No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

I let out a chuckle. "In the next life, I'll be reborn as their daughter, and then... we can be siblings."

Dustin's smile froze for a moment before he gestured towards the plate of dumplings, "Have some more, you've been looking thinner lately."

"Sure," I replied, focusing on my meal.

Dustin kept his eyes on me until I could eat no more, and then I had some soup.

"Rad still cares about you, making that soup under my mom's name," Dustin remarked.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

I gave a wry smile, "Better late than never, but still not worth much."

The soreness in my mouth affected my appetite, so I packed up the leftover dumplings and soup. "Dustin, thanks for coming all this way. Please tell your parents I'll visit them once I'm less busy."

I gestured towards the amusement park, "There's less than a month until the deadline, and the lighting isn't even set up yet. It's really hectic."

"Rad told me, but you need to take care of yourself," Dustin advised.

"Yeah, I know," I said, pointing to Ernest who was busy nearby, "I need to get back to work."

"Take care," Dustin reminded me again.

Ernest skipped lunch and barely spoke to me all afternoon, acting as if he was upset.

But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

In the following days, Ernest became even more aloof and silent, just focusing on his work.

That was actually fine by me; we both threw ourselves into the job, though now we had set times for drinking water and taking breaks.

I wasn't sure if it was for his sake or mine.

By the end of the week, we were on schedule, but what lay ahead was still uncertain.

The workload was super intense and completely wiped Deborah out, to the point where she couldn't even stay awake to watch her favorite shows before crashing.

But I couldn't afford that luxury. Every night, I had to review the day's work, often not getting to bed until around eleven or midnight.

I was truly exhausted, resorting to cold showers and foot baths to jolt myself awake.

Ernest, who had been almost silent

towards me, sent a message after I had just finished another cold foot bath: Are you asleep? If not, could you come over? There are a few issues with tomorrow's testowe

need to discuss.

If it had been just the first three words, I'd have ignored it, but he mentioned work, so I immediately replied: Sure.

Feeling somewhat refreshed, I grabbed my laptop and knocked on his door.

Ernest, in his olive-green tee and black cotton pajama pants, somehow looked taller, making me feel even shorter in comparison.

His gaze fell on my face, narrowing slightly, but he didn't say anything, just stepped aside to let me in.

I placed my laptop down, about to

start, when he turned his own towards me and said, "Check out these spots I've marked, do they match the blueprints?"

Ernest had a physical blueprint right beside him, and a digital version on his laptop, all matching mine.

I was surprised he asked this question, but upon close inspection, I indeed found discrepancies.

Deborah and I had missed them in our previous checks. Thankfully, Ernest caught them, or we'd have wasted time during the tests.

"There's an issue I'll fix right now, and I'll send you the others to verify," I said.

Ernest placed a glass of water by my side and then got back to his work.

I focused on my screen, but my eyelids grew heavier by the minute. It took several thigh pinches to keep myself from dozing off.

Looking at Ernest, he seemed energized, as if the concept of sleep was foreign to him.

Just when I was about to ask if we could continue tomorrow, he picked up his phone and walked out to the balcony. Soon, I heard his voice on the phone.

His voice was so soothing that it made my eyelids droop even more...