Intrigued by the CEO: Paranoid Obsessions

Someone reached out to grab Blaze’s pant leg. Blaze kicked them away and dragged Harper out with him. Throughout the entire ordeal, she couldn’t utter a single word. As she glanced back at the sobbing staff members, she couldn’t understand how things had suddenly turned out this way. Wasn’t she just trying to borrow money? How did it end up with the staff bearing the losses?

“Bang!”

Harper was roughly thrown into the backseat of the car. He jabbed a finger at her head, shouting loudly, “Harper, I’ve seen plenty of spineless women, but you take the cake for being the most pathetic!”

Harper rubbed her head.

Blaze grabbed her hand, continuing to poke at her head, “You couldn’t even handle a few staff members. I wonder how you had the guts to drug me three years ago!”

The car stopped in front of Building A, and Blaze dragged Harper out. He berated her as they walked, “Idiot! Ignorant! Useless! You let yourself get bullied like this. If you can’t fight back, fine, but can’t you at least speak up? Can’t you tell them you have someone backing you?”

Harper’s head was keeping being poked. She didn’t retaliate, just stared at Blaze beside her.

He kept berating her, kept emphasizing how to tell those people she had someone backing her.

Someone backing her…

Since Harper was young, she knew no one would ever back her, even when she and Logan were so close. He was blind and often needed her protection more than she needed his.

Today, for the first time, she tasted what it was like to have someone stand up for her, but she never imagined it would be Blaze, this terrible, paranoid man.

“Thank you,” Harper said earnestly, looking at him.

Blaze stopped in his tracks, staring at her for a long time.

“Nonsense.” With that, he suddenly shook off her hand, turned around, and walked away, his movements awkward.

Harper watched his retreating figure in astonishment. ‘Why would someone react like that to being thanked? Is he shy?…’

Back at the apartment, Harper didn’t see Blaze. Dylan and the bodyguards were bringing things in. Seeing Harper looking towards the stairs, Dylan said, “Master should be having a video conference in his room. He came back halfway through the meeting.”

“He came back for me?” Harper was astonished.

“Yep,” Dylan nodded. When he received Harper’s call, Blaze happened to overhear it. That’s when the meeting was interrupted.

“It’s the first time Master has ever interrupted a meeting,” Dylan added.

Harper’s body trembled slightly at his words. Could it be that Blaze had come back just for her? She didn’t want to dwell on what that might imply. Adjusting her hair, she turned to the bodyguards who were bringing in a large number of clothing racks. “What’s this for?”

“Master instructed us to bring in some clothes. They’re all the latest styles from Paris, all for you,” Dylan smiled.

Harper noticed they were all dresses. He liked the way she looked in a dress.

…

In the spacious kitchen, Harper was busy wearing an apron. Since Blaze had helped her today, Harper decided to make him a sumptuous lunch. She prepared ten dishes and two soups in a row. When she turned around, she saw Blaze standing at the doorway in casual gray and white attire, his eyes fixed on her. She wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there.

“Food’s ready,” Harper said while looking at the mirror on the wall beside her. Her face wasn’t dirty, so she wasn’t sure what he was looking at.

“Stop looking, you’re not going to look any better.” Blaze mocked as he walked towards the dining room.

Blaze ate with elegant grace, and astonishing speed.

Having had a few experiences before, Harper hastened her own eating speed, constantly shoveling food into her mouth. If she ate any slower, she might end up starving.

“So ugly,” Blaze glanced at her, his face full of disdain.

Harper sighed and repeated to herself in her mind, “He helped me today. He helped me today. He helped me today.” It helped her quell some of her anger.

Blaze seemed satisfied then continued to sweep through the dishes on the table at an astonishing speed.

Harper couldn’t keep up with him, so she could only watch helplessly as all her favorite dishes disappeared.

“Harper, I need to remind you of something,” Blaze’s voice was low, “From now on, if you need something, you talk to me directly, not through Dylan. Do you think Dylan is richer than me or something?”

Harper paused, then nodded obediently. “Got it. Actually, I do need your help with something.”

“What is it?”

