"How was your evening?" Gabriel asked from the dining room. He had some papers spread across the table, analysing something.
"Okay," Claire answered with a smile. Gabriel looked up at her with surprise. Her smile was radiant and hypnotising. He smiled back at her with an equally charming smile. Claire froze. For some reason only now she noticed that Gabriel had dimples! How could she not notice it before?!
"I hope that Pattison hasn't disturbed you too much and didn't make things too awkward."
"No, not at all. I knew Mark will hit it off with Gina and Zoe. Zoe especially. I think they both were absolutely smitten with each other. I think something might be brewing."
Gabriel looked at her with confusion.
"Pattison has a girlfriend."
"He told me they broke up about three or four weeks ago when we went out for a drink."
"When did you go out for a drink?"
"When you fired him. He needed to drink his sorrows as he was just after the break-up, and I needed liquid courage to deal with you."
"You were drunk when you came to negotiate with me?"
"I've had a drink. I didn't drink myself out of my mind. I only ever got badly drunk with Zoe a couple of weeks ago now. And that lunch with Chi group but I'm still unsure how that happened. Usually, I'm not too bad with alcohol. Unlike Pierre." Claire laughed at a memory.
"Pierre?"
"Pierre Martin was in the same year of uni as me." Claire leaned against the door frame. "He was so shy back then. He asked me out on a date whilst drunk and before I could answer he threw up on my shoes. He was unable to face me after that. I always felt kind of bad for him."
"Did you ever manage to successfully go out on any date?"
"No, not really." Claire shook her head. "I guess that was never in my cards. You know, an excitement at the end of the first date when you can't stop thinking about them. Those games where you try to work out when it's appropriate to call back. Worrying over what to send as a reply to their messages." Claire sighed, resting her head against the cold wood. Still looking at Gabriel with a smile. She was shockingly peaceful.
"Claire…" Gabriel started carefully. "I'm so glad that you enjoyed yourself. The end of our two-week period is on Wednesday. You can then return to work and go out as you wish. I do hope that it'll help you feel more at ease."
"I think so. I hate it when you try to control me. I don't care if your house is a villa, confinement is suffocating for me."
"I haven't asked you to stay at home to spite you. I wanted to make sure that you're safe."
"Can you make sure that I'm safe from you?" Claire asked in a much quieter tone, her smile vanishing.
"I'll deal with it," Gabriel said with confidence. "I am dealing with it."
"That's good." Claire nodded and then she yawned. Gabriel expected her to go upstairs but instead, she walked up to him and started looking at the papers spread across the table. "What are these?"
"A draft of our annual report."
Claire started reading it page by page, looking at graphs and data, strategic plans, governance reports, and financial statements.
"Why are you agonising over it?"
"I need to finalise my chairman's statement."
"It doesn't look too bad. I wonder whether making a statement on sustainability as well as recently proposed regulation changes to the building standards wouldn't be a good ending point. You know, a step towards the future."
"Do we have enough on sustainability though?"
"My department has. We increased our eco-friendly partners by almost 50%. We designed carbon-zero buildings for the Green City project. And we are collaborating with the local university on the research into green roofs. Not green as a colour! I already had to clarify that to a few of our interns. Green roofs incorporate vegetation into the design." Claire looked at some plots. "These definitely are incorrect. We improved our sustainability by almost 25% overall as a department. We ensure as many of our contractors are certified and we are making changes within the department to improve our efficiency."
"When did you have time to do all these?"
"I didn't need your approval to change contractors, before even given the autonomy over the department I was incorporating it gradually."
"I see. Any chance you have the data for it?"
"On my work laptop that I was not given access to yet."
"Don't worry about it now, but once you're back, I'd like to read your report on it. I'm intrigued with what you're doing in the department."
"Why?"
"I expected you to cause havoc and run it into the ground."
"I don't see any benefit in this."
"So why did you want full autonomy."
"Partially because you fired one of our best designers, and partially because I hated being blocked by bureaucratic mess and no choice over our customers. I didn't want to serve only the richest, even if they contribute a significant amount of our income. I wanted to undertake more community-friendly projects."
