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It made him want to reach out to her—-
At the other end of the row of seats, Damen heard Ioniko greet Mairi warmly and he turned sharply to look at them, quickly enough to catch sight of Mairi giving Ioniko a grateful smile in return.
The gratitude hit him like a ton of bricks, jealous rage creating an inferno of bitter feelings inside Damen. It hurt, it fucking did not make him feel good to see that smile on her face.
She was supposed to smile like that at him only.
As she walked past Ioniko and towards his direction, Damen waited for Mairi to look at him. But when it was clear she would not, he heard himself saying to Alina, “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”
Mairi stumbled on her way to the podium, having heard Damen’s words.
Damen paled. Shit. He had meant to hurt her for being too close to Vlahos, for wanting him – Damen – to be more like Vlahos, like he was not enough for her, the way he had never been enough for his parents to love.
But the way she scrambled to right herself, her body posture tense and defensive, told Damen that she would rather stumble again than have him help her now.
He shoved his hands deep inside his trouser pockets, the only way he could stop himself from reaching out to Mairi. He watched her from behind, feeling so goddamn proud at the way she was able to keep moving even after what he had stupidly done.
I’m sorry, Damen thought achingly.
He had promised never to hurt her again, but what they had – what he had made her agree to – it just wasn’t going to work. Had he really been such an idiot to think it would be different for them?
He had to make a choice.
He had to choose now, before Mairi chose someone else over him.
MAIRI DID HER BEST as she read her speech, and if her voice shook once or twice for no reason at all, well – there wasn’t anything she could do about that. She just hoped the crowd thought she was nervous and not...heartbroken.
The speech was short and simple, and she worked on keeping her voice clear and inflectionless as she began thanking the people who had to be thanked.
“And lastly, our school’s Teachers' Day presentation would not be the special occasion that it is this year if not for the generosity of our guests of honor, who have gifted us with financial sponsorship and their precious time.”
Conscious of Ms. Thorn’s strict rules about etiquette, Mairi took a deep breath, unaware that the microphone had picked it up again and created a sound like a tornado throughout the auditorium.
The crowd laughed.
She...wished she could laugh with them.
Mairi forced herself to look at Ioniko first. “And so on behalf of the faculty, administration, and students making up the Grecian Academy for Young Ladies, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our guests of honor, Mr. Ioniko Vlahos—-”
Ioniko raised his hand in a small wave, a simple act that had the entire student body giggling.
She turned to the only couple on the stage, her gaze blinded with tears. “—-and the soon-to-be-wedded couple, Mr. Damen Leventis a-and Ms. Alina Kokinos.”
Her fingers curled around her speech, crushing it in her hand the same way Damen crushed her heart as he helped his fiancée out of her chair like she was a precious jewel so they could acknowledge the crowd with smiles and a brief wave.
Mairi mumbled the rest of her speech. She didn’t care if the crowd thought she was speaking Cantonese now. All she knew was that she had to get as far away from Damen as possible.
As she walked back to her seat, the ugly hateful truth that she had tried to be blind to finally made itself undeniably clear.
The problem had never been her love or making Damen believe in it.
The problem had always been whether Damen could believe in love. Because if he could believe in love, then he would never have made her go through this. If he understood how love could hurt and kill, he would never have forced her to see him and his fiancée together.
The rest of the presentation proceeded in an efficiently speedy manner, as was typical of any event organized by GAYL’s terrifying principal. The highest award went to an old history professor about to retire, and Mrs. Bettany became teary-eyed when Ms. Thorn presented her not only with a framed certificate but also a prize check amounting to $50,000, sponsored by this year’s guests of honor.
Mairi thought her ordeal was about to end, but it was not. It was only about to get worse, she realized as she dimly heard Ms. Thorn invite the guests of honor to make a brief speech themselves.
