Sharon flinched. It was just a simple reflex brought about by her guilty conscience. It didn't matter that Alex Lenner only smiled at her.
Fortunately, after speaking, the playboy took no further action.
Sharon swallowed her saliva, then calmed down and forced her composure back. She dug out the remnants of the boldness she had displayed last night when she had gone to find Alex at the bar, then walked out of the bedroom. Looking around the apartment, she remarked with a composed, natural smile:
"Your place is not bad, but it is simpler than I expected, Heir– Alex."
Alex didn't reply. He kept smiling while looking at the blonde, his eyes seemingly looking past her facade. That made it impossible for Sharon to remain unflappable, and the embarrassment she had forced down yesterday, but which had crept back up now that her shamelessness had borne fruit, made her smile become a bit unnatural.
Subtly clearing her throat, Sharon lowered her gaze to evade the smiling brown eyes, then tried to break the awkward silence:
"Ahem, you brought me home last night, thank you for taking care of me."
"Indeed, I brought you home, though this is not your first time here, and your plan has succeeded. You must be happy."
Sharon's heart stopped. She didn't have the time to turn pale at those words full of certainty before Alex threw his phone at her. The fear that Alex's words bred in her gave way to panic as she hurriedly caught the device.
A few months ago, she might not have cared, heck, even just a few days ago she would not have cared. But she now really didn't have the means to make up for a luxurious phone should she damage one right now.
*Pa~*
Fortunately, she caught it. The phone didn't fall, and she wouldn't have to bet on its durability.
Sharon let out a sigh of relief as she looked down. What caught her eyes was the news article somewhat identical to the one she had read earlier upon waking up. This time, though, she failed to feel happy, much less smile.
Raising her head with bitterness at the corner of her mouth, Sharon looked at the smiling playboy, her expression one part mortified, one part desolate. Seeing the look in his eyes, she doubted him no more, and asked quietly:
"You recognized me?"
Alex blinked in mild surprise, but replied firmly:
"Since yesterday."
She… had not expected that. Sharon froze as even her breath seemed to reek of embarrassment. It took her a second to ask, as if by reflex:
"How?"
Alex, who had turned to pick up his glass of milk on the coffee table, paused, glanced back at the blonde, then looked down with a half smile before replying as he turned back to finish picking up his glass:
"Your chest."
"Huh!?"
Sharon opened her mouth with a stupid look of incomprehension on her face. She must have sounded cute, as Alex paused with the glass before his lips and let out a soft laugh before remarking casually:
"I thought you would deny it, but you are smarter than I thought. You know when to accept a loss."
The compliment brought Sharon's mind back from her surprise, but she could not enjoy it. She could only reply to it with a bitter smile.
Alex didn't mind her silence, as he had not been expecting any answer to the remark that had been casually thrown out. He emptied his glass and let out an exhale, then turned to walk to the kitchen. Only then did he reply to the unvoiced question the previous exclamation of surprise had carried. He explained:
"I consider myself a connoisseur of sorts, in terms of the female body, so I recognized you by the shape and… other details of your chest, when I saw you yesterday, right when you got into the bar, and you looked at me."
If she could have, Sharon would have turned into a statue petrified by the legendary Medusa, only to break apart and spare herself the misery of such embarrassment. Because that was what she felt, and to a mortifying degree, when she recalled her confidence yesterday, and imagined herself in the playboy's eyes. And she could really imagine it, as the amused laughter in his eyes was unmistakable when he glanced back at her just now to put an emphasis on the last part of his words.
Sharon blushed like never before, her head down as if to push it into the valley on her chest and hide away from the world.
She didn't even know where she was going. She just followed behind Alex while looking down, her hands clenched around his phone.
It was then that something caught her eyes. She saw a notification for another news article, and it caught her attention.
'The famous playboy, now a famous hero: Alex Lenner saved a little girl yesterday, putting not just his luxurious car, but also his own life on the line.'
Sharon was shocked, and she instinctively slowed down her pace. Her fingers reflexively went to open the article, and it talked about an accident that had taken place the previous day, one which could have ended tragically, only for Alex Lenner to unexpectedly intervene, risk his life, and save a young girl.
Sharon blinked in surprise. She forgot all about the embarrassment that had been killing her. Faintly, she could not help but recall the accident that had happened close to her yesterday, around noon too, the same period during which Alex played the hero, according to the article.
That was quite the coincidence, it seemed. Fortunately, no one died in this accident, someone was even saved, while in the other…
Sharon shook the bloody image out of her mind.
She scrolled down the article, seeing the price of the heroics yesterday, the red, totaled luxurious sports car. It was quite the price, but it was worth it. The hero had saved the beauty, only, the beauty happened to be a child in this case. Sharon raised her head to Alex, suppressing a laugh while thinking that it served him right.
Had it been an adult Alex had saved, just the suspension bridge effect and his own physical and financial conditions would have been enough for him to play the playboy and be thanked unreservedly, with clothes and all thrown aside.
With a smile, Sharon reached the end of the article where there were more pictures, and a link to the video of the accident. Following it, the curious light in Sharon's eyes faded away as she found herself unexpectedly moved.
The video had been put together using cuts from different cameras with different angles at the intersection, but the end result gave full display of how risky the situation had been, and how amazing Alex had been.
As the video came to the scene of Alex getting out of the broken sports car, Sharon's smile grew without her even knowing. But at that moment, her smile froze, because Alex came out of the car through the passenger side on the right, as the left side was blocked, crushed by the weight that had slammed into it. And logically, that should have hit Alex too, as he could be seen exposing his side in the video while protecting the little girl, the left side, just like where she had been feeling pain last evening to the point of passing out in the end.
It was not logical, it was unscientific, but still, Sharon opened her mouth in shock as she raised her hand to her side. Though the pain was gone, the memory was still there.
She raised her head to look at the playboy in the kitchen, her shock, incomprehension, and confusion all visible on her face.
'What the hell happened yesterday?!?'