He leaned back in his chair, eyes sliding shut as if he also didn’t want to look at them, his fingers tapping once against his arm before going still.
Alexander let out a long, tired breath.
He uncrossed his legs, dropped his arms onto the table, then leaned forward, closing the distance between them.
“Is it really that bad?” he asked, studying Harold’s face closely. “She’s just a girl. What are you so terrified of?”
Harold didn’t respond.
“You were supposed to go on a date,” he added, gesturing loosely with one hand. “Instead, you dragged us along like bodyguards. Do you even realize how inappropriate this looks? I can’t even understand your behavior right now.”
His eyes flew open, and he looked straight at Alexander.
“You haven’t seen her!” he shot back.
He straightened in his seat, his shoulders stiffening as something uneasy flickered across his face. A faint shiver ran through him, subtle but noticeable, and he rubbed his thumb against his palm as if trying to shake the feeling off.
“It’s like…” he paused, his voice lowering slightly, “like she can crawl under my skin just by looking at me.”
He exhaled sharply through his nose, his jaw tightening.
“It makes me uncomfortable. And my mom keeps insisting I go on this date with her. But I don’t want to!”
Sebastian, who had been quietly watching, tilted his head slightly.
A slow smirk formed at the corner of his lips.
“Is it the good kind of ‘under your skin’…” he drawled, glancing briefly at Alexander before looking back at Harold, “…or the bad kind?”
His eyes narrowed just a fraction as he glanced at Alexander again. A faint smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he were looking at a child still trying to figure out how the world worked.
“Shut up,” Harold snapped immediately.
He turned his face away, shifting in his seat, clearly irritated—but also avoiding them.
The memory of her face flashed in his mind again
Her eyes.
The way they had locked onto him.
His back went rigid. His fingers curled against his thigh as he tried to steady his breathing.
It wasn’t fear.
That was the strange part.
It felt more like… he wanted to step closer, to stay under that gaze—
And at the same time, run as far away as possible.
The conflict made his chest tighten.
He inhaled slowly, forcing himself to calm down.
Alexander leaned forward again, crossing his arms.
“I don’t understand what you’re making such a big deal out of,” he said with a casual shrug, breaking the tension.
