A dark shadow crossed his face as he took in her last statement, 'trying to protect herself from people.' He also noted the quiver in her voice, as if she were trying to hold back her tears.
He watched her from across the dining surface, his expression still, his jaw set in a line that had no relation to anger and everything to do with some recognition.
She was blinking too fast. Her lashes fluttered in quick bursts. Her shoulder slumped, and her throat moved once, twice, swallowing down something that was about to rise.
She was trying not to cry in front of him.
He wasn't planning to hurt her. But she called him a liar. And he despised it when people labelled him a liar.
He didn't even raise his voice, yet she became so emotionally overwhelmed. Who knew she had such a sensitive nature?
He only wanted to show Cixi that he had many other ways to make her listen to him without resorting to lies. So why did she take it so personally? What had he said that was so wrong? He couldn't understand.
And now she is avoiding looking at him as if meeting his eyes would spark the keg of emotions, setting off an explosion of anger.
Cassian reached across the table and grabbed the tiramisu that Cixi had placed in front of herself. He picked up the dessert fork elegantly and scooped into the layered cream and cocoa, and brought it to his mouth.
From the corner of her vision, Cixi caught his movement.
She turned to see what he was doing and found Cassian eating her tiramisu with no hint of shame on his face.
Thief! That was the first word that came to her mind for Cassian Crown.
Her tears retreated behind her eyes, chased away by disbelief at seeing him chew calmly, as if he hadn't stolen the confection right under her nose and was now savouring it.
If she were being petty at this moment, she didn't mind. After hurting her, he didn't deserve to eat anything sweet.
"That's mine," she whisper-yelled at him, expecting him to apologise but Cassian shrugged with one shoulder, which was barely lifted, dismissing Cixi's whine.
"You weren't eating, so I took it." He scooped another bite and brought it to his lips.
"I was taking a break!" Cixi glared at the way his mouth was shaped and then at the tiramisu, her fingers curling into fists on her lap, feeling frustrated.
She had wanted to taste it. It looked more delicious than every other dessert on the table, with layers glistening with espresso and dusted with dark cocoa, and he simply grabbed it without even asking.
How Shameless! She cursed him inside her head with a ferocity she could not afford to say aloud.
Cixi scanned the remaining plates full of food and spotted the creme brulee. She snatched it before Cassian's fork could wander any further. He watched the sudden change in her mood. And now she was focused on the food instead of being a whiny baby.
At first, she cracked the caramelised crust with her spoon and took the first bite without pausing to breathe. The sweetness hit her tongue first, accompanied by the cool custard beneath the burnt sugar, which soothed the bruise that his utterances had left on her heart, resulting in tension loosening in her shoulders and the tightness behind her ribs to ease.
'Good food is always the answer to a bad mood,' Cixi noted to herself.
Once she finished the creme brulee, she set her spoon down and watched Cassian still eating the tiramisu.
He ate with a grace that felt oddly out of place in a cafe on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. His fingers curled around the pastry fork with quiet ease as he dipped it into the cup, scooping a soft portion of the pudding before lifting it slowly. His wrist moved with natural control, guiding the fork toward his lips while he leaned forward just enough to take the bite.
When the fork slid from his mouth, he closed his lips around the sweetness and chewed unhurriedly, as though he meant to taste every layer of flavour.
A faint satisfaction crossed his face for the briefest moment before his hand moved again, dipping the fork back into the dessert with the same rhythm.
Watching him eat made the dessert itself look richer, softer, and almost irresistible. The way he savoured each bite made it seem as if the sweetness melted perfectly in his mouth, and Cixi found herself wondering if the dessert truly tasted that good or if it only appeared more tempting because it was inside his mouth.
Then she noticed a shift in his mouth. It curved slowly, slyly upward, the way a cat's tail twitches before the pounce.
Her lashes lifted, and her gaze met his. And there it was - he had caught her watching his lips for an extended time than she should have. One dark eyebrow rose in silent question, asking her exactly what she thought she was doing.
