Chapter 492

That night, Mila found herself wide awake once again.

She realized this had become a pattern lately-insomnia creeping in more and more often. After so long at peace, her mind was once again a whirlpool of emotions, memories and worries spinning through her head in the quiet hours, leaving her restless and exhausted.

The next morning, she rolled out of bed with dark circles shadowing her eyes.

After dragging herself through breakfast, she finally picked up her phone. The screen lit up with several unread messages and a missed call—all from Forrest.

She ignored the missed call and tapped open their chat. The earliest message was from last night, asking if she'd made it home safely... She hadn't replied.

Honestly, she hadn't known what to say.

The moment she got home last night, she'd gone straight into ostrich mode, silencing her phone and burying herself in busywork for hours. In the end, it didn't help-she'd still spent most of the night staring at the ceiling.

But now she couldn't keep ignoring him.

Sooner or later, she'd have to respond.

Still, calling was out of the question. Lately, even the sound of Forrest's voice made her anxious. Texting felt safer behind the cold buffer of a screen. Scrolling down past a string of messages she didn't know how to answer, Mila agonized for ages before finally sending a single reply.

"Sorry, I was swamped when I got home yesterday and totally forgot. My apologies."

A flimsy excuse, and she knew it.

At Bamboo Grove, Forrest had just finished breakfast and was sipping his coffee when her message popped up. He couldn't help but laugh quietly-she might be replying a day late, but at least she replied. What more could he really ask for?

Still, it wasn't a habit he wanted to encourage.

typed, long fingers tapping out a gentle tease:

at his almost instant response, Mila fell silent. How was she supposed

to hide

followed: "Did you have breakfast?

No way.

to see him. She was still reeling from the shock of

how to

brain for an excuse and finally blurted one out: "I'm working on a design right now-super busy. Maybe next

"Alright."

begun to relax when another message came through: "Designs are important, but don't forget to eat. I'll pick you up

No, definitely not okay.

he just give her a day

distress when another message

through her. She replied at once:

At Bamboo Grove,

just finished cleaning up the kitchen. Coming into the living room, he saw Forrest smiling at his phone,

up. "I just saw the cutest cat," he said,

A cat?

off guard. Since

it was his job to anticipate

a cat, sir? I could prepare a

animals—her eyes always lit up whenever she saw them on the street, though she'd never actually kept

moment. "Let me ask her

the house...

to dodge a meeting for

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