EUNOIA ━ diego hargreeves

20

CHAPTER TWENTY

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THE FOLLOWING morning, they grouped together in the living room. Freya, who was sat on the far end of the couch, was sipping the coffee Elliot had made, trying to ignore the bitter feeling that struck her right in the chest the moment she had woken up.

Because on the other end of the couch, was Lila and Diego, and they were in a strangely intimate position. She was peeling the bandage off him, and he wasn't protesting, he hadn't even said anything to her when her hands started to linger. Even as she replaced it with a new one, Diego kept quiet.

And why wouldn't he? Freya and Diego weren't together. He didn't have any obligation to her. But at the same time, he had been the one to kiss her last night. She felt like she was owed some sort of explanation. Now Freya was the one with the scramble of emotions. He had kissed her, and as if a switch flipped inside him, he had decided to cozy up with Lila.

Diego briefly caught her gaze, before he averted his eyes back to Five, who was next to Freya, a coffee mug in his hands. They hadn't talked since that happened—at all. They both decided to act like it never happened, however it was impossible to ignore the awkward tension that was now looming over them.

"So what, you just let her go?" Diego asked, staring at Five, who shrugged.

"Well, Vanya had a lot to process. She'll come around. I know she will."

"What about the guys that went after her?" He pressed on, and Freya could've sworn she saw Lila's arm freeze, even for just a second, before she regained her composure. She tried not to dwell on it, after all, Lila wasn't their enemy here. Freya was definitely just trying to find reasons to hate her because she was two inches away from sitting in Diego's lap.

"The Swedes?" Five wondered.

"Yeah, I mean, how do you know they won't go after her again?"

"We don't," Five replied.

"Any idea who sent them?" Lila questioned, taking a sip out of her mug.

Five shot a look over to Freya, whose brows pinched together in confusion, but she quickly caught on as he smiled sarcastically at Lila. "Oh, I have my suspicions. But right now, our priority is finding dad, and getting answers. Because literally everything depends on it."

"Which, for the record, I found him already," Diego cut in.

"Yeah, and look where we are now," Freya bitterly shot at him. "You let him go before we even had the chance to talk to him."

Diego's eyes finally slid over to her, "he stabbed me."

Five seemed to pick up on the tension, and leaned forward in his chair, eyes sparking mischievously. "I'm surprised he waited this long, Diego. We've all had the urge."

Freya's snort was partially genuine, the other half was just to piss Diego off even more. If he wanted to play mind-games—Freya wouldn't hesitate to return the favor.

Lila laughed loudly as Diego scowled at him, and she held up a palm, gesturing for Five to slap it. "Good one."

Her smile fell when Five made no effort to move. Freya had to hide her smirk behind her mug.

"Good thing I know where he'll be tonight," Five said, handing her a paper. Freya's eyes skimmed over it, before she reluctantly leaned forward to hand it to Diego, ignoring the sparks that flew up her arm the moment his fingers brushed hers

"Where did you get this?" Diego wondered.

"Found it at his office while he was busy stabbing you," Five responded, earning him a sarcastic smile in return.