THE COMMITTEE ROOM WAS FILLED
with activity and chatter as Ruby and her friends gathered to finalize plans for the upcoming gala. The chaos of voices and the rustle of papers filled Liv's ear as she sat at the table, next to Kieran Rutherford.
She was flipping through notes, her brow furrowed in concentration.

Across the room was James, lingering by the windows, seemingly engaged in a conversation with some guy and not bothering to help them at all.

The strained silence between the two had lasted the last three days and Liv wondered what James' plan was, that he went from bothering and blackmailing her, over to completely ignoring her existence.
The whole situation hadn't gone unnoticed by the people around her either. Her friends had already asked what had happened after the festival, they probably thought about something like a hookup between her and James.

Liv hadn't intended to let it bother her, but as days passed, James' coldness was becoming impossible to ignore.

"Livia do you wanna start?" Ruby asked and Liv nodded.
When they organized themselves and went quiet, Liv stood up and walked towards the flipchart, starting to speak.

"Okay so I've reviewed the venue layouts, and I think we can use the main terrace for the cocktail reception," she said, showing the place on the plan, that was drawn on the paper of the chart. She glanced at James, expecting his usual sharp and mocking comments.
But the boy was quiet and barely looked up from his phone.

"Sounds good to me!" Kieran said, nodding enthusiastically.

"Then we'll do that and the bar will be on the other side, near the buffet. It would help if we could finalize the seating arrangements today." Ruby said, nodding.

"That was your job, James. Did you happen to finish the guest list review?" Liv said, tilting her head mockingly, her voice annoyed as always.

"I'll send it over later," James replied flatly, his eyes not meeting hers.

"I've been busy." He murmured, tipping on his phone.
His behavior made Livia's fingers grip the edge of her notes a little too tightly. She forced a polite smile.

"Of course. I just want to make sure everything's on track, looking at how close we are to the gala. Lin could you show me the thing for the bar? And Ruby I think we should go over the decorations again, just in case-.."

"I think we've got it covered, Ashwand." James said, his tone clipped.

Livia went silent as her eyes fell on him and GOD if he would have looked up to meet her eyes, everyone in that room would have been sure that James Beaufort would've dropped dead right then and there.
Another committee member, sensing the tension, quickly began talking about floral arrangements, to distract from the electric atmosphere.
Livia barely heard her.

No one.. really NO ONE dared to talk to the Ashwand girl that way.

So when the meeting finished, Livia made her way toward James, grabbing his bicep and pulling him back.

"I'm telling you this one time! If you ever talk to me that way again, I'll go right to the next publisher and tell them about Lydia's little affair!" James looked at her, something in his eyes flashing for a moment, which made Liv think that she got him.

"Alright." The boy then said, continuing to walk out of the room.

"Alright what?" She asked.

"I'll never talk to you that way again if that offends you." He shrugged and Liv scoffed.

"What is wrong with you?! One minute we're on the same page, and the next, you're acting all strange!"
She accused him.
James turned around sighing.

"Look, we're here to get this gala done. It's not personal."

"Not personal?" Livia repeated, her frustration spilling over.

"You were all about dancing with me and making me your partner and the next moment you're ignoring me the whole week, James."

"Oh does that bother you?" He said mockingly, although his tone was still nonchalant and bored.

"I thought you'd be glad to get rid of me." He said, his eyes finally meeting hers. Liv rolled her eyes and then walked towards him.

"Believe me, I am."

Without another word, she walked past him and left, her heels clicking against the floor.

•

When Livia walked through the entrance of her house, she was already greeted by Mary.

"Mr. Ashwand is expecting you." The house lady said, nodding as Livia heard soft laughter from the dining room.

"Do we have a guest?" She asked and Mary nodded, taking Livia's jacket and bag.

"Yes." Livia raised an eyebrow, then fixed her clothes and walked towards the dining room.

The first people she saw, when she entered the room, were her parents and after that an unfamiliar face.

Blonde curly hair, slim figure but not too slim with defined muscles on his arms and a sharp jawline. He wore a white polo shirt, his hair was grown out to his ears and complimented his side profile. He had soft creases, from smiling, in his face before his eyes met hers with a charming smile. Definitely an athlete.

"Ah Livia!" Her mother greeted her.

"This is Artin Lédoinne! You might know him from your old tennis club!" She said, walking up to her daughter.
Artin stood up, shaking Liv's hand with a charming smile, which she returned.

"Hi, nice to meet you." He said shortly. He did look like a tennis player, Livia thought. But she couldn't remember him, which was probably because she left the club and started taking private lessons when she was 12.

"Nice to meet you too, what brings you here?" She asked, sitting down next to her parents.

"Artin's father and I go to the same golf club since a few months now and decided to bring you two together." her father said and Livia looked from him back to the blonde boy.

"My father would like you to join the new tennis club I've been running for a few months now. There is quite a rumor that you're an excellent player." he said charmingly, in a really attractive voice.

"Is that so?" Livia smirked and exchanged a look with her parents. Her father looked at her, silently giving her the command to take the invitation.

"Yes. It'd be great to have you. Just think about it and I uh.. unfortunately need to get going." He said with a short movement of his wrist, showing his watch. He stood up and so did all the others in the room.

"I will!" Livia said, smiling charmingly as she escorted him to the entrance. As soon as their parents were out of sight, they both relaxed.

"I hate these formalities. You can call me Art." He said nodding and Livia had to admit that she felt quite attracted to him, which really wasn't difficult with the charming smiles he sent her.

"So you're a tennis player? I don't remember you from the club." She said, raising an eyebrow and studying him.

"That's probably because I was the freaky kid with the glasses." Art said, grinning and Liv's expression changed.
She did recognize him.

"The kid with the red hair? That's impossible." She said and smiled brightly.

"Yup." He said, putting his hands into his pockets.

"I would never have recognized you. What happened to the glasses?" She asked mockingly.

"Got rid of em." He shrugged and stepped closer.

"So you wanna play a few matches sometime?" He asked looking down in her eyes. His eyes were a soft blue with darker shades.

"Yeah why not? You free tomorrow?" She asked.

"See you on the court." He said, walking past her towards his car.

Livia could smell trouble.
And she loved that smell.

Author's note:
Imagine Artin as the young version of Art from "challengers"!
-Exactly 😌.