Chapter 3

Tristan didn't stay the night. He owned another apartment in the building next door, so he went back there.

The next morning, he came over to bring me breakfast.

There were seven or eight different pastries and bagels spread across the table. When Sophia saw it, she smirked triumphantly.

"Did you bring all this because you knew I was here?" she purred. "Oh, I love these bagels! The line at this bakery is always insanely long. Did you wake up early just to get them?"

Tristan gave her a cool glance. "Actually, I forgot you were here. I bought less than usual today. Chloe has a weak stomach in the morning, so I wanted to give her options."

Sophia let out a long, drawn-out "Oh," but her fingers kept tapping against her freshly manicured nails. I knew that habit. It meant she was calculating.

If she had only been mildly interested in Tristan before, she was determined to have him now.

I squeezed Tristan's hand, gripping it so hard that he looked at me in confusion. I quickly apologized and left the table.

When I got home from work that evening, they were sitting on the couch again. Tristan stood up immediately to greet me.

He whispered, "Doesn't your cousin have a job? Why is she always here? Doesn't she have her own place? Why is she lurking around ours every single day?"

I looked at him and said, "Maybe if you just accept her friend request, she’ll leave you alone."

His face froze. After a moment, he murmured, "Actually, I just added her. She said she’d go home tomorrow if I did."

I just muttered "Oh" and walked into my bedroom. Tristan followed me in, wrapping his arms around me and asking if I was mad.

"I just didn't want her hanging around us every day," he explained, pulling out his phone to prove his innocence. "Look, I already put her on mute. I won't even see her messages."

I kept quiet, but my disappointment must have been obvious. Tristan spent the next hour trying to cheer me up.

Even at dinner, he kept trying to make me laugh and piling food onto my plate.

Sophia watched us, letting out a soft chuckle. "Aren’t you attentive, Tristan?"