CHAPTER 32

**CHLOE DUARTE**

“Okay, but what do I do? How can I help you?", I pull up my dress and kneel in front of him, seeing that he is sweating more and more as he tries to keep his eyes open.

“Stay here with me, just stay with me until this passes...", I nod my head, holding his hand as I sit down beside him.

I finally begin to understand why he doesn't want help from anyone, he is a man that everyone respects, and doesn't want anyone to see him that way.

“Do you always feel this way?", I dare ask as he takes a sudden deep breath.

“Sometimes I do, but it always passes.", he murmurs, squeezing my hand.

I think of a way to help him, but can't find one, so I remain seated beside him holding his hand while he waits for the discomfort to pass.

At this moment I remember the illness he has had in the past and when he was a child, James was fine at the party and smiling at all the guests who spoke to him, but his condition has suddenly worsened so much that I have the urge to find out what caused it.

“Isn't there a remedy for these symptoms?", I ask and struggle.

“I have a medicine bag, but it's not here with me."

His hand squeezes mine tighter and when I lift my head I find James almost unconscious beside me, I kneel in front of him touching his face.

“Hey, you're getting worse, stay awake, please!", I plead, patting him on the shoulder.

His forehead is drenched with sweat, and with his eyes still closed I touch his tie and undo the bow tie before unbuttoning the first three buttons of his white shirt.

“You don't have to do this, Chloe", he whispers, opening his eyes to face me when I touch his face again.

“What's the matter with you? It would be smarter to get you to a hospital, James."

He coughs as if he is swallowing and controlling the intense urge to vomit, I watch him quickly remove his suit before leaning his head against the wall again.

“You know I hate hospitals more than anything and not to worry anyone about it and ruin the party you've put so much work into organizing."

“The organization of the party is not the most important thing now, you are the most important thing now, James.", I say the obvious when he frowns and stares at me.

“Why do you care so much about me?", he asks, leaving me not knowing what to answer him without it getting awkward between us.

“You are my boss, you are James Colucci, the man who has built an empire spreading to the rest of the world, but above all, even though you seem to be a cold person most of the time, I can see another part of you..."

“Which part?"

“The part that you don't let anyone see..."

“Why do you have to be so good, Chloe?", he whispers, reaching out to touch my face.

“Because even though this world is so cruel, it needs good people like you and me."

“My whole childhood I grew up inside a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses, and I see that day coming again."

“Don't say that, do you want me to call your driver and take you home?", I ask, but he denies it with his head.

“Don't go away, stay here with me, you make the pain go away, Chloe...", he says and I nod.

I don't know how much time passes, but when I open my eyes I have my head on James's shoulder who has his eyes open now and is staring at me.

“Are you feeling better?", I ask as he pulls away and stands up before stretching his hand toward me.

“Yes, but you'll either feel better when you take my medication, come on!", I accept his hand and lift myself from the floor with his help.

I notice that he doesn't look me in the eye at this moment and this bothers me a lot, I don't say anything as he smoothes his hair before opening the double doors of the balcony.

“Come on, the party still needs our presence!", he says in a dry tone with his back to me.

He is the first to enter and when I do so behind him I see that all eyes are fixed on us, even though I have done nothing wrong I feel my face flush with embarrassment at being the target of so much attention.

I follow back to the table where Sam and Matt are sitting seeing that James grabs a glass of water and sits down with his father at a table further away from the room, he doesn't look at me anymore this time.

Realizing that I am not in the mood to comment on the subject, my friends let this pass as they go back to talking about random subjects including me in the conversation.

The dance goes on for an average of two more hours until James gives another speech thanking us for the total amount raised that night, I realize that the glow that was on her is gone this time.

We all say goodbye, Matt leaves on his motorcycle while James' driver takes Sam and me back.

“You've been very quiet since we left the dance, are you okay?", Sam touches my arm inside the car to get my attention.

“Yeah, I just have a bit of a headache...", she nods her head believing my lie or pretending to believe it.

The driver drops Samanta off at her place first before taking me to my apartment, I thank him for the ride and sigh as I enter my cramped little corner.

I remove my heels and my fancy dress, not knowing what to do with it after this dance, I take another quick shower before lying down on my comfortable bed and waiting for sleep to come...

I wake up to the sound of the cell phone alarm clock, I open my eyes sleepily dragging myself out of bed seeing that the sun comes through the curtains of the bedroom window.

I'm not sure why, but I didn't wake up in a great mood to work this morning even though I had a good night's sleep after returning home.

My mood is not like all the other mornings before, I feel bored and this makes me feel strange at this moment, even though I know I can't be late for work, I take a long shower, the longest shower of my entire life to see if this will improve my strange mood.

I feel better when I get out of the shower, I don't feel 100% well, but I know it's a start and I have the whole day ahead of me to feel better than I did this morning.

I've occupied my mind so much with the organization of the ball that even I completely forgot to update my story for the readers who must be mad with me because of the new chapters that I haven't even had a chance to see and do yet.

I swallow my curiosity to grab my notebook and check how frustrated I have made them by my disappearance, but I head straight to the bedroom where I see my kitten sleeping peacefully on the rug next to my bed.

Still holding the towel against her freshly bathed body, I squat down and stroke Mia's fur, who purrs as she feels my caresses on her little body, kissing her soft furry head before sighing not knowing what to wear this morning.

I could wear any social piece that matches, but I need to maintain a professional image since I work for a big boss personally, I take a basic black social outfit that I had few opportunities to wear and decide to tie my hair in a ponytail to complete the look.

