Kyle simmered with suppressed rage for the rest of the day. He tried his best not to come off as terse or unpleasant when he sat down with his manager Reg and with the BBC producers later that day to talk about filming the rest of the documentary, but it was difficult. It was their fault he was in this predicament in the first place, and he couldn't help but feel angry and resentful toward them. If they hadn't duped him into having that interview with Chloe, then she never would have blatantly flirted with him on camera, and Stephanie wouldn't be upset with him right now.

Stephanie was the one acting like a child, though. How was it Kyle's fault Chloe wouldn't leave him the fuck alone? Chloe knew as well as him that their relationship was a disaster – there was no way in hell she actually wanted him back. If she was acting affectionate toward him, it was probably just for the cameras and the attention it would undoubtedly bring.

Surely Stephanie knew that. Right?

Of course she knew that. Kyle had been honest with her from the beginning about how he really felt about Chloe, and if Stephanie saw them being interviewed in the auditorium today, she clearly would have seen him not returning Chloe's affection. Stephanie would have had to be blind and dumb to not know how he felt toward Chloe.

But Stephanie wasn't blind and dumb, and her seeing how Chloe acted around Kyle during the interview had clearly upset her anyway. Kyle remembered back at the pub a few nights ago, Stephanie had confessed to him about her experience with her ex-boyfriend Leon. She had found out he was cheating on her, and she decided to leave him, quit her job, and come to London for the summer to immerse herself in classical music.

It was obvious that Stephanie's experience with her ex had deeply affected her. Seeing Chloe and Kyle together probably put her in mind of being cheated on again.

Suddenly, Kyle felt like shit.

Of course, Stephanie had told him she was nervous about jumping into a new relationship after her ex completely fucked her over. Trusting a guy again clearly wasn't easy for her, and Kyle's blasé behavior toward Chloe probably hadn't helped build trust with her. He may not have returned Chloe's flirtatious behavior, but he didn't discourage it either, and that had likely hurt Stephanie just as much.

Goddammit

Kyle suddenly felt awful that he had gotten so angry at Stephanie, and he wanted to find a way to make it right. He had always felt that ignoring Chloe was the best method of dealing with her, but maybe he needed to take a different approach, especially if he wanted to have any chance of being with Stephanie in the future.

Maybe he needed to have a real face-to-face conversation with Chloe so he could lay it all out on the table. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot.

He would finally stand up and face his shrew of an ex-girlfriend. For Stephanie, he would try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyle got to the Academy early the next morning, knowing that Chloe was teaching a masterclass soon; his own masterclass was starting in about half an hour, so he hoped they could keep this conversation brief. He walked into the administrative office and asked a young woman there which room Chloe would be teaching in. With a lot of star-struck stammering and giggling, she eventually told him Chloe was teaching in a small performance hall on the fourth floor, and Kyle thanked her before heading upstairs.

He found the performance hall quite easily – he could hear violin music coming from the one at the far end of the corridor, and he walked over to the doors. Without hesitating, he opened them with a loud slam and strode into the performance hall; Chloe, who had been standing and playing violin up on the small dais at the front of the room, paused as she looked up at the doors.

"Oh. Hi Kyle," she smiled brightly, bringing her violin down from her shoulder. "This is a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"

"I need a word with you," Kyle said, unsmiling as he walked toward her from across the performance hall. Being alone with her in a room made him want to vomit, but he forced himself to keep his face neutral. "Do you have a minute?"

"Of course," she chirped, moving to place her violin back in its case. "I was wondering when you were going to want to have a chat with me. I think Julien and Reg have been trying to organize a rendezvous for awhile now, but they thought they would have to sit in on a meeting between us."

"Well, it's not necessary now. I only need a moment," Kyle said, crossing his arms. Chloe hopped off the dais and walked up to him, a coquettish smile on her face.

"I'm all yours," she giggled, batting her eyelashes at him as she clasped her hand behind her back: a pose she often adopted when trying to capture a guy's attention. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I need you to stop flirting with me in front of the cameras."

Chloe's expression shuttered slightly, but her smile turned into a sarcastic smirk as she rolled her eyes, bringing her hands from behind her back and crossing them in front of her chest. "Seriously, Kyle? That's what you're on about?" she asked teasingly. "Come on."

