488 She's Allergic

At a quarter to six in the evening, Damien was on his way to pick Katherine up from Young Corporation. With their operation happening tonight, they needed to keep up with appearances. So, he would be taking her out on a date and spend an otherwise busy Monday with her by watching a musical concert after, where there would be a lot of witnesses. 

Glancing at the signage of the modern building to the right that said: Young Corporation, he pulled up to the curb and put the car in hazard mode. Quickly texting Katherine that he was outside, he waited for a beat before climbing out of the car with a bouquet of fresh flowers in hand.

…

Meanwhile, Katherine was still in one of the function rooms of their office as Director Bai was throwing a small celebration in their department for bagging a huge project—the Crown Residences. There wasn't any formal program as it was mostly just eating and mingling with the co-workers. When she received the text message from Damien, she immediately headed out after saying goodbye to her team. 

As soon as she stepped out of the building, her gaze landed at the dashing man who was leaning against a Range Rover. He had his endless legs crossed, one hand in his pocket while the other was holding a colorful bouquet as he kept his stare at the front of the building where she came out. A huge bright smile appeared on her face immediately. This man was hers.

She couldn't tell why she was suddenly feeling giddy as if it was the first time that she had seen him looking so attractive while waiting for her. Maybe it was why they say 'butterflies in the stomach' because right now, she felt like soft wings of butterflies were tickling her insides and giving her a strange yet wonderful feeling.

"Hey," she said as she approached him. 

And without reservations, she hooked her arms around his neck and greeted him with a kiss on the lips, ignoring the stares around them. His arms naturally went around her waist and he straightened up to hold her steadily. "Hey," he responded. "I missed you."

There were murmurs and whispers from the passersby, and they both knew that they were talking about them. Young Corporation's main office building was in the middle of a business district where a lot of employees and even students would pass by every day. And at this time, everyone just got out of work or school and were on their way home. 

Although they did not look around, they could sense that the onlookers were snapping pictures or videos of them. The couple definitely caught their attention—just how they wanted.

Damien gave her the flowers and they were about to get in the car when a teen came over. 

"Umm… Excuse me?"

"I... Uh… I'm such a huge fan…" the girl blurted, her eyes focusing on Katherine.

Bewildered, Katherine furrowed her brows and softly chuckled. A fan? How strange. "I'm sorry… You must have mistaken me with someone else. I'm not an artist or a celebrity… I'm just—"

"I know who you are. You're Katherine Young. Am I right? You are so pretty… prettier than the pictures online. And your dresses look nice… You look like a princess. I want to be just like you when I grow up!" the girl exclaimed. 

Katherine was surprised. They did want attention, but this was beyond what she expected as she wasn't famous. How could she have a fan?

"I… don't know what to say…" Katherine could only smile.

"Can I have a selfie with you?"

Taken aback by the girl's request, Katherine didn't know how to respond to her. She thought about it for a second and when she was just about to agree, Damien had already answered for her.

"She's allergic," he said.

The little girl's brows knitted in confusion and she glanced at the ice cream in her hand that was already melting. "To ice cream?" she probed.

"No. To pictures." He smiled. "We have to leave. Go home, kid."

The crease on the girl's forehead deepened as she watched the couple get in the car and drive away. "Woah~ She's allergic to pictures? How cool~" the girl remarked.

…

"That was weird…" Katherine said as the car stopped at a red light.

Damien reached out and cupped her chin, leaning in to kiss her while the red light was still on.

"Did you drink something just now?" he asked.

"I did. I had a glass of champagne before I came out. How can you even tell? I don't smell it… Do I smell bad?" she wondered and thought he had superpowers.

He shook his head. "No, but I could taste it. Very faint, but it's still there."

She looked at him as she found it amazing that his sense of taste was superb. 

"Do you have any social media accounts?" He put the car back on gear and maneuvered through the traffic.

"I did before… but it's been several months since I last opened it," she answered and took out her phone to check on the apps. "Why? Ah—let me try logging in."

A few moments later, she exclaimed, "Wow! How did this even happen?" Katherine stared at the thousands of friend requests and follows on her social media account—more than a hundred thousand followers—it was only about a hundred before. She had used it in the past to post random pictures of stuff and very few of her own selfies way before she came to work for Damien at Crown Resort Group. But it had been a long time since she posted anything and her name on it was still Katherine Miller.

Damien chuckled. "Well, there you go. You have so many fans."

"I'm not even a celebrity…" she muttered as she stared at her phone screen. She may not be a celebrity, but Damien was a public figure.

A sudden idea came to mind and she bit her bottom lip in excitement. She quickly changed her name to Katherine Young and when the car came to a stop in front of a restaurant, she grabbed the flowers and hooked her arm with his. "Damien, smile!"

He didn't smile. But he glanced down at her, and when she tapped the camera to take their picture, he was showing his side profile. "Ah… You didn't smile…"

"Still handsome though," he said when he glanced at the preview and she chuckled at his comment. He wasn't wrong. He was indeed handsome no matter what angle. Watching as she posted the photo on her wall, he smiled. The caption read: 'He's taking me out on a date on a Monday night. 'Coz why not?'

"Good thinking." He pressed a kiss on her temple. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Soon, Damien helped her out of the car and headed to a building. Some of Damien's men from Maverick Security, who were following them from a different car, showed up in the front and were quick to shield them from the media as they entered the premises. A few of the media were arranged by Markus secretly and the others might have gotten the word.

This was a way to keep up appearances. Surely, Parker wouldn't think that Katherine had something to do with what would happen tonight.

The couple was led inside and guided to a private room—the nearest one from the elevator. They waited for a few minutes and as soon as everything was clear outside, the couple came out of the private room and rode the elevator down to the basement parking where Styles and Amelia were waiting inside a trailer van.

"Everything ready?" Damien asked as they boarded the van.

With a lollipop in his mouth, Styles worked on his computer and answered without lifting his eyes from the screen. "Almost. Just waiting for their signal and we're good to go."