As it was : (2)
It's around the time dinner begins. People are chatting, dancing, and whatnot, when the man next to you strikes up conversation with Bruce, you following in suite reluctantly. Your eyes quietly absorbing him.
"Mr.Wayne." He greets with a smile. He introduces himself as Josh, some CEO of a startup. Bruce catches the sight of a ring on his left hand. A rather uncomfortably long handshake later, Bruce and Josh speak about some business ventures, with Bruce constantly trying to seek eye-contact with you. You're disinterested and obviously uncomfortable as you sip on your champagne. You must be, because to you it must seem like your childhood best friend ghosted you for a good decade. Unrecognisable. He knows this persona must look so fake to you. But he can't help it. It's a necessary evil.
Josh seems to catch his gaze. Because he turns towards you. Saying your name. "She's my fiancee." Josh states. Bruce freezes for a moment. His eyes subtly going wide as he notices a ring on your left hand's finger. Josh continues to brag. "She just got a job as an editor at the Gotham gazette." Bruce meets your gaze seeking out your eyes but you refuse to.
"We've met." Bruce says with a smile.
"You've met?" Josh raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, we went to school together." Bruce wears his brightest smile. He doesn't fail to notice how your frown deepens. It feels like all he can make are mistakes near you. The charming, billionaire, persona he wants to put up is cracking at the very seams when he's in your presence. You do this to him. You threaten everything he's ever built, everything he's ever built, and he's scared.
"You've never told me that, honey." Josh says turning your way. It makes him sick. Hearing your fiancé say that so sweetly.
"Yeah." You smile faintly. "We just went to school together. It wasn't a big deal." You say meeting his gaze dead in the eye. A sense of sobriety fills Bruce. He can't be hurt by this. He's the one who pushed her away first. He's the one who cut contact for years. She's probably a different person than he remembers. He wonders why he didn't factor that in his big IQ brain. He can't be unrealistic and expect everything to go back to how it was.
There's a beat of silence. Josh doesn't catch how tense your exchange is.
You swirl the lute of champagne and sip on it maintaining eye contact. Bruce gives a charming smile to ease the tension. Before he can say something his phone rings and he knows it's an alert for the batsignal. He winces internally. Awkward.
"How about we catch up sometime later?" Bruce offers.
You nod faintly. "Sure.” You don't look to keen on it. Neither do you mean it. Your eyes follow him as he leaves. Your fiance whispers something in your ear drawing a faint smile on your lips. Bruce barely fathoms it before he turns on his chin and walks out the banquet hall.
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