Chapter 3: The Wrong Beginning

He was an incredibly friendly person.

At first, I wanted to refuse. After I glanced at the darkening sky, I nodded instead. "Thanks."

Jim Brooks was a whole head taller than I was. He helped fasten the helmet onto my head with ease. "No problem."

A long car horn sounded behind us in the next second.

Before I could react, Elias had already gotten out of the car and walked over. He slipped his fingers through mine and held my hand tightly. Then he removed the helmet I had worn for less than thirty seconds.

He handed it back to Jim and greeted him in a lazy tone. "Hey there. I am Nancy’s boyfriend, Elias."

Jim froze for a moment, then grinned in a way that did not look innocent at all.

"You are kind of failing as a boyfriend, huh? Why did you show up so late? We got off work ages ago."

Elias narrowed his eyes in a dangerous way. The atmosphere turned awkward.

I gently shook the hand Elias held and hurried to smooth things over.

"Elias, let us go home."

I waved goodbye to Jim. "We are leaving first. See you tomorrow. Drive safe."

The entire ride back, Elias looked unhappy.

He had long legs and walked fast. I almost had to jog to keep up.

After we got into the car, I looked at his icy side profile and opened my mouth, ready to explain.

The words stopped in my throat. My eyes had landed on a small cat plush sitting behind the windshield.

Elias did not like cats.

That plush had definitely not been there the day before.

[Hehe, such a cute little cat plush. Of course the female lead left it there.]

[Look at the side character's face. She probably figured it out already.]

[Honestly, the side character should just leave now and save herself the humiliation.]

[And she doesn't seriously think the male lead acted jealous earlier, right? No way. Any guy would hate looking like he's getting cheated on.]

I blinked slowly and forced down the burning ache rising in my nose.

The comments had not lied to me. He had driven the female lead home.

Because he liked her, he was even willing to tolerate a cat plush he normally hated sitting right in front of him.

At this rate, Elias would probably break up with me soon. That was what I thought.

I sniffed quietly and shifted a little farther from him.

If we were destined to break up, then I did not want to leave looking pathetic.

So after eating the dinner Elias cooked, while he worked in the study, I quietly moved all my things from the master bedroom into the guest room.

I also stopped doing what I used to do before. I stopped bothering him while he worked and stopped asking him to come to bed early to keep me company.

After showering, I climbed into bed alone and wrapped myself tightly in the blanket.

My feet were cold.

Maybe starting that day, no one would warm them for me anymore.

My thoughts spiraled until someone knocked on the bedroom door.

Startled, I scrambled out of bed.

When I opened the door, I hid most of my body behind it and only poked my head out.

"Elias? Did you need something?"

The man pressed one foot against the door and stared at me with a meaningful expression.

He seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Why did you move in here?"

I avoided his eyes and answered softly, "I wanted to sleep alone."

Elias lowered his gaze slightly and stared at me without moving. The temperature around us seemed to drop.

"Why?" His voice was calm and icy.

I knew suddenly moving into another room was strange. I looked down at the floor and gave the excuse I had prepared earlier.

"Well… did you not say before that I sleep badly?"

"I was worried about disturbing you, so I thought I should sleep separately for a while and fix my bad habits first."

Elias answered almost immediately. "Sleep with me. I will help you fix them."