"Hmm? We're going home?" Sydney Sawyer's cheeks were flushed red, her eyes glazed over. She looked up at Sebastian Lockwood, every bit the part of a little drunk. "Are we done drinking?"
Sebastian Lockwood tightened his grip on her hand and said in a low voice, "We're done. Let's go home."
"Okay."
Sydney Sawyer was surprisingly compliant, letting him lead her by the hand as Sebastian Lockwood said his goodbyes to Mr. Chandler and the others.
"We're off tomorrow, stay a little longer! I haven't even had a drink with you, why are you leaving so soon?" one of his colleagues urged.
Sebastian Lockwood declined with a smile. "I can't. The young lady has had too much to drink, so I'm going to take her home first."
Everyone at the table had been in the workforce for years. Even though Sydney Sawyer was a college senior, she hadn't started working yet and still carried herself like a student. They all saw her as a kid, and seeing she was clearly drunk, they didn't press the issue. After a few polite exchanges, they let the pair leave.
Once in the car, she was quite docile, leaning back against the seat with her head tilted to the side as if she'd fallen asleep again.
The window was halfway down, and her hat was long gone. The wind gently lifted the wisps of hair framing her face, while the passing streetlights cast her features in a flickering dance of light and shadow.
Donovan Sheridan watched the two of them leave before cautiously peeking out from the side.
He had ridden to the restaurant in Sebastian Lockwood's car, so he needed to get a taxi home. But after waiting for what felt like an eternity, no cabs appeared. He had just booked a ride-share when he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure exiting the restaurant.
"Nancy, you're leaving too?" The person who came out was Nancy Zane. It was dark, and he couldn't see her red-rimmed eyes until she was closer.
She gave a quiet nod, her head bowed to avoid his gaze.
Donovan Sheridan could guess the reason, and he wasn't completely clueless. "You're by yourself... Should I see you home?"
"No, that's okay. Thank you."
Since neither of them had driven, they just stood waiting by the restaurant entrance.
Nancy Zane must have recalled something upsetting, as she couldn't help but let out a few sobs. Adhering to the principles of a gentleman, Donovan Sheridan handed her a tissue and offered some words of comfort.
"Honestly, there are plenty of good men in the world. You should look at the bigger picture. Don't fixate on a single tree and miss the entire forest."
"But he's the one I like."
"He has a sharp, nasty tongue. The only good thing about him is his face. What's there to even like?"
"You're his friend. How can you bad-mouth him like that?"
"..."
Just then, a taxi pulled up in front of them. The driver leaned out. "Did one of you call for a ride?"
Before he could say a word, Nancy Zane snapped, "I think the fact that he came all the way to Keston for someone, and has held a torch for them for so many years, proves he's a devoted, deeply caring man who is worthy of my affection. If you say one more bad thing about him, you'll have me to answer to."
With that, she got into the taxi and left.
Donovan Sheridan was left standing there, completely dumbfounded. 'Hey... I think that was the ride-share *I* ordered?'
'Sebastian Lockwood, what kind of black magic do you possess? What love potion did you feed that girl... Wait a second. Did she just say Sebastian came to Keston for someone? And has liked them for many years?'
'Holy crap, did I just stumble upon some earth-shattering secret?!'
'What do I do? I'm dying to share this with someone, but I just bad-mouthed the guy. If I go and spread his secrets now, I'll probably be the one on the operating table tomorrow. But it's so hard to keep it bottled up!'
Donovan Sheridan was like a lonely groundhog.
He was guarding a vast melon patch of gossip, so excited he was bouncing off the walls, yet he could only enjoy the juicy details all by himself.
***
「Meanwhile, at The Emperian」
After the car came to a complete stop, Sebastian Lockwood gently woke the sleeping Sydney Sawyer.
"Nghh..." Woken from a deep sleep, she frowned and stared at him, but her vision was a blur, as if she were seeing several overlapping images of him swaying before her.
Stumbling into the elevator, Sydney Sawyer first stared at an advertisement inside for a good while, then her attention shifted to the panel of floor buttons. She reached out to press one.
"Don't touch them." Sebastian Lockwood stopped her.
"Hmm?" Sydney Sawyer frowned, clearly displeased that he had stopped her.
But the elevator had already stopped on the 10th floor. As she stepped out, the motion-activated lights in the hallway flickered on. She stumbled her way to her front door and started to punch in the code.
Sebastian Lockwood stood to the side, watching her. 'She's this drunk and she still knows which apartment is hers?'
A moment later, the system indicated an error.
'That's not it?'
Sydney Sawyer's mind was a fog. A jumble of passwords surfaced from her subconscious—her payment PIN, her phone's passcode—and she keyed in whichever one she thought of. It was wrong again.
She had already made two incorrect attempts. One more and the keypad would lock. As she prepared to try again, Sebastian Lockwood stopped her. "Think before you press it."
"I've got it."
Sydney found him incredibly annoying for stopping her time and again. And just as one might expect, the keypad locked. Retry in two hours.
Locked out of her own home, the guy she liked was being pursued by someone else, and earlier today she'd even been mistaken for a homewrecker. Sydney Sawyer frowned, feeling like her life was an absolute mess.
"I was gone for a few minutes. Who told you to drink so much?" Sebastian Lockwood asked, looking at her with an exasperated expression.
"None of your business."
"Hmm?" Sydney Sawyer had always been so well-behaved and compliant around him. Her sudden defiance caught him off guard for a second. "Come on, let's go to my place for now."
"I'm not going."
"Why not?"
"I don't go into strangers' houses." She looked just like a petulant three-year-old.
Sebastian Lockwood didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The door was locked, and he couldn't just leave her out here by herself. Since reasoning with her wasn't working, he took her hand, preparing to lead her away by force.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sydney Sawyer asked, her expression wary.
"Are you planning to wait out here for two hours? Aren't you afraid you'll get sick?"
"You're not my boyfriend. What right do you have to tell me what to do?"
She wrenched her hand from Sebastian Lockwood's grasp. Her expression was stubborn and unyielding. It seemed she wouldn't listen to him at all unless he took a firmer hand.
The next second,
Sebastian Lockwood closed the distance.
Sydney's mind was still fuzzy, but her body instinctively recoiled. Her back hit the security door, and the cool touch of the metal shocked her into a moment of clarity.
"What did you just say?" His voice, suddenly low and husky, was darkly magnetic.
"I... I... just now..." Sydney's head was spinning; she couldn't possibly recall what she had just said.
But her instinct for self-preservation kicked in. Her earlier brazenness vanished. Faced with his dominant presence, she retracted her little kitten claws, and even her voice became soft and timid.
"Hmm? Can't remember now?"
The scent of alcohol hung in the air between them, acting as a catalyst for the charged atmosphere.
Behind his lenses, Sebastian Lockwood's dark eyes flashed with a sudden light, like a roiling undercurrent beneath a calm sea, fixed intently on her.
Her heart constricted under his intense gaze.
"So if I were your boyfriend, I could tell you what to do?"
He leaned down, his voice dropping to a low whisper. His hot breath washed over her face, so close it made her heart pound to the point of numbness.
"I..."
Sydney had completely forgotten she had ever said such a thing.
He leaned closer and closer, and Sydney felt his warm breath tickle her cheek, making her throat itch.
Her heart was already racing from the alcohol. His unfamiliar closeness made her feel as if she couldn't get enough air, and her whole body started to feel weightless.
The hallway suddenly fell silent, and the motion-activated light abruptly went out.
Sydney's heart suddenly began to pound. Before her eyes could adjust to the utter blackness, he lit a fire in her ear with a low whisper:
"So a boyfriend can?"
"Then can I be..."