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The one who’d tried to destroy her life and still made her quake at the sight of him.
Her ex-boyfriend.
Her ex-boss.
Richard. Fucking. Dyson.
16
NAZYN
“Isay, that is truly astounding,” Elias said as they moved down thebu-ffetline, eyeing Nazyn’s full plate of food with red-rimmed eyes and a long sigh. “I wish I still had the stomach of a young man. So many fried foods hate me now.”
Nazyn looked down. His plate was quite impressive, with a mountain of little golden shards of eggs and glorious fatty pieces of paradise calledba-con.
Elias sighed again. Nazyn didn’t have the hearts to tell him he would’ve eaten double this amount if he hadn’t been worrying about Darcy and the press conference later on. Some of the reporters had already arrived and were eyeing him curiously. None of them had approached yet, but Nazyn could clearly distinguish them from the scientists and executives gathered at the Forum, who all looked a bit tired and bleary-eyed.
“Had a fun night, I see,” he said. Humans made small talk, yes? And Nazyn felt good in Elias’ presence. The old man was so transparent and truthful, he probably didn’t have a deceitful bone in his body.
“Too much fun,” Elias said, grimacing at the beige sludge in his bowl. “But when you already have one foot in the grave, you enjoy every second you have left. I should not have drunk that second glass of wine, though.”
Not many people would talk about their impending death with such ease. Elias was the sort of being Nazyn aspired to be in his own old age–unbothered.
After using up all the free space on his plate, Nayzn began to pile food onto another one. Darcy would probably be famished after she came back from the pool.
He kept looking at the entrance to the breakfast lounge, hoping she’d strut in any second now. The longer he waited, the more questions sprung up in his mind.
Was she avoiding him? Definitely.
But would she avoid him all day?
The line for the food grew and Elias’ friend Tobias joined them. His face was red and water kept streaming down his cheeks from his eyes. Was he…cry-ing?
On Deruzia, Nayzn knew better than to point out a weakness in someone. It was not done. But on Earth, that seemed to be a common form of communication. It showed empathy, according to Kiara.
“Are you alright?” Nazyn asked him.
“It’s those bloody plants.” Tobias wheezed, quickly grabbed a napkin and sneezed into it.
“Allergic to beauty, old chap?” Elias laughed.
“It’s a ridiculous, costly decor. Bringing in those rare plants, hanging them from the walls, like we’re a pageant show,” Tobias said. “The Forum never cared aboutlooksuntil now. Inventions. Innovations. Advancing science and technology, that’s what it should be about. Notspectacle.”
Nayzn couldn’t agree more–he really couldn’t or he’d might reveal something he shouldn’t before the presentation tomorrow. So he simply hummed in agreement. He’d noticed humans did that, too.
“You know,” Elias leaned over, whispering conspiratorially to Tobias. “I heard the decor was a last minute addition. The organizers were so over-the-moon that Archam Techfinallydeigned to join us that they agreed to some last-minute changes.”
Nazyn’s ears tensed as he listened intently.
Tobias scoffed. “I should’ve known it was the Dyson kid’s fault. All show, no substance, that one.”
“Come now,” Elias said halfheartedly. “He’s regarded as one of the best innovators of his generation.”
“I smell something rotten in him. And you don’t like him either, you called him a fop with too much money,” Tobias said.
Elias shrugged. “If the overpriced shoe fits.”
Tobias grabbed his own bowl. “Don’t hog all the porridge, Kleiderman. You’re not the only one whose stomach hates him in the morning.”