“I have a college classmate named Lena Abbott, and I want her contact information.” Finding Lena meant finding a witness. Lena could prove that she hadn’t drugged anyone during those three days.

“Why should I help you with that?” Blaze blurted out.

“You told me to talk to you directly, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t say I’d fulfill your requests,” Blaze retorted, his eyes filled with mischief.

Harper sighed, “Well, then, I’ll figure it out myself.”

“Watch your attitude, Harper,” Blaze sat there, looking displeased, “Don’t forget, the contract clearly states that I’m in charge. Do you dare to have this kind of attitude towards me?”

‘Attitude? I just didn’t want to deal with him, and he got mad? This guy was indeed a paranoid.’

Harper forced a smile and said, “Yes, yes, you’re the boss.”

“Of course. Even in bed,” Blaze’s mood improved slightly with her response. He stood up from the dining table. “Since you’re being so obedient, I’ll send someone to look into this classmate of yours.”

“Her name is Lena Abbott,” she reminded him, afraid he might forget.

“I got it,” Blaze said, striding out of the dining room.

Harper watched his tall figure and hesitated for a moment before speaking up, “Mr. Wychwood…”

Blaze stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around.

“I wanted to ask… why did you come to my rescue today?” she asked softly.

Blaze paused for a moment, “Guess.” With that, he left.

In the following days, Harper and Blaze had a few relatively harmonious days. Blaze was busy, even during his workouts, he’d be on the phone dealing with business matters. Their communication was mostly confined to the dining table and the bedroom. To be honest, most of their interactions happened in these two places.

Sitting in front of the computer, opening Slack for work, Harper felt like she was in a completely different world. It had been so long since she had lived a normal life.

On Slack, the editor kept urging her to submit new drafts, create new comics.

New comics…

She wanted to draw new comics, but the problem was she had no inspiration. Lately, she’d been either thinking about what to cook for Blaze or how to minimize her outings to avoid running into Logan and Fiona.

How could she have the mood to draw new comics?

Harper grabbed a stack of drawing paper and started doodling aimlessly, but there was no inspiration coming to her. Suddenly, she heard Blaze’s furious roar from outside the door, “What’s the use of keeping you useless bunch around? Even a 0. 1% error is still an error. If you keep doing this job, you’ll be a harm to humanity! Get out, get out of N. E, the farther the better!”

He was yelling at someone again.

Harper listened, feeling sorry for his employees. Blaze was so paranoid, nitpicking every little detail, unable to tolerate even the slightest deviation, and he easily flew into a rage.

Every day, she could hear about a dozen directors, managers being yelled at by him, it was like a storm of profanity.

Harper stood up, ready to go close the door…

‘Wait a minute. Wasn’t this the perfect material for reality?’ She quickly returned to her desk, picked up her pen, and wrote down a few big words on a blank sheet of paper-“The CEO Is Paranoid”.

Then Harper swiftly outlined the basic plot for the comic, and sent it over to the editor. In less than a minute, a message popped up on Slack from the editor-

“Harper, you’re amazing. This concept of a paranoid is great, a lot of people have mental health issues nowadays. Send me the finalized character drafts as soon as possible.”

Harper looked at the message on the screen, and typed out a reply-

“Got it.”

After finishing the conversation with the editor, Harper’s inspiration surged like a fountain, and she quickly sketched out the outline of the main character.

How tall was Blaze again? Nearly six feet three inches, right? Very tall.

Blaze had a lean and slender figure, with neatly trimmed short hair, and a hint of exotic allure in his deep-set eyes. His eyes always carried a hint of anger; a straight nose, and lips that were thin but with a hint of sensuality…

Finished.

Harper looked at the character she had drawn on the paper. ‘This man, he was too handsome.’

Harper gazed at the character she had drawn for a moment, then wrote down the protagonist’s characteristics-paranoid, irritable, domineering, big eater.

From this moment on, Blaze’s life would be virtualized, and she would be the one to determine how he lived each day.

In her comic, she could vent all her dissatisfaction with Blaze.

“Hahaha…” Thinking about it made her happy.