The Miracle of You

“I’m fine,” Camille said. “Don’t worry about me. Just… keep it with you for a while, okay?”

‘Please don’t ask anything more,’ she begged.

“All right, then. If you say so.” Michael said. Thank god. “Anyway, I’m sure you must be wondering how much I know about you, especially how I managed to get your private number.”

Camille nodded, the knots in her stomach becoming tighter and tighter.

He couldn’t possibly know anything. She had to reassure herself of that.

Christian had firmly kept their relationship under wraps for now here at Penburg. He probably had something up his sleeve, just like he always did.

“I had my assistant check on your whereabouts,” Michael admitted. “Sorry about that, by the way. You must’ve wanted to lie low… but I just needed to know that you’re alive and well.”

Camille shook her head. “It’s okay. You have your reasons.”

“But don’t worry. I didn’t make a thorough investigation on you or anything like that,” he said quickly. “I just wanted to know your number and where you’re working now. I didn’t want to know where you lived. That would be a breach of your privacy.”

Camille couldn’t help but chuckle. “A gentleman as always, Noah,” she said teasingly. “Still… thanks for contacting me first. It really is a pleasure to hear from you after all these years.” Her tone was filled with sincerity.

“I really missed you,” Michael said without missing a beat.

“…And quite the charmer as well,” she added, trying to ignore how her heart swelled at the thought of someone from her past actually missing her even after so long. “Anyway, enough about me for now. How about you, Noah? Tell me how you’ve been doing all these years.”

“Me?” Michael shook his head. “I didn’t do anything extraordinary.”

“Nothing extraordinary? Stop acting so humble!” Camille said with a laugh. “I’ve seen the news articles and internet gossip, you know. You’ve had so many accomplishments over the years. I’m really proud of you, Noah.”

“It’s nothing. I simply went along with the motions, that’s all.”

“Are you saying that all of those things were effortless? Wow, as expected of the esteemed CEO,” Camille teased. “Speaking of, what about your dream of becoming a chef? I thought for sure that you’d refuse to inherit the family business…”

“Hmm…” Michael looked thoughtful for a moment. “Things changed. I decided to change the course of my life and went on that new road with conviction.”

‘Odd. He sentenced it quite vaguely,’ Camille thought.

“Well… I do miss your homemade boxed lunches,” she said lightly, deciding to change the topic. “They were so delicious, you know.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Michael chuckled. “It even went to the point where you didn’t bring lunches anymore. What would’ve happened if I stopped cooking for you, huh?”

Camille shrugged. “Can you blame me? It was love at first bite.” She laughed. “You have to cook for me again someti-”

She suddenly cut herself off, causing Michael to give her a puzzled look.

‘What in the world am I saying?’ she scolded herself. ‘I can’t just be all buddies with Noah again!’

‘Not with Christian in my life…’

“Is… anything the matter?” Michael asked in concern.

Camille took a deep breath before gazing at him seriously in the eyes. This wouldn’t do. She needed to be frank with him as much as she could without giving anything significant away.

First, she had to use the information that she knew he had in order to make it less suspicious. Then, she would twist it to her advantage, but would also prove to be the truth at the same time.

“I just remembered…” she said slowly. “You know what my job is, don’t you? You even mentioned my transfer.”

Michael stiffened, but only for a moment. He quickly regained his composure and nodded. “I do. You are Christian Callahan’s personal secretary, are you not?”

The formal way that he said it made Camille’s heart sink slightly. “Y-Yes…” she stammered. “So… I think it might not look good if we meet with each other often. You’d be… putting me in a difficult situation if we do so.”

She hated to say these kinds of words to him, but she had no choice. This way, she could have a valid reason – which was also true anyway – to reduce their personal meetings. She didn’t like the idea of having to avoid him, not after seeing each other again in fourteen years, but…

The fact remained that they worked for competing companies. Loyalty and ethical dilemma would be involved, and the rumors could be unforgiving, too. After all, to some reporters, it didn’t matter as long as the gossip was juicy enough.

In conclusion, there were several things that could very well go wrong with this.

“So you’re saying…” Michael said slowly. “…that we shouldn’t see each other from now on?”

Camille couldn’t help but chuckle, despite herself. “You say it like we’re dating or something,” she joked. “But yeah, I think it’s a good idea to not let anyone know that we’re…”

“Good friends from high school?” Michael supplied.

Camille sighed. “Yes. The thing is, if I didn’t work for the Callahan Group… I would’ve-”

“No, no. I get it, Vanilla,” Michael said softly. “It would be difficult for you indeed. After all, I know what kind of person Christian Callahan is.”

Camille’s features softened at the mention of her old nickname. It was silly, the way he first brought it up all those years ago. Just because she loved vanilla ice cream and it was close to her last name…

She shook her head internally. Truly a childish way to create a nickname like that.

But when he referred to her by that name just now, she felt nothing but nostalgia. Those memories back in high school, when she was with him, were what she considered her happiest.

It was fun, too, being with Michael. He made her laugh most of the time, and he brought out her teasing side as well. It was as though he made her feel like a freer person, a personality of herself that she was most comfortable with.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I’m sorry that I had to word it that way. I didn’t mean to offend you in any way.”

“It’s no problem, like I said,” Michael said. “But hey, how about we do it secretly instead?”

Camille almost choked on the glass of water that she was currently drinking. “Secretly?!” she repeated.

‘Why did he have to say it that way?!’

“Yes. Secretly,” Michael said casually with a nod. “It wouldn’t look good for my reputation too if we’re seen together. Like you said, we work for competing companies.”

“True,” Camille said, nodding back.

“Even though we both know that we’re not doing anything wrong, the world might not see it that way. As a public figure, I had to grow used to this fact over time. You do know how it feels too, right?” he said, his tone much gentler.

Camille knew exactly what he was saying. After all, she used to be the daughter of a CEO.

Now, she was no one but a simple secretary.

But back then, like her parents often told her, she needed to take care of and maintain her reputation. She couldn’t be too carefree or reckless, because one wrong move and she would get swallowed by the jaws of the media.

In the business world, reputation was very important since it could directly impact the company’s image and success. In regards to personal life, on the other hand, one should also be very careful since any negative publicity or scandals could reflect poorly on the company.

That was the life of a CEO. The company needed to be their very first priority.

“I do,” Camille agreed softly.

“So, what I’m saying is…” Michael leaned forward and rested his palm against the side of his face. “…we can meet up secretly instead. We can still text and call each other and remain friends. After all, there are a lot of things that we need to catch up on, right?”

Camille blinked, having never expected that kind of suggestion. She thought that Michael would give up at that point and accept the fact that they couldn’t interact more with each other from now on.

Then again, he had always been persistent like that.

But Michael… He was her last piece of normalcy. If she were being completely honest with herself, she didn’t want to let him go.

She wanted to be friends with him again. She wanted to joke and play around with him like before, to feel comfortable again after years of not having seen each other. She wanted this suffocation that she felt to end, even just for a few moments of Michael’s company.

Besides, it wasn’t like they were going to meet each other that often, right?

Camille chuckled. “That’s right. I guess you’ll be seeing more of me from now on, Noah.”

Michael smiled, and his eyes seemed to sparkle knowingly under the lighting of the room. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

What Camille didn’t know was that, from that day on, her life was only going to get messier.