Rejected: Dangerous solace in the masked stranger のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

Lisa’s POV The next morning, Celeste Atelier hums louder than usual phones ringing, heels clicking, the clatter of coffee cups mixing with the soft whir of design machines. Everyone’s moving faster, talking quieter. I can almost taste the tension in the air, like the whole building’s still recovering from Andraven Lucien Steele's visit yesterday. Katty catches up to me the moment I drop my bag on my desk, her grin already mischievous. “So,” she starts, leaning in like we’re about to share state secrets, “what’s your take on the big boss? Cold? Hot? Both?” I almost laugh, almost. “He’s… intimidating,” I say, reaching for my pen. “Intimidating?” She scoffs. “You mean unreasonably magnetic. The man walks in like he owns gravity. Be careful though he doesn’t smile often. But when he does…” Her voice dips to a whisper. “People stop breathing.” I force a light chuckle, shaking my head, but my hand tightens around the pen. I tell myself she’s exaggerating. But she isn’t wrong. There

Lisa’s POVThe morning light slides through my apartment blinds, soft and golden, but it feels like it’s burning right through my thoughts.I shouldn’t still be thinking about him about that look, that tone, the way my pulse betrays me whenever he’s near.There's something i can't just put my hands onI smooth my blouse in front of the mirror, forcing the thoughts out of my head as I clip on my earrings. A quiet, simple pair of silver drops elegant, but safe. Nothing like the pieces I used to make for fun back in Buffalo, when my life was easy and dull. Now, everything feels like it carries a hidden weight.After dressing, I head downstairs and stop at the little café across from the building. The place smells like fresh coffee and warm vanilla croissants, and for a moment, I let the normalcy steady me. I sip slowly, watching the morning rush outside, pretending not to think about the fact that I’ll be working inside his office today.Inside his world.By the time I reach Celeste Ate

(Lisa’s POV)Days blur together inside Andraven’s office.Sometimes it feels less like a workplace and more like a cage built out of glass and silence.I sit across from him every morning. He hums of the city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the faint tick of his clock marking time that never really moves.He doesn’t talk much unless it’s about work.And when he does, every word is precise, measured like he’s crafting sentences the same way I craft designs.But even silence with Andraven feels… heavy.Every movement he makes feels deliberate, the way he adjusts his cufflinks, the faint scratch of his pen, the slow lift of his eyes when I speak. It’s like he’s always aware of me, even when he’s pretending not to be.And I hate that I notice.Worse than I want to.The day starts quietly until he slides a velvet folder across the desk toward me.“I want you to redesign this.”Inside lies one of Celeste’s most famous pieces The Aurora Heart.It’s beautiful.Perfect symmetry, rare sto

Lisa’s POVTwo weeks.It’s been two weeks since the explosion since the world went white with noise and fear and Andraven’s arm locked around me like a shield.Two weeks since I saw him command chaos like it belonged to him.Two weeks since I stopped sleeping properly.He hasn’t been the same.Neither have I.He’s become a ghost that still breathes beside me quiet, controlled, distant. The glances we once shared, those brief sparks that made the office air hum, have turned into blank spaces. Every look feels deliberate, rationed. Every word, measured like currency.And yet, I can still feel him even when he’s silent. Especially then.That calm power underneath, that danger that never really leaves the room.Sometimes I catch myself staring at his reflection in the glass wall, wondering which version I’m seeing the man I work for or the man who dragged me out of fire.And I hate that part of me still wants to know......It’s almost ten when I realize I’m the last one left on the des

Lisa’s POVThe office feels different.Not louder, not busier, just tense. Like everyone’s waiting for something to happen, but no one knows what.Andraven hasn’t said a word to me since that night.No calls. No messages. No quiet summons to his office. Just a polite distance that cuts deeper than any insult could.It should make things easier.It doesn’t.Every time I pass his door, my heart skips like it remembers something my mind keeps trying to forget the heat of his mouth, the way he’d whispered my name like it cost him something.But there’s something else in the air this week.Real ones“Did you hear about the investors’ meeting?”“Yeah, canceled again. Rumor says the Valen Consortium pulled out.”“Pulled out? Please, they own half of Manhattan’s underbelly. You don’t pull out when you own the board.”“Then why the tension upstairs?”“Because someone’s forcing their hand.”I catch bits and pieces as I walk past the break room enough to know they’re talking about Andraven.Th