Kaiden pushed the door to his room open with a decisive swing, his grip on the handle firm. Without saying a word, he pulled me inside the room, and the second the door clicked shut behind us, I felt an emptiness as he let go of my hand.
Strange, right? The whole way I was telling him to let go of my hand, and now he had, Lam not liking it much.
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He didn’t waste any time. The weight of his question landed heavily on me, and I could feel my body stiffen involuntarily.
“Why did you break up with Thor?” His voice was calm, but there was an edge to it, sharp with curiosity. He wasn’t angry, but I could tell he wasn’t about to let me off the hook. “And why did you say that… you burn your soul for the person you love, but make sure not even a crackle of fire will touch that person? What’s going on, Lucy? What are you hiding?”
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His questions struck deeper than I anticipated, like an unexpected wound that left me exposed. It wasn’t just his question; it was the way he looked at me—like he genuinely cared, like he wasn’t just looking for an answer, but trying to understand me. And that… that made me feel something I wasn’t prepared for. It made me feel vulnerable. I was expecting him to misunderstand me as a villain, as a disloyal person, but here he was trying his best to understand my twisted actions.
I swallowed hard, trying to compose myself, trying to make the jagged pieces of my vulnerability come together. “You shouldn’t care about me,” I muttered, the words biting as they left my lips. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t let him see the mess I was. The lie I told. His gaze felt like it could see right through me, and I wasn’t ready to face it.
I forced a sarcastic smile; it was weak, hollow, but I didn’t care. I would make the fool out of me if needed, if that’s what it takes to save him. “You should care about those two girls you brought last time. The ones who were practically climbing all over you. They’re probably still waiting for your attention.”
I tried to change the topic, but I guess I chose the wrong one.
Kaiden’s lips quirked into a smirk, his gaze never leaving mine. The teasing glint in his eyes was unmistakable, and I could feel the spark of irritation flare up within me. “Introvert, are you jealous?” he teased, his voice laced with amusement. The angry, clueless Kaiden was gone, and instead of him, there was Kaiden who was 100% sure that I still loved him.
I shot him a look, my heartbeat picking up pace despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “I’m not jealous,” I snapped, a little too quickly. “I don’t care.”
Kaiden leaned back, his eyebrow raising in a way that suggested he wasn’t buying it. I could feel his eyes on me, piercing through every defense I had built. “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word as though he found amusement in my denial. “I was about to come clear about those girls, but now that you don’t care, I won’t bother.”
The words hung in the air, and I could feel the curiosity I was trying to suppress bubbling up like a dangerous tide. He knew how to get to me–make me angry, make me curious, and keep me on edge. I hated that I couldn’t ignore him, that I couldn’t stay unaffected by his presence.
Before I could stop myself, the question slipped out, “What do you mean by coming clear?”
My hands clenched into fists at my sides at my stupidity, and I bit my lower lip as a punishment for not holding the words inside.
Kaiden smirked again, that infuriating glint still in his eyes. “Oh, come on,” he teased, his tone playful. “You don’t care, right? So why bother?”
Frustration and curiosity swirled inside me like a storm, and I could feel my patience thinning. If I stay here, with him, like this, I might just ruin every misunderstanding and hate that I have built so far.
I turned away, my back to him, and I took a step toward the door, ready to escape from the tension that had been building between us. But before I could leave, his hand shot out, grabbing my wrist with surprising gentleness. The touch sent a jolt through me, making my breath catch. I froze, every instinct telling me to pull away, but I couldn’t move.
I am not shocked. He always had this effect on me–this power to make me feel like I was caught between wanting to run
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10:41 Thu, 17 Apr
Chapter 75
and wanting to stay.
“Okay, okay, okay.” He pulled me back toward him, his voice no longer teasing, but soft, as if he were about to conten something important. “I’m sorry,” he sighed, almost as if giving in. “I’ll tell you. But first. His expression was different no -serious, almost raw, same as the one he had before he kissed me at the bill
Before I could say anything, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him. The motion was fluid, instinctual, and everything inside me rebelled at the overwhelming sensation. My breath hitched as I felt the heat of his body against mine, as I heard his heartbeat, as I heard his words.
“The days I spent without breathing the same air as yours felt like decades in hell,” he murmured, his armt tightening around me just slightly, as though afraid I might slip away. “Those girls were just a decoy,” he confessed, his voice steady best filled with something vulnerable. “To make you angry. I was so desperate to hear you talk to me that I was even ready to accept your nagging words.”
He took a small step back, just enough to hold my gaze, his expression shifting to something deeper, more sincere. “I love you, Lucy Hailstone.”
I stood frozen in place, the gravity of what had just happened settling deep into my bones. Kaiden’s confession replayed over and over in my head, like an echo that refused to fade.
“I love you, Lucy Hailstone.”
His statement–no, his confession, clung to me in a way as if they had intertwined with my very soul, as though they were now a permanent part of me.
“I love you too, Kaiden Sterwalt.” Words tumbled out of my mouth. They were simple, but they held everything I had been hiding. The truth. The fear. The desire.
To be continued…
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田
AD
