Meanwhile —

On Adelyn’s side —

Adelyn raised her brows slightly when she saw the young man standing outside her door.

She didn’t recognize him.

And yet —

There was something faintly familiar about him.

As if she had crossed paths with him before ... somewhere she couldn’t quite place immediately.

Her gaze lingered on him for a moment before she spoke.

"Are you looking for someone?"

Her tone wasn’t rude —

But it wasn’t warm either.

It rested precisely on the line between —neutral and distant.

Exactly as it should be.

Especially considering the hostile look he was directing at her.

"Ms Grace," the man said, holding out a packed box in his hand, "I came to deliver the dinner to you."

Adelyn paused at his words.

Her gaze shifted to look at the box in his hand before she looked back at him.

"Dinner? For me?"

Her brows slowly furrowed, and this time, her gaze held no politeness.

"Do we even know each other, mister?"

Just as this moment —

The phone in her hand rang.

And she was about to ignore it, but before she could, her eyes caught the name flashing on her screen.

Mr. Warren.

She had saved his number earlier, but she hadn’t really expected him to call again so soon.

Answering the call, she raised the phone to her ear —only to notice the man in front of her looking at her with even more displeasure.

As if her mere actions had somehow offended him.

"Mr. Warren," she spoke into the phone.

"Did you receive it?" Dylan asked from the other end.

Adelyn’s brows furrowed in confusion. She didn’t understand. "What was there for me to receive, Mr. Warren?"

Could he have sent her clothes back?

She instinctively looked past the man, as if expecting to see a small figure waiting somewhere nearby.

However, there was no one.

"The dinner," he replied.

And that made her look back at the man standing in front of her. Her brows only drew together.

"You sent him with the dinner?" she asked, not quite understanding why he would do that out of nowhere.

However, on the other end, Dylan remained calm.

He hummed in response.

"Last night, I noticed you served everything you had prepared," he said. "Since you returned late after giving auditions today and must already be tired, it would’ve been troublesome for yoy to step into the kitchen and cook again. So I had the dinner sent over."

He then paused and added again,

"The dishes are all to your taste. You’ll like them."

Adelyn was dumbfounded.

For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond.

Just because he thought it might be tiring for her to cook—

He sent her food?

How long had he planned this for it to arrive right when she reached home?

And why was he even thinking this much about her?

Shouldn’t he be busy with work?

"What’s wrong?"

His voice pulled her back.

Only then did she realize she hadn’t said anything in a while.

"No, nothing," she replied quickly, before adding, "I was just wondering why would you do that. You are clearly busy, and —"

"Being busy isn’t a good enough reason to slack off as your boyfriend."

His words came so naturally that, for a brief second, even Adelyn felt like what he did was completely normal.

After all, he was her boyfriend. Wasn’t he?

But then —

It hit her.

He was her boyfriend. But not really.

How could she forget her own woven lies?

She couldn’t help but rub the tip of her nose awkwardly.

"Y-yes, you are right," she said. "Being my ... boyfriend, you don’t get to slack off so easily. But Mr. Warren, I am your girlfriend too. I can’t be so demanding all the time. Especially when I know how busy you —and the people around you — usually are. I can’t have them doing things like delivering food to me, can I?"

The displeasure on the man’s face made her words even more pointed.

The more she looked at him, the more she felt he wasn’t happy about the task.

There was a brief pause on the line.

"You can’t," Dylan said.

And just when she thought he had come to agree with her point, she heard him continue —

"I will be more thoughtful the next time. Instead of asking someone else to deliver it, I’ll bring it myself."

Adelyn was stunned again.

She paused and thought back.

Did she say something wrong?

What part of her words led him to that conclusion?

"Mr. Warren, I didn’t mean —"

"I understand," he cut her off gently. "Next time, I’ll do better."

At this point, she gave up again.

The more she tried to explain, the more the misunderstanding seemed to deepen.

If she didn’t know really, she would have felt he was deliberately doing it.

But why would Dylan Warren do this to her?

So, in the end, she simply surrendered

Taking the packed dinner from the man, she mouthed a small thank you —only to see him leave immediately, without even acknowledging her politeness.

His hostility was so obvious that even though she tried to ignore it, she couldn’t completely brush it off.

But she didn’t dwell on it either.

After all, she had no reason to get involved with the people around Dylan Warren.

Sooner or later, whatever this arrangement between them was —it would end.

And when it did, their paths won’t cross again.

With that thought, she closed the door and walked back inside, placing the dinner on the table.

"You’re already performing well, Mr. Warren," she murmured as she began unpacking the food. "So well that I feel I’m not even a match for you."

As she opened the containers, she realized —

He hadn’t been exaggerating.

Every dish was exactly to her liking.

As if they had been specially prepared for her.

Were boyfriends always this thoughtful?

If they were —

Then maybe the idea of having one wasn’t as unappealing as she once thought.

"I’m satisfied."

The words made her pause.

Her movements stilled as she frowned slightly.

She hadn’t quite understood what he meant.

"Huh?" she said, lifting the phone again. "What did you say?"