Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 363

Chapter 363 His Ideal Type

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He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. He lowered his head, his dark hair veiling eyes that were blacker than ink. When he spoke, his voice carried a strange, rising tremor. “I didn’t hear you. Say it again.”

Tatiana was startled by the way he had crushed the glass with his bare hand. She looked at him as if he were a monster, her gaze filled with disbelief. “Doesn’t that hurt? Do you want me to call a doctor?“.

“The name.” He was relentless.

“Tatiana. Tatiana. Tatiana! Did you get it that time? My name is Tatiana!” She snapped, shouting it three times in a row.

The corners of his mouth twitched into a ghost of a smile, even as his eyes burned. He seemed oblivious to the shards of glass embedded in his palm.

“Then do you know who I am?” He stared at her intensely.

“Of course. You’re Jasper.” Her tone was flat, completely indifferent.

She said she knew him, but her eyes were clear and vacant. There was no joy of reunion, no lingering warmth, not even a hint of familiarity.

Something was wrong. Something had gone terribly, fundamentally wrong.

“How do you know me?”

“Wikipedia. You’re quite famous.”

That was why she hadn’t dared to truly cross him; men of his stature were best avoided at all

costs.

“You don’t remember me?” Jasper pressed, unwilling to let it go.

“Should I?”

In that moment, Jasper finally understood–she had forgotten him. She had wiped him from her mind, cleanly and completely.

His heart felt as if it were soaking in a warm current that hadn’t quite submerged it; the part left exposed was being bitten by a freezing wind. It was a suffocating mix of hope and agony.

“Do you have any other questions?” Tatiana was growing impatient.

9:59 Fri, Jan 2

Chapter 363 His Ideal Type:

“Take off your mask.”

“Hey! Don’t push your luck!”

“Take it off.” His voice left no room for argument.

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Tatiana clenched her fists, her gaze turning icy. He waited, certain of his victory.

In the next heartbeat, Tatiana’s hand blurred. She moved with frightening speed, a thin, razor- sharp blade suddenly appearing between her fingers. It caught the light with a sickly, greenish tint–it was poisoned. She pressed the edge firmly against the man’s carotid artery.

“You’re taking this too far,” she warned coldly.

Jasper could have easily evaded the move, but he didn’t. He allowed the cold steel to bite into his skin, his gaze fixated greedily on her eyes.

Those eyes were bright, like a scattering of stars.

It was her. It was his Tatiana. The real Tatiana.

“Either take the goods or reject them, but stop playing games with me. Do you understand?”

Jasper admired this version of her, so different from his memories. She was sharp, defiant, and dangerous–a wild rose in full bloom. He had never seen her like this, and he couldn’t bring himself to blink.

Seeing his silence, Tatiana lost the last of her patience. “Hey, you-”

When their eyes met, she was nearly overwhelmed by the raw emotion swirling in his depths. It was a dense, suffocating web of feeling that threatened to entangle her.

He let out a low, amused huff. He didn’t seem threatened in the least; instead, he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Tatiana, your friend told me that I’m your ideal type.”

Tatiana’s face flushed with a mix of shame and rage. “Damn it! Was it Alita who told you that?!”

Jasper couldn’t help but laugh. “It seems it was the truth.”

Her face went through a kaleidoscope of colors before she finally exploded with a phrase Jasper had never heard her use before.

“Bullshit!”

The word caught him off guard. In his memory, she was always refined and soft–spoken. This vivid, fiery version of her made him momentarily lose his train of thought.

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Chapter 363 His Ideal Type

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“I’d sooner fall for a dog than fall for you!” she hissed. She had principles–she never touched married men. “And stop looking at me like that! Unless you want me to gouge your eyes out!”

Every word she spoke left him more stunned. As he watched her eyes, brimming with fury yet incredibly alive, he realized this might be her truest self.

Before she was sent to the reformatory, before all the rules and shackles were placed upon her, she must have been exactly like this–unrestrained, vibrant, and wild.

Ever since she left that place, she had become cautious, quiet, and “refined.” She had retracted all her thorns and become heartbreakingly obedient.

Strangely, Jasper felt like laughing, and so he did.

Tatiana thought he had lost his mind. Who laughs while they have a knife to their throat?

“Hey! Stop laughing!” She was beginning to feel humiliated.

He didn’t stop. His dark, narrow eyes crinkled with amusement, making his gaze seem even more profoundly affectionate. At this distance, it was enough to make anyone’s heart race.

“Enough! What are you laughing at? I really will kill you!”

In the next instant, the world tilted. Before she could react, she was pinned against the table, and the blade was swiped from her hand.

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