He threw on his clothes and rushed out, but the living room was empty no sign of her. Brow furrowed, he grabbed his phone and called her right away.


    Lately, Scarlette had barely answered his calls, which drove him crazy. Still, after what happenedst night, he couldn''t help but feel a flicker of hope. Maybe she really was just busy.<fn85d4> Official source is FιndＮovel</fn85d4>


    Scarlette saw his name on her screen and knew immediately-he was awake. Her heart skipped, and she almost dropped the bowl she was holding. Morgan caught it just in time, said nothing, and went back to rinsing vegetables at the sink.


    Scarlette wiped her hands on a towel and hurried into the living room. "Nick."


    Nichs ran a hand through his hair. Work could wait. These days, if he wasn''t staking out Scarlette''s apartment, he was pulling endless overtime at the office— he''d already finished everything he needed to do for the next two weeks. Now that Scarlette was actually willing to talk to him, he wanted to make the most of it.


    But where had she gone this time?


    "Where are you? I woke up and you were gone."


    "I had something to do outside. I''ll be back in an hour."


    Nichs smirked, not thinking much of it. Afterst night, he doubted she''d be running off to see some other guy. He''d kept her more than busy.


    He flopped down on the couch. "Is there any good takeout around here? I worked up an appetitest night—I''m starving. I''ll wait for you to get back.”


    Scarlette hung up and immediately ordered him something to eat.


    Forty minutester, Nichs opened the door to a delivery guy and just knew Scarlette had set it up for him. She was being so good to him today, it made his chest feel warm.


    Alone in her apartment, he ate


    slowly, savoring every bite. When he finished, he sprawled on the sofa, flipping through the TV channels Out of curiosity, he checked her watch history-hoping to find some guilty-pleasure dramas or trashy reality shows. But all he found were documentaries, mostly about businesses that started as street stalls and grew into bigpanies before crashing back down.  s


    So serious. Why did Scarlette only watch these?


    He felt a little bored, but then pride bubbled up inside him. That was just who she was: driven, determined, always reaching higher. Even when they were younger, during school breaks, he''d be ying video games while Scarlette sat nearby, totally focused on university lectures online. She was so into it, he''d feel left out and try to pull her away, wanting her attention.  s


    But Scarlette was always patient-she''d set her stuff aside to hang out with him,


    and as soon as he was done, she''d go right back to her lectures.


    Every time she made time for him, he felt special, like he really mattered.


    He''d always known, deep down, that Scarlette was his.


    Now, lying here in a room that smelled like her, he felt weightless. He''d been here before, but most of those times she''d been distant cold. Onlyst night had she truly let her guard down.  s


    He let out a quiet, satisfiedugh. After all these years chasing after her, he''d finally won her over.