All too late for his love

"Mr. Nightingale, here's your jacket," Willow spoke, pulling lan back to reality.

He stiffly accepted the jacket with intense emotions in his deep eyes. She could not make sense of the emotions in his eyes, and she had no desire to. Since he refused to leave, Willow had to politely ask him to leave.

"Mr. Nightingale, I've returned your jacket. Please leave. To ensure that he'd comply, she added, "I need to take a shower."

He couldn't possibly hang around her tiny apartment when she took a shower, could he?

Hearing that, he finally noticed the bruises on her neck, apart from the red strangulation marks. He was averse to women and shied from physical contact, but he knew what had happened to cause the bruises on her neck.

Frozen on the spot, he glanced at her vacantly. He was a tacit man, but he knew very well that she wanted to take a shower to wash away the filth on her body from last night-no thanks to him.

"Willow..."

She mistakenly thought he wanted to remind her to keep the incident a secret from Moses.

Chuckling in a self-deprecating manner, she said softly, "Mr. Nightingale, don't worry. I will not tell Mr. Quayle about last night. He won't hear about your refusal to attend a blind date with me.

"Just now, Mr. Quayle called me, but I did not complain about you with him."

"Willow, that wasn't what I meant, lan argued.

He had always been clear-minded and straight to the point, yet he was at a loss for words when he addressed Willow. The cynical expression on her face deepened.

"Mr. Nightingale, you didn't have to resort to great lengths last night, you know." Her tone softened. "You really didn't have to."

Then, she remarked, "I know you didn't want to attend the blind date with me. To be honest, I did not want to show up to the date, but I found it hard to turn down Mr. Quayle's request-he's such a nice and enthusiastic old man.

"Mr. Nightingale, don't you worry. I have no interest in you, and I will not cause you any trouble. You don't have to get jerks like Duncan Whitman to humiliate me.

"Sure, I wanted a better life for Aaron, but I never intended to social climb. Mr. Nightingale, you are overthinking.

"Please go home now. Don't worry. We'll never cross paths again. I will not show up in front of you and make it unpleasant for you."

She thought lan would leave after she gave him her promise. To her dismay, he remained rooted in the middle of her living room. Undecipherable emotions surged in his eyes.

Purple veins stretched across the white of his eyes. His usually cold nowCom and distant eyes were now Q. bloodshot, giving him a more human appearance. He resembled a fallen angel who had succumbed to

human desires and emotions.

Willow slowly looked away from him. It was then she noticed the closed door, which pieced together the puzzle.

A man as haughty as lan would hate to open the door for himself. She thought,

"Fine. I'll open the door for him and send him on his way."

The pain in her ankle intensified.

Leaning against the wall, she am struggled to make her way to the door Opening the door, she said to him, "Mr. Nightingale, I've opened the door for you. Please leave now." Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.

He moved toward her in great strides. At first, she thought he would finally leave To her surprise, he went over to her and pulled her into a hug.