Chapter 200: Saturday XI

Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Saturday XI

The waiter took their orders, collected the menus, and gave them a polite nod.

"Your meals will be out shortly."

"Thank you," Damian said.

The waiter left.

Silence settled over the table.

Vivienne slowly turned her head.

She looked at Damian.

Then at the pocket where he’d put her phone.

Then back at him.

She gave him a long, unimpressed look.

Damian met her eyes.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Vivienne deliberately turned away.

Fine.

She was ignoring him.

He had confiscated her phone.

He deserved to be ignored.

Damian’s lips twitched.

He didn’t say anything.

Partly because he suspected that trying to speak now would only make matters worse.

And partly because he was still trying to recover from the last few minutes.

His pulse hadn’t entirely settled.

He could still remember the weight of Vivienne against him.

The warmth of her body.

The way her hands had landed against his chest.

He forced himself to breathe normally.

Across from him—

No.

Beside him—

Vivienne remained stubbornly silent.

She folded her hands in her lap and stared toward the window.

She was angry.

A little.

But mostly...

She was thinking.

Because now that the immediate embarrassment had passed, there was something else she couldn’t quite ignore.

Damian had been strange all morning.

Not subtly strange.

Strange.

He had approached her.

Taken her bag before she’d even had the chance to object.

Walked beside her.

Opened the door for her.

Sat beside her instead of across from her.

Touched her hair.

And then—

Her thoughts stopped.

Vivienne’s cheeks warmed.

She had fallen on him.

Actually fallen onto him.

She remembered the moment vividly.

The sudden loss of balance.

His chest beneath her hands.

The startled sound of his voice.

And...

She knew what she’d felt.

There had been an unmistakable physical reaction beneath her.

She wasn’t naive.

She had been pursued before.

She had dated before.

She knew the difference between a man simply being startled by accidental contact and a man whose body had reacted to a woman being pressed against him.

Her fingers curled slightly against her skirt.

So...

That had been real.

Her eyes shifted toward Damian.

He was sitting beside her, looking remarkably composed now.

Almost too composed.

His gaze remained fixed ahead.

His jaw was slightly tense.

And there was still a faint flush at the tips of his ears.

Vivienne’s eyes narrowed.

Interesting.

She looked away again.

Could it really be...?

The thought arrived quietly.

Damian might actually like her.

She immediately rejected it.

No.

That was ridiculous.

Damian was the second male lead.

The handsome, dependable second male lead who was destined to fall for Evelyn.

She had known that from the beginning.

She had never once considered herself part of his romantic storyline.

But...

Her mind returned to everything that had happened today.

The novel had already changed.

Anthony’s choices had changed.

Her own choices had changed.

Events that were supposed to happen hadn’t.

People who were supposed to behave a certain way no longer did.

So why couldn’t Damian change too?

Vivienne swallowed.

That possibility was considerably more unsettling.

She stole another glance at him.

He was still avoiding her eyes.

If he were simply teasing her, wouldn’t he be enjoying this?

Wouldn’t he make some ridiculous remark?

Wouldn’t he laugh at her for falling on him?

Instead...

He was unusually quiet.

As though he were carefully controlling himself.

Her heart gave an uncomfortable little beat.

Wait.

Was he actually...

Trying to court her?

Vivienne stared at him.

The thought felt absurd.

And yet...

Not entirely.

She remembered the way he’d looked at her that morning.

The deliberate smile.

The mysterious perhaps when she’d asked him if he had a date.

At the time, she’d assumed he was teasing her.

But what if he hadn’t been?

Her stomach fluttered.

She immediately frowned at herself.

No.

Don’t get carried away.

There was still no proof.

Damian hadn’t said anything.

He hadn’t confessed.

He hadn’t even explicitly flirted with her.

Everything could still have another explanation.

Maybe he was simply being unusually attentive.

Maybe he was teasing her.

Maybe he’d just decided to be more affectionate now that they were friends.

Maybe—

Her gaze dropped briefly.

Or maybe she had been right the first time.

Maybe he really was trying to make her notice him.

As a man.

The thought made her cheeks heat again.

Vivienne looked quickly toward the window.

This was ridiculous.

She was overthinking it.

And yet...

She couldn’t deny that something had changed.

Perhaps the real question wasn’t whether Damian liked her.

Perhaps it was whether she was prepared to find out.

She glanced sideways again.

This time, Damian caught her looking.

Their eyes met.

Neither spoke.

His expression was calm.

But there was something underneath it.

Something she couldn’t quite read.

Vivienne looked away first.

Her heart was beating faster now.

Oh, dear.

What if she wasn’t imagining it?

And, somehow, that possibility was much more dangerous than simply being wrong.

--

Vivienne stared out the window.

So...

Damian liked her.

At least, she was fairly certain he did.

The thought made something flutter strangely in her chest.

She glanced at him again.

He was still sitting beside her, looking perfectly composed.

As though he hadn’t spent the entire morning behaving strangely.

As though he hadn’t touched her hair.

Taken her bag.

Sat beside her.

Confiscated her phone.

And then nearly combusted when she’d fallen against him.

Vivienne pressed her lips together.

Oh.

He really might like her.

Her cheeks warmed.

And, annoyingly...

She couldn’t deny that the thought was flattering.

Damian was handsome.

Very handsome.

He was kind.

Reliable.

Thoughtful.

He had that quiet, gentlemanly way about him that made even the smallest gestures feel significant.

And now...

Apparently, that man might be interested in her.

Vivienne’s heart gave another flutter.

Then another thought struck her.

Christopher.

Her expression softened immediately.

She liked Christopher too.

That was the problem.

Her feelings for him were still new, still exciting, still full of that wonderful uncertainty that came with discovering someone.

Every time he texted her, she wanted to know what he’d say next.

Every conversation left her wanting another.

And now Damian—

Vivienne stared straight ahead.

Her mind suddenly felt very crowded.

Wait.

She blinked.

Two?

She almost laughed.

Was this seriously happening?

Damian liked her.

She liked Christopher.

And...

She kind of liked Damian too.

Just differently.

But still.

She covered her mouth with one hand, trying not to smile.

Oh my God.

Was she—

Was she actually in a love triangle?

The thought was so absurd that she nearly laughed aloud.

She had spent all this time thinking she was merely a side character who had somehow wandered into the wrong story.

Anthony had been the original male lead.

Evelyn had been the heroine.

Damian was the second male lead.

And now...

Vivienne’s eyes widened.

Am I the female lead now?

She bit her lip.

This was ridiculous.

Completely ridiculous.

And yet...

She couldn’t stop smiling.

Two handsome men.

One liked her.

The other one she liked.

And she hadn’t even decided what she wanted yet.

Oh, this was—

She squeezed her hands together beneath the table.

Oh my gosh.

Her heart was practically floating.

She wanted to tell Claire.

Immediately.

No—

All three of them.

Claire.

Amelia.

Eleanor.

She could already imagine their reactions.

Claire would scream.

Amelia would probably declare that she had known it all along.

And Eleanor—

Eleanor would pretend to be reasonable for approximately five seconds before becoming just as excited as the others.

Vivienne had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning.

She couldn’t wait to tell them.

But then...

Her gaze shifted sideways.

Damian was looking out the window.

For some reason, her heart fluttered again.

Oh.

This was going to be complicated.

She looked away quickly.

But the smile remained.

For the first time since waking up that morning...

Vivienne completely forgot about the tedious Foundation project.

She had a much more important problem now.

Who on earth was she supposed to choose?