Male Lead, Please Dump Me Three Times - Chapter 49

Friday dawn at six o’clock.  

I woke up at the crack of dawn today as if I had turned into a chicken.  

I don’t even remember how I fell asleep.  

I wondered if I had stayed up all night with my eyes closed, but my mind was too clear for that to be the case.  

I glared at the clock hanging on one wall.  

I had woken up at five.  

And only an hour has passed since then……?  

Time felt painfully slow, like a turtle leader, and it was frustrating.  

‘Ah……. Time really doesn’t pass. It’s annoying how slow it is…….’  

There were about 12 hours left until Ray arrived at our mansion.  

Has a week always been this long……?  

I pounded the empty space next to me on the bed with my fist.  

It was somewhat of an irritable punch.  

No matter what I did, the slow passage of time was vexing.  

Has it been about an hour now…?  

Only 10 minutes had passed.  

I squinted and glared menacingly at the hour hand of the clock.  

‘Just keep going that slow! You think I’m not watching you?’  

I thought.  

But the more I did, the slower the clock seemed to move, as if it had stopped.  

Friday morning at ten o’clock.  

I thought doing something might help pass the time.  

So, I started folding paper cranes. I folded 36 in two hours.  

The clock was precisely pointing to 10:23.  

“Clock you…, you keep showing up like this, huh?”  

That was when I was scolding the clock.  

“Miss……. You don’t like the clock……? If so, I can replace it with another…….”  

Ellie said to me cautiously, alternating her gaze between me and the clock.  

“It’s not that……. Ellie. Thinking about it, it seems like it’s not the clock’s fault.”  

Ellie’s brows furrowed deeply. Her eyebrows were so droopy they seemed about to fall to the ground.  

“Are you really okay? Your face has been full of inexplicable worries lately…… It must be my misunderstanding, right?”  

Ellie, who stays closest to me, couldn’t have failed to notice my condition.  

Even though I tried not to show it, I was unconsciously acting in ways even I didn’t understand.  

“Of course. It’s just a misunderstanding.”  

“But lately, you’ve been eating only half of your usual meals… and you’ve completely stopped snacking these past few days.”  

Oops…….  

So that’s why Ellie was convinced something was up with me.  

“That…. Maybe a diet?”  

“Miss, you know you have a constitution that doesn’t gain weight no matter how much you eat.”  

Ellie countered in a soft voice, and I inadvertently avoided her sharp gaze.  

Ellie was persistently observing my reaction delicately.  

From minor facial expressions to every single action.  

Recently, I’ve often faced Ellie’s ashen face or her mouth that couldn’t fully close.  

‘Sorry……. Ellie. Just wait a little longer…….’  

Unlike me, who could act freely, Ellie couldn’t do so due to her status in the society of nobility, serving a noble like me; it was perhaps natural for her to be wary of me.  

Knowing this all too well made it hard to manage my expressions. Acting as usual was just as difficult.  

I thought I was managing not to show it…  

But it seemed like I was inadvertently showing it with my whole body.  

Once again, I reassured Ellie, who was hesitating in front of the clock.  

“Ellie. It’s really nothing. You don’t have to worry. If there really was a big issue, I would have told you long ago.”  

“Really?”  

“Of course……!”  

I answered solemnly, nodding my head.  

“If something happens, you must tell me.”  

“Yeah. There’s nothing sorted out yet…… But it seems like it will be soon, so can you wait until then?”  

I didn’t intend to deceive Ellie.  

It’s just that I didn’t want to lay out my worries when nothing was certain yet.  

Ellie’s expression softened for a moment as she slightly lifted the corners of her mouth. Her eyes rounded warmly.  

“Understood. Then Ellie will wait patiently too!”

* * *

Friday afternoon at one o’clock.  

I skipped lunch under the excuse of feeling tired.  

If I faced my family for lunch in this state, I felt like I might get sick.  

And if I really did get sick……  

I wouldn’t be able to leave my bed and go see Ray.  

My anxious hands were only drumming on the innocent table.  

The table was scattered with 89 paper cranes I had folded.  

I thought about reading a book, but whether it was due to my scattered concentration, not a single character caught my eye.  

I didn’t even hope for a nap; it felt like even the sleep I had was running away.  

“Still five hours left…… If only someone could turn back the clock.”  

I sprawled listlessly over the table, thinking this.  

If only I had said……  

“I’ll just go to the office myself.”  

I murmured with my eyes tightly shut.  

