Me After Meeting You

Ian stood by her side, looking at both of them through the mirror. His gaze was still as clear and cold as always, a gaze that Amber was used to seeing. However, even now, she didn’t dare to stare into his dark eyes.

They were emotionless, so cold and grim that it made her heart palpitate.

She turned away, and Ian rested his jaw on her shoulder. “Better to smooch now?”

…. Feeling stifled by his requests and slightly out of sorts, Amber reluctantly replied, “Yes.”

Then Ian smiled slightly. His lips didn’t move much, but the atmosphere wasn’t as tense anymore. He wouldn’t say something as dramatic and cliche as “How obedient”. Instead, he was far more direct, tilting his head, and briefly licking her dimple before gently turning her head and kissing her.

This was perhaps his fiercest kiss yet. He first ground his teeth against her lips, to the point that Amber tasted a tang of iron in her mouth. Then, he pried her lips open, and his tongue forcefully roughly scoured her mouth as it lashed against her tongue.

“Are you mad?” She only realized it now, as she tried to force her words out even with Ian’s tongue stuck in her mouth.

Could there really be such a coincidence? Just earlier, she had been thinking about how she could safely but accurately stir up his emotions. But now, he seemed to already be all stirred up, as his heartbeat was racing.

Amber was normally bad at perceiving the mood, but at this moment, she forced herself to be calm, grasped his face with both of her hands, pulled it backwards, and with a burning gaze, she looked at him and asked. “Are you really mad?”

She felt happier the longer she looked at him.

This time, Ian was the one who didn’t have anything to say.

He didn’t respond at all, using his actions to tell her what ‘truly mad’ meant.

***

Amber was almost devoured alive by Ian in the washroom. As a result, when she exited, her body was filled with wounds.

The most obvious one was her broken lip, and there were also clear teeth marks on her neck.

The situation was exacerbated even more by the clothes she was wearing today. The dress was a V-neck, the collar of her coat was loose, and she hadn’t brought a scarf with her, leaving her absolutely no way to hide the imprints.

By the time Amber got away, Silvia had arrived. But when she saw the ‘marks of love’ on Amber’s body, she stopped, put all thoughts of hot guys out of her mind for a moment, and bawled out, “Amber, do you have to be so immoral? It’s fine that you called me over to be a third wheel, and it’s fine even if you didn’t come find me and made me wait here for half the day. But to shock my single self like that the moment I got here, is that really appropriate?”

Amber helplessly shoved a piece of cake into her mouth to shut her up.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Billy also started chuckling when he saw Ian. After he finished laughing, he started praising Ian. “You’re really amazing! Even your skill at dealing with chicks has improved by leaps and bounds. I saw that fellow leave with a green face, completely wrecked!”

He continued staring at Ian, looking up, down, left, and right. “Are you really the Ian Axton I know? The one with a negative emotional quotient? How on earth did you think of this?”

It was time to eat, and Ian sat down calmly. He was seriously looking at the menu, completely ignoring Billy.

Amber didn’t want to respond to him either. Tonight, she was prepared to practice ignoring everyone and everything. So she sat there, holding a glass of water and unresponsive sipping from it.

Even as she tried to dampen her anger, a shameful arousal welled up in her heart.

Billy told Silvia a wildly embellished version of the events that had just transpired, and his conclusion was particularly smugly this time. “Have you seen ‘Planet Earth’? Back there, Boss Axton gave off the image of a lion running out of the savannah, running over, and peeing to mark his territory!”

Upon hearing Billy’s ‘charming’ and extremely innovative word choice, Amber involuntarily started to laugh, and the mouthful of water that she hadn’t yet swallowed almost sprayed onto the entire table.

Silvia also clutched her stomach, laughing until she fell down and rolled underneath the table.

When the three other people heard Billy’s crude wordplay, only Ian remained calm and indifferent. He showed no reaction even as he watched Amber spit out the water in her mouth.

There was no disdain in his gaze, only some helplessness and exasperation; his attitude was like a parent ruefully thinking about how silly his child was.

And then he summarily flagged a waiter down and started ordering dishes. When Ian ordered food, he wouldn’t ask for anyone’s opinions and they would have to volunteer it themselves if they wanted a say. With four people sharing eight dishes, there was almost surely one that would suit each person’s taste.

After he finished ordering, he finally spared the others another glance. He first looked at Silvia, who was still rolling on the floor, laughing, and criticized her. “You fool.” And then he followed suit with Amber. “You too.”

As for Billy … He was already used to his dumb antics, so he couldn’t even be bothered to chastise his actions.

Silvia couldn’t accept being one-sidedly scolded. She quickly recovered, picked herself up from the floor, and started picking a fight even as she rubbed her stomach. “Why’re you scolding us like that?” She then pointed at Billy. “He called you a beast, so why aren’t you criticizing him?”

Billy indignantly cried out, “When did I say that? Don’t malign me! I was clearly praising Boss Axton’s domineering and manly aura.”

Silvia booed and then tried to think of a comeback, but was unable to. She remained somewhat at a loss for what to do before Amber calmly took over. “A lion’s natural instinct is to mark its territory with its piss, a bestial behavior. By comparing Ian to a lion, aren’t you essentially calling him a beast? There’s nothing wrong with that logic.”

She was just trying to get back at Billy for his earlier slander that something was going on between her and Beryl.

When Ian heard Amber’s scathing rebuttal, his lips curled as he shot a provocative look toward her. “Calling me bestial is nothing. There are much more animalistic things I can do. Do you want to see?”

Amber’s mouth was left hanging open.

‘What was he doing? Spouting such immoral words with such a serious expression… How shameless!’ She twisted her face away in rejection.