Adriana let out a soft laugh, disbelief coloring it. She studied him, the confidence practically radiating off him, and honestly couldn't understand where it ca from.
"If you don't stop harassing ," she said calmly, "I'll ask my boyfriend to have you expelled."
Anton froze.
Fear flickered unmistakably across his face.
Adriana didn't stop there. Her voice sharpened.
"I wouldn't have said anything before, but I've heard there are won who got pregnant because of you. And now you're acting like you're completely innocent?"
Anton bristled instantly.
"That's just jealousy talking. I can't even explain it properly. I always make sure they use protection."
She raised her hand, cutting him off. "Tell ," Adriana asked coolly, "what exactly do you have that could attract ?"
The question seed to ignite sothing in him. So she's interested after all, Anton thought, his lips curving into a confident smile.
"I'm good-looking."
Adriana nodded. "So am I. What else?"
"I'm popular."
She laughed outright.
"Can popularity put food on the table?"
The words struck him harder than he expected. For a split second, Anton saw his own mother in Adriana, asking his father the very sa question years ago.
The mory unsettled him, yet strangely convinced him that pursuing Adriana was the right decision.
He straightened, his tone serious.
"After university, I plan to enter the entertainnt industry. When we get married, I'll make sure... "
"Stop." Adriana interrupted sharply, pointing at him. "Do you even hear yourself? I'm already in a relationship, and you're talking about marrying ?"
Anton smirked. "A relationship isn't marriage. Even marriage can end in divorce."
Adriana rolled her eyes, exhausted by his emptiness. This is pointless. He wasn't speaking with logic at all, more like soone who had read too many brain-rotting romance novels.
Without another word, she walked away.
When logic disappears, so does the conversation.
Anton followed her, convinced she was just playing hard to get. But Adriana moved quickly this ti, weaving through the crowd until she reached Peter.
The mont Anton saw her run straight to him, the playful smile vanished from his face.
Peter had seen everything. A flicker of jealousy crossed his eyes, sharp and instinctive. Before he could say anything, Adriana wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face against his chest.
"I don't want to see that idiot anymore," she murmured, her voice trembling. "He's making my life difficult."
Peter's heart soared at her words.
There were only a handful of tis when Adriana ever revealed this unguarded, vulnerable side of herself to Peter.
Each ti she did, it felt as if she were placing sothing fragile directly into his hands.
This ti was no different.
The mont he sensed the faint tremor in her posture and the way her fingers curled unconsciously against his sleeve, Peter made a silent vow. 'I'll take care of her. No matter what.'
Without the slightest hesitation, he shot a sharp, warning glance in Anton's direction.
The air around them seed to stiffen. Anton, who had been wearing a smug, lingering smile, froze mid-motion.
That smile vanished the instant his eyes t Peter's. Jealousy flared unmistakably in his gaze, burning hot and ugly.
Peter's hand ca down gently on Adriana's back, the warmth of his palm grounding her.
He guided her behind him with deliberate slowness, his body forming a solid barrier, before stepping forward.
His expression hardened, the playful ease draining from his features as if it had never existed.
"So," Peter's voice cut through the tense air, low and cold, "do you have a death wish?"
The words landed like a slap. For a split second, Anton looked genuinely stunned. Then he scoffed and recovered quickly.
"I was just chasing Adriana," Anton retorted, lifting his chin.
"Isn't that normal? If soone loves a person, he or she has the right to pursue. Passionate, persistent."
His lips curved faintly. "But now you want to interfere too? Don't you think you're being a little too controlling, Peter?"
Adriana frowned, a knot tightening in her chest as those words brushed against her ears. Controlling?
The accusation felt twisted and unfair. Before she could react, Peter spoke again, his tone calm yet edged with sothing sharp.
"Pursuing isn't the problem," he stated evenly. "The problem is that Adriana is clearly uncomfortable, and you're pretending not to see it. Or what... are you deaf, mute, and blind all at once?"
