Male Lead, Please Dump Me Three Times - Chapter 55
“Curious?”
Ray’s steady gaze slowly fell and soon lingered on my lips.
His large, thick thumb pressed and gently swept across my lips.
The moment his touch reached my sensitive skin, I involuntarily shuddered.
Unfamiliar with the sensation, I instinctively moved back.
“Ah, no…! I think I understand!”
Ray’s eyes curved into circles.
Perhaps it was because of his eerily red pupils, but for some reason, his gaze felt strangely alluring.
‘Ray seems so at ease…’
I felt a bit spiteful because it seemed like I was the only one acutely aware of Ray, and I was also embarrassed by it.
“Shall we go in then?”
Ray once again took my hand as he spoke.
With my face flushed, I nodded, my head deeply bowed.
* * *
“Ray! I want to sit there!”
I pointed towards the window-side seats with the tip of my finger.
It was the spot we had once sat together.
Ray nodded with a languid smile.
I liked how Ray would always listen to whatever I said with a pleasant smile.
Whenever I faced him, my heart would flutter.
Before I realized I liked him, I thought it was just a reaction to a handsome man…
I was relieved that it wasn’t for such a simple reason.
Ray pulled out a chair so I could sit down easily.
Thus, we sat facing each other.
Ray’s gaze never seemed to leave me.
Feeling both burdened and shy under his stare, I pretended to look outside the window.
“Your strawberry cream cake and two cups of peppermint tea are ready.”
The waiter placed a tray on the table in front of us as he spoke.
However, even the appetizing dessert couldn’t capture my attention.
My mind was filled with thoughts about how to convey my feelings to him.
‘There’s not much time left…’
Damn my curfew time.
Even though we haven’t done much.
There were only about four hours left until I had to return home.
Time seemed to rush by especially today, which felt cruel.
Anxious, I found myself fiddling with my fingertips.
‘Should I say it now…?’
As I sipped my tea, I continued to glance around and then sneak peeks at Ray.
Ray, with one hand on the table, was leaning his chin on it and looking straight at me.
Feeling shy as our eyes met again, I slowly lowered my gaze.
‘The dessert we ordered has already arrived, so there won’t be any interruptions from the waiter…’
If a group of customers were to come in, it might get noisy…
Again, I felt like this was the perfect timing.
‘Yes. Let’s confess now!’
I began to speak with my lips slightly moving.
“Um… Ray. I…”
Though determined, cold sweat ran down my spine, and my mouth started to dry up.
“Yeah. Daisy.”
Ray looked at me with deep eyes and responded.
That’s when it happened.
“Daisy…? Daisy Carnelian… right?”
A voice calling my name came from behind me.
It was a familiar voice.
I turned towards where the voice was coming from.
In an instant, my eyes met with a man who had brown pupils.
“James…? James Bondrano?”
“Wow! I thought it might be you, Daisy, for real?”
James approached me with confident eyes.
It had been 3 years since we last met; he was James Bondrano, my academy classmate and friend.
“My gosh! James. What brings you here? Wow, it’s really been a long time.”
I stood up from my seat and approached James.
James seemed to have changed a lot.
“Hey… What’s with you, did you work out? You seem really different?”
James scratched his head shyly as he responded.
“Forget about the old me. I’ve been living diligently these days.”
James used to be of average height and build,
But now he had a slender physique with lean muscles.
“Hey… You’ve really been living diligently, huh?”
I scanned James’s body and commented.
“Well, I. Just this much… ahem.”
Though he spoke nonchalantly, James’s shoulders were high with pride.
“Hey. Do you want to touch it?”
James asked and offered one arm to me.
“Why, does this older brother look different to you?”
“Talking like an older brother… You’re even younger than me by your birthday. Take back what you said about living diligently.”
I smacked James’s arm as I spoke.
James’s face was full of the mischievousness of old times.
“Now that we’ve met like this. I was quite upset with you?”
“Why?”
James immediately drooped his eyebrows and said,
“You left for the South without saying anything… Sneakily. You should have taken me with you.”
“That’s true. It just happened that way.”
“But… Are you here alone? If you’re alone, this older brother thought I’d entertain you for a bit.”
“Me? No? We came together.”
“What? With who…”
James began looking around curiously with his head tilted.
Soon his gaze landed on the table where I had been sitting.
“Uh… Com… mander?”
For a moment, I wondered what he meant by that.
James looked quite flustered. He was even trembling slightly.
I turned to where James was looking.
Ray was watching us with a cool gaze.
“Do you two know each other?”
I started to grasp the situation for a moment.
Clearly, James had called Ray ‘Commander’.
And Ray…
Was speaking to James in a tone one might use for a subordinate. Even with a stern face hardened in displeasure.
That means…
While still looking at Ray, I whispered to James in a small voice,
“James. Did you… join the Imperial Knights?”
“Yeah…”
I hadn’t imagined that Ray and James knew each other.
Somehow, it felt embarrassing, as if James had intruded on my private life.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier…?”
“I just joined recently… And we’re meeting after such a long time… What can I do…”
“I see…”
“Daisy… you… succeeded in your unrequited love.”
“What are you talking about…”
Ah…
For a moment, the scene of the graduation ceremony flashed through my mind.
James was also there when I confessed to Ray.
Ray was still looking at us with his cool gaze. Soon, his red lips slowly parted.
“Do you two have more to talk about?”
“……”
James kept his mouth shut like it had honey in it. And so did I.
James went towards Ray, fiddling with the back of his head.
Ray straightened up and crossed his arms.
“Ah… What brings the commander here…”
“As you see, it’s something important.”
He answered without even glancing at James, who was speaking in a flattering tone next to him.
Ray’s gaze was still fixed on me.
I don’t know why… but his gaze seemed unusual.
‘As expected. He must be angry because James intervened.’
I stood still, enduring the inexplicable sharp gaze.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was the commander’s girlfriend, it was rude of me…”
“……”
That guy James… What is he talking about?
He must be crazy!
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
My voice echoed loudly inside Atelier.
James, with his eyes wide open like a startled rabbit, started to look back and forth between me and Ray.
In an instant, Ray’s eyebrows slightly twisted.
“Not a girlfriend… Just close senior and junior…, yeah.”
It happened in an instant.
The air surrounding us became chilly.
James pulled out a pink handkerchief from nowhere and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, saying,
“Ah… I see. Then, commander, it seems something urgent has come up, so I’ll take my leave now…”
Ray nodded silently without a word.
He looked only at me, as if James, who was speaking beside him, didn’t matter at all.
And so, James left without looking back after dropping a bomb.
‘That damn XX…’
I glared at the back of James as he hastily made his escape, cursing him under my breath.
‘Because of that bastard, I missed the timing to confess… The mood is ruined…’
My fists clenched tightly, trembling.
I continued to glare at James’s retreating back.
With eyes full of resentment.
“Daisy.”
Suddenly, Ray called me with a low voice.
Soon after, our gazes met in the air.
“Are you going to keep standing there?”
Translator
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Torryy
She’s very frustrating. She’s dragging it for too long, missing all the right moments. She wants to confess yet she loudly declares in a public setting that she’s not his girlfriend. I don’t understand… Is this supposed to be funny? Or cute? Or endearing because she’s clumsy? She just keeps on hurting that man.