Chapter 10
“Last night I was drunk,” I said, “but what I said was true.”
He went very still.
I kept going before I could lose my nerve.
“The person I’ve liked from the beginning has always been you.”
“Lucas and I aren’t close. The night he drove me back, it was only because both families had dinner together and my parents had been drinking. They asked him to take me.”
“The night at the library, he only walked me because it was late.”
“Nothing happened between us.”
“With anyone.”
I watched the red number above Xander’s head as I spoke.
And just like that, every time I said another sentence, it dropped a little.
I held his gaze and said the most important part last.
“You can be yourself. You never have to imitate anybody for me. No matter what version of you it is, I like you.”
The moment the words fell, the system’s voice rang through my head.
“Congratulations, host. Conquest successful.”
Xander looked at me for a long time.
Then, for the first time I had ever seen, the tips of his ears turned red.
He looked away, clearly trying to hide it.
A second later, he put the breakfast down and pulled me into his arms.
He buried his face in my neck and asked in a muffled voice, “Then why did you break up with me?”
I answered honestly. “Because I thought you were mad that I was too clingy. Too controlling. Too much.”
He pulled back immediately.
“What?”
I blinked at him. “Weren’t you?”
“No.”
The answer came so fast there wasn’t even room for hesitation.
He frowned hard. “Of course not.”
I stared.
So I asked the question that had bothered me for the longest time.
“Then every day when I bossed you around and made decisions for you… you really didn’t mind?”
This time he answered even faster.
“Not at all.”
Then he narrowed his eyes. “Who told you I would?”
The system silently played dead.
I did not betray it.
Later, I told Xander about his mother offering me money.
He listened quietly, then said with complete calm, “I know.”
That startled me. “You knew?”
He nodded. “I didn’t handle the Hale family situation well enough. That was my mistake. They won’t bother you again.”
Then I took out the card and handed it to him.
“You should return this to her.”
He accepted it, turned it over casually in his fingers, and then looked at me with a strange expression.
“For me, you gave up ninety million?”
I felt a physical pain in my chest.
But I still nodded.
He laughed softly, leaned down, and kissed me.
“So pitiful, baby.”
I shook my head. “Not pitiful. I still have money.”
After the system officially detached from the mission, I finally told him the truth about the original reward.
When I finished, I blinked at him and said, “I might not have the ninety million, but I still have forty million. I can support you.”
For one second, Xander just looked at me.
Then he kissed me again.
Harder this time.
When he finally let me go, he reached for a stack of papers and put them in my hands.
I looked down.
It was a stock transfer agreement.
I stared at him in confusion.
Xander explained casually, “I can’t let you lose money because of me. Those dividends are worth more than ninety million.”
Then he smiled.
And in that smile, there was finally no doubt, no bitterness, no restraint left.
“So,” he murmured, “when you started chasing me, you were really thinking about money.”
I immediately became defensive. “Not just money.”
He raised a brow.
I coughed and corrected myself weakly, “Okay. Mostly money.”
He laughed.
Then he reached over, touched my face, and said in a low voice that made my heart beat too fast, “Good thing I have plenty.”