CHAPTER 49: MOTIVATING HER

"Where to, sir?" Alen asked as soon as he started the car once they stepped out of their company.

He looked at his wristwatch with a bit of urgency. He had a meeting with his date—the girl he met online in that video game—and didn’t want to be late.

He had thought they would get free sooner, but the meeting unexpectedly dragged on for another hour. He wanted to leave immediately, but his duty as his boss’s secretary came first.

Daniel, who sat in the back seat with his eyes closed as he leaned backwards, raised his brows slightly.

"I sense some urgency in your tone. Do you need to be somewhere?" He asked.

Alen cleared his throat.

"Of course not, sir. You can tell me where—" Alen stopped speaking when his gaze met with Daniel’s stare.

"I have a date," Alen said, his ears turning red at the mention.

Daniel looked at the man with interest. He never expected to hear this reason.

"You must be running late. Drop me off at Miss Elara’s building. It’s near. You can pick me up once you are done," Daniel said.

Alen furrowed his brows.

"No, sir. That’s fine. You don’t have to go there for my sake. You can—" Alen cleared his throat.

"I mean, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, sir." He quickly changed his words and tone when he felt the temperature in the car drop.

"It’s okay. That’s the least I can do for my people," Daniel said, quite satisfied with Alen’s words, and the subordinate suppressed the urge to sigh at his boss’s tactics.

"I have finally realized why Elara rigged that game and wanted to win so badly," Daniel said after some time.

Alen’s eyes shifted from the road to the rearview mirror briefly.

"Why is that, sir? Why did she do that?" He asked, curious about what his delulu boss was thinking this time.

Daniel smirked.

"She wanted me to owe her another favor so she would be on my mind constantly. And her tactics are indeed working," Daniel scoffed, almost sounding wronged.

Alen - "..." Yes, sir. Do it. Blame this on her, too. It’s much easier this way. It helps you sleep at night. How can the mighty Daniel Macros just accept that he has fallen for a girl at first sight and is trying to find ways to get close to her?

Alen suppressed his urge to smile and drove straight to Elara’s apartment.

At the same time, Elara stared at the lyrics sheet on the table at a distance while she sat curled up on the couch with a coffee mug in her hand, feeling too bothered even to look at it, her mind a complete mess because of what Nate said.

He even sent her the new contest notification, which would be posted on the official website the next day. She glared at the notification for the fifth time, her gaze focused on the ’acting’ word, but no matter how much she hoped, it wasn’t changing.

Elara’s fingers tightened around the mug as she sank deeper into the couch, groaning and flailing her legs helplessly.

"What am I supposed to do now?! Uhhh!" She kicked the air, barely spilling the remaining coffee on herself.

And the worst part was, she couldn’t even ask anyone for help or guidance, or at least teach her a little. All her acquaintances were far away from this field. Candice was into tech; the rest were into business or gangs.

George would ask her to drop it and return home, while Xylon would probably offer to smash the director’s head instead. Elara sighed.

She stood from the couch to place the mug in the kitchen, her eyes darting to the door when she heard her doorbell ring.

She looked at the time with narrowed eyes. It was almost eight. Who could be here at this time? She wondered.

For a few minutes, she didn’t move, hoping whoever the person was would leave her alone, since she didn’t want to deal with anyone, but after a couple of minutes, the bell rang again.

She dragged her tired body to the door, already rehearsing what she would say if it were one of George’s men or the man himself.

However, to say she was surprised when she saw the man would be an understatement.

Still in his work clothes, hands in pockets, face annoyingly calm, frustratingly handsome as if ready to model for a magazine, stood no one else but Daniel Macros.

He looked at her as if he had nothing better to do than show up at her door, and the thought made her raise her brows.

"What is it this time?" Elara asked, already knowing the man probably came with an excuse in mind.

"I thought you died. Since you took so long to answer," Daniel said.

Elara gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Well, I was hoping whoever it was would leave if I pretended I was not at home," she said, not hiding her thoughts.

"That was quite optimistic of you. Anyway, I am here to repay the favor. Have you thought about it? The prize you want since you won," Daniel asked, making himself welcome at her apartment by sitting on the couch without even being invited.

Elara rolled her eyes. However, what she couldn’t deny was how a tiny part of her heart was actually relieved at the familiar irritation because it took her mind off the singing thing.

"Who are you fooling, Mr. Daniel? You obviously came here because you were bored and enjoy ruining my peace," Elara said with a soft smile.

Daniel didn’t deny it, which said more than enough.

But something in the way her eyes screamed tiredness, missing their usual fierceness towards him, made him look at her.

"What’s wrong?" he asked.

Elara opened her mouth, then closed it. She didn’t know if she even wanted to share it with him. For a man like him who dealt with bigger things, this issue might even make him think she was stupid.

"And don’t say ’nothing,’ because I know something is bothering you. Tell me. I can be a good listener. I am bored anyway," Daniel said before giving her a lopsided smile.

This made Elara almost throw a cushion at him.

"Has anyone told you that you are a jerk?" She muttered under her breath.

"No one who ever dared to badmouth me is alive. Do you want to be the first one actually to stay alive?" Daniel asked, making Elara’s lips twitch.

"I think I’ll pass," she said before narrating the entire situation.

She had been overthinking about it since the evening and didn’t have the heart to build walls anymore. She stated everything as it is: Nate’s call, the contest twist, the acting requirement, her thoughts and dilemma, everything.

Daniel listened without interrupting, his face unreadable, before he sighed.

"Do you want me to deal with it? You can take this as me repaying you," Daniel said as soon as she finished speaking.

Elara shook her head instantly.

"No. Didn’t you hear? I want to build something myself. I want this to be entirely mine, because of my talent, not because someone pulled strings for me," Elara said.

Daniel stared at her for a few minutes. Her words made him respect her even more.

"Good," he said, his approval catching her off-guard, not because it was out of the ordinary, but because after being with Andrew for so long, she had forgotten what it felt like to be treated as someone capable.

"You know, you are worrying for no reason," Daniel said after a drawn-out silence, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Daniel shrugged.

"I mean, who said you can’t act? Didn’t you act for three years? You played the role of a perfect wife—docile, sweet, harmless, smaller than a man who didn’t see you, and even poor. You acted so well that you started believing it," Daniel said.

The words hit Elara harder than Danel probably meant, like an awakening slap. They weren’t cruel, but painfully accurate.

"If that wasn’t acting, I don’t know what is," Daniel added.

Elara looked down at her hands, contemplating. She swallowed hard.

"That’s not the same thing." She swallowed hard.

"That’s pretty much the same. The only difference is, this time you would be acting for ’yourself’ and not ’him,’" Daniel said.

He didn’t say anything for a while, allowing her to think.

After a few minutes, Elara lifted her head, met his gaze, and, for the first time, didn’t feel defeated after the call.

"You know what? You are right. You win. Now I feel a bit less like a disaster," Elara said.

Daniel smirked at her.

"It means I have fulfilled my mission. Now tell me, where’s food?" He asked, plopping his legs up and getting too comfortable.

"Food?" Elara asked, confused.

Daniel nodded.

"I never said I was feeding you for your advice and help." She scowled.

"No? You offered it in my head. I saw it happen," Daniel said, feigning ignorance, and Elara couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Didn’t you see me kicking your ass in your head? She scoffed inwardly, but as she walked to the kitchen, she found herself smiling and couldn’t help but sigh, feeling grateful to him, just slightly.