Chapter 259: What the Hell?
Chapter 259: What the Hell?
Elias sitting there with his head down was exactly what Giselle expected.
She had known he would retreat into himself after leaving the pool. He had initiated both kisses. The first had been little more than a brush of his mouth against hers, and the second had been more deliberate, though no less uncertain. Yet the person who seemed most shaken afterward was still Elias.
He had been the one to move first.
He had been the one to run.
Giselle did not think that made him foolish. It only made him young, overwhelmed, and not yet ready to name what had happened between them. She decided he needed time rather than questions.
"I’ll be right back," she told him softly.
Elias did not raise his head, but he gave the smallest nod.
Giselle went into the bedroom, changed out of her wet swimsuit, and dried her hair as best she could. Then she called room service herself, ignored the hotel’s offer to send an attendant, and returned a few minutes later carrying a wide plate of delicate pastries. There were fruit tarts, little cakes dusted with sugar, warm rolls brushed with butter, and several things she had chosen because Elias would be more likely to eat them than a full meal.
She placed the plate on the table in front of him.
"Eat something."
Elias remained silent.
Giselle looked down at him. He sat exactly as she had left him, hands placed neatly on his knees, wet hair dripping faintly against the collar of the robe he had pulled on in a hurry. The posture would have been almost comical if the flush at his ears had not made it clear how seriously he was taking his own embarrassment.
A helpless smile touched Giselle’s mouth.
"What’s wrong?"
Her tone held no reproach. Only patience.
Elias did not answer.
Giselle walked closer. Her slippers came into his lowered view first, then the pale line of her ankles, still carrying a few clear drops of water. She crouched in front of him so that he would not have to raise his eyes very far to see her.
"Did you hurt yourself in the pool?"
Elias shook his head.
The reply was small, but it was enough. He did not want her to worry. That much was obvious.
Giselle studied him for another moment and then seemed to reach a conclusion.
"It’s all right," she said. "I don’t mind."
If he was ashamed of the kiss, she could remove the reason for his shame. She would tell him plainly that she did not regret it. That would give him a place to stand.
Elias finally looked up.
His green eyes were red around the edges. He looked at her as though he had been holding something unbearable in his chest for far too long.
"I’m sorry," he whispered.
Giselle’s eyes tightened slightly.
"You don’t need to apologize."
Inside, she let out a quiet breath.
Elias was too gentle for his own good. He had done something impulsive, something he clearly did not understand, and instead of demanding an answer or pretending nothing had happened, he was apologizing as though he had committed some grave wrong.
She had been ready to explain. Ready to tell him he had not crossed a line she could not forgive. But words would only make him stare at the floor harder. He needed a different answer.
Giselle rose and sat beside him on the sofa.
Her hand settled on top of his head. She stroked his damp black hair slowly, smoothing it back from his forehead.
"I really didn’t know why I did that," Elias said. "We’re only Besties."
Giselle’s hand paused.
"How could I do that to my best friend?"
The guilt in his voice deepened. He began to lower his head again, preparing to disappear into himself like an ostrich burying its face in the sand.
This time, Giselle did not let him.
Her hand moved from his hair to his arm. She lifted his chin gently but firmly until he had no choice but to meet her eyes.
"I told you," she said. "It’s all right."
He was not over Serena.
That was the answer.
Elias had missed Serena. He had missed what they once had, or what he had believed they had. The kiss in the pool had not been about Giselle, not really. In a moment of confusion, he had transferred the pain and longing he still carried for Serena onto the person closest to him.
It could have been anyone.
The thought passed through Giselle with a cold, sharp edge.
For one instant, something in her expression became frighteningly still.
Then it vanished.
She stood. "Do you not like the pastries? I can ask for something else."
Elias stopped her at once.
"No." He looked up, gratitude clear in his face. "I like them. I really do."
Giselle’s expression did not change.
But the gratitude made her chest feel wrong.
