공유

Chapter 5

작가: The Listening Cypress
It was the last day of the business trip, and the dinner banquet didn't break up until almost midnight.

Kimberly went back to her room and splashed water on her face. The cold hit her skin, and she stared at her reflection in the mirror for a second or two. Her face was pale, with faint shadows under her eyes.

She shook the water from her hands and pulled out her phone. The screen lit up, the notifications bar empty. She opened her chat thread with Levi.

The last message she'd sent had been o
이 작품을 무료로 읽으실 수 있습니다
QR 코드를 스캔하여 앱을 다운로드하세요
잠긴 챕터

최신 챕터

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 8

    Kimberly set the paperwork down on her desk and bolted outside.Down at the building's entrance, Levi stood waiting with a small backpack slung over one shoulder, a bag in his hand. A girl beside him reached over and took it, setting it in the back seat of a car parked nearby.Kimberly ran toward them. The moment Levi saw her, his expression went still. He said something to the girl beside him. She glanced at Kimberly, then stepped back toward the car, keeping her distance.Kimberly stopped in front of him, out of breath.Her throat tightened. "You're... leaving?""The paperwork's done.""Where are you going?"Levi didn't answer."Who is she?""A friend I met over the holidays." His voice stayed even. "Call it a new beginning."Something roared in Kimberly's head. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the velvet box. She opened it and held it up to him, the box trembling in her hand."I got you this ring..."Levi, will you marry me?"I'm proposing to you..."I can go

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 7

    On New Year's Day, Kimberly went to sit by the flowerbed outside Levi's family's complex until evening. She went back the second day. And the third.She never went up to knock. She just sat there, glancing down at her phone, then up at the building's front entrance.On the afternoon of the third day, she saw Levi come out of the building with his parents. A car was parked out front, and he was loading luggage into the trunk.Kimberly stood up and started forward, her steps unsteady. Then she heard the System's voice. "Today is the last day to leave every Demand Index turned off. If no index is reactivated, the bond will be permanently severed."She stopped a dozen or so feet from the car. Levi was just reaching for the door handle when he turned his head and glanced her way for a moment, his eyes flat, like he was looking at a stranger."Reactivate Levi's Demand Index.""Once reactivated, this subject can never be unbound again. Does the host confirm?""Confirmed."A number fla

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 6

    Kimberly changed her return flight to Levi's hometown. She didn't tell anyone, and she waited at the gate alone. But after she landed, she still ran into Gary in the arrivals hall.He came jogging up to her, dragging his suitcase behind him. "Ms. Nicholl, is there some last-minute work? I saw the notification that you'd changed your flight, and it was too late to ask, so I just switched to the same one."His eyes caught the two bags in her hands, and he paused. "Oh... are you here to see Levi?"Kimberly's brow creased. "Go back home."He tapped at his phone a couple of times and looked up at her. "There aren't any more flights today, everything's booked solid for the holidays. Can I find a hotel here for now? I've still got some work to wrap up. I won't get in your way."Leaving a subordinate stranded in an unfamiliar city wouldn't look good if it got around. Kimberly found him a hotel and booked him a room."Go home the moment there's a flight," she said, handing him the key car

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 5

    It was the last day of the business trip, and the dinner banquet didn't break up until almost midnight.Kimberly went back to her room and splashed water on her face. The cold hit her skin, and she stared at her reflection in the mirror for a second or two. Her face was pale, with faint shadows under her eyes.She shook the water from her hands and pulled out her phone. The screen lit up, the notifications bar empty. She opened her chat thread with Levi.The last message she'd sent had been over ten days ago. That day, Levi had been sick in bed, and Gary had been trying on a suit in front of the dressing mirror while she sat there, checking her phone twice. She'd typed out a line: [Do you want me to bring anything back for you?]He never replied. After that came the argument, then the silence, and she hadn't sent anything since. Ten days. In all their time together, she and Levi had never gone this long without speaking.Whenever they'd fought before, it never lasted more than a

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 4

    I didn't answer. She kept going on her own, her words coming faster now. "Gary can't handle that project alone. He's already working overtime right through the holidays, and I feel bad enough about that as it is. I can already guess his number's going to be...""Going to break eighty, probably," I finished for her.There was silence behind me.I stared at the blank wall at the end of the hallway. The surface was smooth, and the light hitting it left no shadow to break the flatness.I'd already bought a ticket to go home alone. But hearing her say she wasn't coming with me for the holidays still tightened something in my chest. I remembered how, this time last year, she'd curled up against me with her head tucked under my chin, the tips of her ears turning red, asking when she'd finally get to meet my parents properly, asking if I could give her something official between us. I'd laughed at how much more eager she'd seemed than me.But now, she had changed.I closed my eyes fo

  • Love Is Not a Number   Chapter 3

    I straightened up and set my shoes in the cabinet. That's when I saw the two paper bags sitting on top of it. The logos were familiar, the two cheapest items from the whole pile Gary had shown me that afternoon. Already bought."Good intentions? He was scrolling through gift guides on company time. Are you not paying him a salary?"Kimberly frowned. I walked into the living room. "And besides, why is someone else picking the gift for my parents?"She went quiet for a few seconds before answering. "I just think Gary's thoughtful. He understands what older people like."Last month I asked you what to get your parents as a meeting gift, and you said anything was fine. Your number was only thirty-four when you said that."Levi, Gary's number hit seventy just from asking me to grab him a coffee. You clearly never actually cared about the gift for your parents. Isn't it a little ridiculous to make an issue of it now?"I looked at her face. The living room light caught her from the

더보기
좋은 소설을 무료로 찾아 읽어보세요
GoodNovel 앱에서 수많은 인기 소설을 무료로 즐기세요! 마음에 드는 작품을 다운로드하고, 언제 어디서나 편하게 읽을 수 있습니다
앱에서 작품을 무료로 읽어보세요
앱에서 읽으려면 QR 코드를 스캔하세요.
DMCA.com Protection Status