The beautiful clear sky days continued as her work began to get better. She had no track of time how the days run, once she gets into the office. By the time she finds free time, it would be past 6 in the evening.
"Get in," Darren said, asking her to get in the car.
"It is fine Darren I will take the bus,"
"You worked extra time today and it's pretty late, I will drop you off," he suggested again. It has been more than a month, and Darren and Miranda were on a good note than the other employees at work. He asked her to address him calling his name while he was strict about following the hierarchy inside the office. "Treat me as your friend, not the boss," he said.
"Wow, what a line? Is this how you get the girls?" she asked him.
"What?"
"Don't even think of flirting with me Darren,"
"Is this what you call flirting?" he asked her in surprise. She wished she didn't tell him that. "I have to say this is why I admire you," he laughed aloud.
"What? I am being good to you only because I expect you to not flirt with me,"
"I am being good to you because you are not like the other girl who gets attached to me for material stuff," he said back. "You looked very genuine,"
"Then we are even," she said and looked out the window.
"Yes I guess we are," but he laughed. He liked it, he liked it very much. The friendship began there. Every day getting closer and closer.
"Wake up, don't be lazy, come to work early, I need to show you something," he would text her in the morning. They would meet up at the office before anyone come for work some time and he would share everything with her. His future plans to put the company in the mainstream and how he is going to work it out.
"Miranda these are top secret, you shouldn't share these with anyone okay," he would say.
"Your secret is safe with me captain, don't worry," she would assure him, but little did she know.
She had no idea she was falling for him, she wasn't even sure if there were any reasons too. She began to feel like she did not care about his past nor his reputation. She just wanted to spend time with him. The funniest thing was she wasn't sure if these feelings were right or how it is supposed to be since this was her first time and she chose not to share this with her friends.
"You should know about me, I wanted to tell you this too,"
"What?" she asked Darren not sure what he meant.
"About what happened with my ex," But Miranda was uncomfortable, she never liked it when he talked about his ex-girlfriend Megan.
"Should I really know those?"
"You should," he said as he drove to drop her off home. It took less time since she moved closer to her office to a studio. Miranda didn't say anything.
"She and I were a thing. We thought at the same level. We used to be together starting the business. But she didn't care about how it's done, she only cared about digging the profit. My family knew about us, my sister used to like her too, spending time together. We had a perfect plan after 4 years, at least I did see a future together. But she said she didn't want it. She wanted to move away too. And I could never think of leaving my family. So she broke up with me. And I was super lost. Harold had to deal with it along with me, repay for her shares. We went through so much trouble since she knew all our business moves. We paid her a lot to keep her mouth shut," Darren kept going. He spoke like he still had lingering feelings for her. It hurt her for no reason.
"One might think you still love her," she said.
"No, I don't. I hate her, so does my family. It's just I still sometimes get nightmares about her and it took me time to recover,"
"When did this happen?"
"A year back,"
"What about Holly?" she asked him without hesitating about the other girl she heard rumors about.
"She and I were really good friends, we were close, she helped me a lot when I was down,"
"But wasn't she in love with you? Why did you keep in contact with her so? She must have been hopeful. Poor her," Miranda unaware, said what came on her mind. Darren looked upset. His face changed from smiling to gloomy.
"I didn't mean to hurt you I was just saying. I know. But there is one thing you have no idea about Miranda," she looked at his face. "Our timing, the day you came in, I cannot imagine if you didn't come that day and we didn't become best friends,"
"What timing?"
"You will know," he dropped her off in front of her apartment and left. She was too upset listening to his stories. She was sad and afraid that she might be one among his list. But she still wanted to give it a try. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to get to know more about him. More importantly, she trusted him, believing that he wouldn't let her go through a heat break he already had as he had expressed. She freshened up and got to bed after having a very light dinner. She cried herself to sleep that night realizing she had fallen for him.
She tried keeping a distance with Darren for the next two days. She would only reply to his messages when it's something urgent. She stopped staying up late for him to get back home from the gym and chat with him. And he knew it all. He understood she was keeping distance and he felt upset. It has already been 3 months since she began her internship and there was only a month more for her to leave the company. Darren was beginning to get worried. He wanted to keep her closer to him. He was feeling happy when she is around him. But he had to hide it from everyone, especially Harold.