THE BILLIONAIRE'S BETRAYED BRIDE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:UNDER ONE ROOF

Dinner was quieter than I expected, though it wasn't uncomfortable

Mrs Song had put together a meal that looked like it belonged in a restaurant rather than someone's dining room with more dishes than the three of us could possibly finish spread across a table long enough to seat twenty.

Madam Hayes sat at the head of the table, her leg propped up on a low stool beside her chair, keeping the conversation going easily between bites

"You'll have to forgive Alexander," she said halfway through the meal, nodding toward her son. "He's not much of a talker at the dinner table. Never has been, even as a boy"

"I talk," Alexander said without looking up from his plate

"You answer questions. That's different from talking"

I hid a smile behind my water glass

When I glanced up again, I caught Alexander watching me, something close to amusement flickering across his face before he looked away

"How is the Busan project going?" Madam Hayes asked him. "You mentioned there was some trouble with the permits"

"It's resolved. Mostly"

He put down his chopsticks, giving the question more attention than he'd given anything else during the meal

"We found an investor. The delay shouldn't push the timeline back by more than a few weeks now"

"Good. You've been stressed about that for weeks"

"I haven't been stressed"

"You've mentioned it in every conversation we've had for the past month"

I watched the two of them go back and forth, so easy and familiar with each other that it surprised me

At the hospital, Alexander had seemed controlled and distant, almost impossible to read. But here, in his mother's house, something about him seemed different. Looser somehow. Like little cracks were beginning to show in the composure he'd kept so firmly in place

"What kind of law do you want to practice?" he asked me, turning the conversation in my direction, apparently deciding he'd had enough of his mother's teasing for one night

"I'm not completely sure yet. Corporate, probably. It pays better than most other paths, and I like the precision of it"

I paused, then decided to answer more honestly

"Although part of me is drawn to public interest work too. I just don't know if I can realistically afford to choose that path"

"That's a difficult balance," he said. "Wanting to do meaningful work while still needing to survive doing it"

"You'd know something about that, I imagine. Balancing what you want to do with what the company needs"

Something shifted in his expression, as though my words had landed somewhere he hadn't expected

"Most days, the company wins that argument"

"That sounds exhausting"

"It is"

He said it simply, without trying to brush it off or make it sound less serious than it was

"Most days, I don't think about it enough to realize how exhausting it's become"

Madam Hayes watched the exchange with poorly hidden interest

She didn't say anything, but I caught the small, satisfied smile tugging at the corner of her mouth before she returned to her plate

After dinner, Madam Hayes retired early, her leg clearly bothering her more than she wanted to admit

That left me alone in the sitting room, with nothing but the sound of rain tapping against the windows

I hadn't expected Alexander to stay

A few minutes later, though, he appeared in the doorway with two cups of tea in his hands and held one out to me without quite meeting my eyes

"Mrs. Song insisted," he said, as though he needed an explanation. "Something about guests not being allowed to sit around with nothing warm to drink"

"That sounds like a rule your mother would make up"

"It probably is"

A small, almost reluctant smile crossed his face as he sat in the chair across from me, the rain still drumming steadily against the windows behind him

"Thank you, by the way"

I looked at him

"For today. For all of it, honestly. Going back to that night at the hospital"

"You already thanked me"

"I don't think I did it properly the first time"

He turned the cup slowly between his hands, looking down at it instead of at me

"My mother doesn't warm up to people easily. She's kind, but she's careful. Watching her with you tonight... I haven't seen her like that in a long time"

"She's easy to like"

"She'd say the same about you"

He looked up then, finally meeting my eyes

There was something unguarded in his expression, something I hadn't seen in any of our earlier, more formal encounters

"I meant what I said at the hospital. I don't know what would've happened to her if you hadn't stopped"

"You don't have to keep thanking me"

"Maybe not"

He held my gaze for a moment

"I still want to"

After that, we sat in a comfortable, unfamiliar silence

The storm outside had started to calm, the rain no longer hitting the windows quite as hard as before

Our tea slowly went cold between us, neither of us seeming particularly eager to end the conversation

I found myself watching him in the low light of the sitting room, noticing the tired lines around his eyes and the careful way he still seemed to hold himself, even when he was relaxed

There was something about him that tugged at the edge of my memory again, the same faint, unplaceable feeling I'd had at the hospital

I pushed it away like I always did, telling myself it was nothing

"I should let you get some rest," he said eventually, standing and collecting both cups. "Mrs. Song made up the blue room for you. It's just up the stairs, second door on the left"

"Thank you. For tonight. All of it"

"Goodnight, Valeria"

"Goodnight"

He left the room, and I stayed there for another moment, listening as the last of the rain faded outside

Thinking about the strange, quiet ease that had settled between us over tea

And wondering what exactly it meant