My CEO Boss Is A Masked Internet Sensation
Chapter 74: Where Are My Strawberry Shorts?

Chapter 74: Where Are My Strawberry Shorts?

(Arata)

It was Karsten. I swiped on my phone and received his call.

"Why did you send Caysir back?" His annoyed voice thundered through the phone, and I could sense smoke erupting from his nostrils like a bull about to charge at me through the phone.

No, hello!

No, how are you?

Direct to the point, living up to his reputation.

"Hello! Sir. I didn’t need him after he had dropped me off. There was no point in keeping him waiting," I answered with a tinge of sarcasm while rolling my eyes.

"What if you need to go somewhere or there is an emergency? You should have let him stay, Arata," he insisted, making me sigh.

"I am fine, like seriously."

"Maybe I should rent him an apartment in your building. He will be nearby."

If I didn’t know better, I would think Karsten was acting like an overprotective, obsessive kind of boyfriend.

"Sir, seriously, there is no need. Don’t you think you are going overboard?"

"Overboard? We don’t even know who the person was? What if he is a stalker or a killer? I am not taking any chances, Arata. It’s either this or I am shifting you to my house. The choice is yours." The dead finality in his tone made me slowly shake my head.

What did he just say?

Live in his house?

Was I a piece of furniture he could move around at his will?

The mental picture of me becoming his favourite chair flashed into my brain and I had to brush it off.

Believe me, it was not a pretty picture.

I think I had enough of his haughtiness in the office.

My place was my peace; besides, how would I even sneak out to meet Azul?

I was just praising him in front of my mother and Karsten had to make me bite my words.

"You can’t take no for an answer. Can you? Every decision needs to be yours."

I had just escaped my parents so I could live my life on my own terms for a while, and here I got another full-time parent under the guise of my boss.

"And you can’t follow orders, Arata. That obstinacy inside you makes you immature at times. This is a serious matter."

Great, now he was reprimanding me and calling me immature.

"I can follow orders. That’s exactly what I do in the office all day long. Or have you forgotten—Sir."

Did he hit his head on the way home and lose that part of his memory?

A girl can wish, right?

"You know very well what I am talking about, Arata. I know it’s not in your nature to follow orders. The urge to say no is always on the tip of your tongue."

"That’s not true. I will prove you wrong," I challenged; all that relaxed posture had disappeared, and my body was stiff like a pole now.

How dare he always rile me up. Did he have a Master’s Degree in making people lose their cool?

"We will see. My house or Caysir stays in a rented apartment in your building?"

I knew I had no way out of this. He would keep pressuring me until I would bulk or that typical male ego won’t be sated.

"Fine... Caysir...can....stay."

He paused, hearing me drag out all the words on purpose and in annoyance.

"Real mature, Arata. What are you three?" His annoyance was wrapped in the words he so haughtily threw my way.

I wanted to retort.

’What are you? My over obsessive husband?’ But I held my tongue. So he mellowed down on his own.

"I know this is difficult for you, Arata but trust me it’s for the better. I don’t want any harm coming to you. Being my employee, you are my responsibility."

I understood where he was coming from but, I didn’t like being controlled and, this felt exactly like that. If he believed he could stop me from visiting Azul, he was mistaken.

Not that he knew I was going to visit him but at the back of his mind, I knew he wouldn’t be able to digest the fact that I was secretly seeing someone, especially someone like Azul.

"I understand you are looking out for me because I am alone here but I won’t let you thwart my freedom. Remember I am free to go wherever I want and meet whomever I want as well," I stubbornly said. I knew I sounded childish but I didn’t care.

He paused at my words and, I thought the call had disconnected but, I heard him snatch in a ragged breath. Seemed like he had to exercise patience as well while speaking to me.

"That’s fine by me, Arata, as long as you are safe. You are important to me ..."

Did I detect a hint of possessiveness in his voice?

Was I really that important to him?

It had to be because I had to pose as his fake girlfriend. What more could it be because Mr Ice has no place for emotions in his life.

"I will see you tomorrow, Sir. Good night."

My mind was in a jumble now, I didn’t understand if his cares were real or just for pretence.

"Night, Arata. If the need arises, just call and I will come."

"I know," I slowly murmured and ended the call.

Fuck!

This man kept making my life complicated. My mind wandered to that kiss we had shared and it seemed so real and natural. The blue rose he had adorned in my hair, I had kept it like a souvenir from someone special.

The blue rose he had called me and I still wondered why?

Karsten was leaving me frustrated and I had to busy myself to not think about him, his haunting lips and eyes.

Getting up I headed to my room to change into comfy clothes and clean up the apartment, starting with the guest room.

I remembered he must have left my shorts there, I better drop them in the washer.

To my dismay I couldn’t find them anywhere. Not in the bathroom and not anywhere in the room or in the waste bins.

Where were my favourite shorts?

What did he do with them?

Did he hate them so much that he threw them away? Burnt them?

Or most importantly, did he take them with him?

So many questions but no answer.