Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 323: Calculated thinking seemed to falter

"It was a wonderful day," Kathrine said softly as they settled onto the sand, the sea stretching endlessly before them. Moonlight shimmered over the waves, their rhythmic sound filling the silence between them. "Thank you for making it so worthwhile."

Ethan turned his head to look at her. For the first time that day, something unfamiliar stirred in his chest, warm and unsettling all at once.

"I’m glad I lived up to your expectations," he replied with a small smile. "Honestly, if it weren’t for you, I’d probably be stuck in my studio right now, lying to my mother that I had work."

Kathrine let out a quiet sigh, her smile lingering as she kept her gaze on the water. The breeze lifted a few strands of her hair, brushing them across her cheek.

"Kathrine," Ethan called suddenly.

She turned to him. The uncertainty in his eyes caught her off guard, stealing the ease from her breath. Before she could ask what was wrong, he reached out, his hand coming up to cup her face.

Her heart skipped.

Is he going to kiss me this time?

Ethan leaned closer, slowly, as if testing whether she would pull away.

"E Ethan, what are you—"

"Don’t move," he said quietly.

She froze, eyes wide. Earlier at the restaurant, his touch had already unsettled her, stirred something she didn’t quite understand. And now this. Her heart pounded so hard she was sure he could feel it beneath his palm.

Ethan moved closer, his gaze dark with uncertainty, studying her face as if committing every detail to memory. He stopped just short of her lips.

"I think my manager is tailing us," he whispered.

The words snapped her out of the haze. She flinched slightly, confusion flashing across her face.

"What?"

"Don’t move," he murmured again, his hand still firm against her cheek. "This is probably my mom’s way of confirming whether we’re actually dating."

Realization dawned as he spoke. Ethan knew Stephane too well. She had never fully believed his claims, and sending his manager to quietly watch them was exactly the kind of thing she would do.

"W what are you saying?" Kathrine whispered, her breath uneven. "Does that mean—"

"I’m going to kiss you, Kathrine."

He didn’t let her finish.

Ethan closed the remaining distance and claimed her lips, the kiss gentle at first, then lingering, charged with all the tension they had been circling all day. Kathrine’s breath hitched as her mind spun, her heart racing as she melted into the moment despite herself.

From the shadows nearby, unseen by them, the manager quietly lifted his phone. A few pictures were taken, capturing the kiss beneath the moonlit sky, before they were sent off.

And neither Ethan nor Kathrine realized just how much that single moment was about to change everything.

For a moment, nothing else existed.

The sea, the moonlight, the distant world all blurred into the background as the kiss deepened, unhurried yet consuming. Ethan felt it first, the way his thoughts slipped out of order, replaced by a quiet certainty that this was no longer just an act. Her lips were warm, responsive, fitting against his in a way that felt dangerously right.

Kathrine’s mind spun.

She forgot about fake dates, about watching eyes in the dark, about why this was even happening in the first place. All she could feel was him. The steady pressure of his hand against her cheek, the closeness of his body, the way her heartbeat seemed to echo in her ears.

She hadn’t meant to lean into him, but she did.

Ethan sensed it, the smallest shift, and something in his chest tightened. He didn’t pull away. He couldn’t. The kiss grew deeper, slower, as if they were both trying to memorize the moment without admitting why it mattered so much.

Kathrine’s fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, her breath growing uneven. Her thoughts scattered, replaced by a rush she had never quite felt before, a mix of warmth and nervous anticipation that left her dizzy.

Only when her lungs began to burn did she finally pull back, gasping softly for air.

Ethan stopped instantly, his forehead resting lightly against hers, his breath just as unsteady. For a second, neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved.

They stayed there, suspended between what this was supposed to be and what it was starting to feel like, both painfully aware that something had shifted and neither of them knew how to undo it.

Ethan was the first to move.

His gaze flicked past Kathrine’s shoulder, scanning the shadows near the dunes. A second later, he caught the faint movement of a figure retreating, phone lowered, footsteps deliberately quiet.

The manager was gone.

Ethan exhaled slowly, the tension in his shoulders easing, only to be replaced by something far more uncomfortable. He turned back to Kathrine.

The moment felt... different now.

