Chapter 54: Chapter 54 Cold as hell
Alana paused, realizing how much he’d helped her today. Letting him use her bathroom seemed only fair.
Still, she felt a twinge of guilt. Glancing around nervously, she saw no one near the residential complex. “Alright,” she said, “Come up with me. Remember, keep your distance. Don’t let anyone know you’re with me.”
With that, she walked ahead.
Stephan frowned.
Alana took several steps before turning back. The man hadn’t followed.
“Hurry up! Keep that distance, don’t get too close. If anyone discovers our connection, it’ll be awkward.”
He chuckled in exasperation and stepped in after her.
Alana lived on the sixth floor, requiring an elevator ride.
She opened the elevator doors only to find two elderly neighbors inside.
Thinking of Stephan following behind, she hesitated, neither entering nor staying put felt right.
A plump woman named Auntie Kate spoke up, “Lana dear, what are you standing there for? Come on in!”
Auntie Mabel beside her chimed in, “Exactly! We’re neighbors on the same floor, nothing to be shy about!”
Alana forced a smile, about to say something.
Stephan, who had already approached from behind, gave her a casual glance before nudging her gently with his elbow.
The slight push sent her stumbling into the elevator.
The man then strode in with a swagger.
Alana snapped back to her senses and shot him a glare.
He raised an eyebrow, his expression saying, What are you going to do about it?
Uninterested in engaging, Alana retreated to a corner and hunched herself in.
As if on purpose, the man strolled over to her side.
Glancing at the two middle-aged women beside them, Alana’s heart skipped a beat. She glared at him fiercely.
What?
Can’t you keep your distance?
Stephan kept his hands in his pockets, completely unfazed by her glare and warning.
Alana inwardly cursed herself. If only she hadn’t been so soft-hearted and agreed to let him use her bathroom.
Auntie Kate and Auntie Mabel’s eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the nearly six-foot-tall hunk stepping into the elevator.
Whose son was this?
How had they never heard a whisper about such a hunk moving into their complex?
Auntie Mabel couldn’t resist her gossipy nature. “Handsome, whose son are you? Which floor do you live on?”
Stephan glanced at Alana but said nothing.
Alana found it even harder to speak.
If she spoke, wouldn’t she be telling the two aunts she knew him?
Yet the man’s gaze, fixed intently on her, made it abundantly clear to everyone that they knew each other.
The two aunts weren’t blind; how could they not pick up on something?
Aunt Mabel asked curiously, “Alana, do you know this handsome guy?”
Alana instinctively answered, ”No...“
“We know each other.“ Stephan answered.
Alana forced herself not to punch him this instant, her face flushing bright red.
Meanwhile, a hint of amusement flickered in Stephan calm eyes.
It seemed he was deliberately teasing her.
This infuriated Alana.
“So you do know each other!“
“What’s your relationship?“
“He’s not your boyfriend, is he?“
Auntie Kate and Mabel seemed to catch wind of something and immediately launched into gossip mode.
Stephan felt an inexplicable thrill at being mistaken for her boyfriend again.
But outwardly, he maintained his usual calm and composed demeanor.
Alana was now in a bind and had no choice but to speak up.
“No, not at all. Just regular friends..."
Stephan sighed.
His earlier smirk vanished completely.
Aunt Mabel looked disappointed. “Oh, so you’re not?”
She’d missed her chance for gossip.
Aunt Kate suddenly chimed in, “But didn’t you say you had a boyfriend before? Isn’t this him?”
When Alana first rented here, she’d presented herself as single.
After all, she genuinely was single.
But once these neighbors learned she was unattached, they started pestering her every other day to set her up on blind dates.
One after another asked her about it, practically desperate to marry her off immediately.
They were just neighbors, yet they seemed more concerned about her marital status than her own parents.
Eventually, to avoid the hassle, she claimed she had a boyfriend.
Once they heard she had a boyfriend, the aunts and uncles calmed down a bit, no longer enthusiastically arranging matches for her.
Alana told Aunt Kate. “He’s not.”
The moment the words left her mouth, the air in the elevator felt inexplicably suffocating, turning cold and oppressive.
Aunt Kate and Aunt Carole reacted the most strongly.
“Oh my, what’s going on?”
“Why do I suddenly feel goosebumps?”
“Me too. It feels like something spooky just happened, the temperature dropped instantly.”
Alana couldn’t help but glance at the man beside her.
He wore a blank expression, somehow unsettling.
She lowered her head slightly, out of sight, out of mind.
The elevator doors opened.
Auntie Kate and Auntie Mabel hurriedly slipped out of the elevator.
Alana waited until both women had returned to their respective homes before stepping out of the elevator herself.
She walked to door 513.
Pulling out her key, she unlocked the door and said to the man behind her.
“Come in.”
Stephan’s expression was cold, even a bit fierce.
Learning from those two aunts that Alana truly had a boyfriend left him with a feeling worse than eating shit.
These past few days, he’d been trying desperately to ignore the fact that she had a boyfriend. He’d shown up in front of her again and again, acting overly intimate.
Her initial resistance to him had gradually weakened.
He’d even begun to believe this marked the start of their relationship improving.
But he never imagined the two women’s simple statement would yank him brutally back to reality.
Alana remained unaware of the man’s inner turmoil. She only wanted to politely invite him inside to use the restroom, then politely show him out afterward.
“Aren’t you in a hurry to use the bathroom? Come on in!”
Stephan entered her rented apartment with a blank expression.
He’d been here before, but his attention had been focused on her illness, so he hadn’t really looked around.
The living room was clean and tidy, featuring a small rectangular sofa and a coffee table.
An orange floral tablecloth covered the coffee table, and several yellow heart-shaped pillows adorned the sofa.
The curtains were also orange.
The colors were vibrant and cheerful.
A soft, girlish aura enveloped him, accompanied by a faint, sweet scent.
This place seemed to bear only the traces of a girl living alone.
The fresh, feminine scent lingered everywhere, untouched by any man.
So, her boyfriend hadn’t stayed here?
The thought lifted his spirits slightly.
After all, neither of the two neighbors had met her boyfriend, meaning he probably hadn’t visited her rental apartment.
Which meant... he was the first man to enter her home?!
Unconsciously, a dark satisfaction stirred within him.
But suddenly, his gaze froze.
Alana was changing her shoes at the entryway.
She slipped off her white canvas sneakers and into a pair of pink bunny slippers.
After changing, she noticed the man staring at her.
More accurately, he was staring at her shoe rack.
Alana looked puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
His gaze was cold as hell.
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