Chapter Six: Obsessed with the Lady in Red

Hawkins's POV

She never showed up.

During the days I was lounging around the cruise, doing whatever just to kill time and relax, I admit that I expected—no, I had hoped that she would seek me. But it was like she vanished into thin air.

But she didn't.

In the end, instead of clearing my mind, taking a breather and relieving some of my stress, I went back home with a troubled mind. The woman with sad eyes unfortunately didn't leave my mind. She managed to stir something inside me and it left me intrigued.

Alright, maybe a part of me also hoped that she would look for me, asking me to make her feel like a woman. God, I will. I will do everything in my book to make her feel so.

She left me with a million questions as to why she acted that way. Strangely enough, I was willing to sit with her and just listen to her problems for hours.

"Dude, are you even listening?"

I blinked when Damien snapped his fingers in front of me to yank me back to reality, and that's when I remembered we were discussing our future projects.

"Dame, do you think it's possible for us to invent something that can track a body in the ocean?" I absentmindedly asked him and he looked bewildered, giving me a strange look but answered anyway.

"That is only possible if the body is still alive so you can trace the heat, and if you are crazy enough to explore the ocean to find a dead body. Who knows if they've already been eaten by a shark?"

"Right? I was just... thinking out loud." I frowned and my mind went back to the topic I have in my head.

"So what do you think we should do next?" He asked, looking at me expectantly and I turned serious.

"How about something that can read what's on our mind? Or maybe change our mood?"

Damien pursed his lips with narrow eyes. "I will smack you with these papers and you will find out. We invent technologies and we do not create movies, you idiot!"

It's been three days and she's all I can think about. I can't concentrate and it's the first time since I built this company. I constantly wonder where she was, what she's doing or if she made it home. What if she's floating around the ocean? What if she jumped the next day because she failed the first time?

I ended up searching for bodies found in the ocean the past two days, my stomach sinking at the thought of seeing her body. Something tells me it was guilt, but I know it's something more than that. I found two articles about bloated bodies found in the ocean, and I was relieved when it was from another state and they were men.

After another day of me spacing out and practically zoning out most of the time, Damien finally had enough. I might be his boss but he was my best friend since we learned how to walk, and he was one of the few people in this world who could put me in my place.

"Okay, what happened on that cruise? You have become like this since you came back."

I played with my lower lip and leaned back on my chair. "I met this woman. She slipped and almost fell in the ocean but I saved her. She... She just looked so broken, you know? And she shouldn't be. God, Dame, she was probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and that look doesn't suit her. I offered to help her but I didn't see her again. I couldn't get her out of my head."

Dame spread his arms on the back of the sofa. "And you're guilty or concerned that she might have jumped for real?"

"I am." I admitted with a sigh. "But there is no way to know."

Dame removed his arms from the sofa and shrugged. "I don't know. It sounds to me like you are obsessed with this woman. You can't concentrate, you can't get her out of your head. You're never like this, Hawk."

I let out a snort and stood up. "I am intrigued."

"Obsessively," he countered and stood up to push me back to the seat. "Look, maybe she was just a stranger you were meant to save, and what happens to her next isn't your business anymore. If you see her again, then that is what we call fate." He snatched one of the documents and placed it in my hands. "But you have control over these damn papers, man, and we have thousands of employees relying on us."

I sighed deeply, realizing he's right and we proceeded to work with me having a somewhat clear mind this time. In the end, we selected a total of five projects we have to study well, then we will pick one or two of them. Choosing the project isn't that hard, but the whole process of making it is. Thankfully, I have selected the greatest leaders from each department that can make our work easier.

She started to fade from my mind after a week, but she never left. She was stored at the back of my mind, sitting beautifully with a bright smile on her face. I know she's there, but I learned not to let her affect my work again.

However, I didn't think that I'd see her again at a party organized by the retired principal of the university I attended for a year. Seeing her again felt like a thorn was plucked out of my heart.

The sadness is still evident in her eyes, but it didn't change the beauty she possessed. I could feel my shaft reacting to her like it did the first time I saw her. She was that desirable.

And maybe that's it. Maybe Dame is right. I became obsessed with her. I desire her. I want to help her. I want to bring the lost sparkle back in her eyes and help her find a new purpose in life—if she loses it.

That is if she'd let me.