Chapter 840 A Weird Guy 2
But it was already too late. The laughter was bubbling at the back of her throat, threatening to escape at any second. Beside her, Athena was a mess—her face was as red as a monkey’s butt, her shoulders trembling violently as she clutched at Hera’s dress with desperate, spasming fingers. Hera could feel her trying to pull her under the table, possibly so they could laugh in peace and not offend the walking CEO cliché in front of them.
Tears were already streaming down Athena’s face from holding in her laughter, and Hera didn’t dare look at her again. She tried looking elsewhere—anywhere—but when her gaze landed on the utterly clueless Minerva and Liz, who blinked back at her with wide, innocent eyes, it only made things worse.
She squeezed her eyes shut again. ’Breathe, Hera. Breathe. Don’t laugh. Don’t ruin this man’s entire ego in one go.’
But seeing Hera with her eyes closed and looking so composed, the man misunderstood her silence as a calculated move—her way of pretending to be unaffected. He exhaled slowly, convincing himself he was just overthinking things.
He smirked and took a confident step forward. "Woman, you really know how to play hard to get," he said smoothly. "Don’t worry, you’ve already caught my attention. Come join me at the banquet."
He added the invitation generously, almost charmingly—at least, that’s how he imagined it sounded. Normally, he was cold, distant, a man of few words. But maybe being met with such blatant indifference had poked at his pride more than he realized. And before he knew it, he was parroting lines he’d only ever heard from his womanizing friends—lines he’d once scoffed at.
He didn’t know what had come over him. He just didn’t know what else to say in front of Hera.
What he didn’t know was that he was completely misreading the situation. Hera wasn’t trying to play hard to get—she was holding on to her sanity by a thread.
His latest declaration was the final blow.