Page 41 of Black Castle

Something tightens in her chest. Does he think Lucan is too much for her too, too out of reach? Is that why he never showed an ounce of interest whenever she brought him up?

“Yes, Kenji.” The word comes out clipped, defensive. “Boyfriend. Or what? You think he’s too much for a girl like me, too?”

“Come on, you know that’s not what I meant,” he defends quickly, his voice losing its teasing edge. “It’s just that...”

“Just that what?”

Kenji hesitates. Then, with complete seriousness, he says, “He’s technically Russian, despite his Japanese heritage.”

Vivienne blinks at him, disbelief settling into her features. “What does his nationality have to do with this?”

Kenji takes a dramatic inhale, glancing around for any threat before his eyes fall back on her. Then he whispers, “What if he’s using you to spy on America?”

For a few seconds, she genuinely wonders if he has lost his mind. Then he bursts into laughter, his entire body shaking with it.

“I swear to God,” she chokes out, pressing a hand over her chest. “For a second, I actually thought you were being serious.”

“You should’ve seen your face,” Kenji wheezes, his cheeks flushed red.

“No, no, you actually had me for real.”

Their laughter fills the room, drowning out the cries of the woman on the television screen. The tension from earlier dissolves, replaced by an easy, familiar comfort. But when the laughter fades, Kenji’s expression sobers.

“Still,” he murmurs. “I need you to be careful.”

Vivienne sighs, rubbing at her temple. “He’s a good man,” she says, unlocking her phone. Her fingers move without thought, then she types.

‘Hey, Snow white’

Kenji watches her, unimpressed. “You don’t know him.”

She meets his gaze briefly before looking back at her screen. “I learn a lot about him every day. I know him now more than I did the first time we met.”

“Vee—”

“Just drop it, Kenji.” Her tone slices the air as she groans, shoving a hand into the nearly empty bowl of chicken.

But she knows him. She knows him more than most people do.

A dull chime echoes in the room, the screen of her phone lighting up.

Even if she doesn’t know him much, she knows he is a man who will always respond whenever she mindlessly types hi.

Chapter Thirteen

Vivienne

A quiet chime pierces through the faint wind as the text Vivienne just sent delivers successfully on the other end.

Hours of worry weave anxiety like a cord around her nerves, her knees relentlessly jerking against the cold, metallic railing of the school’s terrace.

She hasn’t heard from him in a while. A little over 24 hrs shouldn’t be much, but for Vivienne, it is. How can he go from texting her at least ten times a day to zero?

She left multiple texts last night hoping to wake up to meet tons of replies, but she found nothing.

Now it’s lunchtime. Others are down at the cafeteria having a meal. And it’s not like she isn’t hungry. She didn’t have breakfast today because her mood was sour. It was weird not waking up to a text from him. She just didn’t feel like eating anything. But now she does, and perhaps she should be down at the cafeteria stuffing her face with whatever junk is on the menu.

Yet here she is at the school’s terrace, trying to reach out to him…again. Because she’s anxious, worried about him. She hasn’t heard his voice in a moment too long and that reality is far too unbearable.

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