Chapter 4
Just as the crowd was about to ask more questions, Harry suddenly showed up.
“What are you all crowding around for? Get to work!”
At Harry’s voice, the crowd quickly dispersed and returned to their posts.
Harry turned to Kira. “I thought you were on vacation? Why are you still
here?”
“Oh, I just overheard the receptionist saying she’s about to get married, so I came to congratulate her.”
Harry frowned. “She didn’t say who she’s marrying, did she?”
“No, why?”
“Nothing, just asking.” Hearing Kira say no, Harry immediately relaxed.
Feeling at ease, he continued, “Don’t cook and wait for me to get back tonight. A friend invited me out, so I’ll be late. Since you don’t need to cook, go home and quickly get the tender proposal for the new project done. I don’t trust anyone else with it.”
He knew she was on vacation, yet still bossed her around.
He was good at pretending, hiding that he planned to marry someone else while squeezing every last drop of value from her.
But she wasn’t going to play along anymore.
Kira said nothing.
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Harry frowned at her silence. “Did you hear me?”
Kira didn’t answer, turned away, and left under his gaze.
Harry stared at her back, confused. Was it just his imagination, or was Kira truly getting stranger and stranger?
Kira returned to the apartment.
Looking at the place she’d come to see as a second home, Kira thought for
a moment and decided to pack up all her things.
She packed scattered belongings into several suitcases from noon until late at night.
Darkness fell, and her stomach growled with hunger.
Just as she was about to get up to eat, her phone buzzed nonstop.
She answered, and Harry’s friend’s bossy voice came through. “Kira, Harry’s drunk
Bring some hangover medicine, quick. We’re in Room 5 at Oak LA.”
Before she could respond, the call ended, like they were sure she’d come.
Kira didn’t want to go, but she remembered some things left in the apartment storage room, and the key was still with Harry. To clear them out, she had to get the key.
After thinking for a moment, she dragged her tired body out the door.
As soon as she pushed open the private room, Harry’s friends‘ teasing laughter hit her ears.
“She really showed up! See, I told you she would. With Harry here, how could she not come?”
Harry, lounging in the main seat, took a lazy sip of his drink and pointed at the person on the couch. “I won this round. You lost fair and square. Don’t forget to pay for tonight’s drinks. You bet against me in a game you were guaranteed to lose. What can I say?”
Hearing Harry’s words. Kira got the picture.
Harry wasn’t really drunk. The reason he had her bring the hangover medicine was just that they’d used her as a bet–whether she’d show up or
not.
The loser lay on the couch, groaning and blaming Kira.
“How cheap can you be? You actually came just from one call, and it’s midnight. Are you a dog? Doing whatever you’re told with zero self- respect!”
“Hey, that’s too much! How can you talk like that about a girl? You all know how much Kira cares about Harry. She’s been by his side for over ten years. Calling her a dog is unfair,” another guy chimed in. Then hist tone suddenly darkened as he sneered. “Calling her a simp is more like it.”
They burst into laughter, their eyes full of disdain and mockery.
Harry watched the scene quietly, not stopping it.
Harry, who had expected Kira to shake with anger as usual and was ready with comforting words, was surprised when she simply took a deep breath and looked at him calmly. “I can’t find the storage room key. If you have it, please give it to me.”
Harry frowned, but he didn’t take out the storage key.
Instead, he made a small talk, standing and moving closer to Kira. “Upset? You look pretty cold.”
He paused, then added, “Joe and the others were just joking. Don’t take it personally. They didn’t mean any harm. At most, I can make them apologize. It’s no big deal.”
Kira was barely reacting, she just said, “Oh.”
Harry was caught off guard.
He waved at his friends, which rarely happened.
“See that? Kira is upset. Come on, apologize.”
The group of people came over, laughing and teasing. “Come on, Kira, forgive us, okay? Sorry about that.”
Though they apologized, it was all empty words without sincerity, just going through the motions.
Kira’s expression didn’t change at all; she just glanced calmly at Harry. “The key?”
Harry was surprised by how calm Kira was tonight. So calm it was like a different person.
He kept thinking about it and couldn’t imagine Kira, who loved him so much, could really change that much.
Feeling he’d overthought it, Harry pulled the storage key from his pocket and handed it to Kira.
She took it and turned to leave.
Just as she stepped out of the room, she heard one of his friends say to Harry, “Why’d you make us apologize to that simp?”
“You don’t get it. Kira’s been fawning over Harry for so long. If Harry kept giving her attitude, it’d crush her confidence. Sometimes you gotta slap
–
her down, then sweeten her up to keep her hooked. Makes her loyal for the long haul, right, Harry?”
“Yeah…”
Kira listened to Harry’s agreement.
She just found it funny.
Now, she oddly felt relieved she’d chosen to marry someone else.
With the key in hand, she headed downstairs and got into a taxi to go home.
www
Through the taxi window, she spotted another figure–Felicia.
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
