Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Here we go again, Sophia thought as she ran after Lennox to tell him his next schedule even after countless times he'd told her not to.

Lennox approached the elevator, Sophia caught up with him, then pressed the elevator open button for him to get inside. Sophia turned to go take the stair but the warm hand wrapping around her wrist had her breath hitching, as she whirled to face him before her gaze dropped to where his hands held her. He seemed to realize the contact and he jerked his hand to his side, avoiding her gaze as he cleared his throat.

"You can ride the elevator with me" he stated and Sophia almost threw a fist in the air after getting over her initial surprise. She stepped in, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes as the elevator closed. Sophia pressed against the wall as the elevator suddenly became too small to house the man who seemed to suck in all the space around him, she felt as if there was something about him that tugged at her, pushing her to want to get closer while he stood straight and rigid, unaffected by whatever it was that was happening to her.

"Why are you so closed off Mr. Lennox," she asked unable to stow away her curiosity. Sophia did not expect a reply.

"Rule twenty-eight, don't ask me any irrelevant questions, I won't answer them," he said and she stared at him. Did he read his own rules? He even knew them offhand. It was mind-boggling.

Sophia bit her lips. "The rules, right!, but you should at least tell me some things about yourself, if not, I'll always be forced to guess," she said, remembering the conversation from earlier with the other workers. Could he be gay, who was that Vince guy he had met with when she'd just started working, it was suspicious.

"I hate talking about myself, I hate having to talk at all". Sophia noticed the hard edge to his voice, but she forced herself to push forward.

"Don't you think that's why you don't get along with people, maybe you haven't been listening but everyone is frustrated because of you, and your quietness curfew, it just kills us and makes us feel down, some people don't like to think, but when you're forced to keep quiet, you thought just spirals out of control".

The elevator pinged open, and he walked out, not bothering to acknowledge that someone had been riding with him.

Sophia came out, sighing in exasperation.

"Wow, this man just pushes all my buttons, what's so hard in replying to a simple complaint... Talk about going from sweet to sour all in the space of two seconds" Sophia fumed, before following.

********

Sophia stepped back into the office bumping into Ivan, she pulled back surprised to see him.

"Ivan, what are you doing here"

Ivan scratched at his ear, staring at the ground before gazing up at her. "I came to say hi, I missed you in our department, everything has been dull".

Sophia smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Aww, I missed you too, but it's been busy here, so I didn't have time to come say hello," she said.

Ivan nodded. "But you look so tired".

Sophia gave him a pointed stare. "This isn't my tired look, this is more like I'm pissed off, and I want to smack someone in the face." She joked, then stared at her previous team member, noticing something different about him. "Ivan, you look good though, your hair must have gotten longer"

Ivan touched his hair, his cheek reddening. "Yeah, I let it grow out" he paused, swallowing audibly, his hands clenching at his side. "Um, Sophia, will you like to have dinner with me this evening".

Sophia stared at him, taken aback by the abrupt change of discussion. She let out a nervous laugh. "Dinner?".

"Yes, I know this awesome restaurant that just opened, I was hoping you'd go there with me to eat," he said, his eyes hopeful.

Sophia frowned not quite expecting such an invitation from the guy who barely spoke two words to her while she had been his boss.

"I'm sorry, I'll have to decline, I'm going out with friends tonight, maybe some other time... Can you find someone else to go with".

Ivan frowned, shuffling his feet. "No, I wanted to go with you, no one else, plus they're all in some sort of secret relationship, and I'm the only one left out," he said, before glancing back at her face.

Sophia brushed her fingers through her hair. " Ahhh, so I'll take it that you think I'm the only one left without a secret relationship, so you want us to start one," she said, watching as he blushed crimson.

"No, it's not like that, I like you, like a lot" he muttered bravely. Sophia made to speak when the elevator opened. They both turned to see Mr. Lennox stepping out of it. Ivan quickly bowed in greeting, but he just walked past him into the office. Ivan straightened, muttering jerk under his breath. Sophia couldn't help her giggle.

"I'll see you later ok, I've got to get back to work". Sophia said, giving him another friendly pat on the shoulder. "Have fun on your dinner, you can ask Tzuyu out, she's been dying to go out" she told, blatantly rejecting his profession of love, or like.

Sophia couldn't wait for closing hours, she had no appointments with her friends since she'd planned on finding out where Lennox Ray lived, by trailing him home. Stalker ish much, well, there was always a price to pay to get what you want.

