Aya moved away from the table and made her way to the couch while saying,
“Abigail and Debra are coming back. They are in a hotel.”
living with me. Last night they got stuck in something and had to spend the night
Ian raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is that so? Can’t they keep staying in that hotel?”
Ava paused and turned to him. “What?”
He shook his head and realized that his thought of being with her alone just slipped out of his mouth.
“Nothing. I was just joking, you know,” he replied.
Ava’s eyes moved to his arm, and she said,
“After lunch, I will dress your wound.”
Ian looked at his arm. He was so caught up in his thoughts from the night before that he forgot about his wound.
Ava grabbed a paper bag from the couch and walked over to Ian.
“Go and change. It would be awkward for others to see you like this.”
Tan looked at his bare chest. He smirked at her and leaned down to her level.
“Are you jealous that your friends will see me shirtless?”
She looked into his eyes calmly without replying to him.
Ian felt an unknown fear inside him. He stood still and nodded his head after grabbing the bag from her.
“You are right. I should change.”
There was a terror that warned him that he would be heartbroken again. So he tried to avoid it as much as possible.
When he returned to the living room after showering and changing clothes, he noticed Ava sitting at the table.
He approached her and sat beside her. She looked at his sleeveless T–shirt, which gave him a younger look than his age.
With that T–shirt, she could easily dress his wound later.
Ava put a small bowl of soup in front of Ian. “You will heal more quickly with this nutritious soup.”
Ian studied her profile from the side. His eyes caressed her face while he leaned close to her.
She paused just as her hand was about to grab a plate. He tilted his head and kissed her on the cheek.
“Was I rough on you last night? I tried to be gentle. But still…”
He paused, then moved his hand to hold her jaw. He turned her head to face him.
When her gaze met him, he smiled like a fool.
“I love you, Ava.”
He waited for her to say it back. But her response never reached his ears. Instead, she said something he did not expect.
“It was just a night, nothing more.”
His hand froze. “What?”
Ava sighed as she pushed his hand away from her jaw. She looked at the table and fixed her gaze on a plate.
“Look, Ian. Last night, whatever happened between us, that was only a one–night thing. Don’t raise your hope. That doesn’t matter to me.”
Alan’s eyes became cloudy. He would be lying if he said he did not expect heartbreak. But he did not expect her to say that last
night was meaningless to her.
His heartbeat was getting slower as his heart slowly shattered into thousands of pieces.
Where would he go with this broken heart?
She avoided looking at him, and she cleared her throat. “You are here until your wound is healed. In the meantime, I will look after you.”
Ian clenched his jaw while looking at the cruel woman. He wondered why her heart could not accept him.
He averted his gaze from her and pressed his palms on the table to stand up from his chair. But he hissed when he felt pain in his wound. The bandage felt wet too.
As soon as Ava heard him hissing in pain, she immediately turned to look at him.
She moved close to him and held his arm to check it. He felt her wet hair brush up against his face. He inhaled the warm scent of her shampoo, which mixed with her own scent and touched his nostrils.
He sat still, allowing her to check on his arm.
He could clearly see how much she cared for him. Then why was she ignoring her feelings for him? What was the reason behind it?
Ava was about to move her head away after looking at his arm to check if blood was coming out again.
Ian’s eyes darkened as he lifted his left hand and grabbed her hair.
She seemed to be stunned.
He drew her face closer to his and looked into her shocked eyes.
His gaze moved to her soft lips. He planted a kiss on her lips, taking her by surprise.
His gaze returned to her eyes. She tried to move, but his grip on her hair tightened, forcing her to stop moving.
His eyes knitted by seeing her resistance toward him. He then said something that shocked her.
“I will take you with me when I leave this pack in a week. Take it or leave it.”
