Chapter 444
Chapter 444:
The tension she had been carrying all evening finally released. She typed back: Got it.
She remembered how he always teased her for being overly formal, so she deliberately left out the thank-you.
Her phone rang thirty seconds later.
“I was stuck in a meeting and just saw your message,” Asher said. “You’re not annoyed with me, are you p>
Kristine blinked. She couldn’t quite believe he had called just to check on that.
“No — not at all.” She felt warmth move through her and did her best to keep it out of her voice. “You really didn’t need to call just for that p>
A low, easy laugh came through the line. “I just didn’t want you sitting there reading into things p>
Her pulse jumped. He was being so direct that it flustered her, and she reached for safer ground. “A meeting? Is everything all right with work p>
Asher saw the deflection immediately and found he didn’t mind it at all. He was simply glad she was still on the line.
“Everything’s fine,” he said.
𝗥𝘦a𝗱 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝗇у 𝘥𝖾𝘃ic𝘦 𝘰𝗇
“Good.” Kristine looked down at her hands, suddenly at a loss.
Then his voice came back, lighter now. “Where are you right now p>
“In my room. Why p>
“Go out onto the balcony p>
She didn’t understand, but she crossed the room and pushed the glass door open. “All right, I’m here p>
“Good,” Asher said — and then went quiet.
Kristine stood there, mildly confused — and then a firework detonated in the sky above the city.
The explosion bloomed into the shape of an enormous rose, its petals spreading wide in brilliant crimson, turning the entire sky a deep, burning red. Before the color could fade, more lights came surging upward — spinning, cascading, filling the darkness from one horizon to the other in an endless, glittering cascade.
She stopped thinking entirely and just watched.
The display lasted over an hour. People on the streets below stopped mid-stride to look up. News crews arrived and began filming. Videos flooded the internet within minutes, accumulating millions of views almost immediately.
I’ve lived in Evira my whole life and never seen anything close to this.
Those aren’t conventional fireworks — those are drones. Only Rymonst has that technology. It costs millions per minute to run.
The entire show must have cost tens of millions. Who would spend that?
Kristine knew nothing of the commentary happening online. She stood at the balcony railing in silence long after the last light had dissolved into the dark.
“Well?” Asher’s voice returned. “Was it beautiful p>
She realized suddenly that she had been on the phone for over an hour and hadn’t noticed the time passing or her arm growing tired.
What she noticed instead was the warmth sitting quietly in her chest.
Colton had arranged fireworks for her before. They had been lovely. But this was something entirely different — in scale, in thought, in the private, unhurried way it had arrived without announcement or expectation.
“It was incredible,” she whispered. “Really, truly beautiful p>