Page 43 of Game on, Love
I chuckled. “You love that title, don’t you?”
“Because it’s true.” He shrugged. “You didn’t answer me.”
“I don’t have enough data to provide an accurate prediction for that.”
“You’re saying my charm and our previous interactions aren’t statistically significant.”
“It’s more like an… outlier.”
“Thanks, love. No need to hold back or anything.”
“Oh, C’mon, you know I’m right.”
“You basically implied that I’m a floating dot in the bigger picture.”
“Technically, weallare floating dots in the bigger picture.”
“Yes, but we both know you were referring to cricket.”
“Fine, I did. So, now it’s up to you to either skew the data or change the outcome.” I shrugged, shifting Milo in my hold as I reached for my paper bag, but he tightened his grip.
His voice was low when he spoke this time, and his gaze filled with something deeper than I understood. “You sure you want that?”
My breath hitched at the implication of his words. “Maybe.”
“How do I turn that into a yes?”
“Time.”
His gaze softened as he nodded before letting go of the bag. “As much as you need.”
I gave him a soft smile and turned to grab the rest of my stuff, but Oliver held my work bag before I could and shook his head.
Instead of arguing, I let him.
Upstairs, I spotted Lilli curled up on my bed, sleeping and placed my drink and bag on the cabinet near the door, my mind already drifting to the shower I needed to reset. Oliver walked in behind me, his presence filling the room as he set my bag beside the drink and scanned the room like it was the first time he had entered the room.
“You’ve moved a couple things,” His gaze lingered on the bed, the stack of cricket magazines I had on the bedside table, and finally on me. “I like it. It’s more cosy now.”
“Thanks,” I replied, taken aback he had noticed the small changes, but a voice in my head reminded me, it wasn’t the first time. “The room already looked great, to be honest. I just added some personal touch.”
He nodded. “My Mum did the house, so I’m sure she would appreciate that.”
“Your Mum designed the house?”
“She did. Both times, actually.”
“Both times?”
“Yeah… this is a family home. When my dad moved into this place after his dad at the start of his career, it was a little too ancient for his liking, so he hired her firm, and when she came to do a site visit, they met and well, the end product is standing in front of you.” He winked, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I practically grew up in this house, but they moved back to our house in the countryside when I was at boarding school and a couple years before I was done, she redid the whole place again to make it more modern, but also more to my liking as it would be my home.”
I watched him silently, his eyes were no longer connected with mine as he went somewhere else in his head, his words drifting as if he were speaking to someone far away, and I found myself holding my breath. Something about the softness in his tone made me realise how close he must be with his Mum, and the memories that pulled him were clearly good ones.
Oliver blinked, his eyes snapping back to me like he’d forgotten I was here. The corners of his mouth lifted. “That’s where I met Rihaan and Dev actually.”
“You all went to the same boarding school?” I frowned. Out of all the theories I had in my mind, I never expected this one.
“Yeah. For me, it was more of a family thing, something that was expected of me, but I think my dad was the one who convinced your parents to send them there. We all were kind of just thrown together.”