Kathrine sat frozen beside him, her lips slightly parted, her eyes unfocused as if she were still caught somewhere between seconds. One hand hovered near her chest, her breathing slowly returning to normal, but her mind clearly lagging behind.

"Kathrine," Ethan said softly.

No response.

He shifted, suddenly unsure of where to put his hands, what expression to wear. The confidence he’d had moments ago evaporated, replaced by awkward uncertainty.

"I’m... I’m sorry," he said at last. "I should have told you first. I didn’t mean to—"

She blinked then, finally looking at him.

Shock still lingered in her eyes. Not anger. Not embarrassment. Just pure, unfiltered disbelief, as if she were still trying to understand what had just happened and why it had affected her so deeply.

"I..." Kathrine started, then stopped. She swallowed, shaking her head slightly. "I wasn’t... ready."

Ethan’s chest tightened. "I know. That’s why I stopped. The moment you pulled back, I swear."

She nodded faintly, staring out at the sea again, fingers curling into the sand as if grounding herself.

Silence settled between them, heavier than before.

The waves kept crashing, the moon still shone overhead, but the easy closeness they’d shared earlier was gone, replaced by an awkward space neither of them quite knew how to cross.

Because the kiss might have been planned. But the way it made them feel wasn’t.

***

Meanwhile, back inside the Clafford mansion, the night had settled into a quiet calm. After dinner, Anna sat before the dressing table, carefully moving through her nightly routine. She removed her earrings, brushed her hair, applied cream with practiced motions.

Yet her mind was nowhere near the room.

Daniel sat a little distance away, skimming through a file, when her voice cut through the silence.

"What do you think are the possibilities of Kathrine and Ethan turning into a real couple?"

The question made him pause mid page. He looked up just as Anna turned on her stool to face him fully, her chin resting lightly on her palm, eyes bright with curiosity.

It wasn’t a question he had expected. If anything, he had assumed the opposite. Fake dating was supposed to end cleanly, without emotional entanglements. At least, that was how it usually went.

Before he could respond, Anna clicked her tongue thoughtfully.

"Tch. I think it’s a hundred percent," she muttered, more to herself than to him. "With the way they were being all... intimate earlier."

Daniel arched a brow, closing the file slowly.

"You seem awfully sure."

Anna shrugged. "I’ve seen fake relationships before. That wasn’t one of them." She met his gaze pointedly. "People don’t look at each other like that unless something real is already happening."

Daniel leaned back slightly, considering her words. He remembered the way Ethan had looked at Kathrine. Too focused. Too careful. And Kathrine... far too flustered for someone merely acting.

"But how does she know about it?" he suddenly snapped.

"And how do you know so much?" Daniel asked, a sharp edge slipping into his voice as an unexpected wave of possessiveness washed over him.

A thought struck him immediately after.

Has she been in one before?

The idea unsettled him more than he cared to admit. But that made no sense. Anna had never even gone to university. Most of her exams had been given from home. When would she have the chance for something like that?

Anna caught the look on his face and stared at him in disbelief. Then she sneered.

"This man is getting insecure for absolutely no reason," she muttered.

Before he could react, she marched over and slapped his shoulder lightly, then plopped down beside him. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Relax," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don’t you watch movies or read novels?"

Daniel frowned but stayed silent.

"Every fake couple turns real there," Anna continued confidently. "Every single one. And I’m pretty sure it’s not just fiction."

She glanced at him sideways, lips curving into a knowing smile. "Sometimes people start pretending... and forget where the pretending ends."

Daniel said nothing, but the thought lingered far longer than he wanted it to. And for reasons he refused to acknowledge, another realization followed just as quickly.

Being around Anna was clearly affecting his logic. His sharp, calculated thinking seemed to falter whenever she was involved. He, who prided himself on control and reason, was suddenly entertaining ideas that sounded suspiciously like hers.

Ridiculous, he told himself.

Yet even as he dismissed it, he couldn’t deny the truth. Around Anna, he found himself reacting instead of calculating, feeling instead of analyzing. It was as if her presence had rewired him, pulling him into her world of instinct and emotion.

He glanced at her, still pretending to be absorbed in her routine, and exhaled quietly.

If this continued, he thought wryly, he might really start believing that fake things could turn real too.

And that realization unsettled him more than anything else.