Chapter 500 Billionaire's Lies

• The soft amber light of the restaurant's ambiance danced around them, casting quiet shadows upon their table. The distant humming of hushed tones by other diners mixed with the ring of silverware, but to Saben and Clarisse, it was far away. It was only the two of them, in that instant, managing the tricky ground between the past and what they were hoping could be a fresh start.
• Saben had not seen this coming. In fact, when Clarisse had first approached him, so intent, so fragile, he had not known what to think. It had been years since they had parted company, each one of them harboring his or her own reasons, his or her own unspoken hurts. And yet, now that they were sitting across from one another, it was different. The atmosphere between them, though thick, was no longer oppressive. There was a change, a change that seemed as though it might be the start of something different.
• Clarisse leaned back in her chair, a quiet sigh breathed out on her lips as she looked at him. "I never thought that we'd be here, Saben. I thought time apart would just. wipe away everything. But being here, with you, it feels like we never actually left one another's lives."