What's wrong with him

Kylie had heard so many rumors about Damian Blackwood, but she had no idea what the man was truly like.

Of course at Lumina Global, she had worked closely with CEOs before, but still, a nervous feeling twisted in her chest.

As one of the company's executives, she had to attend the meeting that had just been announced thirty minutes ago. With 20 minutes to spare before the CEO's arrival, she stepped out of her office and headed straight for the meeting room.

Every one of the other executives was present, all seated and it only made her wonder why they were in so early. She took her seat in one of the empty seats around and sucked a deep breath in.

Shortly after, the two large doors opened and as Damian stepped in, Kylie could not help but stare even as every other person lowered their heads to greet him. As soon as their eyes met, her heart hammered in her chest and she darted her gaze away instantly

Everyone took their seats back.

Kylie watched as the man, dressed in a brown suit, who had walked into the room behind Damian, suddenly handed him a file.

The same files were placed in front of everyone. When she scanned through, she was quick to notice it was an idea she had created three weeks ago for a new product.

“Who's the brain behind this?”

The room suddenly fell quiet as each person stared at the others, but Kylie rose to her feet, and answered, “Me.”

Another round of silence ensued in the room until Damian spoke again, “How did you come up with this, Ms Vale?”

First, her brows knotted when she heard her name. She hadn't mentioned her name earlier, but she quickly discarded the unanswered question in her mind with the conclusion that he was the CEO. Of course, he was supposed to know the names of all the company's executives, absent or not.

When Kylie was done explaining, she waited for what his reaction would be, but instead, the expression on his face was unreadable. He simply shut the file in front of him, and said, “You may take your seat Ms Vale.”

That was it? Kylie thought. Maybe the rumors were true after all. He wasn't easy to impress and hardly gave any compliments.

She wasn't used to this, and being a perfectionist, Kylie couldn't help but think that he truly wasn't impressed by her proposal.

An hour later, the meeting ended. He rose to his feet first and walked out of the room with his assistant trailing behind him but as everyone walked out afterward, Kylie remained seated staring at the file right in front of her.

It hadn't taken days but weeks to come up with such an idea and yet to him, it felt like it was nothing. Of course, it was simply hard to shake off that feeling.

Deciding not to put much thought into it, Kylie rose to her feet and proceeded to walk out of the room when her phone pinged.

She reached for her pocket and picked it to see a notification from a familiar number,

[Mommy, it's Sienna. Will you come for my birthday next week?]

[I miss you Mommy, and I want to see you. Daddy doesn't want me to text you, but I really miss you, Mommy.]

It was at this moment that Kylie recalled who the number belonged to. Sebastian. That night after she left a home which was no longer hers, she deleted everything. Every memory of her past life.

A tear rolled down so suddenly she had no idea when. Sienna was texting her with Sebastian's phone. It wasn't something she believed her daughter would do, but she was really doing it.

Kylie had almost given a second thought to her daughter's request but when the memory of Sienna happily acting the little bride in her father's betrayal flashed through her mind again, she shook her head and turned her phone off.

Of course, she was going to see her daughter one day but not now that she was still trying hard to completely bury the past

She headed back to her office, hoping to drown herself in work as she had always done to ease her mind. When Kylie took her seat, her mind suddenly lingered once again on Damian's reaction towards her earlier proposal and she wondered if it meant he really didn't like it.

Disturbed by his reaction, she turned on the computer on her desk and proceeded to do extensive research on what kind of man he was.

Hours later, Kylie was still engrossed with the screen. Hours and hours of research but there was absolutely nothing about this man that could be of tangible help to her. He was indeed like a shadow anyone barely knew anything about him. Other than being the CEO of Luxeforge, there was really nothing else.

What kind of man is he? She thought to herself, silently impressed how someone could be so private with his life and all of his affairs.

When the alarm on her phone suddenly beeped, she picked it up and gasped. It was already past 9pm and it skipped her mind that she didn't bring her car to the office today.

Kylie quickly packed her things into her bag and made her way out of her office. She headed to the elevator, barely seeing anyone except three security men who knew her too well for always working late.

As soon as she stepped out of the company's building, she noticed the sudden change in the sky. It was certainly going to pour heavily soon.

She tucked her hand into her bag, dug her phone out, and proceeded to book a ride home, but another shock came. A dead phone.

“What the hell!” A curse escaped, the look and feeling of frustration suddenly setting in. It was impossible to find a moving cab unless she made a twenty-minute walk to the roadside and by then, the sky would be pouring.

She had no choice. She had to attempt. As she took a step, a black Mercedes-Maybach halted in front of her and a man in a brown suit stepped out of the driver's seat.

Kylie was quick to recognize him as Damian's CEO as he walked over to her,

“The CEO would like to offer you a ride,” Kyle said as he opened the door but Kylie didn't move,

“Thank you, but I'll find a cab by the roadside.” She uttered and briefly stared at the sky again. Then she watched as Kyle checked his phone before raising his gaze to her again,

“If I'm not mistaken, it would start to pour in about 10 minutes. That's barely enough time for you to get a cab Ms Vale. Kindly accept the offer.”

Kylie bit her lower lip, hating to admit that he was right. She heaved a sigh and finally nodded her head, saying, “Thank you.”

As she stepped in, Damian didn't tilt his head in her direction. Instead, his gaze remained on his iPad, scanning through company documents but to her, it was like he simply wanted to mind his business and avoid any unnecessary conversations

Kylie sucked a deep breath feeling the awkward silence linger in the air as none of them uttered a word to each other. They had been riding for almost twenty minutes now and based on her calculation internally, it was just five more minutes to get home.

Suddenly, thunder roared overhead and a jagged bolt of lightning tore across the sky. Kylie flinched, but the sound that followed made her turn sharply.

Damian had dropped the iPad, but that wasn't the worrying part. His hands were trembling violently as he stared ahead. She also noticed his breathing had turned ragged and his eyes were tightly shut.

Frightened, she called out, outstretching one arm towards him “Mr Blackw….” but before she could reach for him, Kyle turned as the car came to a sudden halt and interjected,

“We've arrived, Ms Vale.”