Chapter 2

The journey was silent as we arrived at the base of the airline company's building.

It was then that I noticed the embroidered "Xavion" on Vivienne's jacket.

By the looks of it, she must have stitched it herself.

Seeing that I'd noticed, Vivienne immediately halted, standing arrogantly in place, waiting for me to speak up.

In the past, when faced with situations like this, if I showed even a hint of displeasure, she would turn the tables and accuse me of being petty.

This time, I simply pretended not to notice.

We entered the elevator after face recognition.

Vivienne, however, as if unable to bear it any longer, pinned me against the wall, thrusting the two letters on her chest forward, and angrily said:

"Zoran, don't you have anything to say?"

I was genuinely puzzled. "About what?"

Vivienne's chest heaved constantly as she stared intently into my eyes, as if trying to discern whether I was being genuine or not.

She released me, her brows furrowed:

"I embroidered the letters on this jacket. Not just for myself, I've also done it for little Xavion's clothes."

As she spoke, she looked at me with schadenfreude, as if eagerly waiting to see me lose my temper.

I calmly replied, "It looks quite nice."

Her face froze, eyes filled with disbelief.

"What did you say?"

"I said it looks quite nice."

Vivienne snapped, her face flushed with anger and embarrassment:

"Zoran, what are you playing at? You're just jealous, aren't you? I can't believe what I ever saw in you. Being so petty is so unmanly!"

"I only embroidered this text on the clothes for a video with little Xavion. I'll remove it as soon as I get back. Are you happy now?"

I looked at her, completely baffled.

"Don't bother, it actually looks pretty good. Why remove it?"

"But then you and Xavion won't be a matching set anymore, will you?"

Vivienne glared at me, exasperated:

"So I stayed at Xavion's place for a while. Do you have to keep making these snide remarks?"

"There was that big fire, and I went to his place because I was worried it might not be safe for you to come get me. Besides, Xavion was all alone here, so I thought I'd keep him company. Why can't you understand that?"

"There's nothing between us, everything's above board. Can't you stop being so damn jealous?"

I felt helpless and tried to placate her: "I'm not jealous. I trust you both."

In the past, whenever they had an on-again, off-again thing, I would get jealous and argue. At times like these, Vivienne would always give me the cold shoulder to appease Xavion.Now, I'm turning the tables on her.

Vivienne glares at me furiously, pointing her finger in my face as she berates me:

"Zoran, did I give you too much leeway today, making you think you can talk to me like that?!"

"Get out, get the hell out of here!"

The elevator doors open, and she shoves me out.

I frown, thinking she's acting a bit crazy.

When we were arguing, she accused me of being petty.

Now that I'm being generous, she's inexplicably flying off the handle. She's really got issues.

I take the stairs to the professor's office.

I've come to discuss my upcoming work with the professor.

I grew up poor, without parents, and the professor has been especially kind to me since learning about my situation.

But over the years, for Vivienne's sake, I've repeatedly turned down the professor's goodwill in public, embarrassing him.

Two weeks ago, I risked my life to pick up Vivienne, only to be stood up halfway there. With the roads blocked by a massive fire, I nearly died.

After barely escaping, the professor called to check on me: "Zoran, the fire is spreading fast and furious. Please, don't go out."

I wanted to respond, but I choked up and couldn't speak.

In that moment, years of emotion seemed to burn away in the inferno, leaving only raw scars behind.

I made a silent vow to focus solely on my career from then on.

Love, after all, is something I don't deserve to have.