I was just about to reply, “Didn’t I already show you how?” when he sent me a video.
In the video, the white cat wouldn’t stop yowling and scratching its way from the sofa to the wooden desk, from the floor-to-ceiling window to the break room…
The place was a disaster. Only the cat itself was left in one piece.
At the end of the video, I could just barely hear Lucas Carter sigh. “…It’s still tearing the place apart.”
…
After going back and forth for a while.
Lucas Carter pleaded: [Would you mind coming upstairs to keep it company for a while? Maybe soothe it a little.]
I stayed silent for a long time, but in the end, I gave in.
When I asked Morgan Anderson for time off, he slipped back into that stiff, formal manner of his. “Go, go ahead. Take as long as you want. You don’t even have to come back and work overtime.”
…
If I had to find one upside to this misunderstanding, I suppose it was that a few of the guys at work stopped pursuing me.
We worked at the same company, so we were always running into each other. They’d bring me flowers and gifts to get to know me, and I couldn’t exactly turn them down too bluntly. It had made things awkward for a while.
Now that rumors about Lucas Carter and me had spread all over the company, things around me had gone quiet again.
I guess every cloud has a silver lining.
Before I knew it, National Day was here.
Even though I did all sorts of side jobs for Lucas Carter, I was still entitled to the regular holiday break. I decided to go home and visit my parents.
Lucas Carter happily agreed.
He’d gotten much better at taking care of cats, and said confidently, “Don’t worry. This time, everything will be fine!”
As it turned out, everything really was fine.
During the National Day holiday, Lucas Carter sent me a few videos every morning, noon, and night.
Most of them showed the cat waking up, sleeping, eating, batting a ball around, playing hide-and-seek…
They were all of Hạt Dẻ, but I still watched the screen and missed the cat terribly.
It turned out I wasn’t the only one who’d thrown myself into Hạt Dẻ’s life—she’d gradually barged into my world, too.
The videos were enough to whet my appetite, but not enough to satisfy it.
I was suffering from cat fever again, so I decided to cut my National Day break short and sneak back to Lucas Carter’s place, planning to surprise him and the cat.
The door opened. I stopped in the doorway and heard Lucas Carter talking to Hạt Dẻ.
“Want some canned food?”
“Meow.”
“Say ‘Daddy.’”
“Meow~”
“One more time. Make it sweet, and Daddy will feed you.”
“Meow~~”
7.
The moment Lucas Carter saw me come home, he sprang to his feet.
He stood there awkwardly, the can of cat food hidden behind his back.
He looked absolutely mortified.
I was mortified, too. It felt like I’d walked in on some illicit affair between him and Hạt Dẻ.
Lucas Carter stubbornly tried to explain. “The animal behaviorist recommended that cats grow up surrounded by love. They need not just a mother’s love, but a father’s, too…”
He fell silent and closed his eyes.
His defeated expression practically spelled out, “What am I even saying?”
I played along. “Mm-hmm, right. Exactly. I’ve heard that, too.”
He was still a bit embarrassed, but Lucas Carter’s usual composure gradually returned as he asked me, “...Why are you back at this hour?”
“I missed her a little.” I pointed to Hạt Dẻ behind him.
He stepped aside, and Hạt Dẻ immediately ran toward me.
She rubbed her head against my leg, like an accessory attached to it. Wherever I went, she followed, occasionally looking up at me with big, innocent, bewildered eyes.
I picked up the cat and petted her, trying to get over the shock of hearing all that “Daddy” talk.
Lucas Carter calling himself Hạt Dẻ’s dad was just as shocking as if he’d shown up to a meeting in women’s clothes.
Absolutely horrifying!
I had no idea where Lucas Carter had run off to in order to recover from his embarrassment, but I hugged the cat to calm my own nerves.
Amid all my jumbled thoughts, only one idea kept getting clearer:
Could it be that Lucas Carter actually likes me?
One misunderstanding after another—maybe once is a coincidence, but this many times? That’s way too much of a coincidence.
I told my cousin about it. First, she called me an idiot, then she said, “This is simple. Just test it and you’ll know.”
“How do I test it?”
She whispered in my ear for a while, and I nodded, totally on board.
The next day, right after work, I messaged Lucas Carter according to the plan.
Me: [Lucas Carter, I have something to do tonight, so I’ll be home late.]
Lucas Carter: [What’s going on?]
Me: [My mom set me up on a blind date.]
But in reality, I was just going out to dinner with my cousin.
He replied easily: [Okay, I can take care of the cat by myself. No problem.]
At dinner, my cousin pointed at Lucas Carter’s last message and said, “This is a subtle way of playing the victim.”
“Huh?”