I do quick and easy make”up, just wanting to cover my ears around my eyes and give some color to my lips that look lifeless.

I put on my favorite heels, and my belongings into my purse before preparing some breakfast, before leaving the room my eyes fixated on the wonderful dress I had the great opportunity to wear the night before that was carefully left on the armchair by me.

I still don't know what I will do with the piece, it cost a fortune and is intact, so it would be smarter to return the dress since I probably won't wear it again.

As I finish my breakfast my thoughts are invaded by images of James last night, I have never been so frightened to see another person in his frail state, it makes me think that maybe he will not show up at the company today to take care of his health.

He is not well and we both know it, but he is so tough that he refuses to let anyone see him that way, I was an exception and it makes me wonder why he wanted my company at that moment.

I shake my head in the negative, pushing all thoughts of James out of my head, I clean up my little mess before brushing my teeth and leaving the apartment heading for the company.

The dance yesterday was quite busy, but nothing compares to the crowd of people that cross the hall of the company all the time.

I pass between them wanting to get to my floor as quickly as possible, but I see that I am being stared at by many, many people at the same time. I frown as some people stop to look at me while others look at me with curiosity on their faces.

At first, I imagine that there is something wrong with me, but I look impeccable as always when I come to work, so this is not the real reason why I can attract attention.

I look at the reception desk seeing that Sam waves to me smiling openly, I hurry closer seeing that she holds some sort of magazine in her hands.

“I don't know why, but why is everyone looking at me funny today? Is there something wrong with me?", I ask looking at my clothes again, but my friend widens her smile and denies with her head as she hands me the magazine she was holding.

“Congratulations you are on the cover of the most famous magazine in New York, mystery girl!", I stare wide”eyed at a picture of me standing next to James when we were walking into the mansion together after my arrival.

At least the photo is perfect, but the sentence highlighted along with the image on the cover catches my attention New York's most eligible bachelor CEO throws a charity ball and draws gasps, but this time our darling James Colucci is in the company.

I open the magazine seeing that there are more pictures of us together, I sigh not knowing what to do when I see a picture taken of me applauding James' speech with a smile.

I know photographers didn't get into that party, but they managed to get that picture of me somehow that I still don't know.

"Mystery girl steals the scene as she enters accompanied by none other than the powerful CEO of one of the world's most famous multinational corporations. It seems that our little darling James is no longer available for us to take a shot at."

We still don't know who the beautiful brunette is, but we do know that she is a very lucky girl who managed to attract the attention of such an important man. See more photos and exchanges of looks that impacted us the most:

I close the magazine quickly in shock, I look around us seeing that I am still the target of many stares, they don't know me, but my face is stamped all over the city at this moment and it scares me.

It scares me even more to know that they think that James and I are a couple, they are completely wrong and I don't know how to reverse this situation without feeling embarrassed about everything.

I saw and know that there were many photographers at the entrance of the mansion, but at that moment I didn't think that these pictures would be so exposed as to be on the cover of a major gossip magazine.

“You were lucky, even though you didn't pose for them directly you did very well...", Sam says, taking the magazine from my hands and looking at the pictures smiling again.

“And now what?", I ask nervously hating to be the center of attention at this moment.

“And now nothing, they are talking good about you and praising you, so stay quiet and enjoy the fame, girlfriend! ", she taps me on the shoulder playfully.

“I'm being put in a position I'm not in, they're saying we're together and they're romanticizing it, Samanta."

“Exactly, they put you in as the lucky girl who won the heart of one of the hottest guys in town, enjoy it, Chloe. It's not every day that this happens!", Samanta lets out another laugh, annoying me deeply.

I shake my head and walk away towards the elevator trying to dodge the people around me who seem to stop what they are doing to watch me walk by them.

I sigh as I enter the empty elevator, leaning my head against the cold metal, but my relief doesn't last long when I see Camily accompanied by Adam approach and enter the elevator.

Automatically I feel more uncomfortable than ever, I shouldn't feel this way since I have done absolutely nothing wrong, but the strange feeling doesn't leave me for a second.

Most of the people who read that article or saw the pictures taken of me and James together don't know me and have no idea that I am just his assistant, no idea that I am just an employee of his.

But my co”workers on the last floor where I worked with Matt must be thinking that I am sleeping with the boss to achieve my goals and gain a position with more importance and I try my best not to think about it when the couple enters the elevator before the metal doors close leaving only the three of us here.

“Good morning, Chloe. News travels fast around here and I guess you already know that it is one of the most talked about topics this morning, you looked pretty the night before...", Adam comments with a smile receiving an unobtrusive elbow from Camily who has a nasty expression on her face.

“Thank you...", I smile shyly and she realizes that I just saw her impolite gesture so she hurries to put a fake smile on her Botoxed face before telling me with hatred hidden in her voice:

“I'm sure you must be enjoying this little moment of fame but don't kid yourself, darling, James is going to sue this magazine and ask them to delete these photos...", I control my overwhelming desire to answer this cow who hates to humiliate me.

“Maybe not, the news about the prom was so positive that it must have pleased even James...", Adam says winking one of his eyes at me.

I smile facing the metal wall in front of me again, I shift my body weight to my other leg wanting this elevator to go up as fast as possible when I hear the cow whisper in Adam's ear who laughs.

Surely this cow must be saying things that are inappropriate for working hours and she even dares to say that I am always wrong.

I don't know how long I can stand being so demeaned and humiliated by this woman who hates me for no reason, Sam and Matt often say that she treats me so badly because she feels threatened in some way.