No More Waiting, She Chooses Love



"Mr. Collins!" I greeted him with a smile, just as I would any other colleague.

Ernest didn't respond, and we passed each other by.

But as I walked away, the smile on my face soured for a moment. I got into the company car and headed to the place Shirley had mentioned. When I got there, she hadn't arrived yet, so I sent her a message. She told me to find a seat and wait.

As I waited, I checked my phone and saw a new message from Susie.From NôvelDrama.Org.

Scrolling through, I saw it was all from her, mostly expressing guilt for almost getting me into trouble and speaking well of Ernest. I had only replied once and hadn't responded since.

"Hey, could you please reply to my messages? My brother has grounded me, and I can't go out."

Seeing Susie's message, I pondered for a few seconds before replying: "Susie, I'm okay now and back at work. As for your brother and me, let's not talk about it anymore."

She replied instantly: "But he really loves you, I swear."

I didn't respond, and Susie sent another message: "Ernest was making soup for you and got distracted. It spilled and burned his arm."

Thinking of the discarded soup, I still didn't reply.

"He brought the soup over and didn't sleep all night, just stood by the window smoking."

"Look, I don't know what's going on between you two, but can you please give him another chance?"

"It really hurts me to see you two like this. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life if it meant you two could be happy together."

Reading her message, I couldn't help but laugh, also thinking about her crush on Mack.

I typed a message: "Has Mack been in touch?"

Susie replied, "No!" with a crying emoji.

After a few seconds of thought, I replied, "Susie, I've said all there is to say about him. It's time you moved on."

Susie said, "I'll try."

That meant she was aware of Mack's past but couldn't let go just yet.

I didn't know what else to say, and

and

Susie was typing again when Shirley arrived Noticing the empty table, she asked, "Why haven't you ordered drinks?"

She signaled the waiter and ordered two fruit juices.

"When is the person supposed to arrive?" didn't beat around the b y and went straight

concerned me most.

She checked the time, "Should be any minute now."

Raising her juice, she clinked glasses with me, "Don't worry, they'll definitely show up."

I nodded, taking a sip of my juice, then joked, "You're pretty fast. I thought it would take at least a couple of weeks."

Shirley laughed awkwardly and

avoided eye contact, saying, "When

you ask for a favor, I put it at the top of my list. Naturally, it gets done

quicker."

I was genuinely touched, thinking back on how I had treated her before, I felt a bit guilty.

"Thank you!" This time, I raised my juice glass to clink with hers.

Shirley smiled, "Does this mean we're drinking this 'thank you' juice down?"

Though we both just sipped, I asked, "Did Lord give any leeway regarding the child?"

She didn't look at me but nodded, "Yes."

Remembering Shirley's explanation about why Nancy could have the baby, I teased, "What, did his wife have another dream?"

Shirley didn't respond to my jest this time but instead looked up at me seriously.