“What do you want?” Ren asked, voice colder than the winds in the arctic.

Face with Ren’s indifferent attitude, Saya caught her tongue, and her mind blanked out. She thought she was used to Ren’s coldness but every time, it got in her nerves.

A short silence lingered between them before she forced a smile. “That girl reminded me of Evie from the restaurant.”

“I already said that she isn’t Evie. She just had the same name and hair as her.” Ren didn’t know why Saya kept asking about that, but he felt like there wasn’t anything good to her line of questioning.

Saya dropped that line of thought when she sensed that Ren was about to get mad. Acid laid waste to her throat, and strands of jealousy twisted even tighter around her innards, knowing that Ren was really protective of Evie.

Ren barely knew that woman and he was already acting like that? What’s months compared to years that they had known each other?

Either way, she would unmask that girl and use her if she must to have what she wanted.

Jealousy could really envelope a thick dark smog over her mind and heart. It was an ugly thing that consumed all of her from within.

Saya masked the hurt with a laugh and teased, “No need to be so overprotective about her. What are you, her boyfriend?”

“. . .”

The seriousness on Ren’s face made Saya lose all reason, and she willed her bottom lip not to tremble. She knew that look, and she knew his answer. Even so . . . she had to hear it from his mouth.

“Y-you,” Saya hid her panic and fear behind a forced laugh, “Don’t tell me that you really like her?”

“. . . What of it?”

“. . .” Those simple words entered Saya’s ears and bounced inside her head, then descended into her heart and crashed like glass, creating tiny wounds that bleeds raw.

The panic inside her rose up, clutching at her breath. Her chest rose and fell at the realization that Ren’s feeling towards her was already gone. There was nothing left. Not even a tiny bit.

In her place was a new woman.

She turned her head away, stomach roiling. “I . . . I see.”

This wasn’t what she came here for. Those weren’t the words she wanted to hear from his lips. She was supposed to ask him to be her boyfriend and confess their feelings over a romantic dinner.

That was the idea and image playing in her head the moment she broke up with Mike.

Everything . . . was Evie’s fault.

Saya’s eyes pierced at Evie, and her teeth almost turned to dust from how hard she was grinding them.

“Ren . . .” Saya looked down at her clenching hands. “What if . . . what if I told you that . . . I want you back?”

“. . . Huh?” Ren had to admit that he was too irked with Saya’s presence that he hadn’t heard her clearly. Not to mention that her voice was small and barely a whisper.

“. . .” Saya was silent for a moment before she inhaled sharply and looked Ren in the eyes. Her face was flush, and her eyes were shaking, languid and vulnerable.

Any man would fall for her right here and now. But Ren was already used to Saya in the past, and all he felt was disgust.

“Ren . . . I made a mistake in the past . . .” Saya took a large breath, but it seemed like all the air in the area wasn’t enough to fill her lungs.

“I . . . I like–!”

“Let me stop you there,” butt in Ren before he could hear something skin crawling from her lips.

He rubbed the back of his neck when he felt his blood rising and his veins pulsating. He was having high blood for some reason and felt like going on stroke.

In the past, he did anything for Saya, hoping and wishing that she would reciprocate his feelings . . . but that never happened. Instead, he was used so many times he lost count.

And when he finally moved on from her and didn’t put her in his eyes anymore, it was when she was pestering and chasing him.

What on earth happened?

He wasn’t even trying to get her attention. Not the least.

It would have been fine if she had stayed invincible and stayed out of his way as she used to in the past.

Now . . . she was more of a headache than anything else.

“I don’t want to be your rebound,” said Ren.

Saya caught her tongue before immediately saying, “It’s not like that. Since high school, I have liked you.”

Ren chuckled, full of mockery. “Is that why you got together with Mike?”

“. . . It’s because, at that time . . . you couldn’t give me a future. Mike could,” Saya told. With Ren, it was better to be honest, than to construct some excuses. He’d know anyway.

“And now I can?” Ren applauded Saya’s honesty. He had to give her credit for that. “It’s not love you want, Saya. It’s someone you can depend on so you’ll live the lifestyle you want. I’m not your wallet, and neither am I going to have a relationship built in superficial things like that.

“You didn’t want me at my worst. And you can never have me at my best.”

Hurt dried Saya’s mouth. It shortened her breath before anger took hold because her true character was found out. She burst out and her words were like cascading waters. “What’s wrong with wanting a man that can give a woman the things she wanted and more? Life is practical nowadays. Women would rather choose money over anything else.”

“Then you should marry an old rich guy if that’s what you want.” Ren stood to his feet and decided to go to Orakh himself. Talking to Saya only hurt his brain cells.

There was no feeling left in him for her. Not even smugness or pride that she confessed to him after what happened in the past.

There was nothing to be proud or flattering about her shallow feelings for him.

He was sure that the moment he returned to the him in the past, she would get back together with Mike and become invincible in her eyes again.

—-

A/N

BONUS Chapters to follow

If I can’t, its because there’s a storm in our country and its probably black out again 😭

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