"Yes, that's what I'm on about," Kyle insisted, glaring at her. "How you acted with me in front of the cameras yesterday was completely inappropriate."

"Oh, get over it," Chloe said disdainfully, shaking her head. "What's the harm with a little on-camera flirting? It doesn't hurt anyone, and our fans eat it up. It's really great for publicity."

"I don't care," Kyle scowled. "I don't want to get back together with you, and you don't want to get back together with me. The fans are going to figure it out sooner or later, and you blatantly flirting with me on camera is going to start getting stale when people notice it's completely one-sided."

"Well, it doesn't have to be one-sided," Chloe smiled slyly at him, letting out a giggle. "What's stopping you from flirting back with me?"

Kyle grit his teeth, trying to hold back his temper. Since he was already here asking Chloe to stop her antics, he figured it was best if he was completely honest with her. "Chloe, the truth is that there's someone else that I'm interested in. I like her a lot, and I know that she's uncomfortable with you insinuating there's something going on between you and me when there's not. I'm asking you, respectfully, to please stop."

If he thought that appealing to Chloe's mature side was the way to go, he was sorely mistaken. The lilting smile on her face evaporated in an instant, immediately being replaced with an angry scowl, and she dropped her arms to her sides. "I'm sorry, what? You're seeing someone?"

"Not yet, but I like her," Kyle said honestly. "She's not in the public eye, and your behavior isn't exactly making things easier for us."

Chloe snorted, rolling her eyes. "Oh please. I have to change my behavior just because there's some bitch out there who makes you feel all tingly inside? What makes you think I actually give a shit about that?"

Kyle grit his teeth, trying desperately to withhold his temper. "It's disrespectful to her, and so I'm asking you to please stop."

"'Disrespectful'?" Chloe repeated disdainfully. "What the hell makes you think I give a shit about being 'respectful' toward this girl? It's not like I'm the one who wants to snog her or anything! And where's your respect toward me about our past relationship?"

Kyle instinctively bristled. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We were the star couple of the classical music world, Kyle," Chloe insisted, taking a step toward him as she gazed imploringly into his eyes. "Everybody loved seeing us together, and we got tons of press because of it. But for whatever reason you decided to throw all that free publicity away, and now I've had to resort to more creative means in order to keep the public's attention. I'm not about to put my career at risk just because you may or may not be seeing someone else – even if you don't like me anymore, Kyle, at least respect me enough to understand I'm doing what I feel is best for my public image."

Kyle was speechless, and for several moments all he could do was stare at Chloe in disbelief. "So... you're saying if I don't let you flirt with me in public, I'm being disrespectful toward you?" he asked incredulously. "That's completely mad."

"It's basic PR," Chloe insisted. "And since you refuse to publicly date me, the best I can do is insinuate to the fans that you and I are getting along and could potentially get together again in the future."

"Or you could just start publicly dating someone else," Kyle suggested, throwing up his hands. "Another musician, or an actor, or anybody! I'm sure your manager could wrangle someone for you. Why can't you just leave me alone and let me live my life?"

"Well, it's a bit too late for that," Chloe said, tilting her chin up slightly. "You and I already cultivated a public image for ourselves as the classical music world's 'it' couple, so that's what our fans like to see. If you or I were to start dating other people, then the fans are naturally going to speculate about possible love triangles and secret flings. There's no escaping this Kyle - everything you and I do is all about appearances. Seriously, could you be more stupid about all this?"

Kyle was about to snap back at her, telling her she was way out of line, when he heard a shuffling sound at the doorway. He and Chloe both looked up to see about a dozen or so students crowded there, clearly having come for Chloe's masterclass, but had accidently stumbled upon this heated argument between the two exes.

It was also clear these students had just heard everything Chloe said in the last thirty seconds about her public image, since they all whispered amongst each other while shooting her furtive glances. Chloe's face suddenly went white as she seemed to realize the gravity of her situation.

Without a word, Kyle strode toward the doorway of the performance hall, pushing past the students as he left. He knew this could potentially pose a problem, but on some level in his mind, he knew Chloe would look a lot worse than him when all was said and done.

He couldn't fight the small smile from breaking across his face as he made his way to his classroom.