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How does he look even better than before?

There’s nothing complicated about the way he’s dressed, and still, he looks like he belongs on the cover of a magazine.

And those green eyes… against the red holiday arrangements scattered across the table, they don’t even seem real.

Good thing they’re not on me.

I’m not sure I’d be able to breathe if they were.

God… I miss him.

I miss talking to him. Hearing his voice. I miss the way he looks at me when he’s not guarded, the way his mouth curves when he’s amused, the rare, genuine laugh he doesn’t give just anyone.

I miss him—all of him.

But especially the person almost no one else gets to see.

Because everyone knows Ethan—the CEO, the brilliant, intimidating man who commands every room he steps into.

But there’s another side of him.

The one that softens.

The one that relaxes.

The one that lets the tension slip from his shoulders, that smiles in a way that feels… real.

That version was mine.

At least for a little while.

And somewhere along the way, without admitting it even to myself, I started hoping… that maybe he’d give me more. That maybe, slowly, he’d want more.

With me.

“Thalia, I heard you’re in charge of the Hartho events company now,” Maya says out of nowhere.

My fork stops halfway to my mouth.

No. Please. Not now.

At that exact moment, Ethan lifts his gaze from his plate.

And for the first time since he walked down those stairs—for the first time in almost three weeks—his eyes land on me.

I feel it instantly.

Piercing. Direct.

Unavoidable.

But I don’t look back.

I can’t.

If I want to speak coherently, if I want to get through without completely unravelling, I need to focus on anything else. Anyone else.

“Uh… yes,” I say, forcing a small smile, keeping my eyes on Maya. “I’m still organizing events like before. Nothing special.”