For a scattering of moments there's something unreadable in Isaac's expression. She won't analyzing what it might have been, though. None of this was real, not her words or the attention he was giving her. Even the gifts weren't real, so much as a costume intended to help facilitate their cover. There was a time when she had prided herself on the way she could stop a man short, get them lost in their own thoughts and in wanting her. Now, well, that hadn't been her goal, because things weren't like that with Isaac.
"I wouldn't know, I've never been married," she answers as lightly as she can manage. "You're the expert in that department, so you tell me? Do you think it still applies to this?" Demi is genuinely curious, intrigued as to what lengths Isaac might go to attempt to keep her happy - even if they weren't anything more than roommates with a truce.
She was exceedingly uncomfortable by the attention the pearls brought her. Normally she sought the spotlight, craved it even. This kind of focused attention merely meant her acting skills had to be flawless. Any mistake, any misstep and these shrewd Capitol wives would know this was nothing but an act.
Isaac's words nearly have her losing it. She swallows down the desire to turn wide eyes on him and tell him to cool it. Instead, she shakes her head and offers up a small, embarrassed smile. "This man and his endless string of compliments. I swear I don't know what to do with him some days."
"Oh honey, you eat up his compliments, because in ten years time he might not even comment on a change in your hair, let alone how beautiful he thinks you are." Mrs. Adelmann pipes up, casting a disgruntled look in the direction of her own husband.
Well. At least these women were buying the act, hook, line and sinker.
This much contact with Isaac almost seems like a little too much to take. Still, somewhere deep down there's a familiarity, the closeness of being near another human being, that she finds herself missing. "After you, sweetheart." She whispers, relieved to let Isaac take the lead here.
At Mrs. Saunders words, Demi barely contains a groan. With all the sweetness she can muster up, she offers the woman a sickly sweet smile. "I've heard we could cause cavities, actually," she remarks.
Demi's words elicit a chorus of laughter from Rose and the other women, one that's only ended when Mr. Paulsen clears his throat and speaks up. "Isaac, are they keeping you busy at the DoJ these days?"