Zenon's Game Chapter 213

Suddenly, a chair scraped back, and Oma sat down next to me. She placed her waterproof camera on the counter and asked, "Is everything OK, Candace?"

I was having a great time until the reminder. My happy mood bubble popped as quickly as it had inflated.

"OK is a good way to put it," I answered, watching the chef braise veal, "Not great, not terrible, but OK."

"Have you spoken to Zenon about last night?" she asked, "The guys were fishing this morning-"

"They went fishing?" I asked, shocked by how active they've been. They'd also gone to the gym and scuba diving and all this after clubbing until 4AM.

"No, I mean they were fishing for information," she explained, "Zenon didn't want to say anything, but I think he was a bit shaken by last night."

"How do you think I feel?" I retorted.

"I think it's been a rough morning for you," she sympathized with a slight smile, "But you were wild last night. Bianca has a photo of-"

"Not another photo," I groaned. I'm being forced to live and relive my worst nightmares on this holiday.

No wonder Zenon's avoiding me today. How do you stay attracted to someone after you see their bile?

"I think he's been giving you space," Oma said comfortingly, noticing how my expression had changed and guessing that I was thinking about Zenon. "Last night was rough on both of you and today can't have been the right time to talk things through."

"That's a fair point," I conceded, "but our conversation wasn't very productive."

"From my experience with boys, they problem solve in a different way," she shrugged, "Some cultures encourage boys to be strong and silent and that can interfere with their communication. But, hey, what do I know? You know Zenon better than me, but I haven't seen him really connect with his emotions."

I have. Sometimes.

I reached out for another walnut. The chef had his back turned.

I went to my room and tried not to think of Bianca at the back of my mind. She had once warned me that Zenon would grow tired of me, like he has every girl before. That terrified me.

His distance scared me.

I needed to change my mindset. I should be enjoying this vacation and not overthinking everything. Zenon's not stuck in his room feeling sorry for himself, so why should I?

I walked into the bathroom and took a hot shower. I tried to enter a calmer mood by thinking of the clear sea water and colorful fish I had seen snorkeling.

Tonight, I was going to dress up in one of Nicole's outfits. I wrapped myself in a soft towel and padded over to the wardrobe in my room.

Nicole's gorgeous clothes hung in their individual cover bags on the rail. I picked out a white corset with a square neckline. Then I matched it with tight shorts that had a playful white and slightly transparent skirt over it.

This was the first time I had ever worn an outfit like this. It was more expensive than everything in my closet combined. It was also extremely tight on me. Extremely.

I ran downstairs and ran straight into Axel. He was wearing a tropical print shirt, unbuttoned to show off his pecks.

"Woah, what's the rush, Mill-" he stopped when he noticed my outfit, "Good look, Candace."

I blushed, not used to compliments on my appearance. "Thank you, Axel."

We both walked into the living room. Bryce was crouching by a cabinet to grab another bottle from the lowest drawer.

Bryce looked up as we walked in and whistled. "You dressed up."

I looked around and saw that no one else was wearing a party outfit. Oma, who was the epitome of style in this house, was in a maxi dress and sandals.

"It's a casual five course dinner," Bryce explained, holding the bottle, "We'll change to go out after."

There's no such thing as a casual five course dinner in my mind.

"She'll wear whatever she wants," Zenon interrupted, stepping towards me in a crisp white shirt and black trousers.

His hair was still wet from the shower and his skin had tanned from a day out in the sun. He smiled at me, "You look incredible, by the way."

If I blushed when Axel complimented me, I turned beetroot when Zenon did.

"Finally, we can eat now," Bianca exclaimed, trying to gather everyone into the dining room.

"We're going to need five minutes," Zenon said, before glancing back at me, "Is it OK if we talk now?"

"Aren't we going to hold up dinner?" I asked.

"Not if we can start on appetizers," Axel offered, somehow standing beside us as if he was a part of the conversation, "The oysters looked really good."

"Yeah, it's still early. You two go ahead," Oma agreed, smiling encouragingly at me.

OK, I guess I need to stop running.

Zenon and I walked down a flight of stairs to a basement floor I didn't know Bryce's villa had. We passed by a glass wall that revealed an indoor swimming pool. Another door had the sign "sauna" on it.

My mouth opened wider with every door we passed by.

"Zenon, where are we going?" I finally asked him, "Let's just talk here and get this over with."

I stopped us in a small room with a glass window. It must be a waiting room of some kind, next to a few empty showers. There was also a bench with folded white towels.

"Here?" Zenon asked.

"Since when did you get a scuba diving license?" I asked him, while I crossed my arms over my chest.

It's a habit I got from him. He does that from time to time.

"That's how you want to start this?" he asked, unimpressed.

Was that judgement in his voice?