Chapter 15 Flamboyant and Shameless #2
“Your shoe is broken,” he said calmly, looking down at her. “Where exactly are you planning to go barefoot?”
“I can walk perfectly fine! Put me down,” she insisted, still trying to wriggle free.
She struggled again, but he only adjusted his hold, tightening his arms securely.
She sucked in a frustrated breath.
This time when she looked at him, her eyes were blazing.
“Aren’t you divorced already? And now you have a girlfriend,” she snapped. “She’s going to be very upset if she sees you acting like this. Don’t you think you should behave with more dignity? Focus on your own girlfriend instead of carrying me in your arms in public?”
Her words were sharp.
But Magnus didn’t look offended.
He stared at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. Then slowly, a small smile curved on his lips.
“You seem to have very detailed knowledge about my life, Sylvia,” he said smoothly, though his eyes had sharpened. “Even details that aren’t public.”
His gaze deepened, studying her face carefully.
He leaned a little closer. “You like me.”
The words were spoken softly — but with absolute confidence.
The very second those words left his mouth, Sophia’s face flushed with anger.
“What?”
She shoved hard against his chest and twisted her body downward. Magnus loosened his hold just enough for her to land on her feet. She immediately stepped back, putting distance between them as if his touch burned.
She turned to face him, chin lifted stubbornly.
“I just happened to hear about it from people,” she said sharply. “I have no interest in your personal life. Don’t misunderstand.”
Her tone was calm. Almost careless.
But inside, her heart was pounding violently because of that slip of her tongue.
Their marriage had never been made public. Very few people knew about it. He had forgotten their relationship entirely — and she was supposed to be someone who didn’t know either. For a second, she had revealed too much.
Magnus watched her carefully.
“If you don’t like me,” he said lazily, a smug curve forming on his lips, “why do you care about my life so much?”
There was a smugness in his expression, as if he was certain he had uncovered something she was desperately trying to hide. And that look — that confidence — only made her angrier.
Sophia took a frustrated breath.
“I just feel pity for your ex-wife,” she said coldly. “Watching you move from one woman to another like this. You divorced once, and now you already have Isabel as your new girlfriend. And yet you behave like this with me in public?”
Her eyes flashed.
“It must have been terrible for her. Your ex-wife must have suffered a lot… living with someone as flamboyant and shameless as you.”
Magnus’s expression changed instantly. The teasing look vanished, replaced by a hard, straight line.
“You misunderstood,” he said without hesitation. “Isabel is not my girlfriend.”
His voice was firm. Defensive.
“She’s my friend’s sister.”
He straightened slightly, gaze intense.
“And my divorce was because we weren’t good for each oth—”
“I’m not interested in your personal life, Mr. Graves.” Sophia cut him off coldly.
“Stop appearing in front of me. I am not going to agree to your project. It’s tiring to repeat the same thing again and again.”
For a brief second, something dulled in Magnus’s eyes.
When she had called him Magnus earlier, it had stirred something in him. But now — hearing Mr. Graves again — it felt cold.
The distance in those two words irritated him more than he expected.
A few moments ago, hearing his name from her lips had felt intoxicating.
He wanted to tell her to say his name again. To call him the way she had before.
But he didn’t even understand why it mattered so much.
He stared at her, his gaze steady, and spoke in a calm but serious tone.
“I suggest you stop playing this game, Sylvia. If you keep refusing and pushing me with these constant rejections, I might stop tolerating it. Your little games won’t work on me.”
Sophia let out a sharp, mocking laugh that fluttered out of her mouth.
“Mr. Graves,” she said, her voice icy and dismissive, “you’re not exactly a limited-edition masterpiece that everyone is desperate to own.”
Magnus’s expression shifted, his eyes narrowing, but she continued, unbothered.
“The only thing I need from you is for you to stop being delusional and talking about the games I’m supposedly playing to get you. I’m an auctioneer. I know the value of things. And in my eyes… you’re worth no more than a rock on the side of the road I pass every morning.”
The silence that followed felt tight.
Sophia didn’t wait for a response.
She adjusted her grip on the heels she was already holding, the thin straps dangling from her fingers.
Without sparing him another glance, she turned on her heel and began walking away, barefoot, heels in her hand. She didn’t look back once.
Magnus watched her go.
And yet… there was no anger in his gaze. No trace of irritation or wounded pride.
Instead, his eyes followed her with quiet fascination. Interest. Amusement. And something softer, almost like happiness.
He leaned his back against the car. One hand slid back into his pocket, a small, wry smile tugging at his lips as he watched her stride away.
He didn’t move his gaze from her until she disappeared completely from sight.
Magnus went back home, but his unsettled heart wouldn’t let go of Sylvia.
The next day, he paced back and forth in his office, restless. His thoughts refused to leave him alone. Every detail of Sophia’s expressions, the way she had spoken to him, the cold dismissal in her gaze—it all gnawed at him.
He muttered under his breath, almost to himself, “Why does she hate me so much? How does she even know about my divorce?”
He stopped for a moment, hands on his hips, and then resumed pacing, the sharp click of his shoes against the floor echoing in the empty office. Eventually, he halted in front of the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the city. He frowned, staring out at the skyline as he muttered again:
“I never revealed my marriage to anyone… no one outside my family knew. How does she know?”
Then something clicked. His eyes flashed with recognition.
“My goddamn ex-wife!”