“Why are you here again?”
Ryan’s expression showed no change as he uttered those words filled with indifference.
He glanced at Reese for a moment before quickly shifting his gaze back to the monitor.
“My Boyfriend! That’s not fair! I’ve been gone for months, and you’re asking why I’m here again? You must have felt lonely when I suddenly disappeared after following you around like a puppy every day!”
Ryan’s head throbbed at Reese’s booming shout.
He closed and opened his eyelids slowly, feeling a sudden wave of dizziness wash over him.
At least puppies are cute.
It felt like a fierce fox was clawing at him. Her sharply piercing voice never became something he could get used to.
“Really? I thought it was quiet.”
“I left you several messages! How can you not reply to even one of them?”
Reese’s voice trembled at the end. It sounded like tears were about to well up in her watery eyes.
Ryan pressed his temples firmly.
He was no longer fooled by Reese’s acting.
When she started to cry, most people around her would give in to whatever Reese wanted.
But Ryan was different.
He had accumulated experience from repeated encounters. Now, he could only look at her blankly, thinking, “Here we go again with the act.”
At first, he thought her obsession with him would fade away eventually.
Sure, she would stop once she met someone she liked, and he thought things would get better with time. But Reese’s obsession for Ryan only intensified as days went by.
Yet, he couldn’t just push her away cruelly.
That day, Reese’s precarious figure standing on the rooftop kept weighing on his mind.
The moment a little soul, having lost its mother bird, decided to throw itself away, the focusless gaze he encountered made it impossible for him to be heartless.
Reese seemed to think of Ryan as her savior who had saved her life.
It looked like she blindly believed that she had to create some reason to keep living.
“Sure, if it gives you a reason to endure, do as you please.”
That was the best Ryan could do as someone who had seen the bottom of a girl standing on the edge of a cliff.
After that, he tried not to care.
But now, he felt like she was crossing the line more and more.
Ryan tried to be patient.
He hoped Reese would realize on her own that what she was doing was not love, but obsession.
He never thought it would take this long.
“You know I usually don’t reply. I told you not to just show up at the company.”
Ryan genuinely disliked Reese barging into his workplace unannounced.
There should be a clear distinction between work and personal life, but Reese seemed completely oblivious to that. Whenever Ryan didn’t answer her calls or show his face, she would rush in without hesitation.
Reese’s excitement faded at Ryan’s low, reprimanding tone.
Sometimes, when Ryan lowered his voice, Reese would shrink back.
Perhaps it was because she feared he would completely cast her aside. That they would become strangers who could never face each other again.
She seemed scared of being abandoned, terrified that the support she relied on would vanish.
But it was only for a moment.
After some time, she would come back as if nothing had happened, doing whatever she wanted.
“My Boyfriend, you’re so heartless. I guess you don’t even worry about me. You haven’t seen my face in months, and you don’t care. Even when I’m drunk and ask you to come pick me up, you ignore me. I’m a national actress now! You’re the only one who treats me like this!”
Reese, calmed by Ryan’s cold tone, began to argue back.
“You were busy with your own things, and when you’re drunk, your manager picks you up. Why should I add to the worry?”
Finally, Ryan shifted his gaze from the monitor to Reese.
The moment of joy was short-lived; Reese flinched at the chill in his eyes.
Ryan’s gaze was telling her to stop being a nuisance and leave quickly.
“Don’t look at me like that. I just came to see your face today.”
That was a welcome sound to her ears.
Since he had scolded her harshly for insisting on having dinner together, she had stopped pestering him in the office. However, there were times when she would threaten him by saying she was waiting in the car, making unreasonable demands.
Now that the situation had changed, he needed to put a stop to that.
What bothered Ryan was Alice, who was sitting outside.
Even if they had a contract to keep their personal lives separate, wasn’t it a breach of trust? It was quite uncomfortable to stage a scene where he was talking alone with a woman who openly followed him around, right in front of her.
“Next week is that day, right? Are you… taking me with you?”