She mimicked his tone: “Sure, go on your blind date. I can take care of the cat. I can handle it all by myself.”
“I’m 90% sure that’s what he means,” she declared.
That was her estimate of the odds that Lucas Carter liked me.
And that percentage crept up to 100% after Lucas Carter sent me a video of Hạt Dẻ after dinner.
After we finished eating, my cousin patted me on the shoulder and said in a meaningful tone, “I’ve always supported you two being together, but that man is pretty formidable. I’m afraid he’ll eat you up and not even leave the bones.”
“…It can’t be that bad, right?”
She nodded seriously. “It’s that bad.”
I said, “But I don’t want to be with him.”
She was silent for a long moment, then gave me a thumbs-up. “Nice. If you can play him like this, I’m rooting for you.”
…
Lucas Carter said he wanted to come pick me up, so my cousin made a graceful exit.
His black Maybach slowly pulled up in front of me.
Lucas Carter came to get me, glancing around me as if searching for something.
I asked him, "...What's wrong?"
He said, "Where's your date?"
"Oh, he had something urgent come up and left early."
He nodded, then opened the car door for me without hesitation.
It was only then that I noticed how especially well-dressed Lucas Carter was tonight.
He wore a dress shirt and slacks, leather shoes, his hair styled with wax, and a high-end watch glinting on his wrist.
With this outfit, he could walk a red carpet and no one would bat an eye.
I quietly wondered if he’d just come from some fancy party, or if he’d dressed up like this on purpose to meet his "love rival."
Lucas Carter asked me casually, "So, how did the blind date go? Everything smooth?"
I stuck to my plan and replied, "It was fine."
"He was really nice, had good qualities, we got along well, he was very attentive, really knows how to take care of people..."
Under Lucas Carter’s careful gaze, I added the final words: "I really like him."
His hand gripping the steering wheel turned so pale it was almost white.
Suddenly, I realized that if I didn’t want anything to happen between me and Lucas Carter, I probably shouldn’t be testing him like this.
The best thing to do would be to quietly and calmly keep my distance.
Unfortunately, the words were already out, the sword already drawn, and Lucas Carter had slowly brought the car to a stop.
He was silent for a moment, then asked, "So what about the cat?"
"What?"
"If you’re dating, what happens to the cat?"
I mumbled, "...What does this have to do with the cat?"
"Then just forget about the cat," he continued, "What about me?"
Caught up in a swirl of emotions, he said, "I like you."
Dim light filtered into the car, but his eyes were bright, his gaze both restrained and stubborn: "You’re in love now, but I like you—what am I supposed to do?"
8.
Guessing is one thing.
But having proof is a whole different story.
Right now, all I felt was regret.
I shouldn’t have tested him, and I definitely shouldn’t have let my curiosity get the better of me. Knowing Lucas Carter likes me doesn’t change anything.
I forced a smile to ease the tension. "I’m just not looking for a relationship right now."
"But you like him," he said. "You like him, and isn’t being in a relationship just a matter of time?"
...Do I really seem that irresistible to him?
Just because I like a guy, does that mean he’ll definitely want to date me?
"That’s right, you’re not wrong," he cut in.
"So what about me, since I like you? What do you think about that?" he pressed.
After confessing, Lucas Carter suddenly became strangely persistent, and his bold pursuit left me at a loss.
Startled, I replied, "What do I have to offer?"
My words sounded like a clear rejection, and the car fell into silence.
Lucas Carter was quiet for a long time.
He seemed unwilling to give up. "After all these months of living together, does that still not compare to one blind date?"
Curious, he asked, "Do you have a picture? I want to see what he looks like, is that okay?"
I refused. "He’s just an ordinary guy with an ordinary face, that’s all."
He let out a short laugh, the sarcasm obvious, and repeated, "An ordinary guy, with an ordinary face..."
"Leaving you out here alone late at night to wait for a ride—doesn’t sound all that thoughtful or caring, does it?"
He asked seriously, "So, in the end, what does he have that I don’t?"
I had no idea how to answer.
This conversation had completely gone off the rails, and I had no clue where it was headed.
Should I reject him? Or just avoid the whole thing?
But Lucas Carter is my boss—my work, my side gigs, everything is tied to him. How could I possibly avoid him?
I cautiously asked, "Lucas Carter, can I resign?"
He was silent for a moment.
Under my expectant gaze, he slowly replied, "According to the contract, you have to work for a year. If you break the terms, you'll have to pay a penalty for breach of contract."
He added, "You personally signed the cat care contract."
I suspected he had planned this all along.
"Then..."
He cut me off: "You don't need to resign, and you don't need to move out either."
"I'll move." He made the decision. "You and the cat should stay there."