As if Ivan had been staring at the contact the whole time and calling nonstop, the moment his number was unblocked, Axel's phone started ringing instantly, Ivan's name flashing on the screen.
Axel's heart kicked up fast, his fingers tightening around the device.
He couldn't bring himself to pick it up. He just sat there, staring at the screen as the ringtone went on and on, his chest rising and falling unevenly, waiting until the call finally stopped on its own.
His throat felt dry. He had faked his voice so many times when Ivan insisted he wanted to speak to him, to hear 'her' voice.
Each time Axel had forced his tone higher, shrunk it until it sounded like a girl's. Now, faced with the reality, he didn't want to make the mess even more dangerous than it already was.
He told himself he was going to end it today. He was going to tell Ivan that they had broken up, that he should stop insisting on whatever they had. Ivan had to hear that Axel had found his mate, and that there was no reason for this charade to keep going.
But then a message came in immediately after another missed call.
~Pick up the phone, please.
Please?!
Axel blinked at the screen. That single word unsettled him more than the ringing had.
Ivan had never spoken to him like that before. And worse than that, Axel remembered the person he had seen in real life, the Ivan who stood there with the sharp arrogance of Alpha Norman's son.
Axel never thought that same man could sound this way... pleading.
Rumors had always circled about the president's alliance heir, the arrogant son of Alpha Norman, but Axel had never cared to look deeper into them or know who the heir was or how he looked like.
He hadn't been interested, hadn't imagined it mattered. But maybe, if he had done his research before, if he had known who Ivan really was, he wouldn't have stepped into this mess at all.
He ruffled his hair with a rough hand without realizing. The phone buzzed again, another call.
This time, Axel didn't ignore it. His hand trembled slightly as he cleared his throat, forcing his voice to shift, shaping it into the soft, light tone he used for Chloe. He pressed the phone to his ear and answered.
The first sound he heard was Ivan's sigh of relief on the other end. Axel froze at how genuine it was. But after that breath, Ivan went silent, as if everything he had meant to say had been stolen away the second 'she' answered.
When his voice finally came through, it startled Axel. Ivan's tone was bitter, raw, and heavy with pain. "How could you do that to me? Were you just testing the level of my love for you? Testing how far you could push me, how crazy you could drive me with what you just did? Or did you want to see if, if you suggested breaking up, I'd just sit back and accept it? Is this you trying to measure my love? So now that you've tested it, tell me, how..."
"Ivan," Axel cut him off, gripping the phone tighter. "I wasn't trying to test anything. I really want to brea..."
"Don't." Ivan's voice snapped in sharp, desperate. "Don't start again. Can we meet up today? Just for a few minutes. I know you've said no so many times, that you don't want to meet, but I really need this. Please."
Axel froze. The request slammed into him. Meet up? Please?
No. That wasn't happening. Never.
"I should have told you this earlier," Axel said quickly, forcing the words out before he lost his nerve. "The reason I want us to break up is because I met my mate. That's why. So we should really break up. I don't want him to..."
"Mate?!"
The word hit Axel's ear like a whisper, but it carried the weight of so much emotion that it cut straight through him.
For a long moment, Ivan didn't say anything. The silence that followed was thick, pressing, and Axel realized just how deeply it cut on the other side.
And that silence tore at him too. Because Axel knew now, without a doubt, that whatever this was between them, Ivan's feelings weren't fake. They were real, painfully real. It wasn't just stubbornness that kept Ivan clinging to Chloe, it was love.
Axel swallowed hard, wrestling with his own conflict. Who was worse off in this twisted game? Him... because he loved Ivan too, understood everything happening, and still saw him every day, even if he couldn't get that close to Ivan with his real identify?
Or Ivan.. who was kept in the dark, never realizing that the person he craved didn't exist the way he thought, and would now have to erase Chloe from his heart as if she had never existed?
Ivan's voice finally came again, quiet but resolute. "If you really want us to break up, meet me. Tell me to my face that you want nothing to do with me. I'll leave you alone after that."
The request made Axel's stomach turn. His breath stalled. For a long while, he didn't answer, torn apart between the risk and the demand.
But deep down, he knew it already. If he really wanted to end this, if he wanted this mess to finally be over, to stop hurting them both.. he would have to face it directly.
He would have to find a way to go out on Sunday because they had no official activities going on. If Ivan wouldn't let go until then, Axel would have to end it the way Ivan wants, he will dress himself as Chloe and meet him.
"Let's meet on Sunday," Axel said at last, his voice steadier than he felt. "And I hope you'll keep your promise. That after this meeting, you'll really let it go."
He ended the call with his decision sealed, the phone heavy in his hand.