Chapter 4

I had only just hung up when Gianna sent me a text message.

"I've got a business meeting tonight, so I won't be having dinner with you anymore."

It was just a simple sentence, but I found it weird. She had never liked making the initiative to tell me about her whereabouts and would often just stand me up whenever she felt like it.

However, I found out the reason for the text message very soon.

Shane had suddenly posted on his Instagram Story, and the photo showed Gianna in the background as she was cutting her steak. And judging from the background scenery, they were at the steakhouse that I had initially booked a table at for both of us.

The caption read, "My boss is such a sweetheart. The steak she carved for me tastes absolutely wonderful!"

What a coincidence that the paying customers the steakhouse manager had told me about turned out to be them.

I didn't ask Gianna why she lied about being at a business meeting. I didn't feel upset about it either. My feelings for her were all gone now, and all I wanted was just to have a good night's sleep.

I went to bed after washing up and fell into a deep sleep at once. This was the first night I'd slept so well in ages.

However, sometime at midnight, I was suddenly rudely awakened by a flood of bright light in my eyes.

I blinked sleepily and finally got my eyes to adjust to the harsh light. I realized that Gianna was standing beside the bed.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief. She exclaimed, "Brandon Hemsworth! You actually fell asleep?"

I glanced sleepily at my phone screen and saw that it was 3:00 am. Why hadn't Gianna spent the night outside since it was already so late at night?

Gianna would stay up all night to take care of Shane if his gastric issues got triggered in the middle of the night because she was worried that he would relapse.

But now, Gianna seemed entirely displeased with me. Her face was dark and grim as she said, "Don't you think that you're going overboard by not texting me or waiting up for me when you realized that I hadn't come back yet, Brandon?"

Did she just say I went overboard?

I wanted to roll my eyes at her so badly.

I used to text her and get worried about her when she still hadn't returned late at night. I would even call her to make sure she was safe, but each time, she would accuse me of trying to control her and not trusting her enough.

Whenever I stayed up to wait for her, even preparing snacks and offering her a massage or a foot bath, she would then accuse me of not having enough work to do at the office. This caused my insomnia and added to my ever-growing pile of work the next day.

And yet, now that I wasn't doing any of those things anymore, she still had the nerve to be mad at me.

I really didn't know what she was playing at anymore.

I just briefly hummed as a response and proceeded to turn off the lights to go back to sleep.

Gianna then nudged me and flopped on top of my body as if her bones had just turned to jelly. She said, "Brandon, I'm so tired today. Why aren't you getting up to wash my feet yet?"

I quickly detected Shane's cologne on her clothes and found it extremely disgusting.

If this had happened in the past, I would have immediately gotten up to help her cool off and wind down without her even asking me to, and I wouldn't have gone to sleep until she was fast asleep.

But now, I just found her annoying.

I shoved her aside and frowned, feeling more agitated than usual because my sleep had been rudely interrupted.

"I'm very sleepy. You can jolly well take care of yourself."

Gianna looked shocked. She still looked like she hadn't recovered from the fact that I'd shoved her aside.

A long while later, she gripped her purse so hard that her knuckles went white. She gritted her teeth and said, "Fine! Is this the attitude you're showing me just because I stood you up for dinner, Brandon? Did you really think I wanted to come home to you in the first place?"

Then, she stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

I heard her grab her keys and leave the house.

The old me would have run out after her at once and begged her to stay. But now, I just turned all the lights back off and went back to sleep.

I slept in and woke up feeling refreshed and as light as a feather.

I had thought of making breakfast for myself, but I realized in surprise that Gianna was home.

Last time, if I failed to comfort her in time, she would get pissed at me and leave for work early in the morning so that she wouldn't have to see me.

Gianna was now sitting upright on the couch. A beautiful gift box sat in her lap, and she was toying with the ribbon on the lid.

She turned to look at me when she heard me coming down.

Gianna then approached me, grabbed me by my wrist, and took out the wristwatch from the box before putting it on for me.

The ice-cold metal against my skin made me shiver all of a sudden.