Transmigrated: I Became My Nemesis's Woman Chapter 115: He was popular

A deafening silence filled the private room of the restaurant.

Ivy could practically feel Xander’s gaze fixed on her from across the table.

The problem was—the man hadn’t said a single word since they arrived.

At first, she tried ignoring it by pretending to focus on the nu.

Then she tried drinking water.

Then she even attempted staring out the window.

None of it worked.

Because no matter what she did, she could still feel those sharp eyes on her.

Finally, unable to endure it any longer, Ivy placed the nu down and looked directly at him.

"Did you bring here just to stare at ?"

Xander remained leaning lazily against his chair, one arm resting on the table while his dark eyes calmly observed her.

Under the warm restaurant lighting, his cold features sohow looked even more unfairly attractive.

And annoyingly enough—

Seeing him look at her like that made Ivy’s heart flutter slightly.

Realizing her own reaction, she quickly looked away.

Unfortunately, that small movent didn’t escape Xander’s notice.

His pupils darkened faintly.

"Am I not allowed to stare?" he asked calmly.

Before Ivy could answer, he added casually—

"Or were you too busy talking to your old crush to notice my texts?"

Ivy imdiately snapped her eyes back toward him.

"Excuse ?"

Her disbelief only made Xander raise a brow.

"You heard ."

Ivy stared at him for a second before narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"I didn’t purposely ignore you," she defended herself. "I just didn’t want Kevin to see us together."

"Why?"

The question ca instantly.

Without hesitation.

Ivy blinked at him.

The way Xander looked at her so directly suddenly made her feel oddly cornered.

Since he clearly intended to overthink everything anyway, Ivy decided to answer in the most straightforward way possible.

"Why?" she repeated. "Obviously because we don’t want him knowing about our relationship."

The mont the word left her mouth—

Xander’s entire expression subtly shifted.

"Relationship?" he repeated slowly.

For so strange reason, the irritation sitting heavily in his chest monts ago suddenly disappeared.

Completely.

anwhile, Ivy instantly realized what she had just said.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"I-I an," she corrected herself quickly, "we don’t want unnecessary attention."

But Xander barely seed to hear the correction.

The faintest curve appeared at the corner of his lips.

Ivy imdiately regretted opening her mouth.

"You’re impossible," she muttered under her breath.

Xander leaned back comfortably, looking far too pleased with himself now.

"So," he said casually, "Kevin Herthwart was your crush?"

Ivy nearly choked on her water.

"No!"

Xander gave her a look that clearly said he didn’t believe her at all.

"You looked nervous around him."

"I was not nervous."

"You avoided eye contact several tis."

"You were observing that?"

"I observe everything."

Ivy stared at him speechlessly.

This man was genuinely unbelievable.

Xander, however, looked strangely relaxed now compared to earlier.

Truthfully, seeing Kevin walk beside Ivy outside Globe Entertainnt had annoyed him far more than he expected.

The two had looked comfortable together.

Familiar.

And Kevin’s attention toward Ivy had been obvious enough to irritate him the entire drive here.

But hearing Ivy casually refer to whatever existed between them as a "relationship" had unexpectedly erased most of that irritation.

Even if she clearly panicked afterward.

"So you liked him," Xander concluded calmly.

Ivy rubbed her forehead tiredly.

"Every girl in school liked Kevin back then," she admitted reluctantly. "He was popular."

"And now?"

The question slipped out naturally.

Ivy looked at him suspiciously.

"Why do you sound invested in this?"

"I’m simply curious."

"You don’t look curious," Ivy muttered. "You look competitive."

For the first ti, Xander actually looked mildly offended.

"I don’t compete."

Ivy imdiately snorted.

"Sure."

The corner of Xander’s lips twitched faintly.

Then after a brief pause, he asked—

"Was he your first crush?"

Ivy slowly lowered her fork.

"...Why are you interrogating like this?"

"Because," Xander replied calmly, "I don’t like how familiar he seed with you."

The blunt honesty in his answer caught Ivy completely off guard.

And sohow that unexpected possessiveness made her ears warm slightly.

Xander watched the way Ivy suddenly avoided his eyes, and the faint redness creeping toward her ears almost made him smile.

Almost.

Instead, he lazily rested his chin against his hand and continued staring at her with obvious amusent.

"So you do get flustered," he murmured.

Ivy instantly looked back at him defensively.

"I am not flustered."

"Hm."

"That ’hm’ was very judgntal."

Xander’s lips twitched faintly. "You’re overthinking it."

"I’m overthinking it?" Ivy repeated in disbelief. "You’ve been interrogating about Kevin for the past ten minutes."

"And yet," Xander replied calmly, "you answered every question."

Ivy opened her mouth to argue before imdiately realizing he was right.

That only made her more annoyed.

anwhile, Xander seed entirely entertained by her reaction now.

The tension from earlier had noticeably faded, replaced by sothing strangely lighter.

But after a few more seconds, the amusent in his eyes gradually disappeared.

His expression turned serious again.

"About last night," he said suddenly.

The change in tone instantly made Ivy straighten slightly.

Xander leaned back against his chair while lightly tapping his fingers against the table.

"I had my n investigate the vehicles that attacked us."

Ivy’s brows furrowed imdiately.

"And?"

"They were following us long before the first hit."

That made Ivy pause. "What do you an?"

Xander’s gaze darkened slightly.

"They tracked our movents from the mont we left the city area." He looked at her directly. "Which ans the attack wasn’t random."

Ivy slowly processed his words.

"They planned it beforehand..."

"Yes."

A brief silence settled between them.

The lighthearted atmosphere from monts ago faded almost completely.

Ivy lowered her gaze toward the untouched food in front of her.

"Did they find out who sent them?"

"Not yet."

The calmness in Xander’s voice sohow made the answer even more unsettling.

"But we captured two n from one of the vehicles," he continued. "Unfortunately, they were only hired hands."

Ivy imdiately looked back at him.

"Hired by who?"

"They claid they never t the real person behind it."

Xander’s expression remained unreadable, but Ivy could sense the dangerous tension hidden underneath his calm exterior.

"They were given orders through an interdiary."

Ivy frowned slightly. "So soone powerful enough to hide themselves properly."

Xander nodded once. "And careful enough not to leave direct traces."

Ivy slowly leaned back against her chair.

For so reason, hearing the details directly from him made last night feel even more real.

She could still rember the sound of tires screeching.

The violent impact against the car.

And the terrifying realization that those people genuinely intended to kill them.

Xander noticed her sudden silence imdiately.

"You’re thinking too much again."

Ivy looked at him. "You say that like getting chased across the city is normal."

"For , it is."

The simple honesty in his answer made her chest tighten unexpectedly.

There was no arrogance in his tone. No dramatics. Just acceptance. And sohow, that felt worse.