Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 141: Don’t turn around

Chapter 141: Don’t turn around

Maxim glanced at the beautiful arc of her lips and his heart skipped a bit. She laughed at something Ivy was saying and he had never disliked Ivy more for it.

He wanted Diana to laugh at his words. At him. Or at anything involving him. Was it weird for him to think that way?

’Yes, it is weird af, you obsessed creep,’ his inner voice snapped at him.

Maxim swallowed, barely restraining himself from raising his hand and running the pad of his thumb across her bottom lips which had turned swollen.

As much as he wanted to do that, he stopped himself from doing that when he remembered the way she stopped him earlier.

She kissed him on an impulse and the adrenaline must have worn off. Was she regretting it already? Was that what she was about to say before Ivy interrupted them?

While Maxim was having an inner battle, Diana was clueless about his thoughts.

’’Dee, why are you laughing?"

’’You are cute. I can’t help it,’’ Diana wiped a teardrop from the corner of her eyes, ’’Um, there has been a situation so we are at Hazel’s villa. We are fine.’’

’’Thank god. That’s a relief. It’s better if you stay there for the time being. The weather is so bad. I went through hell to get back to our place in one piece.’’

’’I would have called you earlier but I didn’t want to interrupt your date. I am relieved that you got back safely. Also, take a warm shower before going to bed. Don’t pull an all-nighter with your laptop again or else Angel and I would throw that thing away,’’ Diana nagged.

Maxim frowned. She never nagged him the way she was nagging Ivy.

Diana got worried when Ivy went silent. It was unlike her to not run her mouth off for a minute, ’’Ivy? You listening to me, right? No all-nighters. Take a rest.’’

’’Okay,’’ Ivy said softly.

Diana was taken aback by her obedience, ’’Good girl. Also, why did your date go wrong?"

’’Uhh... he said he wants a housewife. He was looking for long-term relationships with marriage in mind and he won’t just stop talking about his extended family. And... I was there for hookups, short-term and fun. It wasn’t any less than a disaster.’’

’’Poor you,’’ Diana clicked her tongue. Relationships and dating were indeed a hassle.

Ivy’s date was already like this. She could only hope that at least Hazel was enjoying her date

’’I know right...’’ Ivy’s voice faded into the distance when the phone in Diana’s hand disappeared.

Diana glanced at Maxim questioningly.

But the man ignored her probing gaze as he pressed the phone to his ear, ’’My battery is running out,’’ was all he said before he hung up.

Diana snatched the phone from him to check the battery, ’’Liar. It’s almost full,’’ she glared at him as she shoved his phone back into his hands.

’’We were having a conversation,’’ Maxim placed the phone on the study table before he raised his head to meet her gaze.

’’I...’’ Diana’s shoulders hunched slightly when he reminded her about it.

Maxim’s eyes darkened when he noticed her expression. The conjecture in his heart seemed true. She was regretting it already, wasn’t she?

’’If what happened between us made you that uncomfortable that you can’t even voice out your thoughts, then I can reassure you that it will never happen again,’’ he said after some time.

Diana did not speak and she quietly lowered her head.

Maxim composed himself as he calmly said, ’’You dozed off in these wet clothes. Go to my mom’s room and take a shower before getting changed.’’

She still did not look at him.

The light in his eyes dimmed.

In the end, he just turned around to leave.

But the moment he turned, he felt a tug on the sleeve of his shirt.

He lowered his head and glanced at the fingers that gripped his shirt tightly.

He was about to turn to look at her when she spoke up.

’’Don’t,’’ Diana whispered, ’’Don’t turn around.’’

"Why not?"

She did not respond to his words for a long time.

Maxim was about to speak up again when Diana leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his back.

She dropped her hand from his sleeve.

’’If you do turn around, I won’t be able to say the things that I have on my mind,’’ she whispered.

Maxim did not speak when he heard her words.

Diana swallowed softly.

Silence descended around them.

After a few minutes passed, Maxim sighed, ’’I get it. You don’t need to explain anything,’’ he thought that she was regretting kissing him but the fact that she was this affected by it... it made him wonder what he was thinking earlier. He should have known better than to give in to the momentary impulse and put her in a spot like this. His heart was filled with guilt, ’’It’s fine. What happened has happened and it won’t happen again, Diana. Relax.’’

Maxim felt like an asshole the longer she stayed silent. They were different people. He had been obsessed with her for ages, what he felt for her was never platonic.

As for her, he was just her best friend to her.

He should have considered her feelings before he let things escalate between them.

But he did not consider anything out of his selfishness and he had the nerve to feel upset now that she was sinking in regret.

It was stupid of him to assume that she wanted him just the way he desired her.

’’You don’t get it, Warner.’’

’’Trust me, I do,’’ Maxim closed his eyes, ’’I just don’t want you to be like this anymore—’’

’’I am a virgin,’’ Diana blurted as she snapped her eyes shut.

The moment those words left her mouth, silence consumed the place once again and her nerves heightened.

Diana started regretting saying it with every fiber of her being. He must be astounded or he must be finding it funny, right?

Living in the Chen mansion, filled with glitz and glamour, Diana never realized how abnormal her life was.

It was not the 19th century yet the day she turned 16, her mother had given her a strict warning about not losing her virginity because the purer she was, the higher she would hit in terms of getting herself a decent husband.

Diana never took it seriously because she had different thoughts about things like love, sex, or relationships. But at the end of the day, she never dated anyone because she was too engrossed in grades and competition.

She never really had a friend in the first place, let alone dating. The ones she had, drifted away from her when her mother lectured her about staying away from them.

Diana did not when she started giving in to her mother’s whims. She let the woman have her way because she knew that if one way did not work, Alice Chen would try another to get what she wanted.

Maxim was her only friend and their friendship stayed that way because she hid him from her world.

Her mother knew of his existence but had she known how close they were, then their friendship would have been ruined one way or another.

Not that it was not ruined though.

At the end of the day, Diana wondered why she was so much of a coward back then. Had she been half as brave as Daisy, then she might have lived the last decade of her life, smiling and laughing, doing things any normal girl would do instead of being locked inside that golden cage.

’’Warner...’’ she lifted her forehead from his back when his reply did not come, ’’I... Was that..." too sudden?

She covered her face with both her palms, ’’I should not have said that. It was too irrelevant...’’

’’Quiet,’’ Maxim snapped out of his daze and turned around to look at her when she started blabbering again.

He tried to remove her hands from her face but she pressed them harder.

Maxim did not exert force on her wrists but his voice was firm when he said, ’’Look at me.’’

She hesitated before dragging her hands down her face gradually as she peeked at him through one eye.

The look she gave him made Maxim wonder how he was standing on his own two feet and not in his grave already. How could someone be so adorably stunning?

’’Anything that involves you is more than relevant to me,’’ he said.

When she saw no signs of judgment on his face, she slowly lowered both her hands and opened her other eye as well.

A hint of red was still blotched on her cheeks, but her usual confidence was back in her eyes, ’’Really? You really don’t care?"