Lennox left work early, making trailing him easier. Sophia was surprised that he wasn't riding the expensive car in the parking lot, instead, it was a modest-looking car. Sophia shrugged off her surprise as she took note of the surrounding so that she wouldn't get lost on her way there.

The ride was a short one because Lennox soon parked in front of a luxurious micro mansion. Sophia gasped as she took in the beautiful house, she found it odd that she couldn't see any security measures put in place except for the camera installed all over the building. Sophia wasn't exactly sure that it was all over the building since she hadn't seen the back of the house.

Sophia paid the taxi fare, and alighted from the car, waving at the driver who was staring at her oddly as he drove away.

Sophia shrugged, pulling on her face cap as she crept behind the pretty flowers that adorned the walkway to the Mansion. Big trees were planted around the house making it look all Mysterious like the guy who lived in it.

Sophia got to the back gasping as she took in the awesome pool, and different artistic designs, she realized that the front was just modest, every time at the back screamed luxury. The house was daunting. Sophia waited, counting hours on her phone until she felt her legs cramping. After two hours of waiting, she decided to proceed with her plan.

Sophia hoped there were no alarm triggers.

"He hates sound so I'm almost certain that there will be no alarm. God don't let me be wrong, because I cannot go to jail for breaking in and entry.".

Sophia walked around the house, mesmerized by the sliding doors and the floor-to-ceiling glass panels. What if he was on the top floor, Sophia was almost sure it had more than three bedrooms, but it also made her worried about getting lost. Sophia stood in front of the sliding door on the deck, fighting not to get distracted by the stylish contemporary fireplace and the walk-in pool.

She pushed the door open, cautiously stepping into the house, her heart racing as she waited for the alarm to blare through the quiet setting, after a few seconds of silence, Sophia relaxed, then rushed up the spiraling staircase. The beige color complemented the house, and she fought the urge to take some pictures.

Sophia stopped in front of the master suite cause it looked so freaking amazing it had to be. She pushed the door, cautiously stepping into the bedroom.

"Wow, I could definitely die here peacefully" she whispered, staring at the floor-to-ceiling window, the moon, like art in the sky, and the room was dark-themed, illuminated by blue fluorescent light.

Sophia turned to face the bed, gasping as she gazed at Lennox's sleeping form. Sophia tiptoed towards him, then crouched down to get a better look at him, her heart thudding against her chest as she peered at his face, he looked so relaxed that it was hard to relate him to the man he became in the office. Sophia shook her head and her gaze slipped to his naked sculpted back, his wide shoulders, his waist, all on display while the rest of him was covered up by a blanket. Sophia fought her blush, her mind conjuring thoughts of both of them tangled together in his bed. She stood up sharply, remembering why she had broken into his house in the first place.

Sophia quietly looked around, then walked to his cabinets, pulled them out, and browsed through their content, she found nothing that spoke of his past or present. She stepped towards the walk-in closet, slide the door open, and walked in, it was just like the one in his office.

"Something doesn't change" she mumbled to herself when she saw a portrait lying against the side of the closet, she picked it up and turned it over.

Sophia frowned, staring at the picture of a woman who looked otherworldly beautiful. The gay theory flew out of the window.

"Who is she? His girlfriend, an ex, or his wife". She said, her eyes catching the words written at the bottom of the portrait. "Melissa Lennox, the only woman who has my heart".

Sophia gasped, dropping the portrait. "He'd been married, or maybe not, maybe a proposal present". Sophia shook her head, the marriage theory sounded more palpable. "Was it a nasty divorce, does he still love her?" she asked the air, her eyes widening. She rushed out of the closet exhaling as she saw him still sound asleep.

Finding out that he had been married was not what she expected, and it made her curious. Sophia stepped towards Lennox, crouching, so she could be at his face level.

"What made you change so much Lennox Ray, why are you so sad all the time, even in your sleep," she asked, then froze as she saw her fingers reaching to caress his face. Sophia pulled back, deciding not to push her luck for the evening. Lennox made her feel weird. Sophia turned to go but jerked back at the last minute. She pulled out her phone.

"I'll just take one picture, just one," she said, angling the phone to get a better shot of his face and shoulders. Sophia smiled at the perfect image he presented. She clicked the snap button and light flooded over Lennox Ray's face.