Chapter 3

My mood shifted from gloomy to bright, and the corners of my lips lifted before I even realized it.

Elias continued to awkwardly tap at the screen with his paws. "I don't know why I turned into this, either. I don't have anywhere to go right now. Can you take me in for a while?"

I was just about to agree when I suddenly remembered the comments I'd seen. Once he turned back into a human, the first person he would kill was me. My mood tanked again.

"Isn't Maisie your favorite?" I let out a mocking laugh. "She'd be thrilled to have you. I can send you over to her place right now."

Elias panicked and started running in circles, his paws frantically tapping on the phone. "That's nonsense! I don't like her! The person I like is…"

"Who is it?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

He instantly chickened out, covering his face with his two front paws and peeking at me through his toes, looking utterly diffident.

Ha! He still wouldn't admit it?

I mimicked his lofty tone from back then, dripping with sarcasm. "Didn't you say back then that if anyone dared to touch a hair on Maisie's head, you would wipe out their entire family? That was such a big, scary threat that you made, Mr. Forrest."

For the first time in my life, I saw vivid embarrassment in a dog's eyes.

Elias' fluffy ears drooped. He lowered his head in defeat and poked at the phone screen with his paw. "I don't know what was wrong with me, either. It was like I was possessed during that time…"

I let out a cold snort. But when I calmed down and thought about it, it really was bizarre. Elias had acted like a totally different person after meeting Maisie.

The first time they'd met, he'd forced her to kneel and apologize. He even kept calling her a lowborn. After that, it turned into that classic cliche of her running and him chasing. It was exactly like a story of the domineering CEO who took what he wanted meeting a pure, unyielding, innocent young woman.

The most ridiculous part was that after Mr. and Mrs. Forrest found out, they had a few words with Maisie. Elias completely blew up, convinced his parents were trying to break them up. He even threatened to cut ties with them.

They were so upset that they rushed over to my house in the middle of the night and complained to my parents until 3:00 am.

Elias struggled to keep typing. "Maisie suddenly showed up in my room right after someone had drugged me. If I hadn't snapped out of it at the last second and broken free long enough to run out, I would've lost my virginity!"

"So you ran into my room?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

He nodded.

The two of us fell into an awkward silence.

I remembered the scene of Elias barging into my room, saying nothing before pinning me against the wall and kissing me. My cheeks instantly burned. When I looked at Elias, I found him so embarrassed that he already had his face buried in his paws.

"Elias Forrest!" I grabbed him, grinding my teeth.

After giving him a good thrashing, I flopped onto the couch to sort through my thoughts. Judging from the barrage of comments, it seemed like we were living inside some domineering-CEO romance novel, and Elias and Maisie were the male and female leads.

But looking at Elias' reaction now, he was clearly just as clueless as I was. Every source of weirdness pointed straight at Maisie…

I glanced down at the snow-white ball of fluff in my arms. Sending him home was obviously out of the question. If Mrs. Forrest saw her son like this, she would probably faint on the spot. So, I could only call the Forrests and tell them Elias would be staying at my place for a few days.

"Of course! He can stay for as long as he wants!" Mrs. Forrest sounded overjoyed on the other end of the line. "He doesn't even have to come home! Willow, I'm really counting on you to deal with that brat."

After hanging up, I prodded Elias' damp black nose and taunted him, "See how unwanted you are? Your parents were practically begging you not to go home."

He immediately let out an aggrieved whine. His two front paws clung to my wrist, and his fluffy head kept nuzzling into my palm.

God, help me. Who on earth could resist this? Of all things, my biggest weakness was soft, fluffy animals.

Damn it! I forced myself to hold back the urge to pet him and set him down instead. No way was I letting him enjoy himself.

I said briskly, "I'm going to work. You stay home and behave."

I'd just stood up when Elias leapt into my arms. He clung tightly to my blazer, his dark eyes shining.

He barked, as if saying, "I want to go, too!"