Chapter 273 - Time After Time (1)

Golden Phoenix Residences

At ten in the evening, Katherine was already in her bedroom. It had been a long day for her after moving into a new place that night.

She had a big day ahead of her the next morning as she will be joining Young Corporation. She couldn't believe that it was finally happening. Ever since she was a child, she had always wanted to be part of the family business but now that she was about to do it… and not for the same reasons, she couldn't feel good about it.

Lying down, she twisted and turned to find a comfortable spot on her new bed. She was in a foreign place and it was her first night. Everything in the new place seemed luxurious and comfortable, yet she couldn't help but feel uneasy about being there. It was as though something was not right.

She could even say that the only difference between her new place compared to the empty apartment she came from were the fancy decorations and furniture. However, the feeling of emptiness was still there.

One would think that filling up the place with things and decoratives were going to liven it up. And her new place now was full of it — but how come she thought that something was missing?

Her train of thought was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone from the nightstand. Reaching out, she checked the notification and saw that Damien sent her a message.

She suddenly started to feel comfortable seeing the name "Baby Bear" on the screen. What a tall, obviously-capable-of-texting 'Bear'. Tapping the screen, she saw his short message:

[ Baby Bear: Good night :) ]

A small smile formed on her lips when she saw the smiley face after the good night greeting. It was probably the first time that she saw him use symbols as emoticons and she found it amusing. For someone who rules the resort industry and had thousands of employees all over the world, this was a cute side of him.

Katherine didn't think she should reply, knowing that late-night texts with him wouldn't do her any good — emotionally and mentally. 

Everything that happened today that had anything to do with Damien put a smile on her face no matter how much she wanted to deny that she felt good. However, it was times like this when she was alone late in the evening that her guilt would creep up on her, clawing her heart and making her feel terrible.

Being back in Harbor City where possibilities of seeing Damien more was definitely going to make it difficult for her and she thought she was ready to at least face him whenever there was a need. But as soon as she was back, her grandfather invited him and she even had to deal with a literal bomb with him on that first night. 

She wanted space but she ended up giving him the chance to make her feel even more vulnerable than she already was, giving him permission to break her heart all over again after his long speech.

And after thinking that she would probably not see him soon after, she ran into him this afternoon and he gave her gifts that she failed to refuse. And now they were texting. How could she heal when he shows up everywhere? What would she do if she sees him again very soon?

This wasn't supposed to happen. How was she going to do what she needed to do if he was always there?

Katherine was thinking a lot of things when her phone buzzed again.

[ Baby Bear: You're still awake? ]

She looked closer and realized that there was an indication of when she read his message five minutes ago. He probably saw it and wondered why she didn't reply to his greeting. Surely he had also seen this recent message was also read. Letting out a heavy sigh, she now had to respond to him.

[ Katherine: Not yet but about to. ]

[ Baby Bear: You can't sleep? ]

[ Katherine: Kinda… Just have a lot in my mind. ]

He responded to her texts quite fast, making her wonder what he was doing all night that he was constantly on his phone which didn't seem like his usual behavior.

[ Baby Bear: Do you want to talk about it? I've been told I'm a great listener. ???? ]

Katherine snorted with laughter at his last message. Now Damien Park has upgraded from symbol emoticon to an actual emoji. Was he trying to be cool? 

She checked the time and saw that it was fifteen minutes past eleven in the evening. It was Monday the next day and she was very much aware that Damien's Mondays were mostly busy. Those Monday meetings were a pain in the ass and his meetings after that were also exhausting. She knew this very well — of course, she used to work for him. 

Contemplating on her next reply, she tapped her screen and sent her message.

[ Katherine: It's okay. You have work tomorrow. I'll just start counting sheep and pray I'll pass out before 100. Good night. ]

After her response, she thought that he would let it go and go to bed as well. So she set her phone back on the nightstand and reluctantly started to count sheep. 

One sheep

Two sheep

Three she—

Her phone rang and her eyes snapped open. When she checked her phone, she saw Damien calling her.

Katherine blinked several times, unsure of what to do with the unexpected phone call. She hesitated because she wasn't supposed to even talk to him and now he was calling her. He was trying to creep his way back to her life again and it was just so hard to push him away. She wanted to answer his call and snap at him for making it so difficult for her.

…

Damien was lying down on his bed waiting for Katherine to answer. He was hopeful but seeing that she wasn't answering it, he was about to end the call and try to go to sleep instead.

And just when he thought that she wouldn't answer, she picked up his call on the last ring — because she decided not to push him away — deep inside, she didn't want to.

As soon as he saw that his call was answered, he shot up, sat upright on the bed while looking at his phone screen — he was now feeling nervous not knowing what to do.

Hesitantly, he placed the phone to the side of his face and waited for her to say something. The line was quiet but he could definitely hear her faint breathing from the other line so he was sure that she was listening. But why wasn't she saying anything?

He waited for a full minute for her to talk but she remained quiet. It turned out that Katherine also didn't know what to say to him. Before answering his call a minute ago, she was about to give him a piece of her mind but ended up choking on her words instead.

Now the two of them had their phones up to their ears but neither of them was speaking. Who was supposed to start the conversation? The caller—or the one who answered?

The momentary silence was starting to feel strange as they were waiting for the other to say something.

Snapping out of his stupor, Damien finally decided to break the quiet atmosphere and croaked, "H-Hi."

He couldn't be more embarrassed when he sounded like a teenager on the phone trying to talk to his crush.