Chapter 31: Could Die from Embarrassment!

Bryan failed to interrogate Erick since their other colleagues joined them. He was really eager to know what happened that morning. He suspected that what Erick did that morning was related to Elle.

On the other hand, Erick was glad that he was able to escape Bryan's questioning. He gave him a teasing smile as he could see the hint of disappointment on Bryan's face.

"Erick Lee, just you wait. If I can't interrogate you now then I will trespass in your house to gather the information I want to know." Bryan flashed an evil smile.

Meanwhile, Erick's team started to express their feelings about the current case they were handling.

"Today is a very stressful day. This case is making me older. Look at my eyebags." Rose said as she complained.

"Our case has nothing to do with your age. Hmm. You just want to remind us that you will be celebrating your birthday seven days from now!" June said to tease her. 

Erick, Bryan, and April looked surprised. June and Rose noticed their expressions so they gave the three of them a questioning look.

  "Oh, Crap. Don't tell us, all of you forgot her birthday?" June asked them exasperatedly.

Rose felt disappointed upon hearing that. The three of them just nodded and smiled sheepishly while looking apologetically at Rose. 

Rose pouted her lips, pretending to be mad. Seeing her friend getting upset, April glared at June and gave him a look saying 'Why do you need to emphasize that we forgot'.

June shrugged his shoulders and laughed, returning a meaningful look as if saying, 'It's not my fault that you forgot.'

Left with no choice, April tried to console her. "Sorry Rose, we were just so busy these past few weeks. This case is really giving us a hard time. Don't be angry with us please."

Rose just kept silent and pretended to ignore her. April stared at the two men who also forgot about Rose's birthday asking for help. She urged them to say something.

Erick nodded and gave her a gentle smile. Then he turned to Bryan and whispered something.

"Pacify Rose then I'll tell you everything you want to know about what I did this morning."

A bright light flashed in Bryan's eyes as he heard Erick. As if he was motivated by Erick's words, he walked towards Rose with confidence.

He paused and glanced at Erick once more saying 'You promised. There's no turning back.'

As if Erick understood what he was saying by that look, he just smiled and nodded to seal the agreement.

It was now Bryan's turn to appease Rose.

"Forgive us, Rose. Please understand our situation. We didn't intentionally forget your birthday." 

But Rose kept on ignoring them so Bryan just continued.

"I'll promise I will bring you to the mall and accompany you to the shop. I will let you buy something that you like. It is my treat!"

As soon as Rose heard him, she quickly turned back to look at him and said while smiling "Okay, I forgive you! That is a promise, right? I will have your word!"

Erick:"..."

June:"..."

April:"..."

The three people were dumbfounded. That was so fast. Bryan gave the other spectators a triumphant smile.

Erick suddenly remembered what happened this morning. He was right, most women love to shop. Bryan was able to pacify Rose by using the strategy "Shopping".

He couldn't stop himself from laughing when he remembered the look on Elle's face when he invited her to go shopping.

She didn't look so pleased and excited, rather she looked annoyed. It was the exact opposite of Rose's reaction.

'She is really different from other women'. 

Erick's sudden chuckles attracted their attention so they looked at him puzzled. Rose thought that maybe her childish reaction caused their chief to suddenly burst out laughing so she blushed from embarrassment.

"Do all women love to shop?" He asked them out of the blue.

The four people were bewildered by his question. 

"How about you April?" Erick turned to her.

"Huh? Me...?" April was surprised by his direct question. Her heart started to beat fast.

'Will Erick invite me if I said yes?' She thought.

Not sure how she would answer him but in her mind, she was thinking about something like this~ 'Of course I love shopping but I will love it most if I will do it with you.'

"Yes... I also enjoy shopping. Most of us women, this is one way to relieve our stress," April finally replied.

Erick chuckled again as he remembered Elle who looked so stressed when he urged her to buy more items. He caught her frowning at him when he picked up more dresses for her.

Bryan sensed something was amiss with Erick's reaction right now so he asked him.

"Why are you asking that Chief?"

