After we washed up, Kyle made breakfast.
He was always faster than me in the mornings. By the time I sat down, everything was ready. He finished eating first and then sat there watching me.
I lowered my head and started eating faster.
He frowned a little. “No rush.”
I nodded with puffed cheeks, then swallowed and kept going.
Ten minutes later, he grabbed his keys like he always did. He drove me to work every day.
That was when the comments appeared again, bouncing excitedly across my vision.
This is the day the male lead meets the real heroine, right?
Yep. She starts at his company today.
She’s gorgeous, capable, socially graceful, and most importantly, she knows how to give people space.
That’s why being with her doesn’t feel suffocating.
Once he sees what a woman like that is like, he’ll dump the clingy one without hesitation.
I stared at the words.
So today was the day.
The day he met her.
Something tightened in my chest so hard it almost felt like the air around me had thinned out.
Kyle opened the passenger door and looked at me. “Get in.”
I stayed where I was.
“You should go,” I said. “I’ll get to work by myself.”
He shut the door again and walked toward me instead, long legs eating up the distance between us. His eyes swept over my face in one sharp glance.
“You’re upset.”
I blinked. “No.”
“It’s because I dodged your goodnight kiss last night, isn’t it?”
I looked up at him, startled.
How could I explain that it wasn’t anger? That I had simply realized, all at once, how unbearable I probably was?
So I forced a smile and lied.
“I just think maybe we should give each other a little personal space.”
He stopped.
For the first time, he looked genuinely caught off guard.
Then he said, after a beat, “Fine. I’ll pick you up after work.”
Before I could answer, he was already in the car and gone.
The whole day, I was distracted.
The comments kept reappearing to torment me.
He already drove the heroine home. There’s no way he’s picking you up.
Stop dreaming.
By the time I got off work and reached the sidewalk outside my building, I already knew what I would see.
Nothing.
No familiar black car.
No Kyle.
Usually, he got there ten minutes early.
I stood there staring at the empty curb for so long I didn’t even notice someone walking up behind me until a cheerful voice spoke.
“Hey, Ella. What are you doing out here? Can’t get a ride?”
I turned around.
It was Jason, a new hire from the office. He dressed loud, talked easy, and carried a motorcycle helmet under one arm.
“It’s rush hour,” he said. “Don’t bother fighting for the subway. I can take you home.”
My first instinct was to refuse.
Then I looked at the darkening sky and hesitated.
“Okay,” I said softly. “Thanks.”
He was a full head taller than me. He lifted the extra helmet and settled it over my head with casual ease.
“No problem.”
And right then, a long car horn sounded behind us.
Before I could react, Kyle had gotten out of his car, walked straight to me, laced his fingers through mine, and taken the helmet off my head.
He handed it back to Jason and said with maddening calm, “Hey. I’m Ella’s boyfriend. Kyle.”
Jason paused for half a second, then smiled in a way that definitely wasn’t innocent.
“That so? Then you’re not doing a great job. We’ve been off for a while.”
The air turned sharp.
I tugged at Kyle’s hand before things could get worse.
“Kyle, let’s just go home.”
Then I waved awkwardly at Jason. “Bye. Get home safe.”
The whole way to the car, Kyle’s expression was terrible.
He walked so fast I had to half-jog to keep up.
And once we were finally inside, I turned to explain—
Then my voice died in my throat.
Because sitting behind the windshield was a ridiculously cute cat plush.
Kyle didn’t even like cats.
And that thing definitely hadn’t been there yesterday.
Of course that adorable cat plush came from the heroine.
Look at her face. She knows.
Honestly, the side character should leave with some dignity.
And she doesn’t seriously think the male lead was jealous just now, right? Any man would react if another guy was about to take his girlfriend home.
I blinked slowly and swallowed the sting rising in my nose.
So the comments were right again.
He really had taken that girl home.
He had even let a cat plush he supposedly hated sit right in front of him because it was from her.
At this rate, it probably wouldn’t be long before he asked me to break up.