For a mont, Anton's eyes flashed with raw anger, the veins at his temple throbbing faintly. He turned abruptly toward Adriana, his gaze pressing down on her.
"Do you have anything to say on my behalf?" he demanded.
The accusation hit Adriana like a splash of icy water. Her chest tightened, and her fingers clenched at her side.
What is he implying?
She felt wronged, cornered, as though she were being blad for sothing that had never existed.
She had no relationship with Anton, none at all, yet he was behaving as if there had been sothing between them. The thought alone made her skin crawl.
For a fleeting second, she even felt the urge to raise her hand and slap him, to make it painfully clear that he was nobody to her. But she swallowed that impulse, drawing in a slow breath that tasted faintly of dust and tension.
"I'm not acquainted with you at all," Adriana said coldly, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her. "So stop putting ideas into the ears of people who are actually close to ."
The mont those words left her lips, Anton stiffened. He stared at her, a flicker of sothing wounded passing through his eyes.
"Your words… they really hurt , Adriana," he murmured, as if genuinely pained.
Adriana let out a short, humorless laugh, the sound sharp against the charged silence.
"If that's the case," she replied, her eyes cool and distant, "then it's good that you rember this hurt. And make sure you don't co near again in the future."
Anton froze. His gaze lingered on Adriana before sliding reluctantly toward Peter. Peter t his look without flinching.
"In that case," Peter said calmly, his voice eerily composed, "since you don't love or appreciate what you currently own, I'll make sure you do."
Fear finally cracked through Anton's arrogance. His face paled slightly, and after a brief hesitation, he took a step back, clearly rethinking his choices.
"…I'll apologize," Anton said at last, his tone subdued.
He turned toward Adriana, bowed stiffly, and spoke in a controlled voice. "I was wrong to pursue you. From now on, I won't do it again. I won't harass you."
Then he straightened and looked at Peter. "Now that I've apologized, will you let go?"
His words were reasonable, even sensible. To an outsider, it would seem unreasonable for Peter to continue holding onto the matter.
And yet, Peter didn't care about how things appeared. In his eyes, Anton had already crossed a line that deserved punishnt.
Just as Peter was about to respond, Adriana tugged gently at his sleeve.
Her fingers were cool, trembling slightly. He glanced down and noticed the crowd that had gathered around them.
Whispers rippled through the air, fingers pointing, eyes filled with judgnt.
To the onlookers, Anton's bow and apology painted a different picture, one where Adriana and Peter appeared overbearing, as if they refused to allow anyone else even the right to pursue her.
Many of the people watching were clearly biased admirers of Anton, and they didn't hesitate to voice their opinions.
"They're doing too much," soone muttered.
"He already apologized," another added. "Does this really need to go on?"
Others nodded in agreent. "If it were , I would've let it go already."
Peter didn't spare them a glance. Their words ant nothing to him. But Adriana's quiet whisper did.
"Peter… let it go," she breathed softly.
He frowned, conflicted, then finally sighed. Reluctantly, he loosened his grip on the situation and t Anton's gaze one last ti.
"Rember your words," Peter warned evenly. "If you break them, don't bla for teaching you a lesson."
The threat lingered in the air long after the crowd began to disperse.
Anton couldn't help the faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he walked away.
His steps were unhurried, his back straight, his mind calm.
'Even if I apologized, I still won,' he thought with quiet satisfaction. Sympathy had already tilted in his favor, and that alone was enough.
Around them, most people didn't dwell on the incident for long.
From their perspective, Anton might have been a little too full of himself, but that was all.
In contrast, Peter and Adriana's decision to let the matter go made them appear generous, even magnanimous.
The whispers slowly faded, replaced by casual chatter, as if nothing truly serious had happened.
Yet Peter and Adriana felt anything but at ease.
A heavy discomfort settled in their chests, sticky and unpleasant, like residue that refused to wash away.
Disgust simred quietly beneath their calm exteriors, each of them lost in their own calculations about Anton's behavior and the way the situation had been twisted.
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