Suddenly, Yinsen remembered something. “Oh hey Cass, Sonia’s flying back from her programs in Paris soon. You hear shoot then?”
Cassian paused, then said flatly, “Nope.”
Yinsen nodded sadly, not pressing further. He was thinking—if Sords found out Cassian was seeing someone else, she’d absolutely lose her shit. She’d probably book the next flight home. Knowing how obsessed Sonia was with Cassian, if she came back and discovered this, it would be total chaos.
Seeing Yinsen go quiet, Cassian raised an eyebrow, his tone still dry. “We done here?”
“Yeah… yeah. I’m bouncing,” Yinsen turned to leave. And walked straight into Anastasia.
“Oh my God, sorry!” Anastasia quickly apologized. She’d actually come back right when they were talking about “Sonia.”
Her gut was telling her this woman meant something to Cassian. But Anastasia tried to push the thought away. Their whole marriage had happened so fast—she’d never even asked if he had feelings for someone else. The possibility made her stomach twist uncomfortably.
Yinsen was startled too, but when he got a good look at the woman in front of him, he was struck speechless. She was absolutely gorgeous—delicate features, an elegant coolness with something warm underneath, and those dark eyes that were just mesmerizing. Yinsen was momentarily stunned, thinking: So this is the woman who got Cass? She’s definitely something special—no wonder he’s hooked.
Anastasia felt weird about Yinsen staring and looked down. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
Yinsen snapped back to reality and waved it off with a grin. “No worries at all, totally my bad. But you’re…” He wanted to confirm what he suspected.
Before Anastasia could answer, Cassian emerged from their private dining room. He gave Yinsen a cold stare, his voice carrying clear irritation. “Why haven’t you left yet?”
Yinsen practically jumped at Cassian’s death glare and laughed awkwardly. “I was just heading out, man. Bumped into this beautiful lady…”
Cassian ignored him and walked over to Anastasia, his voice immediately softening. “What took so long? Our food came. Ana, this is Yinsen—he owns this place.”
Anastasia looked surprised for a moment, then smiled. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Hunter. I’m Anastasia.”
Watching how they interacted, Yinsen was even more sure about what was happening.
He responded warmly to Anastasia’s greeting. “Just Yinsen is fine. You two enjoy your dinner—I’ll get out of your way.” Yinsen figured if he didn’t bail soon, Cassian might actually kill him with his eyes. He was cracking up inside—bros before hos had clearly gone out the window. But seeing Cassian actually into someone was rare. This was definitely major news. He had to blow up the group chat with this—the guys would be shook.
After Yinsen left, Cassian and Anastasia settled in at their table. Anastasia saw that all the dishes were things she loved—perfectly prepared French cuisine with elegant presentation. Cassian was incredibly thoughtful—she’d never specifically mentioned her food preferences, but he’d somehow figured them out.
Anastasia picked up her fork and started eating with genuine appetite, not doing that thing where women pretend to barely touch their food. He’d been on dates with women who would order a salad and pick at it like they were afraid of calories, which was a huge turn-off.
Cassian smiled slightly and cut into his own steak.
Meanwhile, Yinsen couldn’t keep his mouth shut. The second he was out of the restaurant, he started dropping hints in their group chat, building up the suspense. Once he had everyone dying to know what was up, Yinsen dropped the bomb: Cassian Rhodes was officially taken.
Sonia Vinci, who was finishing her master’s program in Paris, got the news within minutes. Her face went dark and her hands balled into fists. She would not let this happen.