I Chased My Brother’s Friend for a Month, Then Walked Into Work and Found Out He Owns the Company Chapter 10

I Chased My Brother’s Friend for a Month, Then Walked Into Work and Found Out He Owns the Company Chapter 10

I didn’t go home that night.

I stayed at the dorm instead.

My roommate Brianna saw my face. “What’s wrong? Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?”

“No.”

“Then why do you look like someone owes you money?”

I lay on my bed and didn’t answer.

Brianna rolled over. “Oh, by the way, my roommate saw your boyfriend’s photo again. She said it was from

some business summit, and he was right in the center. Erin, what does your boyfriend actually do?”

“Works in an office.”

“An office guy standing center frame?”

“Let’s just sleep.”

I pulled the blanket over my head.

In my head, all I could hear was what Declan said.

“Say you don’t like me anymore. I’ll walk away.”

His eyes didn’t waver when he said it.

A guy in charge of over two hundred people, standing in front of me saying. “I’m also afraid I’m not good

enough for you.”

If anyone at his company heard that, their jaws would hit the floor.

But he said it like he meant it.

The next day was Saturday.

I didn’t contact Declan, and he didn’t contact me.

I wandered around the campus area all day alone.

Walking past the mall, I saw that sushi place.

Fourth floor, tucked away, not crowded.

Back then I thought he picked it at random.

He chose it on purpose.

That knot in my chest was still there.

It wasn’t about pride anymore.

It was that I didn’t know what I brought to this relationship.

He had everything.

Money, status, power, company, house, car.

What did I have?

A degree I hadn’t even gotten yet. A three-thousand-dollar monthly allowance. And a talent for burning eggs.

Monday morning, I went to work.

Mr. Foster gave me a task, entering client files.

I sat at my desk, punching in data one by one.

At 3 p.m., my phone buzzed.

Declan. Come down to the coffee shop.

I told Mr. Foster I was going to the restroom and went downstairs.

He was sitting by the window, two cups of coffee in front of him.

In the exact same spot my brother had sat the other day.

I sat down.

“What do you need?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to see you.”

I took a sip of coffee.

“You don’t have to come down here just for that.”

“I wasn’t coming down just for you. I had to go out to meet a client. This was on the way.”

“You’re meeting a client at the downstairs coffee shop?”

He paused, raised his cup, took a sip, and didn’t respond.

A moment of silence.

“Have you thought it over?” he asked.

“No.”

“How much longer?”

“Don’t know.”

He nodded.

“Okay. No rush.”

He stood up and picked up his phone.

He took two steps, then stopped and turned back.

“Erin, that scarf you gave me? I bring it with me every single day.”

“Didn’t you leave it at the office?”

“Having it at the office means I bring it every day. I spend fourteen hours a day in the office.”

He turned and walked away.

I sat in the coffee shop, crushing the paper cup in my hand.

Another week passed.

I didn’t see Declan that week.

He didn’t reach out, and I didn’t either.

But every morning at nine, he sent me a message.

Monday. It’s getting colder today. Dress warm.

Tuesday. The cafeteria has a new tomato beef stew. Not bad.

Wednesday. Did you water that pothos on your desk?

Thursday. Meetings all day. Exhausted.

Friday. Any plans for the weekend?

I replied to every single one.

Very briefly.

Got it.

Watered.

Get some rest.

No plans.

Friday night, I was sitting alone in my dorm.

Brianna and the others were out. I had the whole room to myself.

I scrolled through all his messages from the past week.

One per day. Not more, not less.

He didn’t ask if I’d made up my mind. Didn’t bring up breaking up. Didn’t push.

Like nothing had happened. Like he was still just the normal guy I’d chased.

But he wasn’t.

He was a guy who had meetings for ten-plus hours a day.

And in the middle of that madness, he sent me a message every morning at exactly nine.

Nine o’clock sharp. Not a minute off.

I put my phone down and walked out of the dorm.

I grabbed a bike-share and rode forty minutes to his office building.

It was 9:30 at night. Most of the windows in the building were dark.

But the twentieth floor was still lit.

A whole floor, just one window glowing.

I stood downstairs, just like I had the night I confessed.

Except that night I was holding flowers.

Tonight, I had nothing.

I pulled out my phone and called him.

He answered on the second ring.

“Erin?”

“Come down here.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just come.”

He didn’t ask again. He hung up.

Three minutes later, the lobby door opened.

He was wearing that black sweater with an overcoat over it.

He walked up to me and stopped.

“You came all the way out here this late for what?”

“I’ve made up my mind.”

He looked at me, silent.

“I’m not breaking up.”

Still silent.

“But I have conditions.”

*. (1)
“Go ahead.”

“One. After the internship ends, I’m not working at your company. I’ll find my own job.”

“Done.”

