CHAPTER 356: WRONG DATE? II

Did I just conjure up the devil? Athena wondered, jaw slackened as she watched the crew—six, as far as she was concerned, was a plenteous amount—settle in one of the VIP tables without noticing her, amidst all the fuss going about.

Especially Ewan... didn’t notice her.

Was the alignment she had imagined between her and Ewan a scam? A figment of her imagination? Something she had been hoping to be true at all costs?

She watched still, as waiters scurried over to serve them. But why not? Those three fools were the top eligible bachelors in the city at the moment, alongside Antonio.

"You haven’t watched to your fill yet? Do you want to join them?" Words spoken in a voice tainted with resentment and jealousy.

She didn’t blame her date. "Sorry about that, I was just surprised."

"About the women they are carrying about or about their presence here?"

Athena met Antonio’s blank gaze. "About their presence here. I thought they would be busy with one business management or the other."

Antonio shrugged, taking a spoon of ice cream to his mouth. "This is the weekend. You shouldn’t be surprised at all. A man isn’t expected to work all the days of his life."

"That’s right," Athena muttered, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat the ice cream before her.

This date was turning for the worse.

To her chagrin, she felt the need to escape into her room in the Thorne’s mansion, maybe even her house back in the skyscraper.

But seeing as her grandparents recently found her, she didn’t think she would be going back to that apartment anytime soon.

Maybe she should rent it out? Or let Gianna have it? The latter had always loved the heights.

"Athena..." Exasperated talk from Antonio.

Athena sighed. She was the one spoiling this date. "I am sorry. I just feel a little unwell. Can I use the restroom for a second?"

"Do you want me to join you, maybe wait around?" A twinkle in his eyes.

Athena felt a tad bit guilty for having to dampen it the next second. "No. I’ll be back before you know it."

And without waiting for his next statement, she left the table with a deep exhale, allowing the server to direct her to the restroom.

"Athena, what are you doing?" She asked herself aloud as she stood before the mirror, washing her hands.

"Why are you acting like Antonio isn’t your boyfriend?" She continued, drying her hands, flexing her fingers before placing them on her thighs.

"He has loved you for a while, and you can love him if you set your mind to it. Stop thinking about Ewan."

She turned to her side, checking herself in the mirror, straightening invisible creases from her gown.

Maybe she should have worn a longer gown. She thought, making another turn to the side.

She stopped her internal fashion parade when the door to the female restroom opened and shut.

She quickly reverted to the mirror, pretending to check her makeup, pretending to dry her hands, in case whoever had entered was a nosy woman—maybe one of the women that had arrived with the three fools.

But the scent that ticked her nostrils then, alerted her to the fact that whoever had entered was wearing Ewan’s perfume; and when she looked to the mirror to see fully the lady who must have plastered herself to Ewan to be smelling like him, she was shocked to see that it was the devil himself.

"How is your date going?" He delivered smoothly, reclining on the wall like he had the whole time in the world. "That bad?"

Athena scoffed, quickly regaining her senses. "It’s a great date."

She held in her urge to check him out. Still...

He was wearing a three-piece suit, and she was annoyed that he had dressed up for a date night with some unknown woman.

Fiona’s replacement?

And why did she even care!

"Are you okay?" Ewan asked, noticing the turmoil in her eyes. "That period of the month? Do you need some women’s tools?"

Women’s tools indeed!! Athena exhaled and turned to him. "I am okay, Ewan. I would rather you return to your dates."

"You saw me then..." He muttered, straightening from the wall, walking toward her. "Good, I’m not the only one looking out for you."

Which meant he had seen her with Antonio first.

"Did you come knowing that I would be here with Antonio?"

Ewan shrugged in response.

Athena was amazed—and not in a good way. How did he even know Antonio’s plan?

"Zane mentioned that the fellow won’t shut up about it; confirmed it when he hollered at his assistant to make his reservation. I decided to check it out."

Athena swallowed, cursing out Antonio in her mind. It seemed his show-off days were far from over.

His past girlfriends and flings might have thrived on it, but she was different! She didn’t need the publicity.

"You seem out of it a little. He’s not a good date partner."

Athena pushed her grudge about Antonio aside, not wanting to put him in a bad light before Ewan. "He is a good one. I just wanted to use the restroom."

A smirk appeared on Ewan’s lips, transforming his previous expressionless face. "You never used the restroom whenever we were together."

Athena was gobsmacked, to say the least.

She stepped back, the memory of the last time she had run into Ewan in the restroom crossing her mind.

She had been with Zane at that time, on her first return to the city. Back then, she hated Ewan.

But now... her eyes traced his face outline, his firm lips, his strong jaw—his... a fine specimen in a three-piece suit—and she knew that the reverse was the case now.

She liked him.

Better to stop fighting this truth. She thought, feeling some peace settle over her.

She liked Ewan. And that was okay. She concluded.

It was also okay that they remained friends.

That last thought, however, didn’t sit well.

But there was only so much self-awareness a girl could take, especially with her object of interest staring at her like that.

"Do you still want space, Athena?"

A knock on the door. A smooth call. "Athena??"

That was fate making the decision for her. Athena thought lamely, walking around Ewan.

"Yes, I need it." She managed to say before walking out of the room to meet her date.