Chapter 1402:


    Ethan nodded with solemn gravity. “All right. Just the two of us. I promise.”


    Maxwell chose that precise moment to stride through the doorway, one eyebrow climbing toward his hairline as he surveyed the scene before him.


    “Are you two arranging a date right now?” His tone carried unmistakable amusement.


    Marisa found herself suddenly unable to form coherent words. Ethan fared no better.


    Both sets of ears transformed into matching shades of scarlet.


    “You’re not nning a date?” Maxwell pressed, clearly enjoying himself.


    “No!” The denial exploded from both Ethan and Marisa simultaneously, their voices colliding and reverberating off the corridor walls with almostical force.


    Then, moving as though they’d touched burning coals, they whipped their faces away from each other, ears now zing so brightly they could have lit the darkened hallway.


    The silence that descended afterward carried an almost supernatural quality, thick and suffocating and impossibly loud despite containing not a single sound.


    Maxwell positioned himself squarely between Ethan and Marisa, watching them as though waiting for a spark to fly.


    With one brow lifted, he opened his palms in a slow gesture. “Then exin why the two of you seem so bothered.”


    What he said sounded harmless enough. However, Ethan and Marisa heard it like someone had tugged open a door they kept locked inside themselves.


    Neither of them bothered to answer. Silence wrapped around them.


    Soon after, medical staff guided Marisa down the hallway on the gurney, herplexion carrying the fierce red of embarrassment.


    Ethan did not follow. He stayed where he stood and shifted his feet, studying the floor like a child caught misbehaving.


    Moments passed before the operating room doors thudded shut. Only then did Maxwell ce a light hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “You’re Maia’s brother, correct?”


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    Almost immediately, Maxwell continued speaking. “I noticed my sister cares about you.”


    Ethan snapped his head up at once.


    A breathter, color surged across his face. Pink crept over his cheeks, then climbed to his ears, and even his neck showed the heat of his flustered surprise.


    Words rose to the edge of his tongue but scattered before they formed, leaving him breathing fast through parted lips.


    Maxwell leaned into the silence with ease. “Settle down. I’m fairly sure you have feelings for my sister as well. Would I be wrong to think so?”


    Ethan still offered no reply. Instead, Maxwell’s remark cracked open something hidden inside him. He stood stiff and unmoving, and even hisshes trembled like they carried his secret.


    He tried to push out a denial. However, his voice lodged somewhere deep, and warmth climbed up until both ears glowed red.


    Maxwell watched the reaction unfold and let out a quietugh. “No need to exin. I understand perfectly.”


    With another firm press of his hand to Ethan’s shoulder, Maxwell seemed to grant him silent permission. “You handle things here for now. I have something else that needs my attention.”


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