Damien had been waiting for her call since that Friday evening, but it was useless. Ella didn't call him that night, or the night after, or even the night after that one. The whole weekend had passed since he had asked her to go on a date, and he was beginning to think he had overstepped her boundaries.

Perhaps she already had a boyfriend, and while that thought really irked him, what was he going to do? Or perhaps she didn't want to take it further with him besides the professional path. He was going to have to think of a way to gently let her know that he had spoken carelessly and did not mean to make her uncomfortable. Then, right as he was coming up with a plan, Ella knocked and entered as beautiful as ever.

Ella had her own storm brewing inside of her. After her reassuring conversation with Erica on Friday night, she had more of a clear idea of how to approach the subject with Damien. She trusted that they were both mature adults that could come to a conclusion for her confusion.

"Good morning." Ella greeted him with a smile, nervous as to how to explain to him that she didn't really have the guts to call him after all.

"Morning," he gave her only a nod, and Ella rolled her plump lips in before taking a deep breath in.

"I have a question," Ella spoke up, approaching Damien's desk with caution. Damien only looked at her, ignoring how beautiful she looked with her hair pulled back. He needed to put a stop to those thoughts. It would only make their time working together harder for him and awkward for her. "First of all, I couldn't really give you an answer this weekend because I think I misunderstood." Ella really did feel bad. She had once asked a boy out when she was in middle school, and that day alone had made her heart race more than when she took her final to get her degree.

Damien tensed, unaware of where the conversation was heading towards. "What... misunderstanding?"

"When you said... that you wanted to get to know me better, did you mean a date?" Ella ripped the band-aid off.

"Ella, if this makes you uncomfortable, then forget I ever said anything. I sincerely apologize for overstepping," Damien was going to continue speaking, but Ella placed her hand up to put a pause to his apology.

"I... that's not my problem. I, I actually would like to get to know you better too." Ella stated firmly. If he was dubious, then she would have to be his pillar of strength and confidence during this new journey.

Damien fought to hide his smile, but ultimately lost when he saw Ella's. Just then, however, Mr. Kim entered with a couple of files.

At the start of every six months, Kim would take on eight pro-bono cases, cases that clients had no money to pay for, and Jihye was willing to spend a little extra money on getting them resolved. It was his way to help give back to the community and also write it off in his taxes. Eight free cases was a lot of money when it all added up.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Mr. Kim waltzed in, dancing around with the heavy files before sending two flying dramatically to Damien's desk. He also sent a couple of loose papers flying around. "Annyeong!" (Bye!)

"I'll get started." Ella bent down to pick up a few papers before switching those out for the fresh file, immediately going back to work.

With the appearance of the new pro-bono cases because Damien got two, the pair had been very busy and had to shuffle around Damien's schedule. On top of that, since Damien had caught himself in the middle of Kim's shenanigans, Ella had to even attend some meetings for Damien. Fortunate enough, those meetings only entailed common sense and note-writing, which Ella was great at. Throughout the entire week, Damien and Ella were lucky if they saw each other once in a day; they were that busy.

"You're back." Damien commented, almost resembling an eager puppy.

"Yeah," Ella closed his office door and moved to the sofa where she almost just collapsed. "Katherine, despite her cool charisma, is actually quite energetic."

"Mrs. Reed?" Damien frowned. He recalled that women being called Katherine every once in a while.

"The one and only." Ella nodded, leaning her head on her hand to admire Damien. He truly looked handsome.

"We've had a busy week." Damien dully noted, and Ella smiled, causing him to look away to prevent himself from staring at her beautiful smile.

"We have."

"How would you feel if we," Damien paused to clear his throat and focus his eyes back onto Ella's hazel ones. "Well, first of all, do you like movies?"

"I do." Ella confirmed, understanding his drift and where he was going with his questions.

"Would you like to come to the movies with me?"

"I would love to." Ella said despite her being tired.

Quite honestly, Damien had surprised her, too. They had gone to the movies, but it wasn't the normal theatre, no. Damien had taken them to a drive-thru. After having people give them their box of goodies that included some fried food and other unhealthy sweets with their choice of drinks, they were directed to their spot by the lit up guards that were patrolling the area.

Damien had even surprised her by revealing that the back of his vehicle had been prepped by him in hopes that she would say yes to his plans.

"This is convenient." Ella murmured while Damien helped her up to the back of his car that was facing the screen. Damien had a small mattress in the back of his Tesla, and he had surrounded it with a couple of throw pillows and blankets. Ella had no clue that Damien was capable of being so thoughtful, but she was extremely pleased.

"I've never used it before, but I can see the point in this now." Damien joked, moving to sit beside Ella. Due to the reduced space between the throw pillows, a couple of blankets, and Damien's towering height and fit body, they were slightly touching each other, but Ella didn't seem to mind, so Damien made no effort to move away. If he did, then the side of his car would end up blocking his view of the screen.

The movie had been peaceful and family friendly, and halfway into the film, Ella had curled up into a small bundle and leaned back, eventually and accidentally falling asleep. It wasn't until Damien felt a gentle weight carefully fall onto his arm that he turned, curious as to what Ella was doing until he saw her fast asleep.

Chuckling to himself, he lowered his body down to tenderly adjust her so that her head was comfortably resting against his shoulder. For the rest of the movie, he was more focused on her elegant and soft fragrance and how close she was to even know what happened for the second half of the movie.

"Ella," he hated to be the one to wake her up from her peaceful slumber, but he couldn't let her fall asleep back here when he had to take her home.

"Please tell me I didn't miss it all." Ella arouse, moving away from Damien to look at her surroundings groggily.

