𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 | artem wing

ch. 18

a second date
—

the streets of stellis were loud, as they always were. vienna tried to walk among them as everyone else did, yet now everyone was whispering and looking at her. the law firm was quite close, maybe a block or two away. she had told eloise of her possible date with the senior attorney, with hesitance, her best friend approved. eloise was also informed about ezra and vienna being reunited and was quite surprised. honestly, when vienna and artem had first started dating, eloise wasnt sure what to think about their relationship. she didnt think that her friend was over her ex.

koltons work was nearby as well, though none of them were exactly sure what he worked as. private investigator maybe? thats what theyd been saying for a while now, it made the most sense. he wanted vienna to come to him, talk to him, maybe even apologize, yet that last idea seemed to be a bit of a reach. all of them might be, but there was still a small sliver of hope. marius seemed to be able to tolerate koltons actions and his occasional childishness, though that was quite rare.

vienna thought back to the last time she was in the firm, remembering her short run in with rosa, just now realizing that maybe it wouldve been a good idea to be nicer. she hadnt checked the news or anything in a while, knowing it would all be fake stuff about herself. thats why when she walked into artems office and saw him obviously upset, she was confused.

"artem, you good?" vienna asked, concerned but also maybe hoping that their date might be cancelled. sure, she wanted to go, but she was also nervous that it might take a wrong turn.

"you kissed vyn? you and him? seriously?" artems voice was quiet, yet loud with anger.

"what?" she walked forwards, sitting down in the chair opposite to him. artem turned the screen so that she could see it.

on the screen, there was a picture of when vienna had sent izaiah back home. her and vyn had kissed, now people thought they were actually together. viennas face turned from confusion to just shock.

"someone took a picture?" her voice was quiet and almost hurt.

"yeah. god, vienna, i really thought that we were about to start over."

"it wasnt like that, artem. it was to trick this guy, youve always known that vyn and i are just friends."

"just like you and ezra used to be? eloise told me."

at first, she just felt bad for artem for feeling hurt over a simple misunderstanding. now she just was angry, angry that he wouldnt believe her, angry that eloise would tell him about her past.

"its not like that, nothing will be like that. if you really dont want to believe it maybe we can go back to how we were a few months ago." vienna spat, eyes burning a hole right through artems skull. she turned to leave, not wanting to deal with it.

artem stood up and grabbed her wrist, his skin touching hers for the first time in what seemed like forever. at the touch, she yanked her arm away and gave him a look of disgust.

"im sorry i took it the wrong way, what did you come here for?" the lawyers voice was softer.

"i dont know. are we still good for our date?"

he could tell she was mad, but he knew better than to ask questions.

"yeah."

"ok, bye."

she walked out before he could even say bye. in all honestly, artem had no clue why he loved her so much. he didnt know why it seemed like all he wanted and needed was her, not when all she did was hurt him over and over again. vienna was so complicated, she wasnt exactly sensitive but the things said about her or her friends would build up until she had enough and left.