Chapter 113: Is He Playing Hard To Get?!
Seles cursed in her mind again as the elevator went up towards her floor. It had barely been a few minutes since she had left the floor of that insufferable fool.
Normally, she wouldn’t bother getting so worked up but after what had happened yesterday, she wasn’t even sure if he was okay.
One moment, he had jumped into the mouth of a dangerous monster and the next, Aurelion had simply kept running with her on his back.
The monster barely even seemed to follow them and yet she had trusted him because if what Zenith had said before jumping in was really true, then trusting him and relying on him should have made him stronger.
And soon enough, the monster had vanished as well.
But no matter how much she searched through the crowd of people fleeing the café they had been in or the surrounding area caught in manifestation, she couldn’t see him anywhere.
It was only natural for her to get worried because she had so many questions and if he died who would be answering them?
She was about to report him as missing when the Principal of the academy arrived at the location after the Manifestation space had vanished.
But Aurelion held her back, telling her that Zenith was fine and that she shouldn’t say anything about him to the Principal.
She understood that as well.
If Zenith really was the one who had made the monster disappear, telling the Principal could bring him a lot worse problems.
So, she kept quiet.
But even then, she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Zenith.
She herself was tired but she wanted to see if he was at home and more importantly she wanted to ask what he meant by what he said back then.
But when she saw that he wasn’t there, she decided to wait a little longer...
...and somehow, she fell asleep.
"And that bastard had the audacity to say ’good morning’ of all things he could have said."
She was angry about too many things like him throwing her off like that yesterday and jumping into the mouth of a monster without explaining any of his plans.
But it all snapped when he said good morning as if... everything was exactly the same and nothing had happened.
But then, a strange theory began to take root in her mind.
Or...
Is he playing hard to get?
Nothing was a hundred percent certain yet but if the conclusion she had reached yesterday was true, if he really was someone who had been observing her for a long time or worse, if he really was some kind of mind reader, then he should know what was going on in her mind.
She clearly still didn’t trust him but she was too self-aware to accept that she was completely indifferent towards him.
She wasn’t one of those girls who kept denying their emotions and feelings to no end.
She knew exactly where and what was wrong even if it felt illogical and somehow, after what had happened yesterday, instead of feeling angry or more suspicious of him, she had somehow started finding him cooler.
She didn’t love him... but he did seem a bit more pleasant to her.
It was strange.
The suspicion was still there but at the same time, it felt like she could trust that unreliable man.
And if he was a mind reader, he should have known what her thoughts were at that exact moment and yet instead of comforting or maybe calming her down, all he said was Good Morning with that stupid smile of his.
It was almost as if he knew exactly what I wanted him to say... and deliberately chose not to say it.
Is he really playing hard to get?
Or can he simply not read minds in as much detail as I expected?
Or maybe... he can’t read minds at all.
But then again, how did he know about my diary?
"Arghh, why the hell is it so damn difficult?"
She cursed again, holding her head for a moment as the elevator doors slowly opened. She was already on her assigned floor, the fifteenth floor.
But as soon as the doors opened, her eyes fell on a blonde woman standing some distance away in the hallway.
The last woman Seles had wanted to see.
Lillian.
The same blonde commoner who kept loitering around Zenith and kept interfering with her plans.
From what Aurelion had seen, this girl had been near the cafe when that monster descended as well. Seles couldn’t understand what this woman was doing there.
But she clearly wasn’t in the mood to have a chat about it now.
Her mind was sluggish and her body was tired and stiff from sleeping on the cold floor in front of the door of an ungrateful bastard.
Still, she gave her a pleasant smile.
After all, whether she liked it or not, this girl was her neighbour. And more importantly, she knew how important it was to keep an enemy close.
"Good morning, Lillian."
Seles greeted her with a wave of her hand.
But instead of replying to her or even bothering to acknowledge her greeting, that damned arrogant commoner simply walked past her as if she were thin air.
A nerve popped on Seles’s forehead.
This bitch!
Still, she kept her anger in and instead let out a mischievous smile.
"Oh, and if you are going to visit Zenith, you shouldn’t disturb him at this hour. I was just at his apartment a few moments ago... and he was quite tired."
Seles herself didn’t know why she said that but it immediately caught Lily’s attention. The blonde commoner stopped as she entered the elevator and turned around.
But instead of indifference or anger, a similar kind of smile was present on her face.
"No worries. I would know better, since he spent last night on my bed, after all."
As soon as the words escaped her lips, Seles’s mouth fell open.
But before she could say anything, the elevator doors closed and the annoying commoner vanished from her sight, leaving a completely speechless and frozen Seles in her wake.
***