Moments ago, she had been perfectly calm. Then he had looked at her with that soft, thankful expression, and the comfort she had felt after the pool became something sour and unsettled. She did not understand why. Was it because she had become the person he used to forget Serena? Or because Serena was the reason he needed someone else to forget with?
Neither answer helped.
Giselle did not let the feeling reach her face. Elias would notice. He would be frightened, and he had already had enough to be frightened of.
There was no point getting angry.
She was not angry.
"Pastries aren’t enough for dinner," she said. "Let’s go to the restaurant."
Elias blinked once, then nodded.
Giselle held out her right hand.
He took it without hesitation.
Their fingers slid together with the familiar ease they had developed in only a few days. Palm to palm. Fingers threaded. A grip that was too close to be casual and too practiced to question.
They waited for the elevator.
Elias wore a gentle expression as he stood beside her, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
"Little Miss Inexperienced is absurdly kind," he told System Theta. "I made her uncomfortable enough to want to throw up, and she still held it together."
He had honestly expected her to turn cold. Maybe she would withdraw. Maybe she would stop holding his hand. Maybe she would give him the silent treatment and make him suffer through a few days of uncomfortable distance.
Instead, Giselle had treated him like a frightened animal and brought him pastries.
Elias turned his head and looked at her.
Giselle looked back.
For a moment, their eyes met. Elias gave her a quiet, tender smile.
[System Theta: Host...]
"What?"
[System Theta: I was about to say something.]
"You were going to tell me I’m being too much again, right? Denied. Keep it to yourself."
[System Theta: ...]
The elevator doors opened.
They stepped inside together.
The restaurant was only one floor below. The elevator barely had time to move before it stopped again. The doors slid open.
Elias and Giselle were about to walk out when someone appeared directly in front of them.
Serena Blackwood.
Giselle’s pupils tightened.
Her first instinct was to look at Elias.
He had been looking ahead a moment earlier. She had seen him in the faint reflection of the elevator doors, his gaze resting forward and his fingers linked with hers.
Now he had lowered his head.
He did not look at Serena.
He behaved as though Serena did not exist.
The elevator began to close.
Giselle pulled Elias forward and stepped out with him. As they passed Serena, she deliberately moved to the outside, placing herself between Elias and the other woman.
Serena did nothing.
She did not reach for him. She did not call his name. She did not even turn her head in his direction. Her expression was distant, cold, and completely unreadable, as though Giselle and Elias were strangers she had never seen before.
Perhaps she had lost her memory.
Perhaps she had simply decided that acknowledging them would give away too much.
Either way, the result was the same.
Serena walked into the elevator.
The doors closed behind her, sealing her inside with the same chill she seemed to carry wherever she went.
The encounter lasted only seconds.
Still, it left the air around Giselle feeling different.
She guided Elias into the restaurant and chose a quiet table with a view of the darkening water. The hotel lighting was low and golden. Nearby guests spoke in soft voices over expensive wine. Nothing in the room suggested that Serena Blackwood had just appeared out of nowhere.
"What do you want to eat?" Giselle asked.
Elias looked at her and smiled faintly.
"Anything is fine."
Giselle knew what he liked. She did not ask again. She went to speak with the server herself, leaving him seated at the table.
Only after she was out of earshot did Elias allow his smile to disappear.
"Baby?" he asked inside his head.
System Theta was silent for a second too long.
[System Theta: I was trying to tell you earlier. You told me to keep quiet.]
Elias had no answer for that.
He sat there for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.
"What is Serena doing here?"
The question was absurd on its own.
The Maldives were not a city street. This was not a chance encounter in a campus hallway. Serena had appeared at the same resort, in the same hotel, one floor below their suite, at the exact moment Elias and Giselle left the elevator.
What the hell.
Worse, Serena was alone.
Liora was nowhere in sight. There were no Blackwood aides nearby, no security, no friends, no obvious reason for Serena to be traveling without anyone who could explain her presence.
Elias knew one thing with perfect certainty.
Serena Blackwood had come here for him.