Too Late Mr. White! I'm Married To Your Rival Now novel Chapter 153

Aria's POV

The online storm had finally settled, but Lillian’s words had cast a spell on my mind.

Every time I saw Aiden these past few days, her question would echo in my head on a loop: *“Don’t you think Aiden might actually be flirting with you?”*

It had gotten to the point where I was seeing him through a bizarre filter, like some kind of creep analyzing his micro-expressions.

And of course, karma came for me.

It was a clear weekend morning, and the ever-disciplined Mr. Carter had just finished his morning swim. As I came downstairs, he was drying his hair, the collar of his robe falling open just enough to reveal a hint of those abs you couldn’t look away from. By the time I realized I’d been staring too long, it was too late.

When I heard that “Like what you see?”, my sleep-deprived brain short-circuited, and Lillian’s haunting question tumbled out of my mouth: “Mr. Carter, are you trying to seduce me?”

Aiden looked at me, the corner of his lips quirking up, fine lights shimmering in his dark eyes. “What do you think?”

What did *I* think??

It was a difficult question to answer.

Maybe he was implying I was overthinking things?

Enough. I never should have asked something like that.

“Sorry, I wasn’t fully awake—just talking nonsense,” I stammered.

Just then, our housekeeper appeared like an angel. “Sir, Ma’am, breakfast is ready.”

The housekeeper! A beautiful angel!

I clutched at this lifeline. “I’ll—I’ll go eat!” Before I’d even finished speaking, I was already floating toward the dining room.

Aiden watched my flustered retreat, gave a soft *tsk*, and turned to head upstairs.

The housekeeper looked puzzled. “Is Ma’am that hungry?”

The heat hadn’t faded from my cheeks. “A little.”

“I’ll bring it right out.”

“Thank you!” From the bottom of my heart!

To avoid the awkwardness of facing Aiden over the meal, I wolfed down my breakfast before he even came back downstairs.

The housekeeper, watching me eat twice as fast as usual, remarked, “You really were starving!”

On my way back up, I ran into Aiden at the top of the stairs.

“Finished already?”

“Mm.”

He stopped, so I had to stop too.

Our eyes met, and my heart skipped a beat. “Mr. Carter, I really was talking nonsense earlier. Please don’t take it seriously.”

Aiden let out a soft sigh and said evenly, “I know. You weren’t awake.”

“Right! I wasn’t awake!” I said it, but a pang of disappointment tugged inside.

I still really wanted to know—did he actually like me? Was he trying to get to me?

But I didn’t have the courage to ask him directly.

I was such a mess.

To most people, this question probably seemed simple.

But I already knew for sure that I had feelings for him.

And given my past experiences…

Well, I was just terrified of hearing him reject me. It would absolutely shatter me.

The way things were now, at least I wasn’t completely hurt.

But letting this drag on wasn’t good for anyone.

After wrestling with myself, I wanted to ask him again how he felt about me.

But before I could get the words out…

He spoke first.

“Go practice the piano. But I’d suggest you let your food settle first, or your stomach will…” His gaze dropped to my abdomen and paused.

I instinctively sucked in my stomach and straightened my posture, emotions churning inside all over again.

I didn’t know what his real intention was, telling me to go practice.

But in that first second I heard it, all I felt was that he was pushing me away, that he didn’t want to spend time with me.

I always defaulted to assuming the worst.

“Okay.”

I hurried back to the bedroom and firmly closed the door.

After calming down a bit, I told Lillian about it, only to be met with merciless laughter.

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