Daniel & Ivan (Love Syndrome)

CHAPTER - 9

Danil watched the young woman talking to Ivan, smiling and laughing. Ivan, in turn, seemed to be talking to the woman in a relaxed and fluid manner, without showing any signs of indifference or sparing of words. This scene made Danil feel a sudden emptiness in his chest.

"Leaf, seeing this, what do you think?" Danil asked the private bodyguard nearby. Leaf had also seen Ivan and Katya together.

"They're probably talking about trivial matters, sir," Leaf replied, trying to reassure Danil, even though he didn't really know what the two were talking about.

"Trivial matters? But I've never seen Brother Ivan talk like that to someone he just met before," Danil retorted. From what he could tell, Ivan was in constant dialogue with Katya. With other people, Ivan usually responded in a short and objective manner. This made Danil uneasy, fearing that Ivan was interested in the young woman.

At one point, Katya seemed to trip over something and almost fell, but Ivan caught her in time.

"Tsk... Shit, a typical scene between a protagonist and a heroine," Danil grumbled, displeased. Although he knew that Ivan had only helped her because she had tripped, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. He turned his face away and went inside.

immediately into the room, unable to continue watching the friendly interaction between the two.

On the other side, Ivan, holding

Katya noticed Danil watching everything from the balcony. However, shortly after, Danil returned to the room, which made Ivan frown immediately.

"Thank you," the young woman said, a little embarrassed at having been awkward in front of Ivan.

"Be more careful," Ivan replied in a normal tone.

"Ahm... Ivan, you know, right? That our families are planning to introduce us to each other," Katya asked directly.

"I know," Ivan replied matter-of-factly.

"You must be finding this quite uncomfortable. I don't know how to tell my father myself," the young woman replied.

"It's not a problem, because I don't think anything about it," Ivan replied. The young woman was a little surprised, but soon gave an awkward smile.

"Let the elders think what they will. Both

We know very well that this will not happen", Ivan stated directly.

"You're not talking to or seeing anyone right now, right?" Katya asked curiously.

“No,” Ivan replied matter-of-factly.

"Seriously? With someone like you, Ivan, there must be a lot of people interested," the young woman commented, seeming not to fully believe it.

"Yes, there are a lot of people interested, but I don't care. At best, it's just a paid thing," Ivan replied bluntly.

The young woman nodded, accepting the answer, and quickly changed the subject to jewelry. They talked a little longer before returning

into the house, where they continued to talk with Rodion for some time. Shortly after, father and daughter said goodbye to return to where they were staying.

“See you later, Ivan. I’ll send you the catalogue of the artisans’ work by email,” Katya said with a smile. Ivan just nodded in response. After walking them to the car, Ivan returned to the living room.

"So, what did you think? Katya

"It's lovely, isn't it?" Anna asked curiously. She had noticed that the two of them were able to talk normally, something rare, a