?Chapter 375:


    “Denver?”


    “Yeah?” He straightened, sensing something different in her expression. “Is there something on your mind?”


    Hadley gave a small nod. “Yes.” She had spent the past few days thinking about this. She owed him honesty.


    Her voice was soft but firm. “I truly appreciate your kind gestures… which is why I need to be upfront with you.”


    A flicker of uncertainty crossed Denver’s face. Was this—was she turning him down?


    His throat tightened as he forced himself to stayposed. “Go ahead.”


    Hadley took a steady breath. Then, with quiet sincerity, she spoke the truth. “I’m not really looking to be in a rtionship right now.”


    Denver froze, his smile caught mid-bloom like a flower in sudden frost. So, this was the sting of rejection after all.


    With a wry chuckle, he murmured, “Is this your gentle way of giving me the cold shoulder?”


    Hadley paused, her words teetering on the edge of uncertainty. “You’ve always been a gem of a person.”


    “But not the one who has stolen your heart.” Denver’s smile turned bitter. “Am I right?”


    Unwilling to wave the white g just yet, he pressed on before Hadley could reply.


    “I know you can’t force the heart to sing a tune it doesn’t know. But sometimes love strikes like lightning, and sometimes it blooms slowly, like a seed in spring. We’ve never even tried walking that path together. What if we did, and your feelings for me blossomed over time? Hadley, can’t we at least give it a shot? You don’t find me disagreeable, do you?”


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    Hadley sat there, momentarily struck speechless.


    His confession of love was so raw, so fiery, so unshaken by the odds—it stirred memories of her own fearless heart at twenty. She let out a soft sigh, as if exhaling the weight of years.


    Looking into his eyes, Hadley asked, “Denver, does your family know about me?”


    Caught off guard, Denver blinked. After a brief silence, he admitted candidly, “Not… yet.” Precisely as she had foreseen.


    Hadley’s gaze lingered on Denver, her fingers delicately tracing the rim of her ss.


    “If all you’re after is a fleeting moment to tuck into your memories, then Denver, I wouldn’t say no…”


    He had been her lifeline more than once. A warm ray of sunshine in her shadowed days.


    For that alone, Hadley wouldn’t mind sharing a chapter of her journey with him, even if they were destined to be mere passersby in each other’s lives.


    She wasn’t one to cling to the dusty old moral code, nor did she see shame in the dance of love and longing.


    But one truth stood firm—Denver wanted more than she could offer.


    He was earnest, ying for keeps.


    “Hadley!”


    True to form, the instant her words left her lips, Denver shook his head in a flurry of unease. “I’d never dream of treating you that way! I’m set on building a true,sting future with you!”


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