ARCADE | Rebić

3

"They already know each other." Ivana spilled without even thinking, for the noticing the confused expression on Mirko's face. She cleared her throat. "Yesterday, at my office. Remember? You told him to do the food tasting at your place."

There was some tension in the air.

"So... when are you going to choose your wedding dress?" Josip's wife, Marina, asked.

"Tomorrow." She said, taking a deep breath.

"Why don't you bring Ante with you?" Mirko couldn't help but say in annoyance, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, don't bring me up in your love problems!" Ante immediately said back, with a roll of eyes.

"That's a good idea!" Ivana snapped back as she grabbed a cigarette from her purse and lighted it up. She got up. "Now excuse me, I remembered I had some work to do. Have fun." She said and, without even waiting for a response, left.

"Ivana!" Mirko called unsuccessful.

Ante shook his head. "Good job, dude!"

—

"I envy you, Vlad." Ivana said as she started smoking another cigarette. She didn't remember the last time she smoked that much. "You seriously live the best life." She added for planting a kiss on little cat's head.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door. She rolled her eyes. Surely it was Mirko making up for his behaviour.

The blonde went to open the door but couldn't hide the surprise when she saw who was waiting on the outside. "Ante!" She said with a smile. "Please, enter! Sorry for the mess!"

"It's okay." The footballer nodded as he entered. He looked at her. She was still wearing that green dress Mirko didn't particularly like, but Ante thought it was beautiful. Only thing different was that her hair were not anymore hold in a ponytail.

"So?" She raised an eyebrow once they were face to face, still standing in the entrance hallway.

"So..." Ante said back, looking down at her and couldn't hide a smile too. To much Ivana's surprise, the man took few steps ahead, opened his arms and circled her into a hug.

It didn't take her long to hug him. She missed so much feeling that well into his arms, smelling his good perfume, which remained the same, literally closing her eyes and feeling the safest woman on earth.

Oh, she was really fucked.

"What was that for?" She asked once they broke the hug as they led to the living room. Ivana was quite surprised watching Ante still remembering every inch of her house, even though last time he was there, it was two years ago.

"No reason." He shrugged as he sat on the couch, starting to play with Vlad. "Hi little one! Mama didn't fail to feed you!" This caused both of them to laugh. He looked at her again, her cat in his lap. "I just wanted to hug you, so I did. Hope it was not a problem."

"If it was, I wouldn't have hugged you back." The woman said as she sat beside him. "So... what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were feeling." He said sincerely, a veil of worrying in his blue eyes. "I didn't particularly like the way Mirko treated you."