Obsession His Runaway Bride (Noelle and Adrian) novel Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Miracle

Chapter 128: Miracle

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The drive wasn’t long, but Grace found herself quietly watching the street lights blur past the tinted windows. Keegan sat beside her feeling relaxed somehow with one arm draped over the back of the seat like he wasn’t trying to impress her. But he was. She could feel it in the way he kept glancing over when he thought she wasn’t looking, and in the way he tapped his fingers, once, against his thigh like he was counting down to something.

The car slowed and turned onto a humble street fucked away from the city’s main pulse. The restaurant was unassuming at first glance, its exterior cloaked in warm brick and ivy with golden lights spilling from its tall windows. There was no neon sign, no velvet rope. It was just a simple, brushed brass nameplate on the wall. Vireo.

Grace stepped out first and her sandals clicked softly on the stone path as Keegan moved around to join her. A valet greeted them with a bow, and the heavy wooden doors opened inward, revealing something unexpected.

Inside were warm, low–lit amber sconces and soft overhead lights that casted everything in a soft glow. No chandeliers, no cold white floors. Just exposed beams, quiet jazz humming in the background, and tables filled with people dressed like they’d just come in after a long day. Friends laughing over half–eaten plates. Couples were speaking in low tones. A birthday candle was flickering near the back.

It was… normal. It felt normal.

And for some reason, that did something to Grace.

Her shoulders eased as they stepped further inside. No one knew her. No one was whisperi behind her back. No curated spectacle. Just a room full of strangers who didn’t look twice at her. The soft clink of glasses, the murmur of comfortable conversation… it all made her feel like a face in the crowd. Like someone who belonged.

Not a guest in a cage.

Not someone carefully kept.

For the first time in a long while, she wasn’t being observed. She was just here. A woman walking into a restaurant with a man whose hand was still lightly on her back.

She smiled faintly at the thought which Keegan didn’t notice.

He was already nodding toward the host, murmuring the name of the reservation. The staff responded immediately in a polite and discreet manner, and within seconds they were being escorted through the dining room.

As they passed tables, the smell of roasted garlic, lemon, and thyme drifted through the air, and Grace caught a glimpse of an open kitchen tucked behind a wide pane of glass. She could

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Chapter 128 Miracle

see chefs moving fluidly behind it:

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They were then led to a quiet corner by the windows, half–shielded by hanging plants and a high–backed booth. Their table had only one candle in the center, flickering gently, and two glasses already set out. The host gestured for them to sit, offered them menus with a bow, and disappeared just as quickly as he had come.

Keegan turned to her, pulling out her chair.

“This okay?” he asked feeling a little nervous.

Grace looked around once more at the space, the warmth, and the hush of it all.

Then back at him.

“It’s perfect.”

Keegan smiled and slid into the seat across from her with eyes still quietly scanning her face as if trying to memorize every reaction. But Grace had already dropped her gaze to the menu, hiding the lingering smile she hadn’t fully shaken off.

For a moment, all he did was watch her.

The way the candlelight brushed the side of her face. The faint crease between her brows as she focused. The way her fingers rested lightly on the edge of the menu, unmoving, like she wasn’t really reading but taking her time with the silence.

He leaned an elbow on the table and tilted his head.

“You always read menus like it’s an exam?” he asked in a low and teasing voice.

Grace glanced up, lips tugging slightly. “Just weighing my options. It’s not every day I get to choose freely.”

That answer made his chest go still.

He didn’t press her on it, didn’t let the mood turn heavy but something in her words stayed with him. It reminded him all of the things she has been through and the thought of it somehow managed to anger him, but he chose to be calm at the moment.

“Well,” he said gently, “I vote for the one with the most cheese. That’s usually the right call.” Grace laughed softly in a warm and unguarded sound. “Is that your food philosophy?”

He shrugged, grinning. “It’s served me well.”

They both returned to their menus for a while, falling into a silence that didn’t strain. When the waiter came by, Keegan let Grace order first without interruption. After her, he then ordered the grilled lamb, mostly because the waiter said it was the chef’s favorite.

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Chapter 128: Miracle

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As the waiter walked away, Grace took a sip of water, then looked around the restaurant again. The soft buzz of conversation surrounded them like a blanket and it felt unfamiliar yet comfortable.

“I love it here,” she said with her voice barely above a whisper. “I really do.”

Keegan leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on the table. “Good. I want you to remember it, then. All of it.”

Grace smiled and reached for his hand, catching Him off guard. Her fingers curled around his with a soft squeeze that carried more than just politeness.

“Thank you.” she simply but sincerely said.

Keegan stared down at their joined hands, his thumb brushing slowly against hers like he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming. He didn’t say anything to that. But his hand held hers a little firmer, letting her know he was willing to do more for her.

The rest of the evening unfolded like a scroll slowly unraveling as each moment revealed itself with grace like it was written long before either of them arrived.

Grace spoke more than she had in days. At first, her voice carried the cautious weight of someone unlearning silence. She shared stories that didn’t cost too much to tell. Fragments of a life that had never quite been lived, now spoken aloud like tiny freedoms rediscovered.

Keegan didn’t touch his wine.

Didn’t even glance at the passing waitstaff, or the people laughing a few tables down. Everything else faded into a blur at the edges of his vision, irrelevant and weightless. His entire world, his every breath… had narrowed to the woman sitting across from him.

Grace. His beautiful Grace…

She sat with her fingers lightly grazing the edge of her water glass. Her eyes flitting now and then to the little details around the restaurant. She seemed enchanted by it all, not in the way a tourist might admire something quaint, but like someone who had never been allowed to touch a world like this. Like someone who had always pressed her face to the glass, never knowing she’d one day be invited inside.

He didn’t speak much.

Not because he didn’t have anything to say, but because nothing he could say would ever be more important than what she was choosing to give him. Her trust. Her presence. Her now.

He laughed when she laughed. Not to make her feel better, but because it bloomed something honest in his chest… like he was witnessing something holy. He leaned in just a little every time she lowered her voice, not wanting to miss even a breath of it. And when she spoke about the loneliness of being seen only when useful, he felt it like a bruise pressed under his ribs.

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Chapter 128 Maori

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But he didn’t rush to touch it. Didn’t reach to soothe it away.

He let her be.

Because tonight, she was not a woman to be saved. She was a woman slowly, tenderly returning to herself. And he knew better than to interrupt that kind of blooming.

To Keegan, she wasn’t just beautiful… she was sacred.

Every breath she took was one more miracle to him.

Every glance, every twitch of her fingers, every hesitant smile that turned firmer with time…it was as if the universe was unfolding for him in the shape of her.

He had power. He had wealth. He had control.

But nothing meant anything compared to this night.

He was all in. Not because she asked him to be. But because somewhere between the silence and the soft stories, he had fallen so deeply into the gravity of who she was becoming…that leaving wasn’t even a concept anymore.

He didn’t care if she ever said she loved him.

Didn’t care if this turned into anything defined or permanent.

Because at this moment, this version of her slowly unfurling before him?

It was enough.

It was everything.