"I see." Gabriel smiled again as he watched the top of her head. Without heels she was quite a bit shorter, possibly reaching his armpit, but not much higher. She looked so fragile recently. Possibly because of how poorly she was. Her skin was unusually white. And she was so much thinner since the first time he saw her. Yet, in his eyes, she was the most beautiful person in the world. And her smile right as she came in was something he hoped that he could see so much more often.
"You can switch these axes around to match the graphs on page 132," Claire advised him. She asked Gabriel hasn't responded she looked up at him. She found his blue eyes locked on her and she froze as her heart skipped a beat. She felt awkward at how close Gabriel was to her. She took a few steps back readying herself to leave.
"Thank you for your help, Claire."
"It's my job." Claire smiled. Something else popped into her head and she opened her mouth to say it but no words left her mouth.
"What would you like to say?" Gabriel encouraged her.
"How did you know about my parents' restaurant? How did you come up with a gift for my dad?"
"You mentioned to Jonathan that your family had a restaurant. It took some research and a lot of second-guessing every single idea to find something that I felt might be appropriate."
"So, you didn't delegate it to Mark?"
"No." Gabriel shook his head. "I like to pick up personal gifts myself."
"Thank you. I really appreciate it. My dad liked it too." Claire blushed. "I'll leave you to it."
"Goodnight, Claire."
"Goodnight, Gabriel."
It was the first night that Claire slept very well and she woke up fully rested. As the morning came, she felt energised. As she wandered around the closet she stumbled across the black high-neck swimsuit that was given to her by Gabriel. She hesitated.
She used to love swimming as being in the water made her feel as if she could fly. She missed that. Every time she entered the water since she felt as if she was drowning. As if something was weighing her down.
She held the fabric that felt very smooth against her skin. It was early enough that no one would see her.
Claire put on the swimsuit that fitted her perfectly. She grabbed a bathrobe and a towel and made her way downstairs.
As she entered the room with the pool, she froze. The smell of chlorine and the sound of water trickling made Claire's breath unsteady already. She placed the towel and bathrobe down and she stood on the edge of the pool. She was trembling, feeling sick to her stomach. She took a step forward and she felt the cool water between her toes.
Claire repeated to herself that she can win her feat, that she can do it, that she was more than her past and that she shouldn't let it define her.
At last, she gathered all her courage altogether. She took a few steps back before running up and jumping into the pool. As the water encapsulated above her, all that momentary courage vanished. She was going down and her frantic movements didn't help. She couldn't think straight. She tried screaming for help but the water filled her mouth and throat, slowly finding its way to her lungs. Her chest burnt as if it were to explode.
She didn't realise that these were mere seconds, as each second passing felt like a painful eternity.
Claire's eyes closed as she slowly started drifting away into the darkness. Then she felt something warm embrace her. The kind of warmth that makes you feel safe.
"Claire…" she heard the vague voice, somewhere in the distance. She felt enormous pressure on her chest as if an elephant decided to flop on it. Suddenly the air re-entered her lungs and she felt the last of the water come out of her mouth. She started coughing violently, gasping for air.
She grabbed for the nearest thing to clench onto as she was trying to regain her breathing. She opened her eyes slowly, the burning of the water blurring her vision. "Claire, oh my goodness."
The pressure eased off her chest and she felt the same warmth as earlier spread across her chest and back.
It took her a few minutes to realise what was happening. Gabriel, in his white shirt and black trousers, was soaked, holding her tightly to his chest. He pressed his cheek against Claire's forehead and he put his hand against her cheek, with his other hand on her waist as he pulled her even closer. His breath was unsteady.
Once he steadied himself, he picked up Claire's towel and wrapped her up to keep her warm.
Claire started sobbing. "Shush, Claire, shush… you're alright. You're safe." Gabriel started rocking her gently after feeling her entire body tense up and starting to tremble. "Hush…" he tried to calm her down.
"I-I-I can't breathe…" Claire was hyperventilating.
