Chapter 9: The Truth He Never Knew How to Say

I stood outside the villa for nearly ten minutes before finally opening the door.

The living room was quiet.

Elias looked up the moment he heard me come in.

His eyes immediately landed on my face.

"You're back."

"Yeah."

Neither of us moved.

The silence between us felt heavier than ever.

I noticed the old pillow I had bought for him was still on the sofa.

The cat plush was gone.

I slowly walked over.

"Yoana came to see me today."

For the first time in days, Elias's calm expression cracked.

"She what?"

"She explained everything."

"The pillow."

"The cat plush."

"Her fiancé."

Elias closed his eyes briefly before letting out a helpless sigh.

"I told her not to get involved."

"She said she didn't want us misunderstanding each other anymore."

He looked at me quietly.

"Nancy..."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Okay."

"When did you stop trusting me?"

His question caught me completely off guard.

I lowered my head.

"I never stopped trusting you..."

"I just started trusting something else more."

"Something else?"

I couldn't tell him about the floating comments.

How could I?

Even I sounded ridiculous in my own head.

"I kept thinking..."

"Maybe you only tolerated me."

"Maybe every hug annoyed you."

"Maybe every kiss embarrassed you."

"Maybe you were only waiting for someone better."

Elias stared at me as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Nancy."

"Look at me."

I slowly raised my head.

"Who told you all that?"

"No one..."

"Don't lie."

"You've been different ever since that night."

"You stopped hugging me."

"Stopped kissing me."

"Moved into another room."

"Then you rented another apartment."

"Something happened."

I opened my mouth.

Then closed it again.

I still couldn't explain the comments.

Elias rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"Fine."

"Then let me explain instead."

He stood up and walked toward me.

"Do you remember the first time we watched a movie together?"

I nodded.

"You always thought I left because I hated kissing scenes."

"Didn't you?"

He actually laughed.

"Nancy..."

"I left because every time you watched those scenes..."

"You looked at me with those eyes."

"And if I stayed there another minute..."

"I was going to kiss you until we missed the entire movie."

I froze.

"What?"

"I wasn't avoiding you."

"I was avoiding myself."

My face slowly turned red.

"Then..."

"What about sleeping?"

"You always looked uncomfortable."

Elias sighed.

"Because I wasn't used to someone sleeping in my arms."

"Not because I disliked it."

"After a while..."

"I couldn't sleep without you either."

"When you moved into the guest room..."

"I didn't sleep for three nights."

I stared at him blankly.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I thought you needed space."

"You were the one who kept asking for personal space."

"I thought forcing you to come back would only make you hate me."

The words hit me like a train.

All this time...

Both of us had been misunderstanding each other.

I looked toward the floating comments.

They had become strangely quiet.

Only a few remained.

[This... wasn't supposed to happen.]

[The male lead wasn't supposed to say that.]

[Did we misunderstand him?]

"Nancy."

Elias's voice pulled me back.

"There's one more thing."

He reached into the drawer beside the television.

Then placed a small velvet box in my hands.

I looked at it in confusion.

"Open it."

Inside was a delicate silver ring.

I looked up in complete shock.

"This..."

"I bought it two weeks ago."

"I was planning to propose on your birthday."

"Then suddenly..."

"You started acting like you wanted to disappear from my life."

"Nancy..."

"Do you honestly think I'd buy an engagement ring for someone I was planning to leave?"

Tears slowly filled my eyes.

At that exact moment, the floating comments began flickering violently.

[ERROR.]

[PLOT DEVIATION DETECTED.]

[Unable to predict future events.]

[Unable to identify female lead.]

For the first time...

The screen didn't seem to know what would happen next.