“Two. My brother’s promotions and raises have nothing to do with me. You evaluate him on his work. Don’t

give him special treatment because of me.”

“He didn’t need special treatment to begin with.”

“Three. The meals I buy you with my own money, you’re not allowed to complain that they’re cheap.”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

“Did I ever complain?”

“Four.”

“There’s more?”

“Four. No more keeping things from me. Whatever it is, just tell me. I might not be as smart as you, but I don’t

want to be kept in the dark again.”

He was silent for a few seconds.

“Done.”

“That’s all.”

After I said that, my palms were sweaty.

The night air was cold, but my back was warm.

He stood in front of me, the streetlight hitting his face.

I saw his eyes turn red.

“Declan, are you crying?”

“No.”

“Your eyes are red.”

“It’s the wind.”

“It’s September. What wind?”

He turned his head away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

“You’re so annoying.”

“I know.”

“You know and you still came?”

“Didn’t you say you’d wait for me? I came.”

He turned back to look at me.

Under the streetlight, his eyes were unnaturally bright.

“Erin, if you change your mind later, I’m not taking it back.”

“Did I ever change my mind?”

“You talked about breaking up.”

“I was out of my mind.”

He laughed.

Not the cold, corporate laugh from the office.

A real laugh.

His eyes curved and his nose crinkled.

Just like that night a month ago when he’d taken the flowers from me at the curb.

He reached out and pulled me in.

I leaned against his chest.

I’m half a head shorter than him, chin-height.

I could smell his body wash.

Nothing fancy, just the cheap stuff from the supermarket.

A CEO with nine-figure annual revenue, using a five-dollar body wash.

Suddenly, everything I’d been agonizing over seemed laughable.

“Declan.”

“Mm.”

“Lunch tomorrow. Your treat.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“That cheap place across the street from the office.”

He laughed softly against my hair.

“Fine. The big bowl.”

The three-month internship ended.

I didn’t stay at Declan’s company.

I sent out over twenty applications, interviewed at seven or eight places, and finally landed a sales job at a

small company.

Base salary was thirty-five hundred, plus commission.

My mom grumbled on the phone. “Your boyfriend’s company is so big. Why wouldn’t you just go there?”

“Don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t.”

My mom sighed and didn’t push.

My dad took the phone and added. “Let her be. Girls need their own careers.”

My first month on the job, I made forty-eight hundred.

The day I got paid, I took Declan out to eat.

Nothing fancy, just the neighborhood place.

When the bill came, I snatched it up.

One hundred ninety-two bucks.

He glanced at it and said nothing.

Walking out, he looped his arm around mine.

“Erin.”

“Mm.”

“You know, this dinner you bought me? I’m happier than I’ve been with any meal in a long time.”

“A hundred-ninety-two-dollar meal?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re so easy to please.”

He laughed and pulled me closer.

My brother later got promoted to Finance Director.

At the year-end review, his report scored the highest in the company.

Declan gave him a public shout-out at the all-hands meeting.

Life went on after that.

Nothing special.

I did my sales job. He ran his company.

When he was busy, I brought him food.

When I was exhausted, he listened to me vent over the phone.

One time I went a whole month without closing a single deal. The pressure kept me up at night.

At 2 a.m., he messaged. If you can’t sleep, come out for a walk. I’m downstairs.

I went down and saw his car parked at the curb.

He was sitting in the driver’s seat, window rolled down.

“Get in.”

He drove around the city for an hour.

Neither of us said anything.

Finally, he pulled up by the river and killed the engine.

“Feeling better?”

“A little.”

“Erin, you can do anything. Sell anything. Make whatever you make. I don’t care about any of that.”

“I know.”

“Just don’t lose yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“That version of you who helped my grandmother in the parking lot. Don’t lose her.”

I stared at the river through the windshield, the lights glittering into pieces.

“I won’t.”

A year later, I switched to another company and got promoted to team lead.

My salary hit eight thousand.

The day I got paid, I bought a ring online.

Not expensive, nine hundred bucks.

Silver.

I took the ring and waited for him outside his office.

He came downstairs, saw me, and stopped.

“What are you doing here?”

I opened the box.

“Declan, let’s get married.”

He looked down at the ring.

Nine hundred bucks. Silver.

He looked up at me.

“This?”

“Yeah, this.”

“That’s your proposal?”

“You want me to save up for two months and get a better one?”

He held out his left hand.

“Put it on.”

When I slid it onto his finger, my hands were shaking.

He held his hand up and looked at it under the streetlight, turning it this way and that.

“It actually looks pretty good.”

“Really?”

“Would I have held out my hand if it didn’t?”

Then he suddenly scooped me up and spun me around.

I pounded his shoulder. “Put me down. Everyone’s watching.”

“Let them watch.”

And that was that.

It’s good.