Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 198
A bunch of people swarmed around the entrance, suddenly making the spacious
hall feel cramped.
Even the air seemed to freeze.
I thought to myself, if Darren hadn't shown up just in the nick of time, I bet these
folks would start thinking I was up to no good again, right?
And Darren, clueless as ever, didn't seem to notice the mix of looks being thrown
his way. He gave me a gentle glance and then politely said hi to Hogan and
Hilary.
Hogan was his usual self, all cool, calm, and collected, without a flicker of
emotion on his poker face.
But Hilary couldn't take her eyes off Darren, with a hint of nosiness in her gaze,
and she said, “Professor Yearwood is all dressed up today; I could hardly
recognize him without a closer look.”
That's when I noticed Darren had gone all out, wearing a charcoal grey single—
breasted suit and crease—free trousers, which gave him a more businesslike and
polished vibe, dialing down his usual casual and laid-back look.
Pretty snazzy.
Darren responded in his even—keeled manner. “You flatter me, ma'am. To have
tea with the elders, one should dress the part.”
Right-after he said that, Cecilia, who was standing by, chimed in, “Congrats
Xaviera, it looks like you're about to meet the parents with Professor Yearwood
real soon.”
Having no clue where Cecilia got the idea that I was meeting Darren's parents, I
frowned slightly and lost all desire to correct her.
Why waste my breath on someone who doesn’t matter?
Darren, being the straightforward guy he is, sincerely said. “Ms. Irwin, you've got
it wrong. We're just having tea with the elders. Besides, you and Hogan... are we
going to be hearing wedding bells ringing?”
Cecilia probably didn’t expect that question from Darren. She paused, then
turned to Hogan with a helpless look, and said with her sweet, soft voice, “Well,
I'll go with whatever Hogan says.”
Hogan didn’t give a straight answer. He glanced at my face briefly before shifting
his gaze to Darren and said, “Since when is Professor Yearwood such a gossip?”
His voice was light, but there was a hint of mockery in his tone.
Kinda uncomfortable to hear.
quickly tried to smooth things over by softly suggesting, “Shouldn’t we go to the
elders? They might be waiting.”
Darren looked down at me, and our eyes met, then he quickly got the hint. “Look
at me, all caught up in chit-chat.”
“C'mon, Hogan, let's not keep Xaviera and Professor Yearwood,” Cecilia sald
understandingly, with a smile in her eyes, “It's not polite to make the elders wall.”
Darren and I didn't linger any further and headed inside.
From behind. I vaguely heard Hogan say, “Now that everyone's here, let's go in
too.”
We entered the hall one after the other, and just as we were nearing our booth,
Darren suddenly stopped and looked at me seriously.
“What's up?”
“I just realized, according to the script we set up, you might need to give me
some special interaction.”
Just as he finished speaking, he took my wrist, and gently hooked it on his arm.
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Thinking I might as well go all out
with the act. I hesitated for a second
before taking his tT j Bit forsale
ET lik&a'gair of eyes were

atching me the whole time. I
glanced over and saw Hogan and his
group already seated in a booth not
too far away. The content is on
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The booths were symmetrically opposite each other.
Figuring it was probably just my imagination, I quickly looked away.
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After a momentary distraction, I
looked up again, Oe Daren
rpdroniter me in front of a
few elders. The content is on
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chapter there!
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I had seen one middle-aged couple

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at Darren's cousin 30% sc O GE
Hire Groen ation. Darren
calls them Aaron and Nancy. The
content is on Novelxo.org! Read
the latest chapter there!