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The bass pounded like a heartbeat amplified through a megaphone, and I let Mark steer me into the epicenter, where bodies collided in a frenzy of limbs and frenetic energy. He spun me around, his laughter mixing with the music, and for a moment I forgot to be self–conscious. The rhythm was wild and reckless, like Sheela’s dancing, and I gave in to it–let my limbs move like they were mine again.
For a moment, the dance filled such a cheerfully positive vibe in me that I completely forgot about my past, and the thought of worrying about the future also didn’t come, until Mark turned me around and I caught sight of Kaiden over Mark’s shoulder. His eyes locked onto mine like twin lasers, their intensity making my skin prickle. Rubina was still draped all over him, but his focus had shifted; it felt like every single thought in his head was now aimed directly at me.
“Moving on so fast with the guy you met just now, huh? Nice move, Lucy.” Though he didn’t say it via words, his eyes–filled with judgment and anger–indeed did, practically scaring into me like fire under ice.
“See? He’s watching!” Mark shouted over the music, his voice smug with victory as he leaned in, one brow raised and sweat glinting at his temple under the strobe lights.
My heart thudded an irregular beat against my ribs. Partially due to his sharp yet soft hazel eyes and partially due to anger. How dare he give me such a judgmental look for dancing with Mark? It was him who jumped back to his ex–ex–girlfriend after our breakup. Okay, he does have every right to be angry with me, but he definitely doesn’t have any right to judge me.
A flicker of rebelliousness danced through me like a shot of adrenaline, and I moved closer to Mark, brushing against him deliberately, determined to milk more anger out of Kaiden.
Kaiden’s gaze burned hotter, and even from this distance I could see the shift in his stance—his shoulders tense, jaw set with a stubborn line that I knew so well. Rubina kept on with her sultry moves, oblivious or pretending to be, while Kaiden’s focus stayed razor–edged on me.
Mark twirled me away and back again with exaggerated flair, playing up our closeness like we were the main act.
“Told you it’d work!” he whispered in my earlobe, his breath warm and smug against my skin, the corners of his mouth lifting into a boyish grin..
I don’t know if he couldn’t bear looking at me and Mark together or he simply wanted to have a restroom break–Kaiden broke his dance with Rubina. He said something to her that I couldn’t hear over the music, then disentangled himself from her
grasp with a quick, decisive motion, his hand peeling hers off like she was an accessory he’d just remembered to remove.
My heart leapt into my throat as I watched him start toward me, his path cutting through the dancers with a single–minded urgency. He isn’t going for a restroom break–he is approaching me. He is coming closer and closer.
“Whoa,” Mark said, his eyes widening in mock alarm as he followed my gaze, one hand still lightly resting on my waist. “Do I need to run?”
“You don’t,” I replied, tilting my head and smirking despite the hammering in my chest. “Why don’t you hold my waist tighter?” I added, defiance pulsing through my words like a challenge.
“Nah, have an audition tomorrow. Can’t afford a broken nose for someone who is not my girlfriend,” Mark said, loosening his grip and stepping back a hair, but not without a mischievous glint in his eye. “If you want me to, then you can upgrade the friendship subscription to relationship one.” His voice was playful, but I could feel the hint of genuine hope beneath the joke.
“Mark….I…“. I hesitated, a lump rising in my throat as guilt pooled in my stomach. He was so nice to me this whole night. I didn’t have the courage to reject him and break his heart nor did I have courage to be in a relationship again.
Mark laughed and spun me one last time before letting go of my hands, his chuckle light, but his eyes softer than I expected. “He’s all yours,” he teased, backing away with a salute and melting into the crowd like a magician disappearing behind a 1/2
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Chapter 90
curtain. Or should I say… cupid behind the cloud?
And the next thing I knew–I was between Kaiden’s arms.
78%
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His expression was a storm of emotions I couldn’t quite decipher: rage, hurt, longing, all flickering in and out behind those hazel eyes like a thundercloud trying to decide whether to break.
The music began to fade, the dancers blurring into the background until there was nothing but the two of us and the charged silence stretching between.
“Were you having fun?” he asked, his voice low, like gravel wrapped in velvet–smooth but edged with something sharp and difficult to name. His eyes didn’t blink; they just bored into mine, steady and unrelenting.
I shrugged, trying for nonchalance though I could feel my pulse in every nerve ending, like tiny electric shocks rippling under my skin. “Why wouldn’t anyone? He is a great dancer.” My words came out breezy, but my throat was dry as sandpaper.
“You date him?” he asked, voice flatter now, but the twitch in his jaw betrayed the storm brewing just beneath.
“He’s a friend.” I tossed my hair back, the motion too practiced, too controlled–like armor.
“If I was dating him, he wouldn’t give up on me so easily.” Though I was talking about Mark, my eyes taunted Kaiden with a flicker of heat and challenge.
“Agreed.” He took another step forward, each inch of space he consumed slicing into my composure. There was barely any distance left between us now–just a breath, just a heartbeat. His eyes didn’t just look at mine; they drowned, pulling me under, trapping me in a whirlpool of everything we weren’t supposed to be.
“It’s impossible to give up on you. Introvert,” he said, his voice dipping into something raw as he lifted my chin, his fingers like fire against my skin. His head tilted slightly, eyes dropping to my lips–but that touch, the one I avoided and craved with every cell in my body, never came.
Instead came a whisper–soft and sharp all at once, like the brush of a blade sheathed in silk. “Don’t you ever dare to pull that stunt again. Friend or not. He will be dead meat if he ever touches what’s mine.”
To be continued…
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