Shattered Longings

hapter 30 What Do You Think of Me?

The more Bella thought about it, the more convinced she became. It seemed her landlord, Leonard, wasn’t someone to be trifled with. If she wanted to live peacefully under his roof, she definitely couldn’t afford to offend him.

It was as if Leonard could smell the food. Just as Bella finished cooking, he arrived home. He was as laid- back as ever, wearing a tank top despite it only being spring, his well–defined but not overly muscular physique on display.

After sharing a meal together the previous night, Leonard took the initiative to grab a bowl and cutlery to join Bella for dinner.

Bella bit the end of her fork and pretended to ask casually, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Leonard scoffed, dismissing the idea. “Why would I want that? It’s just a burden.”

Bella hadn’t expected that response and was momentarily speechless. She was worried about the potential risks of living under the same roof as a single man, especially since she had only just met him and didn’t know much about him.

Her thoughts drifted back to the night when he had followed her to meet Simon, which felt a bit creepy..

She felt bad for being suspicious of someone who had helped her, but if he hadn’t scared her so much, she wouldn’t be having these paranoid thoughts

of those guys from yesterday returned

chewing on his food. “Yeah, I told you I’d handle

“How did

used

leg. Feeling a bit unnerved, she weakly asked, “Do you… like men

Leonard

breath. “So… what do you

alright, I

take

allow it, and second, my buddies wouldn’t either.

I didn’t mean it

as she turned to leave, Leonard dashed back to his room like he’d seen a ghost

to ask me out. She just asked if I have a girlfriend, if I like women, and what I think

had clarified that she didn’t mean it that way, Leonard had been avoiding her ever since. When he couldn’t avoid her, he stopped wearing tank tops

Do You

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