Chapter 21

Monday mornings should come with a warning label.Something like: Caution: May cause headaches, irrational anger, and an overwhelming desire to quit your job and move to a farm.I was experiencing all three by nine fifteen.My inbox was overflowing. The director wanted revisions to a report I'd already revised twice. One of our suppliers had apparently forgotten the meaning of a deadline, and Kim-Biseo had just informed me that a meeting scheduled for the afternoon had been moved to eleven.Eleven!As if my calendar were a public park where anyone could come and rearrange the furniture.I rubbed my forehead and opened the report.Then my phone buzzed.Toby: Good morning.I stared at the message.That was suspicious.Toby didn't usually send good morning messages unless he wanted something.Me: What did you buy?Three dots appeared immediately.Toby: Why is that always your first question?Me: Because experience has taught me to be afraid.Toby: I haven't bought anything.Me: Good.Tob

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-22

Chapter 22

There were three things I learned over the weekend.One, Toby was apparently capable of surviving without buying things on my credit card.Two, a man who suddenly starts cleaning the apartment without being asked is either experiencing personal growth or hiding something.And three, I was not emotionally prepared for the possibility that Toby might actually become a functioning adult.The last one was particularly annoying.On Saturday morning, I woke up to the sound of a vacuum cleaner.I lay in bed for several seconds, staring at the ceiling.The sound stopped.Then it started again.I pulled a pillow over my head.Perhaps it was a dream.Perhaps the neighbors were cleaning their apartment.Perhaps a small army of professional cleaners had somehow entered my home while I slept.Then someone knocked on my bedroom door."Lara?"I groaned."What?""I'm cleaning the living room. Do you have anything you want me to clean?"I sat up slowly.What kind of question was that?Was he asking pe

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-29

Chapter 23

By Tuesday morning, I had officially entered a dangerous new phase of my life.I was happy.Not the ordinary kind of happy that came from finding money in an old coat pocket or discovering that my favorite coffee shop had a discount.I was genuinely, suspiciously happy.Toby had a job. A real job, with a salary, a start date, and an actual human resources department that had decided he was worth employing. He'd already reviewed the offer, confirmed the details, and promised to make a budget before spending his first paycheck.He had even written down a repayment plan.A repayment plan!I had stared at that piece of paper for so long that Toby eventually asked whether I wanted to frame it.I told him I was considering it.Then I told him I would charge him for the frame.He laughed.I laughed.And for a brief, shining moment, we looked like two normal people living together instead of a woman who had accidentally acquired a man through a secret contract and the man who had made that de

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-11-05

Chapter 24

There are many ways to embarrass yourself on a date.You can spill coffee on your shirt. You can accidentally call your date by your ex's name. You can tell a joke that makes absolutely no sense and then spend the next five minutes explaining why it was supposed to be funny.Or, if you're particularly unlucky, you can attempt to make a ceramic bowl and discover that your hands have the artistic ability of a malfunctioning washing machine.Guess which one happened to me?Actually, don't guess.It was all of them.Well, except the ex-boyfriend part. I didn't have enough romantic history to accidentally call anyone by the wrong name.But give me time.I arrived at the pottery studio ten minutes early, which I considered a personal achievement. The studio was tucked between a flower shop and a little bakery, with wide windows that allowed sunlight to spill across the wooden floor. Shelves lined the walls, displaying ceramic mugs, plates, bowls, and little decorative animals that looked as

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-11-05

Chapter 25

Monday morning began with a disaster.Not a financial disaster, thankfully. Those had become such a regular part of my life that I'd started treating them like monthly utility bills.No, this disaster was standing in front of my bathroom mirror, wearing my white blouse, holding two different ties, and looking as though he was about to attend his own funeral."Which one?"I stared at Toby through the bathroom doorway."The blue one."He looked down at the ties in his hands."This blue one or the other blue one?"I closed my eyes."How many blue ties do you own?""Two.""Then choose one!""But they look different.""Because they're different ties, Toby!"He looked at them again, apparently unconvinced by my excellent reasoning.I took a deep breath.It was seven fifteen in the morning. I'd been awake for twenty minutes, my coffee hadn't kicked in yet, and I was already being forced to participate in a fashion emergency.A fashion emergency involving a man who, until recently, had consid

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-11-05

Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 25

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25