The four of them looked at him intently anticipating what he would reply.

Erick stopped laughing and met the examining stare of his colleagues.

"Nothing... I also love shopping. No... I mean I just started to love shopping. It is fun actually." He simply replied, giving them a meaningful smile.

The four of them looked at each other speechless. They were still in that state when Captain Jason stopped by their office and saw them.

"What's with this silence?" he asked. Everyone was pulled out in their trance and greeted him.

"Today is a very stressful day. Let's go out and have dinner to relieve our stress. It's my treat." He invited them.

Everyone was happy to hear the invitation from Captain Jason. The whole team became excited. They were in a cheerful moment when Erick's phone beeped.

Erick checked his phone. He was amused when he saw the message coming from Elle.

He immediately opened it.

[ "SLR. I was asleep. Just read your message. I'm fine.'' ]

Erick smiled as he blurted out to himself "SLR means sorry late reply right? Hmph, you shopped very fast but it really took you so long to reply. I'm glad you didn't intentionally ignore my message."

Little did Erick know, the true reason why Elle was not able to respond immediately was that she didn't know what to reply.

She typed a prior message but ended up being deleted all over again. She spent two hours just thinking about what to reply to. 

And after tiring herself out from thinking, this was the only message she could come up with.

[ "I thought you really ignored my message." ] He sent her a message and told her honestly. He included a sad emoticon at the end of his message.

When Elle received his message she frowned again.

''I never thought that texting someone could be this difficult! Killing someone is easier than this. Urghh!" Elle grunted irritably.

Because she was a little bit annoyed she accidentally pressed a heart-eye smiley. It was too late when she noticed that she already pressed the send button.

She was about to type her message when she sensed something was not right. She was really shocked when she saw her phone screen! She almost dropped the phone from her hand.

"Oh, crap!!! Oh crap!!! Erase!!! Erase!!! Delete!!"

She realized that even though she could delete it on her phone Erick would still be able to read it.

She was in a state of panic. This was the first time she felt like this. She didn't know what to do. Of all the emoticons why it had to be a heart-eye smiley emoticon! Why?!

If someone knew about this, especially Charles she would die from embarrassment. She had the urge to throw the phone right now and broke it into tiny pieces.

On the other hand, the man on the receiving end was also surprised when he opened her message. "Huh? She sent me a heart-eye emoticon?" he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What happened to her? Is she still dreaming?" He mumbled as he typed again his reply.

[ "Are you sure you are just fine?" ] He added a laughing emoticon. He was about to send it when he changed his mind. He stood up and went out of the office.

He decided to call her. He knew she might just press it accidentally. With her personality, he could already imagine her reaction. He wanted to tease her a little.

Meanwhile, Elle glared at the phone when she heard it ringing.

"What the heck!!! Why is he calling me right now?"

She calmed herself first before answering the phone. She could just say to him truthfully that she mistakenly sent it.

But she really felt annoyed committing such a mistake. It was really embarrassing!

"Hello?" she said as she sounded awkward when she answered the phone.

"Are you sure you are just fine?" Erick's husky voice could be heard in the other line.

"Sorry I just accidentally pressed it a while ago." She tried to be more calm and natural even though she felt really embarrassed. Then she heard his soft chuckles.

"Relax. I didn't call you because of that. I want to ask you what do you want for dinner tonight?" He partly lied.

Of course, he called her because he wanted to know how she would react after sending the wrong emoticon.

Hearing her a while ago, he sensed that she felt embarrassed. Unfortunately, he couldn't see her facial expression. He wanted to see what she would look like when she was embarrassed.

"Will you cook tonight?" Elle asked him as she felt relieved that he didn't mind it.

"Hmmm, It depends. If you want me to cook I will happily comply." He teased her.

Elle rolled her eyes. This guy was shameless sometimes.

"Okay. Cook for me tonight! I want to eat tasty curry and a saucy beef steak." She ordered him.

"Copy Ma'am! Wait for me to come home."

***

[ ~EDITED~ ]