Almond remained seated long after Jayden left.
For the first time in a very long while, he genuinely didn't know what expression he was supposed to wear.
Nicholas had described Jayden as calm, reserved, intelligent… difficult, perhaps, but still composed.
What Almond had just witnessed was something else entirely.
It wasn't simple reluctance.
It was complete resistance.
The woman looked genuinely terrified of marriage.
Almond leaned back slowly, replaying the conversation in his mind. He couldn't understand where such deep rejection was coming from.
Was he the problem?
The thought alone felt strange.
He frowned slightly.
Surely not.
He wasn't broke. Neither was he irresponsible nor incapable. And Jayden didn't strike him as the type to care about wealth or status enough to judge a man solely by those things.
Then what exactly was it?
Another thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Could she simply find him unattractive?
Almond went still.
The idea sounded absurd even to him, but strangely enough, it lingered.
He remembered the way she stared when he first walked into the room. Unless he imagined it, there had definitely been surprise in her eyes.
So what changed afterward?
Had he become so consumed by work over the years that he stopped paying attention to himself entirely?
The thought bothered him more than it should have.
After a brief hesitation, Almond slowly brought out his phone.
Then he did something he hadn't done in years.
He opened the camera.
The moment his reflection appeared on the screen, Almond felt an unfamiliar awkwardness settle over him. Still, he adjusted the angle slightly and snapped a picture.
He stared at it for a few seconds.
Then sighed.
Ridiculous.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Yet somehow, he still found himself opening the group chat he shared with his longtime friends.
Unread messages flooded the screen immediately.
Almond ignored all of them.
Without giving himself enough time to rethink it, he sent the picture with a short caption.
Am I ugly?
The moment the message delivered, Almond nearly regretted his existence.
He dropped the phone onto the table like it had suddenly caught fire.
What exactly was he doing?
For the first time in years, Almond Jones felt genuinely embarrassed.
He glanced around instinctively, as though someone nearby might somehow know what he had just sent.
Composing himself quickly, he stood up and adjusted his suit and tie with practiced calmness, masking every trace of discomfort before walking out of the restaurant.
Outside, his driver was already waiting by the car.
Almond entered silently and leaned back into the corner seat.
At first, he considered heading to his private apartment.
But after a moment, he dismissed the thought.
By now, information about the dinner had most likely reached his grandfather already.
And if there was one thing Almond knew about the old man—
It was that patience had never been his strongest quality when family was involved.
Almond exhaled quietly and rubbed lightly against his temple.
Sometimes, he felt his grandfather was even more anxious about this marriage than he himself was.
Still…
He understood why.
Losing both his son and daughter-in-law in a single day had broken something inside the old man all those years ago. Even after decades, the wound never truly healed.
Almond's expression darkened slightly.
He understood that pain better than anyone.
His fingers clenched unconsciously as the familiar vow settled heavily inside him once again.
One day
Whoever was responsible would pay for what happened to his parents.
The thought lingered briefly before Almond forced himself back to the present.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.
"To the old mansion."
"Yes, sir," the driver responded immediately.
As the car pulled away into the night, Almond stared quietly through the tinted window, his thoughts returning to Jayden once more.
He had warned his grandfather already.
Arranged marriages were outdated, complicated, and emotionally unpredictable. Yet the old man remained determined to see him settled down, almost as though marriage itself could somehow heal old loneliness.
Almond sighed softly.
Even if he wanted to make things work…
Marriage was never something one person could build alone.
And judging from tonight
Convincing Jayden Cole would be far from easy.