Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 204: Is that a yes or no?

Chapter 204: Is that a yes or no?

Music Recommendation: Enchanted by Taylor Swift

...

Almost a decade was gone since she entered his life and made it so beautiful for him yet he never held onto her. He did not want to waste another decade.

It would be fine if she slapped him, if she snapped at him or if she accused him of crossing the boundaries she set... but his heart would be suffocated if he did not make this woman officially his, by heart, body, and soul.

The thought of Diana not knowing what she did to him was beginning to make him uneasy. He could not bear to let her go around thinking that they were friends with benefits, or in a situationship or anything casual. Fuck!

She was his world and yet, she dared to think that he would call it off with her if she fell in love with some idiot the other day.

To fall for some other man... He would not give her the chance at all.

Heart thumping in his chest, Maxim took a step back from her as he lowered his head, not meeting her gaze, "It was fine to not have you, sweetheart but now that I do have you, I don’t want to let go at all. I don’t want you to wake up someday and say that you have fallen for some stupid asshole—" that was not him, ’’—and you need to break it off with me before you go and live your happily ever after with him. I might end up risking getting my medical license revoked to commit murder if that happens. It’s not sane at all. You get me, right?’’ he dragged a palm down his face, covering half of his face, his voice sounded worn out.

Hearing his words, Diana bit her lips to suppress the curve of her lips, ’’Then, what do you suggest we do?"

Maxim did not say anything. He did not look at her nor did he meet her gaze. When he planned this, he had thought of all the good points to state his point. He had thought of every convincing word that would make her think that it would be a good idea to date him.

But now that he was speaking to her, all those words were lost in thin air. And his voice was filled with frustration and irrationality. His flawed confession did not seem to be going according to his perfect plans at all.

Diana approached him, covering the distance between them. She grabbed his wrist and removed his palm from his face and stood on her tiptoes before placing a kiss on the corner of his lips.

Maxim froze.

It took him a moment to recover his senses, ’’Is that a yes... or no?"

Her eyes narrowed as she stepped back from him. She grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her before capturing his lips.

As their lips parted, both of them were panting softly, ’’You tell me. Is that a yes... or no?"

Maxim wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up before placing her atop the round table. ’’Yes?" He brushed his knuckles against her jawline as he stood between her legs.

Diana did not answer him. Instead, she glanced at him teasingly, ’’Did you just say something about me breaking it off with you before living my happily ever after with someone else?"

A rare embarrassed expression appeared on Maxim’s cold face. His long lashes trembled slightly as he lowered his gaze. He had said it in the spur of the moment but... he really was afraid that something like that would happen. She would be tricked by some asshole and they would run away together if he did not make a move and continued beating around the bush.

Upon noticing his expression, Diana burst out in laughter. She laughed till her eyes teared up.

Maxim’s lips twitched as he watched her wiping a drop of tear from the corner of her eye and looking at him in amusement.

When Diana set the rule last night that they should come clean to each other and call it off if they fell in love with someone, those words were directed towards Maxim. For her, things like love and feelings were unreal.

Even though she did not have an aversion towards men like Daisy, that did not mean she did not have the urge to roll her eyes whenever she saw a couple being lovey-dovey with each other. The cynic inside her would immediately wonder ’How long will they last? When will they break up?’

When her grandfather was alive, he once told her that her emotionally that her father loved her mother very much. Diana was young and clueless and she never pursued the topic. But gradually as she grew up, she started wondering if the things between her father and mother could be known as love.

According to her mother, her father cheated on her when she was pregnant. And in Diana’s eyes, she saw her mother’s overbearing ways of invading her father’s personal space, looking through his stuff, ignoring his privacy, and pushing his limits to the point that he did not even want to come back to the mansion most of the time.

Children’s perception of love is influenced and formed by their parent’s interaction with each other and them.

As for the young Diana and young Daisy, they saw their parents being toxic towards each other and emotionally unavailable for them.

Such toxicity... was it love?

If her grandfather was alive, Diana would have asked him.

Because if it was, she would stay away from such disaster forever. She would rather die alone, high and dry, rather than have a partner who would infuriate her to death after messing with her mental health and physical health.

In Diana’s opinion, the romance in books was a sort of escapism people sought because it did not exist in reality at all.

And real men were not as perfect as fictional men.

But as Diana looked at the man who still had his gaze lowered, a hint of anticipation on his face, she felt a subtle shift in her heart.

He was the exception to all her beliefs. Always.

With a soft sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck, ’’I said those words for you,’’ When he met her gaze, she smiled, ’’When I said that let’s call it off if one of us finds someone in the future, I said it for you only. I don’t have any such plans,’’ she shrugged when his brows raised slightly.

Maxim pressed his palms on the table, on either side of her body as he leaned closer. His forehead almost touching hers, ’’What does that mean?"

’’That means, I solved all your puzzles, found all the books according to the clues that you left, and saw the two words you wrote in the last book. My IQ seems to not have dropped much. You are not losing anything,’’ She leaned her forehead against his, ’’Let’s date.’’

’Let’s date.’

Let’s date.

Let’s date.

LET’S DATE!

Those two words were like the lyrics of some favorite song, refusing to leave his head.