“Should I just take some sleeping pills and sleep…….”  

Sighs leaked periodically between my lips.  

The anticipation of meeting Ray made me nervous yet excited at the same time.   

Certainly, it felt a bit different from before.   

I hadn’t been this nervous about our meetings before……   

I looked outside the window, where sunlight poured in.   

The garden, full of lush greenery and colorful flowers, caught my eye at once.

Suddenly, I remembered my stay at Ray’s mansion not long ago.

‘The glass garden…… It was truly beautiful. I want to see it again.’

The words he said to me in the glass garden came to mind.

– I want to be with you, but if you see Lady Ruina doing that……. You would leave me.
– It’s just… I hate it when you pay attention to someone else. I hate it when you look at someone other than me.

Ray’s cold and sharp face and his deep, earnest gaze vividly came back to me.

Again.

Just thinking about Ray made my face heat up and my ears burn.

* * *

Friday afternoon at five o’clock.

There wasn’t much time left until my appointment with Ray.

I had finished all preparations for going out around three o’clock.

And when the clock precisely pointed to five-thirty.

I left the mansion.

I felt like a marathon runner standing at the starting line, waiting for the start signal.

As though I was enchanted, I headed towards the lake.

“Ray gets off work at six… so he’ll arrive here around seven.”

Staying in the mansion felt suffocating; time seemed to move even slower, as if it was mocking me.

It seemed better to sort out my thoughts while strolling along the lakeside.

With steps both light and heavy, I took in the view of the lake visible from the distance.

When I finally arrived at the edge of the forest, 

a large pine tree, our unspoken meeting place, came into view. 

But what is this?

A mirage appeared before my eyes.  

Beside the wisteria, a familiar carriage was parked.  

It was a large black carriage with a glossy finish that reminded me of a luxury sedan.  

“Could it be……? Has he already arrived……?”  

Wondering if I had seen it wrong, I rubbed my eyes and squinted to take a closer look.  

It was definitely Ray’s carriage.  

Soon, the door of the carriage opened, and a tall man with long legs stepped out gracefully.  

For a moment, our eyes met, his red pupils catching mine.  

It was the moment I had been waiting for all week.  

Ray, having spotted me, had a smile curving on his lips.  

Unknowingly, I found myself standing rooted to the spot.  

Seeing him from afar giving me a languid smile, a smile naturally spread across my lips as well.  

Our expressions mirrored each other’s.  

I don’t know since when.  

But at some point…  

Seeing him smile made my heart flutter.  

‘If this feeling is merely sympathy…….’  

Then it would be quite regrettable.  

My feet, as if tied to the ground, slowly started to move.  

And I approached Ray.  

Unlike me, Ray hesitated, not in his steps.  

Elegance always emanated from his gestures.  

Today was no exception.  

He approached me with his long legs stretching out gracefully.  

Perhaps due to the wide strides made by his long legs…  

It didn’t take long for Ray to reach me.  

Just like when he approached me at the graduation ceremony. Before I knew it, Ray was standing in front of me.  

He tidied my hair tousled by the gentle breeze and said,  

“You came early?”  

Ray’s lips were still curved up. His eyes were narrower than usual.  

Looking up at Ray, I said,  

“Yeah……. But how are you here? It’s still not time before you leave work.”  

“I thought you might come and wait first. So, I finished early and came.”  

Ray’s eyes rounded in a smile.  

‘His smiling eyes… are so cute…. It’s surprising how someone with such a fierce look can smile like that……. As expected, an unexpected charm is the best.’  

The Ray standing before me now was undoubtedly a fine young man. Yet, for a moment, I glimpsed at the boy I had once faced.  

Was it because of his innocent, genuine smile?  

His red pupils are visible between thick, dark eyelashes.  

And his nose, straight and free of any imperfection.  

Lastly, Ray’s red and plump lips.  

I slowly scanned his face.  

‘Ray’s lips……. so plump…….’  

“……Daisy?”  

“……Yes?!”  

I snapped out of it at Ray’s voice.  

“What are you thinking?”  

First… we should go somewhere private, right?  

“Ah, nothing……. Shall we go inside?”  

I waved my hands and forced a smile by pulling up the corners of my mouth.  

And so, we headed towards Ray’s carriage.  

I slowly recalled the advice Dermian had given me.  

-How about trying some physical contact?  
-Physical contact is physical contact. Like holding hands. Or trying something else.
-So, what physical contact could there be between men and women? If not hands, there are lips.