Page 15 of Viktor at Sea

“Then so be it,” Daewon said.

I couldn’t listen to this anymore.

I charged around the house and rushed up the steps, using more force than necessary as I slammed my fist against the door.

“You need to tell me who he is,” I demanded before they could even fully open the door.

“Nice to see you as well, Viktor,” Daewon chuckled and ushered me into the house. “Now, who are you talking about?”

“The man who proposed to Astrid,” I clarified, feeling a desperate need to know the name of my competitor.

“How do you know about that?” Daewon asked, his face twisting into a surprised look.

My cheeks warmed. “I was walking around the side to get to the front door when I overheard your conversation,” I said, purposely skirting around the truth.

“And you decided to eavesdrop?” Katarina raised a knowing brow at me.

“Yes. I’m sorry about that, but when I heard what you two were talking about, I couldn’t help myself.” My lips tugged down into an uncomfortable grimace. “Now, you must tell me who has plans to propose marriage to Astrid.”

“We must?”

“Yes, you must.” I nodded, glancing between them both in hopes that one of them would put me out of my misery. “Please, I have to know who plans to marry her.”

“Well, fine then. If we must,” Daewon murmured, looking sceptical as he watched me closely. “His name is Crosby. I’m sure you must know of him, though I don’t think the two of you run in the same circles, so perhaps not.”

It took me a moment to match a face to the name.

“I know of him,” I murmured under my breath, lowering my gaze to the ground.

I couldn’t believe this!

Not only had I met Crosby for the first time today, but I had also given him advice on how to navigate his stagnant, non-existent love life. Crosby had proved to be more resourceful than he claimed as he had acted on my advice and actually gone and done something about it. But that wasn’t the bit that I was furious about. It was the fact that it was Astrid whom he was in love with. If I knew that it was Astrid he was speaking of earlier, I never would have given him that advice.

Call me despicable, but I would have shot down his hopes and turned him off her.

“You know that I think very highly of you, Viktor. You’re like a son to me, but you’re starting to worry me. You’ve been silent for too long. What’s going in that head of yours?”

“I have a request,” I murmured, having to repeat myself when neither Daewon nor Katarina heard me because I was so quiet.

“What kind of request?” Katarina was quick to ask, a sour expression on her face. It wasn’t often that Astrid’s mother was in a bad mood. In fact, I had never seen her frown before this moment. She had always been the epitome of the life of the party.

“Let’s hear him out,” Daewon murmured, a mix of bewilderment and calculation on his face.

“Fine,” Katarina murmured. “But we’re not finished with our earlier conversation.”

“This is actually about what you were talking about. About Crosby, and…” My voice trailed off, and I cleared my throat. “Sorry,” I apologised again, suddenly very nervous.

If my advice worked for Crosby, then I needed to follow it myself. I could follow it so much better than him. Just the way I knew I could make Astrid so much happier than Crosby ever could.

“This might come as a shock to you, but I also intend to ask for Astrid’s hand in marriage. I planned to ask during dinner this evening.”

A very long moment of silence passed as they both stared at me. Their expressions mirrored confusion and disbelief, but when a few moments turned into several, and then nearly a whole minute, my hands started to get clammy.

“Katarina, Daewon…” I started, unsure if they had simply misheard me, were in a state of shock, or something worse. “Did you hear me?”

“We heard you. I’m just having a hard time believing it…” Katarina whispered, blinking as she snapped out of her daze. “I’m not sure if it’s the old age or if I’m going crazy, but did you just ask for Astrid’s hand in marriage?”

“Yes,” I answered quickly. Perhaps too quickly. “I plan to ask Astrid as well,” I gulped. “The plan was to ask Astrid after the two of you gave me your blessing.”

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