Chapter 91

Elise gave a soft snort and set her phone facedown on the table. It hit harder than she meant it to.

She wasn't angry. Why was Mu explaining himself to her?

He hadn't even said her name. For all she knew, he could have been talking to someone else.

She shut off her phone, determined not to see another thing about it. After a shower, she set her alarm and climbed into bed.

Sleep still wouldn't come. She turned from one side to the other, a restless heat under her skin while her thoughts kept circling back to the same things.

The house was quiet enough that she could hear insects outside.

A sharp tap struck the window.

Elise opened her eyes in the dark and listened. It must have been her imagination. She tried to settle again, then heard a second tap, clearer this time, like a small stone clicking against the glass.

Frowning, she went to the window and looked down. Her voice caught in her throat.

She was on the third floor. Below, in the yard directly under her window, Mu had just stopped throwing pebbles. When he saw her lean out, he lifted a hand in greeting.

Elise stared at him.

It was two in the morning. Her brothers were asleep, and not a light was on in the house. Only a little spill from the streetlamp reached the yard.

She checked the shadows around him, then whispered, “How did you get in here?”

The temper she'd felt earlier had eased after her shower. Now, seeing him in her family's yard, she was mostly stunned.

Mu rolled a pebble between his fingers. “Climbed the wall.”

“Keep your voice down!”

If her brothers learned he'd slipped into the yard in the middle of the night and climbed up to talk to her, they would beat him before he could explain. He knew they couldn't stand him.

What had possessed him to show up anyway?

“Oh.” He lowered his voice. “You weren't answering my calls.”

“I turned my phone off.”

She'd wanted a break from all the nonsense online, so she'd shut it down.

Mu stepped closer and tipped his face up toward her window. “Did you see my post?”

Elise felt a flicker of guilt. “I did.” Was that why he'd come, to find out if she'd seen his explanation?

“Good.” The tension left his face, at least for a moment.

Autumn had arrived, and the air was cold. Mu wore only a thin shirt. A gust passed through the yard, and he sneezed.

Elise noticed. She silently scolded him for dressing so lightly, then said, “Go home. I'm going to bed.” Her voice came out flat.

“I still have something to tell you.” His words were thick with a nasal catch, as if he were getting sick. “It's fine. I'll say it here.”

Here? Her brothers might hear him. Even if they didn't, one of the staff could, and she would never live down the embarrassment.

“Wait here.” She gave him a warning look.

In slippers, she crept downstairs. A few minutes later, the front door opened just enough for her to let him in.

Elise put a finger to her lips, then led him up the stairs as quietly as she could. Mu followed at an unhurried pace, looking around every corner they passed.

“Your brothers are all asleep?”

“Mm-hm.”

“What floor do you live on?”

“Three.”

“And your brothers?”

“Two.”

She glanced back at him. “One more question and you're going back outside.”

“All right.” He fell quiet, though his eyes were bright. The wounded look he'd worn beneath her window was gone.

It was his first time inside the Whitmore house, the place where Elise lived. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd even get to see her room.

He could hardly believe he'd come all the way here in the middle of the night just to see her, scaling the wall like some reckless teenager.

When Elise had told him they should stay apart for a while, he hadn't been able to pretend it didn't hurt. He'd returned to the city that same day and spent several miserable days there.

Then the rumor broke. His first worry wasn't the wave of online gossip; it was that Elise might misunderstand what she'd seen.

The thought had made him restless. Even after he posted his explanation, he hadn't calmed down. He needed to know for himself that she hadn't gotten the wrong idea.

Elise kept guiding him upstairs, afraid he'd wake her brothers. She told herself she was only worried he'd catch another cold and then start clinging to her again. That was all.

She stopped outside a door and opened it. A room decorated in pale pink and blue came into view.

“Is this your room?”

“No. It's my dressing room.”

Mu had to pause at that answer.

He wasn't ready to give up. “Where's your bedroom?”

Elise gave him a cool, guarded look. “Why do you need to know?”

What was with this man and her bedroom?

“All right,” he said, his voice full of disappointment. His ploy for sympathy hadn't worked.

“Say what you came to say.” Elise folded her arms and waited.

Seeing him eye the doorway as if he still hoped to get into her bedroom brought back some of her earlier irritation.

“About the trending story today,” Mu began. “I used to have some dealings with the Qi company. Then I heard Qi Yaqiu had tried to drive a wedge between you and your brothers at the fashion gala. I went after the company to warn her.”

Elise remembered the gala. Qi had exposed the real price of her bracelet, and Elise had been so angry she'd left home. Had Qi deliberately tried to turn her family against her?

Mu glanced around the dressing room. Even if he couldn't see Elise's bedroom, he could at least see what she liked to wear.

He took in the styles as he looked around, making a note of them in his mind.

“So she came to ask you to let it go,” Elise said, putting it together.