Cixi uttered not a sound and looked away as if he hadn't asked her anything. Technically, he did not. She reached for her Americano and took a leisurely sip, letting the bitter warmth fill her mouth. She had nearly brought the cup down when Cassian spoke, and the words were so absurd that the coffee almost left her lips.
"Little Lamb, just so we are clear, you are not my type." The sentence settled between them like a stone in a still pond. "Pale skin and golden hair sit at the bottom of my preferences. So do yourself a favour and never fall for me. You will only meet disappointment."
Cixi's palms slammed against the wooden surface. She leaned forward with her light grey eyes blazing at Cassian. She tilted her chin upward to compensate for every inch of height he had over her.
"Who said I am interested in you?"
"That is how women fall in love with me." Cassian leaned back with confident arrogance, only for his gaze to travel to her flushed cheeks, which were burning hotter now because he caught her admiring him. "They pay too much attention to me. And then they fall. And I have used my security to throw them out, and sometimes I use legal methods to restrain them from coming 500 meters around where I am."
"I am not one of them, Mr Don," Cixi retorted immediately, straightening her spine. "You are also not my type."
"Really?" A flicker of amusement crossed his features. "Then what is your type?"
"The exact opposite of you," Cixi replied, never blinking, never pausing, and never taking a single second of thought between the question and the answer.
Cassian tilted his head, and something dangerous gleamed in his eyes that preceded a kill shot.
"Ah! So you prefer women!" He delivered the words with the same calm he might use to order a second latte, causing Cixi's jaw to drop lower that it could have touched the ground. "Although I am not certain how your parents will take that. I imagine once they find out about you, they will begin planning a marriage to pay off the debt." His voice dropped half a shade. "Or they will make a deal with the devil, Me."
Cixi couldn't believe her ears, for she was considered to be interested in women, although there is nothing wrong with that. But how dare he twist her words?
"I am straight!" Cixi stressed each syllable of the word straight, planting it between them like a flag.
"And who are my biological parents, that you speak of them so freely? Why don't you tell me anything about them?" She placed her hands on her lap and held his gaze. "How sure are you that I am their lost child?"
"You quite resemble your mother," Cassian replied with all the interest of a man reading a train timetable. "That is how I concluded."
"I look like her?" Cixi repeated, and the question left her lips carrying an enthusiasm she could not control. Her eyes widened with curiosity, and for a moment she looked like a girl standing outside a locked door, hearing a voice from the other side for the first time. "Who are they? Where are they? Do they know about me?"
While her trust in Cassina was shaky, she thought there was no harm in listening to him.
If she has any doubt, surely they can get a DNA test done.
Caspian parted his lips to speak, but Mark approached the table in hurried strides, stripped of all humour. He held a phone out to Cassian, and the two men exchanged a look that needed no words. Whatever Mark's eyes were saying, Cassian understood on contact.
He took the phone, pressed it to his ear, and listened. His face revealed nothing, but Cixi felt anxious. After a few seconds, he ended the call and pushed the chair away to stand.
She was about to rise when Cassian's hand lifted, palm facing her in a stop signal that rooted her to the seat.
"You have all of this to finish." For the final time, his eyes scanned the table full of food, then settled on Cixi. "I have to go and punish someone. Until then, Mark will give you company." He turned to leave, took two steps, and then stopped. He looked back at her over his shoulder, carrying a calm, controlled, and lethal expression.
"Don't think of running away... I will find you! You know that, right?" A faint smile touched his lips. "And don't forget, my enemies might have their eyes on you. Stay alert all the time."
He delivered the last line with such ease that, for once, Cixi was confused about whether he was telling her to take care of herself or asking her to keep her eyes open even while sleeping from unknown danger.
"I wouldn't come to you, Mr Don." Cixi kept her voice calm, even though her pulse had quickened at the mention of his enemies. "I would go to a police officer if I found suspicious people around me. I feel safer with them."
The memory of those kidnappers crept back into her body like cold water seeping through cracks, and her fingers as she remembered the gun, how it felt in her hand, and how she killed someone and almost got killed… almost…
Cassian said nothing and left without another word, knowing Cixi wouldn't run away from him.
He wouldn't allow it.