Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 46: Ask your girlfriend

Chapter 46: Ask your girlfriend

Diana glanced at her legs, ’’Why?"

"Are you trying to catch a cold walking around barefoot like that?" his eyes narrowed on her bare feet.

Diana chuckled, lifting her legs to the bed. Without even looking at him, she could feel him burning a hole in her feet, ’’What are you, mommy hen?’’ she thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, ’’No, considering you are a man, we should lean towards Daddy.’’

’’Daddy?" Maxim repeated but his deepened tone shifted the entire joke that she spouted.

It somehow changed the context in which she said ’Daddy’. She meant ’Daddy hen’ in general but ahem...

The hot single-dad novels she had been reading at night as a pastime after Angel slept were not doing justice to her morals.

Diana cleared her throat and changed the direction of the topic, ’’Aren’t you curious about anything?" she repeated her previous question, word by word.

Maxim’s finger drew small circles on her waist. It was tickling yet she leaned into his touch.

He was warm and the feeling was too nice to not crave more.

’’Curious about what?"

’’About why I am here or about Angel? Or how have I been the past few years? Or anything at all?" she frowned when her words were met with his silence.

Maxim pressed something onto her head, probably his chin or cheek and the man did not say anything for what felt like a long time.

But in reality, only a few seconds had passed and maybe she was a tad bit impatient to hear what he had to say.

’’It’s your life. I don’t think I want to meddle in your personal decisions or anything related.’’

And just like that, Diana felt someone had splashed a bucket of cold water on her.

She stiffened.

Maxim was not wrong. They were both adults and it was only right this way.

But she did not know why it felt like he kept drawing lines between them.

Those lines were eventually blurred by her because she wanted to know more about him, about his life and everything but he was unmoved.

Diana shifted from their position and pushed herself to her feet.

’’I get it,’’ she turned around to leave.

But Maxim did not let go of her hand, his fingers were still intertwined with hers as he twirled her, ’’What did you exactly get?"

Diana pursed her lips, not wanting to answer. She turned her head towards the opposite wall.

His grip on her hand tightened.

So what if she did not answer? Was he going to hold her hand all night?

Fine then.

Ivy will tuck Angel into her bed. She was not going anywhere.

Let’s see who was more stubborn.

Maxim pushed himself to his feet and Diana felt him closing the distance between them but she did not bother to look at him.

The man pressed his knuckles under her chin and turned her face towards himself.

She did not meet his gaze.

Maxim sighed, ’’I did not mean it like that.’’

’’I get it. I really get what you mean,’’ Diana stepped back from him, avoiding his touch, ’’I really get it but I don’t even know why it makes me feel so strange. I am the one who is maybe trying to intrude in your life, what you do, where you are, how is your life going or what did you do in the past few years. You... are you. You don’t cross the lines. You are perfect. I am the wrong one. Always.’’

"Diana.’’

It was one of the rare times that he said her name but she could not stop to dwell on how a shiver crept down her spine at the sound of her name slipping out in his gravelly deep voice.

There was something wrong with her system lately. Her body was failing her. These occasional, shivers, tingles, and skip of heartbeats were not that normal at all. She needed a full body checkup for real.

"Diana, look at me,’’ the man said.

’’I know you are good-looking. But I am not looking at you.’’

"Look at me,’’ he repeated, his voice was barely above a whisper but she could sense the edge to it.

’’You should just go and ask your girlfriend to look at you. The one in the cafe. She was quite pretty,’’ Woah, where did that come from?

Diana wanted to bite her tongue off as soon as she said that.

What the heck?

As expected, silence resumed in the room.

"She is not my girlfriend,’’ Maxim said with a soft sigh.

What has it got to do with me? That’s what she should say according to her character. That’s what she should have said a week ago, a month ago, or years ago.

’’No?" Sadly, that’s what slipped past her mouth.

’’No. Ex-girlfriend.’’

The corner of her lips twitched, ’’Isn’t it the same?" she said casually, knowing well enough that it was not the same. But pushing his buttons felt like free therapy she never knew she needed.

’’Gosh, how is it the same?" Maxim’s frustration was evident on his face. The way he squinted his eyes made her realize that she scooped the first human emotion he showed throughout the day, "We broke up already. We are not together.’’

’’Why are we even talking about your dating life?" Diana was irked.

"Because you brought it up.’’

’’I brought it up because you asked me to look at you. I don’t want to look at you. You should ask someone else for—’’

The rest of her words were cut off when he pulled her into his arms.

One hand wrapped around her waist while his other hand pressed her head into his chest. Without heels, she just reached there, right next to his heart.

She could hear the sound of his heartbeats. Or maybe it was hers. But she was too dazed to realize.

Maxim placed his chin on her head, ’’It has always been this way, hasn’t it? We don’t meddle in each other’s matters unless one of us brings it up.’’

’’You...’’

’’You don’t like talking about your family. I don’t ask you about them. So, I thought you would bring it up if you want to share something. I don’t think it’s my place to meddle. ’’

Diana closed her eyes, inhaling his scent that soothed her nerves.

It was true that she avoided her family topics back when they were in school and maybe he realized that so he never brought it up just like how she never asked about his extended family or his father.

He had a point but the more he phrased it like that, the more she felt the distance between them. She did not even know what she wanted.

Maxim was consuming her mind in a way no other man had done before and it was getting on her nerves.

She faked a smile and composed her tone as she said, ’’I know I know. I was just worked up after having a gun pointed at me,’’ she pushed the blame to Ryle unabashedly.

Maxim broke the hug as he glanced at her, ’’Were you scared?" If he was suspicious of her faked composure, he did not show it because both of them knew, the conversation was going nowhere.

"A bit,’’ she told him honestly.

She was scared. But that was until she realized that he was Maxim’s friend, she was on high alert.

Maxim glanced at her like he wanted to say something but she cut him off, ’’I am starving,’’ With that said, she turned around and ran away before she could spout some another-level nonsense.

...

A/N:Happy Diwali to all my Indian readers and the others who celebrate it. Sorry for the late wish and the late update. Hope your day went well *hugs and kisses* I really really wish that all your lives are filled with light and happiness inside out and if any of you is going through a hard time, I am sending double hugs with the faith that you will get over it in no time and you will emerge stronger. I love you <3

And I also wanted to inform you about something. Please please don’t use censored words like ’dang, damn, fck, sex, or any of those similar stuff’ in your comments or reviews. NovelFire automatically deletes those comments which really upsets me. You know how much I love your comments so it ticks me off when they are deleted because of this simple crap. Like gosh! They are over the top *rolls eyes*. Your deleted comment might still show up in your account and it shows up to me, the author but to other readers, it’s invisible. So please please, don’t let your comments be deleted *sends strength*