Ivory (Roses Trilogy #1)

Chapter 09

"Yes, we will have that. Thank you."

It has been over an hour since Reiven picked me up for dinner, and I've been entirely quiet. I kept on pursing my lips whenever he glances at me. Sometimes, he will open his mouth to talk but closes them afterwards. We definitely look awkward to each other, like a high school student on their first date.

I cleared my throat and fixed my seat. "So, uhm, how's work?"

He straightened up his body in front of me. "It's doing well."

I nodded. "Oh, okay..."

He narrowed his eyes to me. "What places have you gone to earlier?"

"I went to see the famous Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and the Royal Botanic Garden. I spent hours strolling around the garden. It was so beautiful. I didn't know they're allowing it to be an event venue like weddings."

"Johan told you?" he raised a brow at me and clasped his hands together.

I nodded, hiding my slight surprise when he mentioned his cousin. "Obviously. I am not sure if I heard him wrong, but he mumbled something when I said he can get married there."

Reiven suddenly looked like he froze on his seat. I leaned in a bit to check on him. "Are you okay?"

His eyes darted at me. "What?"

"Well, you suddenly looked frozen there. Did I say something wrong?" there's a hint of worry in my voice.

"Nothing. It's just..." he stopped for a moment before grabbing the glass of water at our table. There was a long silence between us when he spoke again. "He was supposed to get married."

"Oh." That was all that I can say even though I had this urge to ask if his bride canceled the wedding or simply ran away, however, that was not the only possible reason why Johan's wedding became a 'supposed to happen.' There's a lot of possible reasons, and why do I appear so invested in it?

"Failed relationship?" I added. Reiven just nodded, like it was nothing important to talk about.

"Were you close to him before?" I asked. I wanted to know more about Reiven, and seeing his relationship with Johan suddenly bothers me. His family seems close to Johan except for my husband. Something must've really happened between them, like he said. Worse.

He sighed, probably telling me indirectly that he doesn't want to talk about it. It made me sigh as well. When he didn't answer my question, I decided to shut up and wait for our food to be served.

"We're on a husband-wife dinner date. Shouldn't we just talk about each other?" Reiven spoke while staring at me.

I crossed my arms in front of me and scoffed. "See? I was asking you about your relationship with your cousin because I wanted to know more about you. Anything, or anyone related to you."

"He's not part of us, Flora." he answered with his brows furrowed.

"Don't you think it doesn't bother me that you wanted me to stay away from him? I don't know the reason why. Is he dangerous? He looks harmless to me. He never failed to address me as your wife, always calling me Mrs. Javier."

"Just... please, do what I said." his voice became low. I noticed how he clenched his fists and his jaw tightened.

"Are you hiding something from me?" I unconsciously asked after observing him. His eyes widened a bit. I was also moved from what I asked him.

My eyes went down when he reached for my hand resting on the table. His fingers went their way to touch my wedding ring. I felt my heart hammering by itself inside my chest. He glanced at me for a moment as I felt his hand loosening its grip on mine.