Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 78

KISAREL.

“How well do you know this person?” Elgin leaned against the wall with his arms folded, watching me cross the room to grab my hairband.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous, El.” I shot him a look in the mirror as I pulled my hair into a loose bun.

“Jealous?” He pressed a hand to his chest. “Moi? Non. I am concerned. There is a difference, chérie, and I would appreciate you learning it.” He pushed off the wall and came to stand beside me, “I mean… You literally just met this woman, and now you’re going out for coffee like old friends?”

I sprayed some perfume and ignored the pointed silence he was generating behind me.

“Wait. Wasn’t she the one you met on the day you almost got hit by a car?” He asked dramatically.

“Yes? She is.”

“Mon Dieu.” He stepped back. “Arel, this is a bad omen!” He dropped on the bed, his shoulders slacking. “You don’t make friends on tragic days. That’s not how friendship works. That’s how horror films start.”

“But I met you on the same day I almost died, and we became best of friends.” I turned to face him, “Does that make you a bad omen?”

Held up one finger. “That’s completely different.”

“How?”

“It just is.” He waved a hand. “Don’t use logic on me right now

“Oh. I laughed so hard I nearly smudged my lip gloss as I picked up my phone. “She just sent the address. I’ll be on my way.”

“Mon Dieu. He called after me.

“Don’t miss me too much!” I said out loud as I pulled the door open.

“At least, share the address with me!” He yelled, but I already shut the door behind me and was downstairs.

smiling

all the way

she had seemed to Nessa wanted us to meet at a cafe different from the one near SSC. A part of me wondered briefly why genuinely love the coffee there when we met – but I let it go. Maybe she just wanted somewhere new. Maybe this place was better.

Nessa was already there when I walked in.

She was sitting by the window with a book open in front of her.

She looked up the moment I pushed through the door. Her blonde curls caught the warm light of the café, and her perfume reached me before I even got to the table, that same warm, expensive scent that had captured me the first day we met.

I let out a smile and relaxed my shoulders as I walked toward her

The dimple appeared in her left

cheek.

“There you are,” she said, closing the book expensive. I was starting to think yourd gho

of her. The cover was French. I didn’t understand the title, but it looked

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Chapter 78

I pulled out the chair across from her and sat down, “I almost did. Elgin, my best friend, tried to convince me you were a bad omen.

F

“A bad omen?” She laughed, and something in my chest loosened slightly just from being in the same space as her. “Because we met on the day you almost got hit by a car?”

“He’s dramatic.” I waved a hand.

“He sounds French.” She said lightly, still amused.

“Very.”

She shook her head, still smiling, and gestured toward the counter. “I haven’t ordered yet. I was waiting for you.”

We ordered. Two lattes. Something with oat milk that she recommended. I didn’t care what it was. I just wanted to sit here and pretend my life wasn’t falling apart.

“So,” she said, settling back into her chair when the drinks arrived. Tell me about you. What do you do when you’re not almost getting hit by cars?”

I laughed. “Not much, honestly. Work. Sleep. Repeat.”

“That sounds sad.”

“It is.”

She tilted her head, studying me, Her gaze was so soft and assuring.

“Are you happy?” She asked, “You look like you have the worries of the whole world on your shoulders.”

She was truly observant. I must say. But as tempting as it was, I wasn’t ready to spill tears on a stranger’s shoulders about how complicated my life had become.

“I’m fine.” I replied, injecting forced laughter mid–sentence.

She was quietly watching me as if she could read through the fake laughter. Then she reached across the table and put her hand over mine.

Her hand was so soft, warm, and soothing.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, even though it’s written all over you,” she said. “But you don’t have to pretend with me either”

My eyes went wet before I had authorized them to. I blinked it away hard and looked down at my coffee and hated myself slightly for how easily she had gotten there.

“I’m fine.” I said again. “Really. I am.” I smiled.

She squeezed my hand again before letting go. “Okay,” she said simply. “But I’m here. Whenever.”

She didn’t push further. She just picked up her cup of coffee, and we moved on to talking about other things so naturally that the tension in my chest released without me noticing it happening.

We talked about the city, growing up, and the corporate world, and I found myself sharing a little more than I would have with a stranger on our second day of meeting

I find that the city has a way of making Sometimes? She asked casually.

every feel more complicated than it needs to be. Do you feel that way

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Chapter 78

Trust me. This city is not as complicated as my job.” I sipped my coffee

“How so?” She asked.

I shrugged. “When you have a boss who is overly demanding, way too strict, and also has a knack for perfection, everything feels complicated.”

She tilted her head. The light caught her face, and I couldn’t help but marvel at how distractingly beautiful she was.

“The complicated ones always are,” she said with a small smile. “What’s his name?”

“Oceans Stark.” I said, and I could swear I saw something cross her face.

But it was gone in less than a second, smoothed back into warnth before I could properly read it.

“Oceans, she repeated, like she was tasting the name, “Unusual”

“Yeah…” My smile faltered a fraction. “He’s… unusual.”

She smiled again. “I’m sure he is.”

I didn’t know why I felt cold suddenly. The cafe was warm. The coffee was hot. But something about the way she looked at me in that moment made my skin prickle.

“Do you know him?” I couldn’t help but ask, desperate to convince myself that I was only imagining things.

She smiled, took a sip from her coffee, and replied. “Everyone knows Oceans Stark.” She held my gaze a second longer than necessary. “Even the dead.”

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