I hurriedly scrambled out of bed and rushed downstairs.
In the living room, I saw Lorena and Killian standing face to face, the tension in the air almost palpable.
Without thinking, I positioned myself directly in front of Killian, warily eyeing Lorena. "What are you doing here?"
"You think I can't come? Do you know that you…" Lorena began.
Killian wrapped his arm around my shoulders, interrupting her. "Why aren't you wearing slippers? The floor is cold. Come here, step on my feet."
There was no attempt to hide the affection in his words.
I instinctively looked at Killian, and the strange feeling in my chest deepened.
This shouldn't be happening. Based on the so-called "character setting," Killian should have lost all rationality when facing Lorena. Why was he acting so normal now? It was as if he wasn't affected by her "female lead aura" at all.
Seeing that I didn't reply, Killian scooped me up in his arms and looked over at the butler. "Please bring me a pair of slippers. The little bunny ones upstairs."
Those were the slippers Killian had picked out for me himself.
Lorena's teeth were gritted so hard I thought they might break. "Killian, did you even understand what I was saying?"
"I understood," Killian said calmly, even with a hint of relaxation in his voice. "To be honest, I don't care about being the male lead. Whoever wants to be, can be."
Lorena's frustration was evident. "You have no idea what you've lost. Everything you have now is because of your 'male lead aura,' you…"
"Bullshit," I interrupted her.
"What he has now is because he's smart enough and works hard enough," I continued. "When he stayed up late, when he worked on development, when he endured stomach pain while socializing, none of you saw that. Why should anyone just decide that everything he's worked for is because of some male lead aura?"
I was about to continue, but Killian tightened his hold around me, his voice low and filled with suppressed amusement. "Honey, calm down. I'll handle this."
He glanced at Lorena. "Miss Jimenez, since you've failed so many times, have you ever considered looking for the problem within yourself?"
"I don't like you, so I don't care about being this 'male lead,'" he added casually.
"Now, you and your little 'system' better get out of my house and my wife's house."
Killian's words were so arrogant that I immediately felt on guard, worried that Lorena and her "system" would retaliate against him.
But to my surprise, Lorena actually left.
She stormed off after throwing one last sentence: "You're definitely going to regret this!"
I stood there dumbfounded, watching her until her figure completely disappeared, then finally reacted: "She... she really just left like that?"
"Well, what else could she do?" Killian said with a smile, pulling me into his arms. "She was actually here to yell at me. She already gave me a piece of her mind while you were upstairs."
"Yell at you?" I struggled to get out of his arms. "What did she say to you? Who does she think she is, yelling at you? I'm going to go get her and set her straight."
Killian held me tighter, his face close to my neck. His voice sounded almost like a pout. "She said I'm... tainted."
I: …
Killian went on with increasing grievance: "Thankfully, Lorena Jimenez only has four chances. Besides, I'm already yours, and the system can't do anything to me now."
"You're not going to leave me, are you? Wuwuwu…"
As he kept making more absurd comments, even pretending to cry, I couldn't help but laugh and get angry at the same time: "Killian, stop pretending!"
Killian lowered his eyes, looking up at me with his bright gaze, his voice soft: "Honey, those first few times were so hard. But it's okay, in the end, I still waited for you."
I froze: "You remember the first few times?"
He nodded, his eyes slightly drooping as if he had a fluffy tail behind him:
"Lorena Jimenez is really annoying. And with the system on top of that, sometimes I can't control myself, but thankfully, I held on."
"When things were tough, I would just look at you. Although you didn't react much, I could wait."
"Patricia, what I have the most for you is patience."
Killian said it so casually, but all I could think about was how many times he had gone through the time resets. The first few times, he had fought alone against that foolish plot, and it made my heart ache.
I reached out and hugged Killian: "Thank you."
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being willing to wait.
Thank you for making me realize that I am not the female supporting character the story has set for me. I can fight for what I want and be the female lead of my own life.
