?Chapter 1113:


    Charlette finally managed to speak, her voice carefully measured. “Ellis, do you even realize what you’re saying?”


    “Perfectly,” Ellis responded calmly, his gaze steady.


    Anger surged suddenly through Charlette, overwhelming her initial astonishment. Sheughed coldly, eyes zing with irritation. “I don’t care who you are—shed your well-crafted mask immediately!” Had it not been for theck of any weapon at her disposal, she would have beaten this person who dared to disguise himself as Ellis.


    Ellis blinked in stunned confusion. “Mask? What on earth are you talking about?” Charlette’s expression turned deadly earnest. “You’re not Ellis. Ellis wouldn’t propose marriage out of nowhere.”


    Ellis stood in awkward silence, caught off guard. Did she truly think someone had disguised himself as him and proposed to her? He tried to bring some reason into the moment. “Blink if you doubt you’re seeing the real me. ording to the statistics—”


    “Enough!” Charlette interjected, cutting through his lecture. “Alright, alright. It’s definitely you.” Only Ellis, a die-hard researcher and data specialist, would try to reason his way out of skepticism this way.


    Atst, Charlette felt her nerves settle. She tilted her head, arms folded across her chest, and eyed him with azy grin. “Alright, logic boy, answer this—why are you proposing?”


    Towering over him in her heels, Charlette gazed down at Ellis, still kneeling on one knee in earnest.


    His lips pressed into a determined line, eyes unwavering. “I want to take responsibility.”


    Hearing these words, Charlette nearly broke intoughter. Responsibility? For what? Just because they’d spent one night together, he thought marriage was required? He couldn’t be more old-school if he tried. A smirk yed at her lips, her eyes cooling. “Responsibility? Please. We both knew what we were doing.” She slipped a cigarette between her lips, bent to light it, and let out anguid puff. Casually, she added, “It was a one-time thing. You’re blowing it out of proportion.”


    Ellis’s frown deepened, disapproval written all over his face as he stared at her. Charlette scoffed. “Come on. Get up. I can’t watch this anymore.”


    Rising to his feet, Ellis tucked the ring back in his pocket. A moment of silence lingered before he abruptly leaned in and plucked the cigarette from her mouth. “Don’t smoke,” he said quietly. “It’s bad for you.”


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    Annoyance shed across Charlette’s features, her jaw tightening in protest. Without the cigarette, the restlessness bubbling inside her felt even harder to suppress.


    As she met Ellis’s unyielding gaze, something soft and almost vulnerable flickered in her eyes. She tipped his chin up and teased, “Trying to control me, are you? Only my boyfriend gets that right. So, what are we, Ellis? Do you have feelings for me? Do you want to be my boyfriend?”


    Ellis kept silent, brows drawn, his answer trapped behind pursed lips.


    A sharpugh slipped from Charlette as she let go of his chin. “If not, keep out of my life.”


    She snatched her cigarette back, took a long drag, and exhaled a swirl of smoke in his direction.


    Without another word, Charlette turned on her heel, her yful mask slipping away as soon as her back was turned. Sympathy from Ellis was thest thing she wanted. She was nobody’s charity case. Love was the only thing that would ever get her down the aisle.


    A bitter smile ghosted across her lips. Who could ever truly care for someone as broken as she was?


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