CHAPTER 5: Feeling The Moment

YULIA

“So you’re telling me that you’re living with the Kendrick Fernsby?” Adeline asked dramatically, raising both hands to make quotation marks in the air.

I laughed, taking another sip of my pineapple smoothie. I had decided to meet her at The Good Life Eatery because their smoothies were ridiculously good, and honestly, I needed to get out of the house before my thoughts completely consumed me.

“Yep!”

“Girrrlll…” She whistled lowly. “You’re literally living every woman’s fantasy right now.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Mhmmm.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously over the rim of her mango smoothie. “And I’m the Queen of England.”

I rolled my eyes immediately. “I don’t know why my dad thinks I can’t survive alone for three weeks.” I sighed, stirring my smoothie absentmindedly. “And now…”

“Now what?” Adeline probed, glinting her eyes at me.

“And now it’s just… complicated.”

“Oh. My. God!!!” Adeline straightened instantly in her chair, cupping her mouth.

“What?”

“You like him.”

“What? No!” I answered quickly.

“Yulia, I know you.” She pointed out smugly.

I looked away toward the large windows of the café. That alone probably answered her question.

“Oh, this is bad,” she muttered dramatically.

“It’s not bad.”

“It’s your stepbrother.”

“We’re not actually related.”

“That’s not helping your case, babe.”

I groaned softly, dropping my head briefly onto the table before sitting upright again. “I don’t even know what’s happening,” I admitted quietly. “Everything feels weird.”

Adeline leaned forward curiously. “Define weird.”

And unfortunately for me, my brain immediately replayed yesterday by the pool. Natalie’s call, my interruption, and Kendrick calling me jealous. My cheeks warmed instantly.

Adeline noticed immediately. “Oh my God,” she whispered loudly. “Something happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

“You’re blushing,” she said slowly.

“I am not!” I replied too quickly.

She raised a brow. “That sounded convincing.”

I sighed dramatically before muttering, “He got a call from some woman.”

“And?”

“And apparently my mouth started moving before my brain did.”

Adeline blinked slowly. “Explain.”

“So he answered the phone on speaker,” I started carefully, “and she was asking him questions and sounding all… pretty and confident.”

Adeline stared at me blankly. “So?”

“So I interrupted and asked him if he wanted to watch a movie with me.”

A moment of silence, then Adeline burst into laughter so loud that people nearby turned to stare at us.

“Yula… you are DOWN BAD!”

“I am not!”

“You literally got jealous.”

“I did not get jealous.”

“You interrupted another woman talking to him.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yulia.” She leaned forward, suddenly serious. “Do you have feelings for him?”

That question hit harder than expected, and honestly? I didn’t know. Or maybe I did know and simply didn’t want to say it out loud yet.

I stared down at my smoothie, stirring it slowly. “He’s just…” I paused. “Different.”

Adeline watched me carefully now, no longer teasing. “How do you feel around him?”

I opened my mouth, then shut it again, because there weren’t enough words for it. I couldn’t even name what I felt. Everything blurred together in a way that made no sense to me.

“I don’t know,” I confessed softly. “But every time he looks at me, I forget how to think properly.”

Adeline sat back in her chair slowly. “Yeah,” she sighed. “You’re definitely in trouble.”

I laughed weakly. “I can’t wait for school to reopen, seriously.”

“That bad?”

“Yes!” I groaned. “At least then I’ll have something else to focus on besides him walking around looking unfairly attractive all day.”

That earned another laugh from her.

“Okay, but tell me this,” she said excitedly. “What’s he actually like in person?”

I thought about it carefully. Kendrick wasn’t what people assumed. He was quieter than expected, more observant, and somehow more dangerous because of it.

“He’s very calm,” I finally said. “Like… nothing rattles him.”

“And hot?”

“Adeline.”

“That means yes.”

I rolled my eyes while laughing.

“He took me to street racing on Saturday.”

Her eyes widened instantly. “YOU?!”

I nodded, smiling despite myself as I remembered the chaos from that night. “And I met his friends, Damon and Victor, and Damon’s girlfriend, Sophie.”

“Ooooh, a time was had then.”

I nodded. “I really liked Sophie, actually.”

Adeline pointed at me accusingly. “See? You’re already entering his world.”

That realization settled awkwardly in my chest. Maybe she was right.

“Sophie actually invited me out Wednesday night,” I said. “You should come.”

“Where?”

“I don't know yet. Apparently, they all hang out together sometimes.”

Adeline gasped dramatically. “You’re inviting me into billionaire society?”

I laughed. “You’re ridiculous, and yes, you’re coming with me.”

“Absolutely.”

We spent another hour talking about random things after that. University gossip. Professors we hated. Old memories.

For a little while, everything felt normal again. By the time we finally left the café, the sun had already started setting over London.

Adeline hugged me tightly before leaving. “And Yulia?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to fall in love with your stepbrother accidentally.”

I stared at her flatly. “You’re not funny.”

My stomach flipped anyway. I wasn’t sure it was accidental anymore.

I got back to the mansion, and the house was quiet as usual. I headed upstairs, changed into something comfortable, and decided to distract myself with Law revision. It turned out to be impossible. Every five minutes, my brain replayed Kendrick’s voice, his smirk, and the way he looked at me. Annoying.

I adjusted my reading glasses and tried focusing harder on the case study in front of me. Concentration lasted approximately twenty-three minutes before I heard the footsteps echoing nearby.

I looked up instinctively. Kendrick stood in the doorway in his work clothes, watching me like he was assessing something he hadn’t decided about yet.

“How long have you been standing there?” I asked carefully.

“Long enough.”

His gaze dropped briefly to my glasses before returning to my face again. Something unreadable flickered across his expression.

“What?” I asked nervously.

He started walking toward me slowly. Too slow.

“You wear glasses,” he said quietly.

I frowned slightly. “Obviously?”

“Hm.”

“For reading.” I tipped my head back. “That’s your observation?”

“No.” He murmured, his voice smooth like silk wrapped around me. “My observation is that they make you look sinfully attractive.”

He stopped in front of me, way too close, suddenly too aware of the space between us. “Kendrick…”

His eyes stayed locked on mine. Heavy, full of hunger.

“You know,” he said quietly, “you’ve become a serious distraction.”

I swallowed hard. “I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s the problem.”

Then slowly, his eyes dropped to my lips. “Yulia,” he murmured.

“Ye… yesss?”

“Tell me to stop,” His voice lowered smoothly. “Or I’m kissing you right now.”