6kv Chapter 358 Consequences (3)
Chapter 358 Consequences (3)
"We need to talk."
Two drops of sweat trickled down my forehead when both girls dropped their argument and looked over.
And as childish as it might be, I outright refused to even look at my ex.
Cassie being here was just an irrelevant coincidence. And I wasn't going to treat it as anything more than just that.
Turning my eyes over to Irene instead, I looked as deeply into her face as I could without actually staring. I searched for even the tiniest hint that my long-standing worry, theory, and belief could be wrong.
A single clue that I was actually wrong.
But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see a thing.
'So I was right.'
I closed my eyes and sighed only to take a long breath later.
"Wait, we?" Irene jumped a little, her anger, annoyance, and whatever else she was acting out subsided by a genuine surprise. "Not with..."
There wasn't a single clue or whisk of proof to confirm Irene was indeed the source of the darkness that permeated the last few years of my life. In fact, I couldn't sense a single drop of the familiar, darkness aura.
And that in itself was the greatest proof that regretfully, I was indeed correct.
"Could you please drop the act?" I asked in a tired voice.
I was here, trying to somehow deal with an unfathomably powerful devil. With that in mind, playing mind games or keeping up an act...
Useless, waste of a time, unnecessary.
'What's going to happen is going to happen anyway.'
Irene raised her eyes and looked over before turning her attention to her friend.
"That place will do," she remarked silently, reaching out for Cassie's hand and pulling her ahead as she stepped towards the craft coffee bar I'd mentioned.
I had every intention of getting seated right by the window, in a perfect and unobstructed view of all the gunmen hidden in the cars within a nearby side alley.
Still, after making a mere step, Irene suddenly stopped and looked back at Cassie's startled expression.
And for a moment, a strange, weirdly genuine look sparked up in her eyes.
"It looks like this is a talk between him and me, after all," Irene remarked, letting go of Cassie's hand and turning her face to the front as if to hide a look of slightly regretful rejection.
'Is this still an act?' I asked myself, moving my eyes over Cassie as if she were just a street lamp or postal box. And without further ado, I followed Irene to the very location I suggested.
'I wonder if she will stay?' I thought as we crossed the street in silence, perfectly aware of how Cassie raised her hand after her friend and even opened up her mouth... Only to end up lowering both her hand and her face as she closed her mouth back up.
To see what kind of face she made, I would actually have to look over... But in all honesty, I didn't care in the slightest.
Soon, we went inside and after a short delay of acting all normal and ordering a coffee each like your run-of-the-mill couple, we sat down.
As if to show that she'd read my intentions, Irene didn't protest my choice of location.
'Or maybe she somehow has no clue what I'm planning?' I thought... Only to throw such a stupid idea away.
From how she acted and from how long I knew about her... Or to put it bluntly, from how far into the past the influence of her darkness appeared to affect my fate, she had to feel as comfortable in this reality as me, a damn native.
I didn't try to hide my intentions to deal with her at all, so she had to be aware something was brewing. In fact, being a woman, she was naturally bound to notice the stiffness of my face and notice that there was something amiss about this situation.
Sure, she might've been one of the reasons why I broke up with Cassie, she might have a troubled relationship and history with both me and my ex, her close friend...
But none of those would warrant the way I've approached her and demanded to talk.
"So, then?" Sitting down, Irene stretched her hands up before lowering her elbows on the table and cupping her hands together. She then leaned her chin over her interweaved fingers and put on a huge, chillingly cold smile. "What did you want to talk about?"