3/5

"Is it true that you like me?"

At Evie's question, Ren felt like someone lit up a nuclear bomb inside his mind. While he kept his face stoic, in reality, his feelings were all around the place, and his brain was too jumbled to form anything coherent. For a whole ten seconds, he just stared at her.

Leonel, on the other hand, was also shocked. Ren was in a pinch, and so was he. He knew more than anyone that, despite his friend's emotionless face, the latter was actually too stunned to speak.

That was why, right now, Leonel was the one feeling troubled and stuttering as he responded.

"W-what made you say that?" Leonel asked, trying hard to steady his voice, but miserably failed.

'Despite being quiet most of the time, Evie can be really brutal if she wants to,' Leonel mused to himself as he nervously stared at Ren, who still hadn't recovered until now.

He must be really in shock and caught unprepared for the sudden question.

Though Leonel had to admit that he felt amused by how much of an idiot Ren was acting right now. It was like he had no idea what to do or say next.

At the side, Alice's radar quickly picked up that something romance-y was going on, so she immediately rushed towards Ren and Evie.

She excitedly asked, "Oh! What's this? Finally, a confession scene? Let me see, let me see. So exciting!"

Evie blinked, finally realizing that she and Ren weren't alone.

It was at this moment that she realized how stupid her question sounded, so she immediately shook her head and muttered an apology.

"Sorry. It's just those girls in Golden Phoenix said something absurd." Evie's voice was soft and small, making it hard to understand what she was saying. Her voice was quieter than a whisper, and her whole face was red in shame.

So it was those girls! Ren thought and cursed under his breath. He shouldn't have sent Evie to them. Now, they planted all sorts of ideas inside her head.

Ren looked away from Evie. There was no way that he could say something like, 'Yes, I like you.' It would make things awkward between them. But then again, there was nothing more awkward than this.

Evie felt bad for making such an absurd assumption about Ren and for making the situation awkward. It wasn't like she had any proof before asking.

Having thought of this, she suddenly remembered the day when she first met him.

Ren had always been cold and indifferent, but he always got things done. He was very dependable, and it felt like everything would be alright as long as he was around.

There was no indication that he liked her — from her perspective. Ren wasn't smiling and staring at her like a fool like everyone who liked her did. Instead, Ren's lips were pursed in a thin line, and his expression most of the time was blank.

"Forget that I said anything," Evie said, trying to rectify the situation.

Deep inside, she badly needed an answer to stop her rioting emotions from eating her piece by piece. "It was stupid to trust those girls' words."

Though she was the one who opened up the topic in the first place — in front of Leonel and Alice, the two gossiping mongrels, no less, she wanted the topic to end here and never be opened again.

Besides, Evie didn't even know if she wanted to hear Ren's answer.

It was then that Ren finally realized that his brain had stopped lagging.

He captured Evie's elusive gaze and asked with a serious tone.

"Do you really want to know the answer?"

The words left Ren's mouth like a bullet, piercing Evie straight on. She wanted to run away from the situation, but she couldn't seem to let go of this opportunity to finally know the truth.

Evie slowly nodded, and everything suddenly felt like they were slowed down. Time was moving so slow that everyone felt every agonizing seconds of it.

Leonel and Alice could feel the heat coming out of their body, so they tried to hide behind their hands. The situation turned tense all of a sudden, and they couldn't handle the heat!

Leonel couldn't believe that after so many years, Ren would finally open up to someone about his feelings. It felt surreal. Would he finally have a girlfriend after all these years?!

As everyone was waiting for his answer, Ren felt tense. He was actually scared of telling her the truth. His appearance suggested otherwise, but he was so nervous that his hands were cold and shaking and sweat ran from his back.

He would rather face numerous World Bosses rather than face this kind of situation that he was totally unprepared for.

All sorts of possible scenes were simulated in Ren's mind — most of them were negative, making him want to deny everything vehemently. However, he felt like it would be too obvious if he lied because he was sure that he would have an awkward expression on his face.

Evie's silver eyes mirrored his. They were full of worry and doubt. Her eyes were so captivating that he almost forgot the situation they were in. Under her gaze, he couldn't lie.

"Yes," Ren said with a wry smile and continued with a soft tone, "I like you."

. . .

. . .

As soon as he finished speaking, Ren immediately covered his mouth with his fingers and looked away. It was too late for him to take his words back now since Evie had already heard what he said.

Evie looked at Ren in disbelief before she . . . she logged out and escaped again!

". . ."

"Did she . . ." Alice wasn't amused, ". . . log out? At such an important moment like this? She escaped?!"

Alice flew around and around in the air while clutching her hair like she had gone mad. "Why?! Why?! WHY?! What about her answer?! Her answer! HER ANSWER!"

She was more disappointed than Ren, the one who confessed.

Ren didn't know whether he should be relieved that Evie didn't answer right away or not. He was disappointed, though, that was for sure.

While Alice was going hysterical and Ren silent, a peal of loud laughter boomed across the room.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)