If he could not even admit to himself that he loved Yena, he definitely could not admit it to Gina, of all people.

“No,” he said, after a long pause. “I’m not in love with anyone. Including you.”

“You always speak your mind,” Gina replied. “I’ve always admired that about you. You’re brutally honest, no matter whose feelings you may hurt.”

“Your feelings are not my concern anymore,” Nolan said. His voice was ice cold.

He was trying very hard to be civil. She was making that very difficult.

Gina laughed. “Maybe they will be again someday. I could make you fall back in love with me, Nolan.”

“I could never love you again,” Nolan said coolly, biting back his anger. “Stop wasting your time. And mine.”

“I will never give up on us,” Gina said.

He hung up.

And resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room.

YENA

I got out of the bath and was getting dressed when I heard Nolan’s voice coming from the bedroom. He must have been back on the phone again.

I walked quietly to the door and stood beside it, listening.

It was a very short conversation.

I heard everything.

Nolan’s side, at least.

I’m not in love with anyone. That’s what he said.

It felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart.

I clutched at the sink, steadying myself. My legs felt weak.

Then tears came, quickly, whether I was ready for them or not.

I sat on the floor and put my head between my knees. At least I was already tucked away in the bathroom, but I wouldn’t be able hide from Nolan in here for long.

I tried to hold it together. I tried to at least cry quietly.

It didn’t work.

I choked out a loud sob as a flood of tears came pouring down my cheeks.

“Yena?”

It was Nolan’s voice at the door.

He knocked softly then turned the knob. The door opened a few inches and he peeked in. When he saw me crying, he flung it open and rushed over to me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, crouching beside me on the floor.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth, that I’d just overheard his conversation with Gina.

“I just…” I tried to speak through my sobs, but my words came out high pitched and distorted. “I just miss Tina, I guess.”

It was the first lie I could think of.

“Really?” he asked, sitting back on his heels.

He squinted at me. “I thought that you just talked to her this morning. Didn’t you tell me afterward that everything was alright?”

I took a few staggering breaths.

Yep. That lie had not been very solid.

What could I even say if I wanted to tell him the truth? That I just heard him say he didn’t love me, and it destroyed me immediately?

“Maybe…” I said, searching for some way to explain my way out of this. To just get him to go away. “Maybe I’m just hungry.”

The tears kept coming, rolling down my red cheeks and dripping to the floor.

The sobs catching in my throat would feel so much better if I let them out. But I took some deep breaths in through my nose and tried to get a hold of myself.

The prince gave me a small, encouraging smile.

“Go get dressed,” he said. “I’ll take you out to dinner. I know somewhere we can go that you’ll love.”

He reached out and wiped some tears off my round cheeks.

“I just need a minute,” I said, sniveling.

“Of course,” he replied, standing. “I will be waiting downstairs. Take as much time as you need.”

He left.

And after the door swung closed, I finally let myself really cry.

“Don’t do this to me,” I sobbed, saying only now to an empty room what I wished I had the nerve to say to his face. “Don’t break my heart.”

I cried until my eyes ran out of tears.

Then I rallied. I got into a smoking hot dress and perfected my hair and makeup.

I don’t know how long I kept Nolan waiting. But he didn’t bother me, and when I finally met him downstairs, he said nothing of it.

I decided that I was being ridiculous.

When had I started expecting a love story?

Just a few weeks ago I was refusing Nolan’s proposal after that horrible night at the ball. Thinking he was a big jerk I hoped I’d never see again.

And I knew our marriage was a business arrangement all along.

I should not have been surprised to hear him confirm what I already suspected.

The fact was, Nolan had been kind to me. And to my family.

And right now, when I really needed something to make me feel better, he was about to take me out to what would no doubt be a spectacular and delicious meal.

At least, now, I knew where things really stood with us.

I could stop wondering if he really wanted me, or if it was all part of the act.

Maybe now we could stop playing whatever game we’d been playing.

Maybe we could just be friends.

I was lying in bed after dinner, reading on my laptop.

I’d been out of school for weeks now. But I kept thinking about the project I had started for the annual design contest. I pulled up the school website and read through the event page.

They held the fashion show every year at the Noble Academy, for students in the design school to show off their portfolio projects. The designs were then judged by an expert panel, and the contest winner received a cash prize.

Before everything happened with Nolan, the contest was something I’d been looking forward to for months.

The prize money was insignificant now. I didn’t need it like I did before.

But the contest was the part I still cared about.

I sighed, thinking about my project.

I’d drawn up a really cool design, but never even bought fabric for it. I could picture exactly where I’d left my drawings behind, stacked in the center of my desk in my bedroom back at home.

I wondered if they were still there, or if Tina had cleaned off my desk by now and stashed my schoolwork away in a drawer.

Nolan slipped into bed beside me and asked what was wrong.

I told him about the competition, and the project I had started.

“It’s too bad I’ll miss the show,” I said. I closed my laptop and put it away on the nightstand.

“Why miss it?” he asked. “You can start working on your designs here. Then we can get back home in time for you to participate in the show.”

“Oh,” I said, “it’s not just that. I don’t think I’d be able to pull together anything good enough. I haven’t been to any of my classes or workshops for almost a month, and all the other students have been working on their collections this whole time.”

Nolan squinted at me, thinking.

“Why not just try it?” he finally said, shrugging.