She can't take it

Ethan Ainsley was particularly receptive to her flattery.

He raised an eyebrow, and decided to let her off.

"Are you leaving tonight?" Lola Hussey snuggled against him. Half her heart had already opened to him, and she didn't feel any sense of him being distant or cold.

Indeed, people need to interact to dissipate the sense of distance.

Ethan's response was: "You want me to stay?"

The girl's thoughts were inscrutable. No matter how well Ethan understood her, he couldn't fully get what's in her mind. She said she would not keep him, but her tender hand was still wrapped around his waist not letting go, truly testing him.

In the end, he himself slowly unwrapped the girl's hand.

His palm was dry and warm, with his fingertips lightly scraping her lips, and further upward, he lightly tussed her hair.

After advising her many times to rest well and sleep early, he left decisively and plainly this time, saying only, "I'm leaving."