"I never knew someone as crazy as you could also be successful," Emma stood up in anger, and her chair shrieked as it scraped across the floor, drawing the attention of those nearby.
"Everything might sound crazy to you for now," Leon said, still sitting calmly, unaffected. "I felt the same way not long ago. But Miss Emma Rowan, maybe you should consider it first. Perhaps we're really destined to solve each other's problems."
"Each other's problems?" Emma sneered, rolling her eyes as she processed his words. "I don't have any problems, Mr. Leon Gray. And if I do, it's you. You're my problem. Can you just… cease to exist right now? Because you're really starting to annoy me."
Leon froze for a moment, his gaze locked on Emma, as if her words had physically struck him. The space between them seemed to grow colder.
For a brief instant, the smirk that had never left his face faltered. His heart twisted, a sharp pang of fear and regret gnawing at him. He had known the risk when he came here, knew that if he couldn't find a way to fix the world he came from, he would cease to exist. But hearing her so casually dismiss him like that... It hurt more than he expected.
Leon inhaled sharply. His usually composed expression faltered, his eyes flickering with an emotion he rarely allowed anyone to see—vulnerability. For a long moment, he stood still, unable to find the right words to reply. His voice, when it came, was barely above a whisper, raw with unspoken pain.
"You really think it's that simple, don't you?" His gaze dropped to the floor for a second, as if the weight of her dismissal physically pressed on him. "I'm not a joke, Miss Emma… but I suppose I'm not worth your time either."
He looked up, his eyes briefly meeting hers before he turned away, his expression hardening into something unreadable. "You have no idea how much I wish I could just disappear, like you say. But I can't. I can't, because there's more at stake here than you realise."
With that, he stood up slowly, his movements deliberate, before turning and walking away, leaving Emma in silence. The weight of her words sank in, and she stood frozen, the guilt of what she had said settling in, heavy and undeniable.
"What? No! I'm not wrong here!" Emma snapped, muttering to herself. "He's just trying to make me feel guilty…" She pouted, trying her best to brush away the guilt that was slowly wrapping around her heart.
"Excuse me, Miss?" The waiter's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Shall we serve the dishes now?"
Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "But we didn't order anything yet."
"Mr. Gray already ordered everything when he reserved the table earlier," the waiter explained.
"Ah, damn it," she muttered under her breath, turning to the side. But before she could continue, the waiter added, "Don't worry, Miss. Everything's been paid for upfront."
Emma froze, realising that Leon had already settled the bill, leaving her with nothing more to argue about.
As the dishes were served, Emma sighed once again. There were so many on the table, and she was sure she wouldn't be able to finish them all, even though she was a big eater. "And he really planned to screw me over and make me feel guilty…" she muttered, letting out a second sigh before her hand reached for the steak, stabbing the fork into the small pieces already cut for her.
When her mouth was full of steak, Emma turned to her side, only to find the waiter standing there, holding a cake in her hands. Shocked, Emma nearly choked, her eyes widening as she fought the urge to spit out the food. The startled waiter quickly took a step back.
"I'm so sorry, Miss!" The waiter's guilty expression deepened as she noticed Emma's reaction. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meal. I was instructed to bring this out when you were almost finished with your main dish."
Emma waved a hand, signalling that it was fine, though she still looked a bit annoyed. After taking a sip of water to clear her mouth, she glanced back at the young waiter. "What is that?"
The waiter quickly placed a ten-inch cake on the table, her movements careful. "I'm not entirely sure, Miss, but... I think Mr. Gray was planning to propose." She offered an awkward smile, clearly uncomfortable. "It seems the plan didn't go as expected, though, considering the... situation earlier."
Emma furrowed her brow, leaning back slightly in her chair. 'Proposal? No way,' she thought sceptically. 'This guy's been acting strange from the moment we met.'
Her eyes lingered on the elaborate cake for a moment. "'You own the key to my heart,'" she read the wording aloud, then snorted. "Cheesy…" Her laughter trailed off as her gaze drifted back to the waiter, who was still smiling awkwardly.
But as her eyes locked on the waiter, something shifted. A faint memory flickered in her mind—words, half-forgotten, yet strangely familiar. "Wait…" she muttered, a crease forming between her brows.
'A man searches for a woman who holds the key to his heart...' The phrase floated into her mind unbidden, a fragment she didn't even realise she'd remembered. Her pulse quickened, and her fingers instinctively curled around the edge of the table. No. That's ridiculous… isn't it?
The waiter tilted her head, looking confused. "Miss, are you okay?"
Emma shook her head as if to clear it, forcing a laugh. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," she said quickly, though her voice sounded distant, even to her own ears. But deep down, something about that phrase, about this entire evening, was starting to feel too strange to ignore.
Her hand moved almost on instinct, reaching into her handbag. She pulled out the book Leon had given her earlier—the very first book her mother had gifted her for her eighteenth birthday. The worn cover felt familiar under her fingers, as if it were tethered to a past she'd nearly forgotten.
Flipping hurriedly to the end of the book, her eyes scanned the pages until they froze on a passage that made her stomach drop.
'In a world not so far from our own, a man searches for a woman who holds the key to his heart. Only she can mend the fractures of his existence.'