"I know that it feels like it. I know that it's scary." Gabriel spoke in a soothing voice. "Let's try to breathe together." He started taking steady and deep breaths in. Claire struggled to calm down but his chest rising and falling steadily underneath was comforting.
As Claire started calming down she sat up and Gabriel released her from his arms. He stood up and grabbed the bathrobe covering Claire's shoulders. Claire still sat up on the tiles beside the hall pool, trying to gather the energy to get up.
Gabriel didn't say anything. He squatted a little away from her, watching her, ensuring that she was fine whilst giving her space.
"You saved me," Claire uttered in embarrassment. "How did you know?"
"I just came downstairs when I saw you jump into the pool. I didn't see you resurface for a while so…" Gabriel shrugged. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, thank you." Claire nodded. She tried to stand up but her legs were still weak and shaky. Gabriel rushed over and wrapped his arm around her back, supporting her up.
"Let's get you upstairs. You're going to get cold."
"Thank you."
Gabriel helped her up the stairs and into her own bedroom, leaving her to change into some dry clothes.
H's clothes were still soaked when he bumped into Pattison in the corridor
"Sir, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just an unexpected swim. Do you have the papers?"
"Yes." Pattison looked at the clothes clinging tightly to Gabriel's body with surprise.
"Breakfast should be ready if you want to wait downstairs. I think I need to get some dry clothes." Gabriel tried to unroll the sleeves.
"I'm sure that board of directors would not have anything against seeing your six-pack." Pattison joked, still giddy from the previous night. Gabriel just scowled at him and went to his bedroom.
Pattison waited by the dinner table when Claire came down, with Gabriel just a few steps behind her.
"Good morning, Claire. Did you throw Mr Moore in the pool this morning?" Pattison said first.
"I didn't," Claire answered quickly. "As tempting as it might seem, I'm sure he's a good swimmer so it wouldn't have the desired effect."
"Pattison, I need a new phone and wallet. Please, sort it out this morning as I need to be in the meeting." Gabriel placed his soaked phone and wallet on the table.
"Will do, sir." Pattison nodded whilst loading his plate with bacon.
"I'll ask Jonathan to make you a warm cup of coffee," Gabriel said to Claire as he walked past her. "Actually, tea might be better if you'd like?"
"Yes, please. No milk, just sugar." Claire sat down at the end of the table, opposite where Gabriel usually sat. Pattison passed her a full dish of bacon and toast so that she could load his plate up too.
"So, why did you push him into the pool?"
"I really didn't."
"Why was he soaked to the bone?"
"Because he jumped into the pool."
"Wearing half of his suit and with his phone and wallet? Odd."
"It is odd." Claire nodded.
Gabriel brought her warm tea and sat down in his usual spot, loading his plate with food.
"Is someone going to tell me what I am missing?" Pattison asked.
"No," Gabriel replied shortly. "I've sent the final version of the annual report across this morning. Get it to print."
"Of course." Pattison nodded. "Shall I wait for you?" He asked Gabriel once he finished eating.
"No, go ahead. You have things to sort out on the way." Gabriel sent him off.
Pattison left, and Claire was quietly finishing her meal feeling embarrassed for the morning.
"Gabriel, I'm so sorry. I'll compensate you for your phone and wallet." She said quickly.
"Don't be silly. Even if you intended to drown yourself, I wouldn't let that happen." He smiled reassuringly. "What's most important is that you're okay." Gabriel stopped smiling. "Are you okay though?"
"Yes, I'm okay." Claire nodded. "Please, let me replace your things."
Gabriel remembered how angry at himself he was when he was responsible for the damage to Claire's blouse and how upsetting he found it that she didn't want to accept it, but at the same time, he didn't hold Claire responsible for his decision to jump in the pool and save her from drowning. It was hardly a decision altogether. It was like an instinct. As soon as he thought Claire was hurt his body reacted before he could even compose a coherent thought.
"I rather you not. You're not responsible for any of the damage."
"Please," Claire repeated.
"I'll think about it." Gabriel sighed. "I do need to head to work. Please, keep safe, and if you need anything do text me or call me."