"I don't want any of Dyke's men following me," Calliope said after a long time. " This is my order. And as for the situation ….wait for me to contact him."
They bowed their heads again and disappeared soon after.
Calliope shook her head at their stupidity. They were the trained soldiers of the Wilding household. No wonder, she didn't notice them following her. As much as she knew these soldiers, Jane must have had them follow her everywhere, maybe even when she was staying in church. She wouldn't be surprised if she got to know that her whereabouts were always known to Jane.
That sneaky and stubborn woman.
Calliope looked at the pinkish sky and heaved out a sigh.
'Orin, give me some time. Don't call me so soon. I'm not ready to face what I left behind.'
Calliope returned to Callum after visiting the restroom. She felt guilty about how he had to piggyback her all the way from the top to the car parked at the foot of the mountain.
Even though her heart was racing in her ribcage, she tried to convince herself that it wasn't a big deal. He was just a gentleman.
None of them spoke about their accidental kiss because it was too embarrassing to talk about it. Instead, she quietly sat on the passenger seat while he was driving and the kids were asleep after the hyperactive day. Even she felt like sleeping but her sleepiness flew away when Callum put the news channel on the radio.
'ClickNext sees biggest ever stock market loss.'
'Boycott ClickNext trend on Twitter has cost the company ten billion USD in just a week.'
'ClickNext CEO Jeffery Hendrix talked about joining the world's biggest search engine Network. He said ClickNext is lacking insight. The rebranding won't change the old problems. Only by joining hands with big technology companies, the search engine can survive the tough battle waiting ahead."
After announcing the juiciest news of the evening, the RJ started discussing ClickNext's history. Everyone was expecting the company to join hands with foreign technology giants.
ClickNext was the company founded by her late husband Emiliano and she had inherited his shares and her fathers' shares in the company after their deaths. It should be a talk of another time how her father had shares in that company.
"Let me walk you to the door," Callum said as he saw Calliope trying to unlock the passenger door to get out. He had noticed that she didn't look like her cheerful self. She was worried, he could sense from her tense body language.
"I will be fine. Why don't you drop them first?" Calliope said as she glanced at the asleep kids in the back seat of the car.
"I will but let me walk you to the door first. It's dark and you haven't lit your house's light." Callum said as he got out of the car to open the door for her like a gentleman. Then, he turned on his phone's flashlight. Instinctively, he grabbed her hand and walked ahead.
"Can you walk?" Callum asked her in concern as he saw her limping. Yes, he was thinking of picking her up in his arms again. Truth be told, he was getting addicted to the feeling of having her in his arms.
"Yes, I can, "Calliope sighed. Glancing at her, she asked, "Don't you think you worry too much?"
"Can't help it," Callum said with a helpless sigh. "I haven't seen someone as careless as you when it comes to your health."
Calliope pursed her lips. Then, she retorted, "Don't worry. One day, I will get someone to take care of me. Even one I forget to take care of myself, that person won't."
By that person she meant Jane.
His lips stretched to form a smile, his heart beating fast in his chest. "You should hurry up then."
When they reached her door, he let go of her hand and waited for the goodbye. Why was it so difficult to say goodbye to her?
"Thank you so much for today, Callum. I truly never had so much fun before," Calliope genuinely said.
Callum attempted to stop his hands from fidgeting as he gulped. He wanted to say something yet at the same time he didn't know what to say.
In the dark veranda under the soft glow of the moonlight, meeting her mismatched beautiful eyes, he blurted out, "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow?"
Calliope blinked her eyes. "What for?"
She had been so far away from television and the internet that she didn't understand what he meant by this question.
"To grab a coffee or lunch or whatever?" Callum hopefully asked.
"Sorry, I am not a fan of outside food," Calliope said with a smile.
"Nevermind, "Callum said, scratching his head. He failed to see that she was naive when it came to dating.
He couldn't drop the *I like you* bomb on her so soon. Instead of agreeing to date him, she might start avoiding him. He turned to return but she called out his name and like a dumb man that be was when it came to her, he stopped and stared at her hoping she would say yes.
"Yes?"He softly looked at her.
"I might not be able to take the kids' class for a few days. Will you inform them?" This was what she called out to him for.
"Sure," he said dejectedly and walked away.
Looking at his slumped shoulders, why did she feel as if she was a scumbag who had broken an innocent girl's fragile heart?
Ugh. She needs to get this image of Callum Facci as an innocent girl with a fragile heart outta her mind. Just what did she end up thinking these days? She must purify her impure mind with holy water.
...
Title: Busted at first attempt to ask her out