After being reborn, I make up my mind to stop chasing after my husband and daughter

Chapter 221

He offered a slightly sheepish grin. “Call it a borderline compulsion. That floor was… genuinely distressing to my sensibilities.

“Then I entrust it to your capable hands,” I conceded, rising and stepping out to grant him space.

Ryan worked with surprising efficiency, swiftly restoring the floor’s shine and even giving my desk a thorough polish.

“What are your plans for getting home?” I inquired as he finished.

“Undecided. Likely brave the rush–hour bus gauntlet,” he replied with a wry twist of his lips.

“Ride back with me, then,” I offered.

Ryan’s face brightened perceptibly. “Thanks, Ms. Murphy. That’s incredibly kind.”

At seven, I navigated the evening traffic towards home, Ryan a quiet presence in the passenger seat.

A glance in the rearview mirror unexpectedly snagged on his reflection. His gaze held mine, and in that dim light, I saw a sudden, unfamiliar depth–a complexity absent in his usual sunlit clarity.

Seeking to diffuse the sudden charge, I ventured lightly, “Someone with your looks must surely have a girlfriend?”

Ryan answered simply. “Family rules

soft, surprised laugh escaped me. “The model of

low undercurrent in his voice. “If anything,

must buy considerable leeway, I imagine. A touch of rebellion probably doesn’t diminish

his features. “Aside from my grandfather, there’s not much

escaped before I could cage it, and I instantly regretted it, sensing

seven,” Ryan said, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “My mother… work consumes her. No

feeling inadequate as I mentally kicked

shuttering behind a mask of resolute calm. “I’ll be graduating soon. I can hold my own in whatever comes

must be getting on in years,” I said gently.

I will,” he

again. The depth I saw–that unsettling amalgam of solitude and a shadowed weight- felt jarringly incongruous with his youth. A shiver

thought instantly summoned an image of Yvonne. Post–divorce, she too would inevitably fade from my daily life. A knot of

Iresignation

soon reached the complex’s underground garage. As I popped the trunk to retrieve my things, Ryan lingered nearby, his gaze

foot, accompanied by high–pitched, frantic squeaks. In that instant, primal fear shot through me–every

Chapter 221

undignified scramble onto him. Instinctively, his