“That's right.” Mu sounded unconcerned. “I didn't agree.”

That explained Qi grabbing his wrist in the photograph.

“You're not upset, are you?” He watched Elise's face closely.

“I'm not.”

She hadn't believed there was anything between him and Qi. What had bothered her was that the restaurant in the photo was the same place where she and Mu had eaten together for the first time. They had been sitting at the same table.

But if Qi had shown up without an invitation, Elise had no reason to be angry.

“This has nothing to do with me,” she insisted, shifting her gaze away.

Mu fell silent.

For a while neither of them said anything. He found a chair and sat down, one hand braced against his forehead. A rueful smile crossed his face.

“I'm sorry,” he said. “You told me we shouldn't see each other for a while, but I couldn't hold out.”

Elise didn't answer.

That day came back to her. Her fingers moved restlessly along her arm. She still couldn't tell whether she liked Mu or whether she was acting out of possessiveness.

Did she like him?

She was sinking into the question again when Mu spoke.

“I agree with what you suggested before.”

Elise looked up, not following. “What?”

“We shouldn't see each other for a while.”

His expression was calm, but there was no trace of a smile. He looked resigned.

“Pursuing someone can't be one-sided,” he said. “If my attention has been making you uncomfortable, that's my fault.”

“That's not…” Elise started.

It hadn't made her uncomfortable.

Mu went on before she could finish. “If it's something you don't want, there's no point in continuing.”

Elise blinked. What did he mean by that? She couldn't quite follow.

“I have a project overseas coming up,” he said. “I'll be gone for at least six months, maybe a year or two. I probably won't be around here for a long time.”

Elise couldn't find her voice.

Mu was leaving? Going overseas? And he might not be back for a year, or even two?

Would she really not see him again?

At last she managed, “You won't come back?”

“I can't say.” He let out a breath. “It depends on how the project goes.”

His voice softened, and the words that followed were almost indulgent. “So you won't have to worry about me bothering you anymore.”

Her thoughts were a knot. His words kept repeating in her head.

She'd never been bothered by him pursuing her. How could he think that?

Mu stood. “I came tonight for two reasons. First, to explain the rumor. Second, to tell you before I leave.”

He stepped closer and rested a hand lightly on her hair, smoothing it once. “I didn't want you to blame me later for leaving without telling you.”

Elise hadn't even processed the news. “I wouldn't… Why would I blame you?”

“Good.” Mu sighed.

Only after he had gone did Elise understand what had happened. He'd come over just to tell her he was going overseas?

And now he was leaving? Just like that?

Wasn't he supposed to keep pursuing her? How could he give up halfway through?

He was just going to stop trying?

Hadn't his teachers ever told him to persevere? To keep going until he reached his goal?

Maybe if he tried a little longer, she might say yes.

Back in her bedroom, Elise gripped her phone. Mu's name sat in her contacts. She stared at it for a long time, as if she could burn a hole through the screen.

By breakfast, Elise still had a stormy look on her face.

Julian came downstairs after washing up and noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Did you sleep badly?”

“Yeah.”

Mu hadn't left until three in the morning. Between that and all the time she'd spent fuming, of course she hadn't slept.

Julian frowned. His sister had seemed happy the night before. What could have happened in just a few hours?

Daniel came out of the kitchen, hesitant. “Some more potatoes and dark-rind watermelons were delivered, along with snacks.”

Julian raised his brows. “When?”

Mu had secretly sent over unusual, expensive ingredients and snacks before. Some were pricey; others were hard to find at any price. He'd chosen all the snacks to suit Elise's taste.

“This morning.”

Julian said nothing for a moment.

Mu really wasn't giving up. He kept sending Elise the special foods she liked.

Did Mu assume Julian would never tell Elise who had sent them? Was that why he felt free to keep doing this?

A maid came in from outside, grumbling. “Someone tossed a bunch of rocks into the yard. Maybe a thief has been watching the place. I'll tell the butler so he can have it checked.”

“Come to think of it, I heard voices outside in the middle of the night. I thought I was dreaming.”

Julian had been listening. He called them back. “What rocks?”

The maid stiffened and answered honestly. “They were under the back windows. Little pebbles, of all things.”

Elise paused with her food halfway to her mouth. They'd found the pebbles Mu had thrown.

If her brothers found out Mu had come to see her in the middle of the night, she was finished.

She couldn't keep the tension from her face.

Julian glanced at her, then said evenly, “You must have been dreaming.”

The maid quickly agreed. She wouldn't dare argue with him.

For the next few days, Mu's news kept Elise distracted. She lost her place in class, drifted off over meals and even caught herself spacing out while walking.

One afternoon, she had just come home from school and was heading upstairs to put down her backpack when she missed a step. She nearly pitched forward, but Theo caught her by the arm in time.

His brows pulled together. “Watch where you're going.”