I thought that by making myself so brutally clear, James would finally take the hint and back off.
Instead, he vanished for exactly three days.
He had gone back to his old company, resigned from his job, and planned to move here permanently to be with me.
“Ms. Emily, that gentleman sent something over again today.”
The receptionist handed me a familiar thermos.
I glanced out the front doors; James was standing by a tree, awkwardly averting his gaze when he saw me looking.
“He said it’s that homemade chicken noodle soup you love.”
The thermos was the exact same one we used to have at home.
He really was going to tremendous lengths just to make me feel a pang of nostalgia.
“Throw it away,” I said.
The receptionist blinked in shock. “Huh?”
“From now on, don’t accept anything he brings, and ideally, don’t even let him step foot inside the lobby.”
With that, I turned around and stepped into the elevator.
When it was time to clock out, I walked into the lobby, and the receptionist quickly called out to stop me.
“I threw it away for you.”
“But that gentleman went to the trash and dug the thermos back out.”
“It’s just… I saw him crying. Do you think he’ll be okay?”
Her expression shifted, her eyes filled with concern.
“Ms. Emily, is he some kind of stalker harassing you?”
“Should we call the cops?”
I shook my head. “It’s fine.”
Once James realizes he’s just humiliating himself over and over, he’ll give up.
But I severely underestimated his stubbornness.
Aside from stubbornly delivering food every single day, he would stand guard outside the building until I got off work.
Perhaps my words that night really had cut him deeply.
James didn’t dare approach me; he only followed from a distance.
I couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. I treated him like an annoying fly—as long as he didn’t disturb me, it was fine.
However, my indifference gave him a glimmer of false hope, until a week later, he intercepted me right at the company entrance.
He carefully held out a small paper bag. “I heard you’ve had a bad cough lately. I went to the Boutique Apothecary and had them make these special herbal throat drops for you.”
He paused, then added a sentence. “…I queued up all night to get these. Please take them.”
I glanced at the logo on the paper bag.
It was true that the pharmacy was incredibly famous, with people traveling from all over the country just to get their herbal remedies.
It was notoriously difficult to get an appointment.
It likely took far more than just pulling an all-nighter in a line to secure these.
I ignored him, sidestepping him to walk straight toward the entrance.
James hurriedly chased after me, clutching the paper bag.
“Just take it, it’s not anything expensive. It’s just a token of my care. I’m not trying to use it to ask you for anything, I just…”
A fly buzzing constantly in your ear truly is infuriating.
Irritated, I shoved him away.
James stumbled back a few steps, losing his grip on the bag. The round lozenges spilled all over the ground.
His eyes instantly reddened.
“Clean this mess up,” I said, furrowing my brow.
“You can’t litter outside the office building.”
