Clara’s scalp tingled under his gaze. "Heh, that waiter is certainly... talkative."
"Is that so? And what else, besides talkative?" Seth cracked a faint smile, asking as if making small talk.
Besides talkative...
"He also has a photographic mory!"
’I should just co clean,’ Clara thought. If she made him suspicious, he’d just investigate on his own. He’d find out she had lunch with Miles Quinn, and then he might even discover her secret crush on Miles. Wouldn’t that be even worse?
’It couldn’t possibly get any worse!’
’It’s better to just be honest and dispel his suspicions. Even if he doesn’t have any... well, it’s better to be safe than sorry.’
"I didn’t realize this place was so high-end that even the waiters are this impressive... Heh heh..."
Clara pretended to be calm. As soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her head to sip her water, her large eyes darting about. She didn’t dare look at Seth again.
’Miles ordered all this for lunch, and now Seth has ordered the exact sa thing. It has to be a coincidence, right?’
’Or maybe... they *are* brothers, after all. It’s only natural their tastes would be similar. So them coming to the sa restaurant and ordering the sa food... there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?’
’I’m overthinking this. I have to be. How could Seth possibly know I had lunch with Miles?’
’If he knew, given his personality, he wouldn’t be this calm.’
"Did you have lunch with soone today?"
Just as Clara’s anxiety was mounting, Seth had ignored her earlier comnt and simply asked another question.
"Mhm, with a classmate."
’It wasn’t technically a lie. Miles might not have been in her class, but he went to the sa university, so calling him a classmate wasn’t wrong.’
After answering, Clara imdiately started bracing for the follow-up. ’He’s definitely going to ask if it was a male or female classmate,’ she fretted. ’What should I say? A guy or a girl?’
However, before she could decide on an answer, she just heard a soft "Mhm" from Seth across the table, and then silence.
Clara couldn’t help but look up. Seth was holding his water glass. He took a sip, then began to toy with the glass, his gaze drifting out the window.
His profile was, without a doubt, perfect. And yet, to Clara, he suddenly looked a little... forlorn.
Then again, she inwardly scoffed at her own imagination. ’Who is Seth Quinn? He’s a man who gets whatever he wants. How could soone like him possibly be forlorn?’
Still, since Seth didn’t press the issue, she considered it a bullet dodged.
’Yep, it looks like he doesn’t know a thing,’ she thought. ’I really was just overthinking it.’
While she was lost in thought, their food began to arrive.
After the waiter wished them a "Please, enjoy your al," and left, Seth glanced at the steak in front of Clara and gestured toward it with a tilt of his chin. "Go on, eat."
"I’m not—" Clara instinctively started to say she wasn’t very hungry, but she caught herself when she t Seth’s gaze and changed her tune. "Okay."
’She had only recently figured him out: you had to go with the grain, not against it. If she wanted an easy life, it was best to just play along and not provoke him.’
So what if she had to eat when she wasn’t that hungry? What was the big deal?
Besides, it was a good thing she had a fast tabolism. Otherwise, eating this much in a single day would definitely make her gain weight, and that would not look good on cara.
As Clara lowered her head and began to eat, Seth simply sat across from her and watched, a ghost of an indulgent smile playing on his lips.
But Clara kept her head down the entire ti and never saw it.
After a long while, seeing she had no intention of looking up at him, Seth finally couldn’t stand it any longer, and his expression darkened.
His gaze shifted, landing on the napkin beside his hand.
He smoothly pulled one free, turned back to Clara, and said in a steady voice, "Wait."
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