Chapter 136 Chapter 136
Maxwell had been putting up with this annoying woman for far too long, and his temper was about to get the best of him. Turning around to her, he glared.
“Listen, I don’t want to talk to you,” he hissed. “Piss off.”
Surprised by his outburst, but not ready to give up, she stretched out her hand to touch him, but he quickly caught it and held it in a painfully tight grip. His eyes narrowed. “Filthy human, how dare you touch me. Keep your disgusting hands to yourself,” he growled.
With wide eyes, she stared at him and retracted her hand after he let her go. Now she wasn’t so confident in her undertaking to flirt with him anymore since his rudeness was putting her off.
Maxwell smirked seeing her inch back and got up, but his smugness didn’t last for long. Without warning, he was overwhelmed by a wave of sadness and desperation that wasn’t his own. He froze, opening his mouth but not making a sound. His heart was hurting badly; it felt like it was torn to pieces, and it scared him to the core.
Head snapping around, he scanned the crowd for a sign of Valerie, hoping to see her somewhere, but among the many people, he didn’t spot her. Worried about her well-being, he ignored the woman and ran in the direction of the bubble tea shop, hoping to find her there. The bond’s magic didn’t warn him of any danger, but something had to be wrong when she felt this bad. He had to find her and fast.
As he ran through the crowd, desperate to catch sight of her, he found the bubble tea shop, but she wasn’t there anymore. Only strangers were waiting in line. Where could she be, and why hadn’t she returned to him? He was horrified, and as her pain in his chest grew, so did his fear. Where was she?
His pulse accelerated, and his eyes turned ruby red as he glanced around frantically. “Valerie.” he called, but he received no answer, just weird stares that those useless, dumb humans threw his way. They were only standing in his way, preventing him from finding her faster, and he was tempted to use his magic to shove them away.
The situation gave him a painful sense of déjà-vu that only fueled his panic. He ran into another alley, passed countless colorful rides, but he didn’t see her anywhere. It was as if she had vanished. Clutching the fabric of his jacket right where his heart was, his features distorted, showing his pain. She was suffering somewhere, and he had to find her. He couldn’t fail. He couldn’t. Not again.
“Valerie.” he yelled, and again he received no answer. As he passed an alley, he stopped abruptly and turned around, thinking he had gotten a glimpse of her. And indeed, there she was.
She stood with her back to him, hidden in the shadow of a building, looking lost and lonely. Her sobs were heartwrenching, their sounds making him run faster. He crashed into her so suddenly she gasped, locking his arms around her stomach and pressing her back into his chest.
“I found you,” he managed to say before he pressed his face into the side of her neck, breathing in her familiar scent. Oddly, his arrival didn’t make her feel better. The foreign pain in his heart grew, became unbearable. She quivered and squirmed in his strong hold, attempting to free herself.
“Let go.” she hissed, and in his shock, he did just that.
“What are you doing here?” she said angrily, taking a step back. His eyes widened when he saw her flushed cheeks and the tear tracks marking her skin. She was biting down on her shaking lower lip to hold in another sob.
“I was looking for you because you weren’t feeling well,” he explained, not understanding what the problem was. “What happened?”
“Shouldn’t you know that?” she snapped. “As soon as I was gone for a few minutes, you… You started flirting with some random woman… and you were even holding her hand.”
Realization dawned on him, and he took a step closer to her. “I wasn’t flirting with her. I told her to go, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“It didn’t look like that to me,” she persisted, rubbing her wet eyes with the sleeves of her sweater.
“Valerie, why would I flirt with some random disgusting human?” he replied irritably. “That bitch wasn’t worth my time, so I told her off when she tried to touch me.”
She stayed quiet and gazed at him with red-rimmed eyes, hugging her own body.
“You should know better than to doubt me over something so stupid. I would never cheat on you,” he said sincerely and took another step towards her, reaching her. “Did you feel bad because of that?”
He cupped her cheeks and brushed her tears away with his thumbs, looking her over. “You gave me a huge scare. I thought something bad was happening to you,” he scolded her. “Don’t do that again. Next time, don’t run off.”
Valerie froze when she realized he was hiding his desperation. She had misunderstood the situation. The guilt had another wave of tears well up in her eyes. How stupid could she be to worry him like that? He must have been looking for her in the whole park, thinking she had hurt herself, but she hadn’t wasted a thought about that. In fact, she hadn’t even sensed his overwhelming desperation until now, too occupied with her own emotions.
“I’m sorry,” she hiccupped. “It was my mistake. I ruined our date.”
He sighed, letting go of her face to embrace her. His arms wound around her body, tightly holding her. She sniffled and hid her face at his chest, her hands clutching the lapels of his red jacket. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “It’s all my fault.”
“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “No need to beat yourself up over it. And besides, our date hasn’t ended yet. We still have plenty of time left to have fun.”
“Maxwell, are you not mad?” she mumbled, tensing her shoulders.
He moved his fingers through her soft hair, the gesture calming her racing heartbeat. “I’m not. Just don’t get jealous so quickly next time,” he replied.
She hesitated, finding his words ironic. “It’s strange to hear that coming from you,” she whispered.