75

Chapter 75

Ren POV

"I will ask you this just once. Who the heck was that?" I asked Nate angrily, glaring hard at him.

"What do you mean? Come on, don't tell me it's still about the call from days ago..."

"I saw you with her at the restaurant. Who is she? Your girlfriend?" I asked him, and he raised his eyebrows for a few seconds then sighed. I happened to have seen him with a lady yesterday, and with the way they were acting it didn't seem like they were just friends, and even though I wanted to ignore him because it was none of my business, I still couldn't do it knowing Lilian's heart is at stake.

"Are you stalking me?" She scoffed and threw her head back.

"I'm not in the mood for that, so just answer my question and don't waste my time, Nate. Is she your girlfriend?" I asked him again like a cop interrogating a criminal. He stared at me wordlessly for a few seconds before he nodded his head, and my heart almost exploded.

"She's your girlfriend?" I asked to be sure I didn't see wrong.

"You don't understand body language. I just nodded my head, so yes, she's my girlfriend. Do you have a problem with that?" He asked me boldly like he was clueless about everything and it was really driving me nuts.

"Look, if this is about Lilian having feelings for me, then you better stop making things up in your head and stop with the misconception..."

"Are you stupid or you are just clueless, Nate?" I cut him off, and he sighed.

"I didn't come here this morning to listen to that, Ren. What do you want from me?" He asked like he was frustrated or something.

"If you don't love Lilian, tell her so she can stop making things up in her head. You need to let her know you already have a girlfriend so she won't keep waiting on you..."

"Are you saying this for yourself, dude? I don't know what you are making up in your head, but if Lilian is probably turning you down and you're thinking it's because of me, then you must be mistaken..." He paused and took a deep breath.

"I don't know what she thinks of me, but to me, she's a friend I cherish the most, and someone I will do anything for. That is who she is to me, but that shouldn't make you think of shits in your head. It doesn't make sense," He shrugged, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was really clueless because I would notice Lilian's feelings if I was in his shoes, or maybe he was just stupid. He didn't seem to me like he was pretending.

"Nate..." I paused and rubbed my fingers gently on my forehead, maybe it'll help me think straight, but trying to gather my thoughts together was more difficult than anything. Why am I doing this? I asked myself. Even though I was madly in love with her, I should know my boundary, uphold my pride and not meddle in her affairs, right? There was only one answer to the question. I guess I was madly in love with her and the imagination of how broken she would be when she realized everything hurt me so much.

"If you have nothing to say to me, then I beg to take my leave," He said, then stood up and walked away. I felt like a fool, or rather, I made a fool of myself. Calling him out here and talking to him was the dumbest thing anyone would ever do no matter how strong the love was. Well, I didn't think straight before I did this.

My phone beeped and a text from Tracy popped on the screen.

'You promised to take me to watch movies today. You are not going back on your words, are you?' I read through her text and scoffed angrily. Battling shits here and she wouldn't stop adding hers. She has been trying to use her health to take advantage of me, and not that there was anything I could do about it, anyway. As much as I wanted to send her back to New York, there were better doctors here than there, so I was thinking it would be great to just let her get the chemotherapy treatment here before she went back later.

"Ugh! Everything is frustrating," I mumbled and dragged myself to my feet, leaving the restaurant.

I was about to hop inside the car when an idea popped into my head, so I stopped and get my phone.

'Hey! I'm bringing Lilian with us. Don't think of saying no because I won't go with you if she's not coming with us' I texted Tracy, and as if she has been waiting for my text, a reply from her popped on the screen almost immediately.

'Forget it. I will just stay at home' That was a nice way to get away from her, and I'm glad it worked.

Leaving the restaurant, I drove to the lake to clear my head and have fun there since there was nothing left for me to do at home. The lake was a beautiful sight to behold, but I didn't feel any emotions that were supposed to be connected to the lake.

"Should I tell Lilian about this?" I asked myself, but will she believe me if I tell her? Won't she think that it was for my selfish benefit? She would definitely think so. Maybe keeping it a secret from her would be best, but giving her a hint won't be a bad idea.

After pondering over it for long, I finally texted her.

'Let's meet after you close from work. You could text me so I'll come pick you up' I texted her and breathed out. Ten minutes passed before she replied to my text.

'I'm sorry, I don't think that's going to be possible. I'm going to see Nate after I close from work' I scoffed angrily after reading her reply. I was angry that she was clueless about the shit happening. How could she not see that this guy we are talking about doesn't feel anything for her? Is that how dumb she is or is she just turning a blind eye to it? I asked myself.

"Ugh! Just forget it. You should move on and try to get over her," My subconscious mind said to me, but I know it was the last that would ever happen. I have tried to get over her, but it seemed like I was madly in love with her and could not even turn back at this point. It was hard to fight this feeling no matter how hard I tried.

Going home was the last thing on my mind, so I hung around the lake until it was a few minutes to 6pm and I finally left the place.

It felt like going home was like going to the pit of hell because I couldn't stand spending five minutes under the same roof as Tracy now, but I couldn't leave her alone at home and there was no way I would leave my house for her, right?

About to take the last route that lead to my apartment, but I changed my mind and turned the car around. I know she's not going to like this, but there's no way I was going to allow her to go see Nate today. She's definitely going to get hurt if she should go there and find that girl in his house.

I soon arrived at Nate's company, and I think I came just in time because when I spotted her coming out of the company along with her other colleagues the moment I pulled over in front of the company's gate.

"Isn't that the guy from the cafe shop?" One of the two ladies she was walking to the gate with, uttered when she noticed me, and that was when Lilian realized that I was outside the gate.

"It's you... Hi!" One of them smiled at me warmly, and I nodded my head.

"Hi!" I reciprocated the smile.

"What are you doing here?" She asked me, and when I glanced at Lilian who had stopped, she smiled and nodded her head.

"Is she the one you were talking about the other day? The one you are in love with..."

"No way!" Lilian snapped at her friend angrily.

"Look at you. Anyway, see you tomorrow," They finally walked away, leaving us to deal with things.

"What are you doing here? I'm sure you don't have an appointment," She asked.

"Not really. Come on, I will drop you off at where you are going..."

"That's why there are cabs. I will take one," She cuts me off.

"I know there are cabs, but I'm offering you a ride. Come on... It's not that I'm going to bite you, anyway," I shrugged, and she scoffed.

"I insist. I can..."

"I'm sorry, but you can't say no," I cut her off and bundled her into the car before she could say anything further. This is going to piss her off, but she would be grateful to me in the end after realizing the favor I'm doing for her now...