?Chapter 719:

    Startled, he blinked and forced a smile, his tone light and teasing. “Nothing at all. Just thinking about how easily you cry. You little crybaby—scared to tears already, huh?”

    Chloe protested, “I’m not a crybaby! I wasn’t crying because I was scared. I was just… It was…” She fumbled for an exnation, her face coloring as she struggled for words. After a pause, she patted him with stubborn pride. “Whatever! I wasn’t crying because I was scared, okay? Don’t make things up!”

    “Yeah, all right,” Morse said with a warm chuckle, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Our Chloe is the…”

    “Bravest of them all. Nothing rattles her, especially not this.”

    “Exactly,” she said, lifting her chin with exaggerated pride, a yful gleam in her eyes.

    He watched her with quiet affection, finding her irresistibly endearing. Every little movement of hers—every pout, every spark of defiance—made his heart ache with tenderness. He longed to lean forward, to press a gentle kiss to her forehead, to tell her just how precious she was to him. But instead, he looked away, mping down on the urge like he always did. There were boundaries, and he had no right to cross them.

    Yet even as he fought to crush those feelings, the thought of her someday standing beside another man stirred something bitter inside him. The very idea left a dull ache lodged in his chest. Clearing his throat, he forced a grin and said with forced levity, “I wonder which lucky fool is going to steal the heart of someone as incredible as you.”

    He meant it to sound like a joke, lighthearted and casual, but the sharp edge beneath the words betrayed him. Jealousyced the sentence like a poison he couldn’t filter out. If such a guy did appear, he’d punch him in the face. But even that was wishful thinking—because if Chloe ever became heartbroken or even loathed him because he beat her guy up, it would shatter himpletely. His words caught Chloe off guard. A fleeting shadow passed through her gaze. So that was how he saw her—in the same light he always had. She was just like a sister to him. Someone to protect, to tease, to smile at kindly, but never love. She had always yed that role—smiling, teasing, calling him in that sweet tone without hesitation.

    Honestly, when she was with Ralphy, everything felt natural. Easy, pure. There were no tangled thoughts or hidden aches. But with Morse, nothing was simple anymore. Her feelings had changed at some point. She couldn’t even remember when the shift had happened—only that it had, and that it consumed her more each day.

    She was terrified that getting too close to Morse would give her away. That her eyes would speak the truth her lips refused to utter. That her heart would betray her with every look, every smile. She didn’t want to risk it. She didn’t want to hope for more, only to be left with less than nothing. If her hidden feelings ever slipped through the cracks and Morse recoiled from her, they might not even remain friends. And she couldn’t bear that.

    Therefore, she stood still, caught between the reluctance to settle in the friend zone and losing him as a friend. Desperate to be the one who meant more to him, yet paralyzed by the thought of meaning nothing at all. And so, she smiled as she always did, pretending the ache didn’t exist.

    Fresh chapters are live at gα?ησv???s

    Chloe was d the lighting was so dim and that both of their shlights had fallen to the floor, nowpletely useless. If the lights had still been on, Morse might have seen the way she hadpletely lost her cool.

    .

    .

    .