128.I hate this
The moment Marcelline's car vanished, leaving only a faint scent of danger and expensive perfume in the air, the silence around Maximilian and Kyron felt… heavy.
Kyron was still breathing like he ran a marathon.
Maximilian?
He was standing too still.
Hands in his pockets.
Jaw clenched.
Eyes fixed at the empty road like he expected her to walk back and laugh at him again.
Kyron finally whispered,
"Sir… are— are you alive?"
Maximilian blinked.
Once.
Slow.
"…That woman."
Kyron nodded violently. "YES. That WOMAN. Sir, what even WAS THAT— she— she TALKED to me like— like—"
"Like you were a lost puppy," Max muttered.
Kyron clutched his chest.
"Yes. Exactly. I have never been so emotionally dismantled in 11 seconds."
Max shot him a sharp glare, cheeks faintly flushed.
"I wasn't referring to you."
Kyron stared.
"Oh. Oh… sir you're embarrassed."
Maximilian stiffened.
"Kyron."
"Sir you are BLUSHING."
"Kyron."
"You're BLUSH—"
"KYRON."
Silence.
Kyron shut up instantly… but his eyes sparkled like he had discovered forbidden gossip.
Maximilian exhaled sharply, raking a hand across his jaw.
"I… lost control for a second. That's it."
Kyron blinked. "Sir, you forgot words. You— YOU. The Maximilian Brooks. CEO of SolarVex Interspace corporation . A man who terrifies politicians… you stuttered."
Max groaned softly.
"I did not stutter."
Kyron raised a brow.
"Sir, you said 'compensatio—comp—comp–' like your brain was buffering."
Max's ears burned.
"I didn't expect her to— look like that."
Kyron choked. "Sir she looked like a forbidden angel trying to ruin tax-paying citizens."
Max rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"She toyed with us."
"She DESTROYED us," Kyron corrected.
Max sighed. A long, heavy sigh.
"I should be angry."
"You are."
"I should be irritated."
"You are."
"I should not be thinking about her."
Kyron stared at him.
"Sir… are you?"
Max's jaw tightened.
He didn't respond.
Which WAS the response.
Kyron's mouth fell open.
"No. NO. Sir, please, she mocked you like a mischievous demon. She played you like piano keys."
Max murmured quietly,
"And yet…"
Kyron froze.
Max's gaze darkened. Not with desire — but with something deeper, more dangerous.
"…there was something about her," he said, voice low.
"Something powerful. Something… not normal."
Kyron nodded slowly.
"Sir… she was breathtaking. But also terrifying."
Maximilian looked away, still shaken, embarrassed, but strangely captivated.
"She made me look like a fool," he muttered.
Kyron broke into a grin.
"Sir… you were a fool."
Max glared.
"Say that again."
Kyron straightened instantly.
"No sir. Apologies sir."
But after a moment of silence, Max whispered almost to himself,
"…who are you?"
---
They were back in the car.
Kyron was driving carefully now — VERY carefully — almost like one more accident might make him resign and become a monk.
Meanwhile Maximilian sat in the passenger seat, silent, tense, trying very hard NOT to think about…
Her.
The devilish smirk.
The mocking, logical twisting of his words.
The way she descended from that car like she owned the damn universe.
He clenched his jaw.
Why am I thinking about this? Stop. Stop.
But the memory replayed anyway:
"Your logic is cute, Mr. CEO."
His eyelid twitched.
Kyron glanced at him through the mirror.
"Sir… your face looks… troubled."
Max shot him a glare.
"I'm not troubled."
Kyron nodded slowly. "Ah. Right. Of course. You're not troubled. Then why do you look like you want to strangle the air?"
Max exhaled sharply.
"Because someone… someone is getting on my nerves."
Kyron blinked innocently.
"…Me?"
"No," Max growled.
"HER."
Kyron's grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"Ohhhh. The angel-demon-goddess who roasted us alive."
Max groaned.
"Don't remind me."
But the more he tried to dismiss her…
the more her face kept appearing in his head.
The eyes.
The voice.
The confidence.
The irritatingly beautiful smirk.
He ran a hand through his hair with frustration.
"This is ridiculous. Why am I thinking about her?"
Kyron coughed.
"Sir… maybe because she made you speechless for the first time in your life?"
Max glared.
"Kyron."
"Yes sir?"
"Shut up."
Silence.
But Kyron couldn't help the small smile tugging his lips.
Max kept staring out the window.
He didn't want to admit it—not even to himself—
but he felt something he hadn't felt in years:
Intrigued. Highly intrigued. Intensely intrigued.
And it annoyed the hell out of him.
He closed his eyes, leaning back.
Yet behind those closed eyes, her smirk appeared again.
Maximilian's fingers twitched.
"…I hate this."
Kyron snorted quietly.
"No sir, you don't."
Max glared at him again.
But he didn't deny it this time.
---