Winter Swan

Ironically, Christian’s kindness and sincerity made Silje feel even more distant from him.

They could never truly become close.

He continued to smile beautifully, and all Silje could feel for him was respect and friendliness, nothing more.

Realizing that she would never be truly happy with him, Silje smiled sadly.

‘I hope you are always happy in your beautiful world, Christian.’

When she looked at him quietly, Christian asked, “Why aren’t you eating your pizza? Is it not good?”

“No, it’s delicious, Christian. The salad and coffee are great too. I can see why you come here often.”

He looked at her quietly with his hazel eyes before saying, “After we eat, let’s go for a walk.”

After the meal, they went to walk in the nearby park.

Brilliant Park.

So Christian remembered. A while back, he told her about how he spent a summer here with his friends and he promised to bring her here.

Today, the park was covered in snow and in silence, they walked together. Silje knew for sure that nothing could happen between her and Christian. She was content with her decision, so after a short walk, Silje said to Christian. “Let’s go back, Christian.”

He nodded with a smile.

“I will drive you.”

Christian started to walk and Silje followed him quietly.

Lincoln Continental.

When he didn’t use the limousine, this was the car Christian enjoyed driving.

She got into his car thinking that it suited him very well.

A silence fell between them, but it wasn’t very long, unlike the way it was in Kail’s car.

Christian leaned back in his seat and turned on the music.

“Hm, hm… Lalala, Hmm—hm… Lalala.”

As she expected, it was electronic music. It was an oddly calming sound, like raindrops. After listening for a while, Silje said to him, “It’s the music that was used on the runway.”

“That’s right. It’s Jens Buchert’s ‘Plastic Heart’.”

“I remember it. I like it. It suits you and your designs.”

“I just like to listen to music that I might be able to use on runways. It’s part of the job I guess.”

Christian reached towards her and touched her hands casually.

“We only walked for a little while in the park, yet your hands are freezing! Let’s see if we can warm you up in the car.”

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. He opened the glove compartment and took out a pair of black velvet gloves.

“Put these on.”

“Sherian gloves. I like the pretty ribbons on them.”

He patted her head like she was a little girl. He smiled and started the car.

Kind gestures.

Gentleness.

But Christian didn’t hold her hands. Silje tried not to think of the one person she needed to forget, but she couldn’t help it.

Kail… In a similar situation, she remembered him holding her hands to warm her up with his own body heat.

Silje shook her head. Ever since she left his penthouse that night, she hadn’t heard from him. He must’ve gone back to Oslo. The fact stabbed at her heart because it meant she would never see him again.

Never.

In Christian’s comfortable car, all Silje could think of was Kail.

How ironic.

“Goodbye, Silje.”

Christian didn’t say, “See you later.”

Silje thought that Christian would always be a mysterious figure to her. He dropped her off in front of her dorm and Silje said her goodbye respectfully.

“I will look forward to your next season’s collection. Goodbye, Christian.”

When she got out of his car, someone was waiting for her.

Kail.

With an aggressive expression, he was standing in front of her dorm building. Why was he here? He looked angry, making Silje panic.

“You…”

Silje was truly shocked. She didn’t expect Kail to show up at her home like this. In fact, she thought he had gone back to Norway.

It was especially outrageous because until now, he never invaded her personal space. Most of the time, they met at his place. He never showed up at her workplace or her dorm because that was an unspoken rule between them. Silje thought he understood and respected how important her work and home were to her.

But here he was now, standing in front of her dorm building and waiting for her.

She stared at him, and even though he obviously knew that she was shocked to see him, Kail didn’t react at all.

With his angry eyes and dark hair dancing in the wind, he still looked as menacing as ever.

Kail studied her quietly. He looked intense yet sad. After a long silence, he turned towards Christian, making her flinch.

“…”

Kail crossed his arms and stood his ground while glaring at Christian. The other man seemed calm as usual, but it was obvious that he was confused by this situation.

“Kail?”

When she called his name coldly, Kail slowly turned to her. He seemed to want to say something to her, but instead, he just looked at her.

Words weren’t necessary, however. Silje could tell what he meant.

‘Come back to me right now.’

Silje wanted to scream at him that it was over between them. She wanted to tell him that he needed to return to Norway.

She wanted to lie to him that she was with Christian, but standing between the two men, Silje realized that it would be meaningless.

Silje turned to Kail and whispered to him, “Don’t overreact. He just drove me home.”

Their eyes locked and the intensity of his eyes made her feel uncomfortable. Silje coughed and said to him slowly in Norwegian, “I don’t know why you came here, but don’t even think about doing anything stupid. Don’t make a scene.”

She warned him.

Silje didn’t want to do this in front of Christian but she had no choice. What if Kail hurt Christian?

She didn’t want to even think about it.

No! Silje knew Kail could destroy Christian if he wanted and she needed to stop such a thing from happening.

The silence was uncomfortable. Feeling the danger of the situation, Silje started to become pale.

Noticing Silje’s fear, Kail said to her calmly, “I never said I was going to do anything.”

He was warning her not to overreact herself. Kail stared at her and only her.

Then, Christian suddenly smiled and offered his hand to Kail for a handshake. Silje felt like she was going to faint from the tension between the two men.

“Hello, I’m Christian Lozetti. Silje Kim is an important model to me. I have been employing her for every Sherian show.”

With a wider cheeky smile, he added, “And I will continue to help her in any way possible.”

“Christian Lozetti?” Kail asked in a low voice.