All Chapters of He Chose My Sister, So I Married His Enemy: Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

"You've said that sentence four times," Damien said from the sofa, not looking up from whatever he was pretending to read. I looked up from my notes and asked if he was counting. "I became concerned around three," he said. I told him the opening line kept sounding wrong no matter how I rearranged it, and he made a noncommittal sound that told me he wasn't going to volunteer an opinion unless I actually asked for one. That was new, and I noticed it, and I went back to reading the same paragraph for what was probably the fifth time.The presentation was in two days, a review before the committee considering New Ground for wider recognition, my chance to stand behind the last year of work and answer for every choice I'd made. I cared enormously about it, which was exactly why I couldn't stop rereading a sentence that was, objectively, fine. I paced while I practiced, notes in hand, forgetting where I'd set my coffee three separate times. Damien watched from across the room without commen

"You complained about that dessert for the entire drive home," I said, watching Damien pour coffee like it was a task requiring his full attention."It deserved consequences.""It was cake, Damien.""That is generous." He handed me a cup and let his eyes travel over me, still in his shirt from the night before, bare feet cold against the kitchen floor. "You look pleased with yourself this morning.""I am." I took a sip and didn't elaborate. He didn't push.My phone had been buzzing since I woke up, and I finally reached for it while Damien started on eggs he had no real skill for but insisted on making anyway. A connection request from the woman who'd asked about Stage Zero. A message from New Ground's communications lead with three photos attached, one of them genuinely flattering. A calendar invite from someone I'd spoken to for maybe four minutes, proposing a short call next week."Popular?" Damien asked, not looking up from the pan."Apparently.""Should I make an appointment?""Y

"You're in my bathroom time," I said, elbowing past Damien for the mirror while he stood there far too calm for a man with a flight in under two hours."You invented bathroom time." He didn't move, just angled the razor and kept going, entirely unbothered by my elbow."At seven fourteen this morning, yes, and you're standing in the middle of it." I gave up and reached around him for my earrings instead, and he caught my hand halfway there and pressed a kiss to my knuckles before letting go, like it cost him nothing to steal thirty seconds out of a morning that had none to spare.Downstairs, his bag sat by the door, zipped and unremarkable, and I didn't look at it twice. Coffee went into two mugs while I scrolled through the morning's messages, and Damien checked his flight status over my shoulder, close enough that I could feel him reading along with me without either of us saying anything about it."One thing," I said, setting my mug down."That sounds dangerous.""When something goo

I checked my phone one last time backstage, and there it was, a message from Singapore already waiting.I'm watching. Try not to embarrass the family.You are the family embarrassment, I typed back, and slid my phone into my bag just as the coordinator waved me toward the panel table, three chairs already filled and one waiting for me.The moderator's first question was easy, something about New Ground's origins, the kind of thing I could have answered in my sleep. I gave a clean answer and felt the room settle into me the way rooms did now, like they expected me to be worth listening to before I'd said anything worth listening to yet.The second question came from another panelist, a man I didn't recognize, and it was harder than I expected. "How do you keep a programme from becoming dependent on the person who created it?" I paused for half a second, genuinely considering it rather than reaching for something rehearsed. "You build people who can run it without you," I said. "Mine ha

"You're jealous of my calendar?" I asked, unable to keep the smile out of my voice."It has more access to you than I do," Damien said, and though it was light, there was something underneath it that wasn't entirely a joke. He leaned back against whatever counter he was standing near in Singapore, watching me through the screen with an expression I couldn't quite place, somewhere between amused and genuinely bothered."You live in another country. That's a temporary technicality, not my fault," I said, already running through the week in my head, Friday's late landing, Saturday's review, Sunday finally open. Old instinct took over before I'd even finished the thought. "I can move Saturday's dinner if that helps. Or the Monday call, whichever works better for you.""Olivia." He said my name with a patience that made me stop mid-sentence. "You are scheduling your way out of a conversation about scheduling."I laughed, caught out completely, because he wasn't wrong about it. "Fine. What