Killian, like a dog that had been called out by name, immediately perked up his ears. His face turned red as he pointed at me, scolding, "You... you're laughing! It's your fault, always leading me on!"
Then I realized.
Killian had once asked me what I would do if I liked someone.
At that time, I had already liked him, but I didn't dare admit it, so I made up a lie that made me sound confident and free-spirited.
I had said, "If I liked someone, I would definitely find the perfect opportunity to confess. I'd make the whole thing grand, so they'd feel how carefully planned it was."
But the truth was, I was just a coward.
Killian's voice lowered, a bit tight. "Patricia Calderon, you do like me, don't you?"
Of course, I liked him.
After all, he was Killian.
The man who saved me from a quagmire three years ago, polite, gentle, and easy to calm after getting angry.
I remembered every vivid expression of his.
I remembered the warmth of his head resting on my shoulder.
I remembered the look of determination when he worked through the night to finalize a deal.
My feelings for him came without reason but also without question.
I looked down at the diary, reading each word carefully:
"Killian, I like you."
"Not just a little."
"It's a lot."
"As much as you like me."
But I had never imagined that someone as excellent as Killian would like me, or that he would feel so insecure in this relationship.
Killian reached out and pulled me into his embrace, his voice muffled:
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have been so cautious. After all these years of procrastination, we could have had kids by now."
"What do you think we should name our kids? Should they go to the bilingual kindergarten down the street or..."
As he rambled on, I interrupted helplessly: "Can we focus on solving the current issue first?"
"I'll just have someone fire Miss Lorena Jimenez right away."
Killian acted without hesitation, but no matter how hard he tried, that message simply wouldn't go through.
His expression darkened as he tried sending it to several people, but none of the messages were delivered.
Calling also resulted in nothing but an endless ring.
It felt like something was blocking our connection with the outside world.
We held each other's hands tightly.
Even if we become islands, Killian and I would still be the islands where we seek refuge together.
I comforted him, suggesting we wait until tomorrow when we could check the situation at work, and idly flipped through that diary.
Suddenly, I noticed something strange about the paper.
A few pages were particularly thick, like several sheets had been glued together.
On a whim, I used a small knife to separate the pages and found Killian's hasty handwriting:
"Lorena Jimenez is so strange. I clearly remember firing her, but somehow she's still here half a month later. And now people are saying I promoted her to the CEO's secretary. Why would I make her my secretary? To raise my blood pressure? No, I'm firing her tomorrow."
The rest of the writing was even messier, almost as if written in extreme confusion: "Forget," "Project," "Mr. Schneider"...
The only thing clearly written, with neat strokes, was my name.
"Patricia Calderon."
Followed by a wobbly little heart, the final stroke trembling as it was written.
I looked at Killian, who seemed just as confused. Clearly, he had no memory of these events.
But I distinctly remembered that during the time loop, the partner's surname had indeed been "Schneider." And his reaction was very much like that of a typical domineering CEO from the novels.
Suddenly, I recalled a message that had appeared above Lorena Jimenez's head during the time reset:
"Anomaly detected. There is one last chance for reset. Would you like to reset?"
What did "last time" mean?
How many reset opportunities did Lorena Jimenez have? And what did she do with those chances?
What was the meaning of the contents in this diary?
I thought that the answers to all of these questions could only be found once I met Lorena Jimenez in person.
