him to his face if she wasn't afraid of his mood.
When he finally felt he was satisfied with the dress he had chosen, he held her hand and walked her back to the car waiting just outside the mall.
On getting to the company, Carla withdrew her hand from Damien's hold, having him stop to look at her in question.
"We can't go in like this." She pointed to his hand and to hers before looking at the entrance of the company.
"They will talk." She took two steps back but he only walked towards her wordlessly and stretched out his hand, waiting patiently with an impatient look on his face and she found herself reaching out to hold him.
Carla averted her face at the receptionist area and walked even faster than Damien, leading him towards his elevator and away from the prying eyes of his employees.
"Are you ashamed of me?" He had leaned on the wall of the elevator and asked her as she gingerly punched in his floor number.
"What?" Carla who felt like she had just heard a joke turned to face him and he stared back emotionlessly.
"Your daughter, what's her name?" He had his eyes on Carla and both his hands tucked in his pocket.
Carla tried not to show her nervousness.
"It's none of your business!" She looked away.
"Really?"
"And besides, I don't think I'd want to be your P.A. I am content…"
"You have no choice Carla and don't make me fuck your mouth to shut you up. Follow me, I'd give you the list of things to do for me." He walked out of the now open elevator which she didn't know had been opened.
Bowing in a fast greeting to the receptionist, she followed Damien into his large office to see another table at the right hand side of the office almost adjacent to Damien's table.
"That's your table, the rules and regulations are there." He sauntered towards his swivel chair and sat on it with gusto.
"Go on." He encouraged and when she looked at him, he gave a small smile, a smile she would rather not fall for.
Carla walked towards her new table, sat on the chair and let her eyes roam around the new desktop and piles of documents she was afraid of touching. Her eyes caught the brown large envelope with "Carla Bennett" written boldly on it.
She looked up and locked eyes with Damien who didn't bother blinking after getting caught staring at her.
She tore the envelope open and looked up at Damien who made a small shrug.
"Make sure to read thoroughly." He averted his eyes and started getting busy.
Carla got the contents of the envelope out only to see an outdated brownish book and she frowned, wondering why Damien would give her something this old to read and why he would write the rules and regulations in an old book.
"Weird." She muttered under her breath after sneaking a look at him.
She opened the first page of the book carefully, it felt like it was about to crumble in her hand and the slanted handwriting made her squint a little.
Today I went into the forest and he was there, the man from my dreams. He shielded me from the unseen force and yelled at me for being stubborn and still always finding my way back to the forest when I should be avoiding it at all cost. Though I don't understand what he talked about, his red eyes…
Carla snapped the book to the close and her eyes bulged at the cover of the supposed journal which had no name. She blinked repeatedly and shook.
"Carla?" It was Damien and she snapped her head to see his frowning face.
"I am fine." She smiled.
"I am still reading." She forced herself to say and he nodded before turning back to what he was doing.
Carla's body shook and she didn't have the audacity to continue with her reading, not when Damien was right in front of her. She was sure he would fly down to her desk at the slightest discomfort he noticed.
She opened the back of the journal to see a drawing and she froze, her fingers trembling as she placed the journal on her desk before running her index finger at the jaw of the drawing.
She could recognize this face even if it wasn't fully drawn, even if it was sketchy and blurry. It was the drawing of Rhy and taking her eyes to the bottom part of the page, she saw the year 1819 and clenched her jaw.
Flipping the page backwards again, she clapped her hands against her mouth when she came to face a drawing of her with teary eyes looking straight at her. There was a slanted writing at the bottom.
The forest is calling…
She leaned in to touch the book but it broke into pieces and was gone before her eyes. Carla gave a suppressed scream and jumped out of her chair, making Damien stand and without wasting a second, he ran towards her.
"Is everything alright?" His eyes were wide as he held her trembling body before looking at the harmless table as if daring it to run.
"The…" Carla pointed towards the direction of the brown envelope and was about to describe what she just saw but paused, only staring at the table with a terrified look.
How was she supposed to explain something she herself didn't understand to him?
Now, she wished for Rhy. He would have understood her if he were to be here.
"What about the table, Carla?" This time, Damien held her shoulder with both hands and made her face him before shaking her gently.
She looked at him but her eyes were glassy and unfocused.
"What is it?" Damien frowned.
"Is it the content of the envelope?"
"I want to pee." Carla croaked and Damien frown deepened.