Karl’s voice shot up instantly. "What the hell did you just—"
"I said I wanted a date with her," Antony cut in coldly. Then his tone softened as he turned to Kaija. "Would that be okay with you?"
Kaija just kept staring at him, still stunned. Did she just hear him wrong, or was Antony having a fever today?
"But... why?" she blurted, face dumb.
"Because I like you," he admitted plainly, his voice flat, face straight.
This ti, Kaija didn’t just freeze to stone — she cracked. Her jaw dropped straight to the floor and never ca back up.
Next to her, Karl’s barely contained rage now erupted into a full-on thunderstorm. His voice ca again, pointed and dripping with mockery. "Do you even hear yourself, AK? You’ve never touched a girl in your life. Now you wanna date her?"
"And who are you to comnt on who I want to date?" Antony shot back, raising a brow. "Don’t tell you like her too?"
Karl’s jaw locked tightly shut, his shoulders trembling faintly.
Suddenly, he stord straight to the door, shoved his feet into his massive boots and barked, "Date whoever the fuck you want. I don’t give a damn! Just take my masterpiece and do it well! Don’t make regret agreeing to this!"
Then he slamd the door behind him with a violent BANG.
Once outside, Karl leaned against the door, chest heaving nonstop as heat rushed from his chest straight into his face, burning his ears.
Why had he yelled like that? Why did he care who wanted to date that annoying trainee girl? What the hell was wrong with him?
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!" he growled under his breath, clawing through his hair until it looked like a bird nest as he stomped toward the elevator.
He knew it! Every single ti he crossed paths with that cursed AK, nothing good ca out of it! Now his whole day was already ruined.
Back in Room 1, Kaija was still... stunned.
If it was Charles Kosonen or Juho Isota who’d said those words, she would’ve brushed them off easily as those two would only an them half-heartedly at best.
But this was Antony Kosonen, and he’d just admitted so plainly, directly to her face that he liked her? And not just that, he wanted to date her?
She knew Antony wasn’t the type to joke about sothing like that. With the serious way he’d said it, she better not ask sothing foolish back.
She stole a nervous glance at Antony. Antony was still looking at her, his golden eyes steady and unblinking. Her gaze dropped again instantly.
"You still haven’t told if it’s okay with you," Antony said softly.
He reached a hand out, but stopped midair before his finger could touch her hair. He could see the faint tremble in her shoulders, and it bothered him greatly.
"I..." Kaija murmured, staring at the floor.
She knew she didn’t want to turn Antony down, but she didn’t want to ignite a major scandal within the campus either.
By now, she was certain that Antony held a much higher position in the Production departnt than he appeared to be. Still, Antony was only asking for a date, which might not lead to anything. What was she even afraid of?
Slowly, she lifted her eyes to him again, voice small and unsure. "It’s okay with ... but can you keep it a secret between us?"
The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile, his hand settling on her head, stroking gently. "Of course. It’ll stay between us."
His touch and that quiet smile sent a soft tingle across her cheeks. Seeing that quiet, shy reaction only made Antony’s smile deepened. She seed to him now soft and cute, like a little bunny rabbit.
"Shall we head to the studio then?" he asked. "The girls are probably waiting."
She nodded with a smile. "Yeah, of course. Let’s go then." She got dressed, and they left her place for the dance studio.
Just when Kaija thought the storm had passed, Antony’s voice ca as the elevator to Building S descended. "By the way, why was Karl inside your flat this early?"
Her breath hitched. She’d prayed that little incident would slip by unnoticed, but nothing could really escape Antony’s sharp radar it seed.
"Well..." the word drawled out, "yesterday Karl overheard everything when I confronted Liisi, then he wanted to hear the full track you sent . He followed back to my place, I let him stay in the living room to listen, and when I checked again he was already knocked out on the sofa."
"Hm." Antony humd. "So he slept at your place last night?" His tone was as flat as his face.
She nodded hesitantly, gaze darting away.
Thankfully, Antony didn’t push further. But what was even scarier was how he stayed dead silent from the elevator all the way to the dance studio, and through the entire morning session.
Around lunch ti, Karl texted her. He wanted to show her the song as soon as possible, aning that sa day, so Kaija ended up seeing Karl Hanski again that evening, this ti at his flat.
When he greeted her at his door, he was dressed head to toe in white — plush sweatshirt, soft sweatpants, and a cup of hot chocolate in hand.
"Welco back to my glamorous, exquisite heaven," he announced, perfectly poised.
She raised a borw at him as she followed him inside.
Last ti Kaija was here, she hadn’t been in the mood to check out his place, but now the place looked completely rearranged.
There were way more chairs and couches than any one person needed, all looking more like sculptural art pieces than actual furniture. Paintings she’d never seen before were now on the walls, quirky lamps filled every corner, and exotic plants decorated every surface.
"Sit anywhere you like, birdie," he said as he poured her a cup of hot chocolate and hopped onto a black leather couch that looked like so avant-garde piece of art in the middle of the spacious living room.
Little did she know, calm as Karl might have looked now, he’d spent the entire day frantically rearranging everything before she arrived.
She picked up her cup and walked over toward the black couch. "What’s the song about?"
His mouth curved into an easy smile. "Anger, and all of the deep hatred I have for that AK bastard."
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