"I think you were awake for at least half of it." Damien reassured her, watching as she fought, and ultimately lost, a yawn before she leaned back. Despite still being gorgeous, Damien could tell she was bone tired. He should've just let her gone home for some proper rest.

"What was the ending?" Ella forced herself to get up and help Damien tidy everything up.

Damien cursed his luck. "Typical happily ever after." He vaguely answered, and Ella nodded still groggy from her long nap. "Would you prefer it if I dropped you off home instead of driving back to the company to get your vehicle?" Damien offered seeing as how Ella seemed to be very sleepy still.

"No, it's okay. I have a couple of errands to run tomorrow anyway, so I might as well pick up my car, thank you."

Damien nodded, knowing that he probably wouldn't see her until Monday morning.

He was right, too. He didn't see or talk to Ella until Monday morning when she rushed straight into Mr. Kim's office.

Ever since he and Ella had agreed to dating, things seemed almost normal yet awkward at the same time. He had become much more hyper aware of where she was and what she was doing at almost all times. It was weird for him to be so concerned about another person's presence, especially a female.

As it turned out though, Ella had other things to worry about just like Damien. It seemed as though with the new finding of Ella's attacker being linked to Vanders, the case was advancing much faster now, and things were looking up for Ella. That, of course, meant that Ella was also spending more time in Oliver's or Kim's office rather than Damien's.

Damien did miss her, especially the way she worked since they had already become adapted to each other and their work habits. It didn't matter how many years of experience Barnes had, for some reason, Damien and her still collided when working, so by the end of the week, Damien had decided that it didn't matter if he had to work at a slower pace, but he preferred working by himself than do be dealing with another person around his space.

Ironically enough, that was also when Ella entered his office in a much more energetic and happier state than last week when she fell asleep on him.

"Hey, how's it going?" She neared his desk, her hands immediately reaching help organize some of the documents he had scattered around.

"Busy. You?" He barely even got the chance to look at her before his computer pinged with yet another email.

Ella stayed quiet while he clicked on it and read the contents. He then sighed and shook his head.

"What is it?" Ella moved behind him to see, hoping she could maybe take some of his workload to help him release some stress.

"My mother." Damien rubbed his hand across his stubbled jaw.

"You should go see them." Ella took the liberty to place her hands on his broad shoulders and massage them up to the back of his neck. "I'm guessing you didn't go with them the last time we went to dinner together. That's been about two weeks, Damien." Ella felt how he had tensed when she touched him, and she debated about removing her hands, but then he relaxed, so she kept going.

"They're..." Damien trailed off. How was he supposed to describe them now? They had bashed Ella and been extremely rude, and now here she was, encouraging him to go to them and spend some time with them.

He turned around, reaching to grab her dainty hand in his much bigger one. She didn't seem surprised at all by his intimate gesture, and Damien took that as a positive signal.

"Parents. I know, I have them too." Ella chuckled softly, squeezing his hand tenderly. "Go. Go meet them, and if turns out pleasant, thank me later, and if doesn't, then I'll treat you to dinner or a gift or anything you want."

Damien opened his mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, Mr. Kim barged in, and the couple, feeling as if they had gotten caught, quickly surged apart, rushing to pretend to do something.

"So? Did you agree?" Kim paid no attention to their weird behavior, in fact, he didn't even notice it.

"He can't. He's going to have dinner with his parents." Ella recovered, and Mr. Kim panned a look.

"Told you." Kim left just as quickly as he came.

"What was that about?" Damien chuckled upon seeing Ella flushed pink.

"We're going out for drinks, and I said I would come invite you, but you can't come." Ella chuckled, moving to round his desk, but he grabbed Ella's wrist, laughing at her reaction.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Damien tugged her back gently, and Ella laughed.

"I panicked! Besides, you panicked too, and that made me panic more." Ella laughed, leaning against Damien's desk, right beside him.

"You guys are going out for drinks?" Damien let her go, watching as she pulled her hair up into a bun.

"Yeah," she sighed, wincing when she pulled a stray hair too hard. "Personally, I think Mr. Kim is going to try to get as much information from their drunk selves, and I'm tagging along." Ella looked at him, and Damien had to resist the urge to hold her hand again.

"Are you drinking?" He gave up and reach to hold her hand, interlocking their fingers together. They were dating, for goodness sake. He had the right to hold her hand.

"No. I'm driving back home." Ella swung their hands gently.

"That's good." Damien could see everyone gathering outside, waiting for Ella. "It seems like their waiting for you."

Ella turned, seeing everyone gathered in the hall, but they all had their backs to Damien's office; they seemed intrigued by whatever Hope was showing them on her phone.

"Right... then... I'll call you tonight? Or maybe you can call once you're free." Ella suggested, untangling her hand from his to go grab her purse and phone.

"You can call. I have a feeling you'll take more time at the bar than I will with my parents." Damien gruffly stated, and Ella smiled in compassion. She understood how it was to show up at your parents after an argument, though it always was better to patch things up than to drag it out.

"Hugs make people feel better, it's been scientifically proven." Ella said as she approached Damien before moving to give him a warm and tight hug. Damien, surprised at her action, gently raised his hands to touch her back briefly before she pulled away. "Bye."

"Bye." Damien returned her wave before awkwardly clearing his throat in his office and grabbing his things.

He wouldn't deny that he liked her hug, but it was still a foreign action for him. He hadn't really allowed many women get near him after Vincent, and Vincent had been gone for almost a decade now.

Shaking his head as if those thoughts would just fall out of his head, he collected his things, grabbing a few files for home, and left for his parents.