Chapter 3: Get close

With a creased forehead and crossed arms, I gazed at him.

"What does that mean?"

I jerked when one of his hands snaked around my waist, and he pulled me closer to his body.

"It's suspicious that you're throwing yourself to me at speed," he whispered.

His other hand went to my stomach and rubbed it slowly.

'Is he checking if I'm really pregnant?'

I got nervous. I felt like things were not happening the way I wanted them to happen.

'He's suspicious of me. Just why the fuck did I say I'm pregnant?! I must be an idiot!'

"And do you know what's infuriating me?" he asked, dull-eyed as he looked down at me.

His eyes gravitated toward my lips, but he brought his gaze back to my eyes immediately.

"It's infuriating that I'm letting you do it."

He let go of me and asked coldly, "What do you want from me?"

I stared back at him. I refused to back down.

"I told you, I'm pregnant."

"And if you are not?" He sounded a little bit cynical."

Well, you can just get me pregnant, can't you?"

We stared at each other with bantering intensity, both refused to retreat. He flicked my forehead with his finger.

"Ah!" I cried out and rubbed my forehead to ease the pain.

"Stop bothering me. I'm a busy person, and I don't have time to play with you."

The next thing I knew, he was already pushing me out of the door while I struggled to stay inside.

"At least let me have a glass of water!" I screamed as I tried hard to hold onto the door frame so he wouldn't shut the door.

"I know you're not pregnant," he said with that as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "And whatever you want from me, whatever that is, I can't give you that."

"Then why did you ask for my number, you moron!" scornfully, I yelled.

He didn't answer.

"I don't want to go as far as giving you money, so get lost."

"What?! You think I want money?"

"Why else would you be here pretending that you're pregnant?"

"Why are you saying I'm just pretending!" I exclaimed.

He had an ominous glare in his eyes. It was the wide grin that followed that made my gut churn.

"That, lady, is because nothing sexual happened to us that night."

"What?!" I screamed my lungs out.

'I'm so confused!'

"So what happened—"

I couldn't finish what I was saying because he had already slammed the door in my face.

'Shit!'

'Fine! Fine! Forget the mission! I will just break into the palace to install the bug!'

"Damn it! Why is that freakin' prince making this hard for me?! So nothing 'sexual' happened to us? So I just looked stupid to him, saying I was pregnant when nothing even happened! So humiliating!" I voiced my frustrations.

I marched my way into the elevator. I was so frustrated, and I vented my anger on the poor elevator buttons.

When I arrived on the ground floor, my knees wobbled. There was something about elevator rides that made me a little dizzy.

I went out of the building but then stopped. My feet stopped on their own. They knew I came with a purpose. I couldn't walk out without achieving it.

I remembered what was at stake if I couldn't make this work. I forced my eyes to close and breathed in and out deeply to calm myself down. Then I faced the entrance of the gigantic apartment building again.

The building was aesthetically beautiful, with an alternating shade of emerald green and white. The buildings were so symmetrical that the left and the right part looked like they were mirroring each other.

The center was pointed, and then it spread widely, resembling that of a rectangular object placed slanted in front of a mirror.

Because of that effect, the building looked like three buildings merged. The center was the tallest, and from what I heard, it had 100 floors.

The right and left sides both have 80 floors. This was the most luxurious and expensive apartment building in the whole kingdom.

'Rathna, Rathna, you need to calm down. Suck up your pride. This is not about clinging to a guy. This is about Soma's mission. You weren't rejected by a guy, okay? This is all part of what you have to do.'

After I made that resolution, I entered the building again. If somebody was watching me, that person might have thought I was insane for going in and out of this building in such a short period.

I had to experience the torturous elevator ride up to the 85th floor again. However, my precious pride wouldn't let me press the doorbell or even knock on his door.

I just couldn't! It was humiliating!

In the end, I stayed outside his apartment. I didn't know how long I waited there, but it was long enough to make me doze off while sitting on the floor outside of his apartment.

I woke up when my subconscious felt like someone was staring at me. I went into alert mode, ready to attack the perpetrator.

But then, just as when I was about to attack the stranger, I stopped when I realized who it was.

My hand was able to stop an inch from his vital spot on the neck. The interesting thing was, he didn't flinch. Not even a bit. Which was not normal for a normal person.

Normally, one would freak out, move away out of fright, or simply react as a reflex.

"Why are you so stubborn? Why are you sleeping out here?"

He crouched down to see me at his eye level. I hugged his neck and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sleepy," I mumbled in a drowsy tone.

"Of course you are. It's already midnight."

My alertness went away when I saw it was him. Sleep crawled back into my system.

"Play with me, Neuron."

I did not hear a response from him.

"Even if you don't have time, please play with me."

I could vaguely remember what happened next or if he said anything. All I could remember was that I felt him scoop me up.

When I opened my eyes, it was already morning.