The Reborn Young Master Is No Longer a Simp

Chapter 8: THE APOLOGY SHE DIDN’T ASK FOR

The banquet had been running for thirty minutes when Noah decided to move.

Elena was beside him, holding a glass of white wine and smiling at the wife of a Bennett executive. She had been working the room since they arrived, collecting warm looks and soft conversation from people who had seen the graduation video and felt sorry for her.

Noah let her enjoy it, because he needed her comfortable. A confident Elena would follow her instructions carelessly.

He kept one hand lightly at her back and scanned the room.

Carter was standing near the far end of the hall, still holding water, still slightly removed from the nearest cluster of executives. Two Bennett senior managers had drifted nearby, and their conversation had turned toward business. Richard stood several tables over, deep in discussion with a board member, but his eyes moved across the room every few minutes.

Noah watched Carter accept a business card from one of the managers, then turned his attention back to Elena just as she finished her conversation and looked up at him.

“They seem nice,” she said quietly.

“They are,” Noah said.

Elena reached for his arm again, and her eyes moved briefly across the room. Noah followed the direction of her gaze without turning his head.

Astrid.

She was standing with her parents and two Montgomery family associates near the far window, listening to a conversation with a polite expression, her eyes staying carefully away from Noah’s side of the room.

Elena turned back to him. “She keeps looking over here,” she said, her voice soft and calm, but the edge underneath it was sharp. “I think she still hates me.”

“The banquet isn’t the place for old misunderstandings,” Noah said.

Elena blinked, and for a second she waited for more, the defense, the reassurance. When Noah didn’t give it, she pressed her lips together lightly and looked back toward her wine glass.

Noah could feel her recalibrating.

Twenty minutes later, Noah told Elena he needed to greet a few business guests.

“My father’s been watching,” he said. “I should at least look like I’m making an effort tonight.”

Elena nodded and let go of his arm without protest. “Don’t be long.”

“I won’t.”

Carter was still near the Bennett managers, safe for now, but only for now. Noah crossed the hall and stopped at the cluster near Carter to exchange brief greetings with the two senior managers. He shook hands with one, accepted a business card from the other, and spent four minutes in conversation about logistics timelines before excusing himself.

When he looked across the room, he saw Astrid stepping away from her family toward a side corridor leading to a quieter lounge off the main hall.

Noah waited a moment, then followed.

The lounge was dim and quiet, furnished with low sofas and side tables, and the music from the quartet carried through faintly from the other room. Astrid stood near the window at the far end, her back partially turned, looking out at the city.

She heard his footsteps.

“If Elena sent you,” she said without turning around, “I’d rather you just say so.”

“She didn’t,” Noah said, stopping a few steps behind her. “I came on my own.”

Astrid turned. Her expression was composed, but her eyes were guarded. “Then what do you want?”

“Nothing,” Noah said. “I just need to say something.”

She crossed her arms slowly. “Go ahead.”

“I’m sorry for what I did to you,” Noah said, “not just tonight, not for bringing Elena here. I’m talking about before, every time you warned me and I ignored it, every time she cried and I assumed you were the problem. I humiliated you in front of people who mattered to your family, and I stood there feeling righteous about it because Elena was upset, and that was enough for me.”

Astrid said nothing.

“I’m not asking you to forgive me,” Noah continued. “You don’t owe me that. I just needed to say it properly while I still had the nerve to.”

The room was quiet, and outside, the city moved with its usual noise, none of it caring about what was being said in here.

Astrid looked at him steadily. “Why did you bring her tonight, then? If you know what she does, why is she on your arm?”

Noah held the question for a second. “Because having her close doesn’t mean I trust her,” he said, before he could soften the truth. “Sometimes the only way to find who’s pulling a string is to leave the puppet dancing.”

Astrid went still.

Noah realized he had said too much.

She looked at him carefully. “Are you using her?”

Noah didn’t answer directly. “I’m trying not to repeat the mistake of watching the wrong person.”

Astrid studied his face for a moment, then said, “An apology means nothing if you’re only giving it because she showed you who she was. I don’t want to be your regret, your backup choice, or proof that you’ve changed. I’ve already been the person you dismissed once, and I won’t be useful to you in a different way now.”

“You’re right,” Noah said, “and I’m not going to argue with that. I don’t expect trust tonight, and I’m not using this apology to feel better about myself. I said it because it needed to be said, and that’s all.”

Astrid looked at him for a long moment, and something in her expression shifted, slightly and carefully.

She didn’t speak again right away.

Across the hall, Elena stood with a fresh glass of wine and watched the side corridor where Noah had disappeared.

She had seen him stop near Carter’s group and make his greetings, and she had relaxed for a moment, but then she saw him move toward the lounge and caught a glimpse of Astrid standing inside before the angle closed.

Elena’s smile stayed in place, her posture easy, but the warmth behind her eyes went cold.

She watched the corridor entrance, and the more the minutes passed without Noah returning, the more she understood what was happening in there.

Noah had never stood that still for Elena. With Elena, he had always rushed, panicked, apologized. With Astrid, he gave space.

Elena set her wine glass down.

Whatever Astrid left that room looking like, it could not be dignified.

Astrid was the one who ended the conversation.

“If you mean any of this,” she said, “then prove it with what you do next, not with more words.”

Noah nodded once, and Astrid looked at him for one more second, then turned and walked toward the corridor that led to the restrooms, her heels quiet on the carpet.

Noah stayed where he was, then looked back toward the banquet hall. Carter’s group had moved slightly closer to Richard, which was what he needed, so he straightened his jacket and started walking back.

He was almost at the entrance of the main hall when he stopped briefly to exchange a greeting with an older guest, forty seconds, maybe less. Then he moved again toward the center of the room.

He scanned for Elena.

She was gone, and her wine glass sat on a nearby table, still half full.

Noah looked toward the restroom corridor, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

CRASH

“Help!!”

a scream split through the hall.

The music stopped mid-note, and every head turned.

It came from the women’s restroom.

Noah was already moving.

He had watched Carter, he had watched the room, but for forty seconds he had looked away, and Elena had moved.