Was that it?
The reason why he cared for her?
All of the sudden, Oliver couldn’t figure it out himself. He understood that he had ddled far too much at one point. But, wouldn’t seven years of relationship do that to anyone? Just like how Jas had known Kyra that long and so had Oliver.
The first ti he had t Kyra was when she was twelve years old. He had co to et Jas for a group project and Kyra had just arrived ho from her tutoring. The little girl was a bundle of joy running out of the car with her uniform and school bag.
It was mid-sumr. The heat had baked his skin and coloured the girl’s fair skin red. Yet, her smile remained bright without a hint of exhaustion despite the layer of sweats beading down her face.
Her blue eyes felt nostalgic as they locked on him, and her childish voice evoked a mory of a small girl who had called him the sa way she did.
"Who are you, big brother?"
Oliver stared absentmindedly as Kyra disappeared behind the door, leaving him with a look of confusion. However, that feeling didn’t last long. The mont she passed through the secretarial office, looks of surprise and disbelief greeted her. She imdiately sobered up and threw a fit once again inside the lift.
"Put down!"
Unfortunately, Jas chose to ignore her. So, Kyra had to bear another form of humiliation as the man carried her all the way to the lobby, garnering the attention of the employees. In that instance, blood rushed to her cheeks.
She resigned to her fate. With closed eyes, she buried her face onto the man’s back while wishing that everyone would not recognize her. Perhaps her days of visiting Oliver had co to an end.
Jas took large steps towards the main entrance. His face remained indifferent despite all the gossip and people eyeing them.
"Sir?" Even the driver was dumbfounded when he saw his boss co out with the young miss on his shoulder. What kind of role play are they doing now?
"Open the door," Jas ordered sharply from a distance.
The driver imdiately obeyed, rushing to open the backseat door. The mont Jas reached his car, he shoved the girl inside without hesitation.
Kyra didn’t wait for him to climb in, she imdiately lunged for the opposite door to escape. But Jas was faster.
As her hand gripped the door handle, his arm wrapped firmly around her slender waist, yanking her back effortlessly. Kyra let out a startled yelp. She struggled to break free but her puny strength was no match against the man’s toned arm. He locked her in place, perfectly stuck to his side.
"What the hell do you want, Jas?!" she shouted, her voice trembling with fury.
Jas rely glanced at her expressionlessly. "I want you to shut up."
His tone was firm, laced with authority, every word was designed with the intention to intimidate the girl. Kyra pressed her lips together, realizing that struggling was not only useless but almost absurd. Resigned, she chose to stay quiet, settling into his hold without a word. Yet, she refused to turn and face him.
Jas noticed her deliberate attempt to shut him out. His lips parted slightly but closed just as quick. In the end, he turned toward the window, retreating into his own thoughts. And just like, they engaged in a cold war with neither deigned to surrender. Though they sat side by side, his arm around her, their skin brushing, neither felt the other’s presence.
Kyra turned her head slightly, catching his side profile in her peripheral view. This was the face she had traced countless tis over the past fourteen years since their first eting. Every line, every curve, every feature—etched deeply into her mory.
He was supposed to be familiar. Yet sohow, he felt increasingly foreign, as if the man she had known all these years had been soone else.
’If only it were that simple...’ Kyra smiled bitterly. ’We could just beco strangers without a single mory of each other.’
It would’ve been so much easier.
As the car passed through the residential gate and drawing closer to the Wisteria Mansion, her gaze drifted outside. It had only been a day, yet strangely, the sight of those Wisteria trees felt... different.
When the car ca to a halt, neither of them made a move to get out. The driver sat frozen, unsure of what to do. He silently cursed his misfortune for being caught in the middle of their fighting.
With a resigned sigh, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and reached for the door handle. Slowly, he began to step out—only for soone else to beat him to it.
He was speechless as he watched Kyra’s figure brushed past him. She went around the hood and towards the door. As soon as Kyra left the car, Jas followed along, leaving the driver completely stumped. In the end, he returned inside the car and brought it to the garage.
anwhile, Jas chased after Kyra as her strides grew longer and faster until she broke into a full sprint toward her room. He caught up just as she reached the door, intercepting it before she could slam it shut. Without hesitation, he gripped the edge, leaving a narrow three-centiter gap.
Kyra glared at him. She scoffed, "Wow, you really can’t keep your hands where they don’t belong, can you?"
"If you learn to stop being insolent, I will gladly learn to keep my hands off the place they don’t belong." Jas flashed a mocking smile.
Kyra sneered back. She refused to back down as she pushed the door with all her strength. But, Kyra was just a young woman with a delicate figure, how could she win against a man as big as Jas?
In one swift motion, Jas effortlessly pushed the door open. Kyra staggered backward, caught off guard by the force, but Jas was quicker. He reached out and pulled her securely into his arms.
For a brief mont, Jas thought the girl would struggle to break free again. But this ti, Kyra remained motionless, her head resting fully against his chest.
Her unexpected stillness and her quiet dependence froze him in place. Yet, what truly made him tense was sothing else. Sothing that he had never felt before. Over the years, Jas had held Kyra countless tis, yet only now did he sense a startling shift.
The curve of her waist under his arm felt unfamiliar. Her frail shoulders seed as though they might break under his grip, her fair skin brushing against his rough one. But, the most unsettling of all was the soft pressure against his chest—a sensation that sent every alarm in his head blaring.
"Why?"
Kyra’s voice broke through his spiraling thoughts, pulling him back to the present. The sound of it only quickened his heartbeat.
"Why do you keep chasing if you hate ? There’s nothing left to say between us. You should’ve just minded your own business."
She tilted her head back to et his gaze, her eyes searching his. "I don’t understand. What is it that you want?"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart pounded uncontrollably as their eyes locked. It suddenly hit him, all at once—the realization that the body he was holding was no longer that of the Kyra he had always known.
It was the body of a blossoming woman.
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