Liar and Liar - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 79

The two stood facing each other with some distance between them. Danielle scanned the hallway. For now, no one was around.

“…What’s going on? Why are you standing here? How long have you been here?”

He knew her contact information, so if he had business, he could text or call. Why was he standing in front of someone else’s room…

Danielle waited for an answer, but after Cove looked her over, his response was completely different.

“…A date?”

Danielle’s brow furrowed. It was quite annoying when she asked a question and didn’t get a proper answer. Especially when the other person was an unpleasant presence.

“That’s none of your business. Just answer my question.”

“I came because I have something to say.”

His meaningful voice flustered Danielle. It was the kind of voice that would make someone from another dormitory room stop mid-exit, hold their breath, and press their ear against the door. In other words…

Like a confession…

“What… what do you have to say? Couldn’t you text or call?”

Danielle’s heart pounded. Whether it was tension or foreboding, it was definitely her heart beating in a negative sense.

Just as Cove seemed to make up his mind and slowly opened his mouth, Danielle quickly looked around again. There was no one around at the moment, but she felt like someone was definitely listening. Her intuition that Cove Blanton hadn’t been here for just a short time also played a part.

“No, wait a minute.”

Go outside completely? In this outfit? How far? Why bother?

The moment her mind filled with all sorts of thoughts, Danielle became doubly tired and ultimately chose to open the door. Just to the shoe rack. That far, she thought.

“Whatever you have to say, let’s talk inside.”

‘Inside’ not ‘come in.’ Though they seemed similar, there was a significant difference. Danielle succeeded in cutting off Cove’s words and opening the door first. As Danielle entered the room, Cove soon followed.

Since she didn’t have the energy to undo her shoe straps, Danielle ended up entering the room with her shoes on and faced Cove at an appropriate distance. She put down her shopping bag and raised one hand to stop any further movement.

“Say it from there. I only let you in because talking outside would be too conspicuous.”

“…”

He seemed to understand.

In the silence, Danielle’s gaze unconsciously swept over Cove. His complete casual clothes, not uniform or athletic wear, felt unfamiliar.

Cove was wearing a black turtleneck and dark jeans. The silver necklace around his neck glinted in the fluorescent light.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything.’

As the silence lengthened, Danielle began to feel anxious too.

Surely not. That’s impossible.

Did I get conceited just because I heard I was pretty a few times?

But her instinct was strongly shouting only one thing.

Was it because she had wanted to hear it from Frederick all day but ultimately couldn’t?

‘No, Danielle Ryu. Don’t think strange, crazy thoughts.’

She tried to pull herself together, but the moment their eyes met, a fastball that shattered everything came flying straight at her.

“I have one thing to say. I like you.”

Danielle’s mouth fell open in shock.

Did I just hear that… correctly?

‘Did he confess?’

Really? To me?

Her heart jumped wildly. Not because she liked Cove Blanton or felt fluttered, but because of the overwhelming weight of hearing “I like you” for the first time in her life.

Whether from bewilderment, she felt heat rising to her cheeks. It wasn’t embarrassing or shameful. The other person’s face was heating up even more.

Cove lowered his gaze and continued with difficulty.

“I know. It’s out of nowhere. You probably aren’t even happy to hear this kind of confession. At first, I just thought you were annoying and irritating. But… at some point, I just couldn’t take my eyes off you…”

His face was stained with self-loathing. He looked tormented. Danielle’s heart ached to the same degree.

The moment Cove raised his gaze again and their eyes met, Danielle startled and looked away. She absolutely couldn’t face him.

“At first, I deliberately put you down to make you accept the deal. I admit it. But please hear this without misunderstanding. Frederick Bastia doesn’t intend to really date you. Stop that fake relationship.”

At that moment, Danielle’s entire body froze.

Danielle felt her blood drain and her heart sink. Yet she could still clearly distinguish the sincerity and concern in Cove’s voice.

Cove Blanton is worried about me…

For my sake, putting my feelings first…

“I can’t explain in detail, but-“

“I know.”

Danielle finally met Cove’s gaze.

A deeper, colder, darker place. Her heart was already there.

“I know what you’re talking about.”

The bet.

That cold word seemed to bring Danielle to her senses.

She could feel the confession was sincere. She understood he was saying it for her sake too.

‘But what am I supposed to do?’

Does that make all the things you and your lackeys did to me until now disappear?

Why should I forgive you?

How are you different from Frederick Bastia? In the end, you didn’t lose anything either.

Even aside from the bet, for Danielle, her bad feelings toward Cove Blanton couldn’t be resolved with just a word or two.

“Do you know what I think when I hear your confession? You really think I’m a pushover.”

“…”

She could see Cove’s expression, which had been frozen while waiting for an answer, crack like broken glass.

“You think I’m a pushover, right? That’s why you act like this.”

Her emotions easily escalated, and Danielle almost said, “Stop thinking that Asian women would naturally want romance with a white guy like you,” but she swallowed it down.

“I never thought you were a pushover. If you knew how breathlessly I waited for your answer…”

“What you should give me isn’t a confession, but an apology. Isn’t that the proper order? Am I wrong?”

The first perpetrator Danielle had forcibly transferred through reporting was Cove Blanton’s best friend, and the second perpetrator was from the lacrosse team.

Even if Cove Blanton wasn’t directly involved, Danielle still remembered his gaze.

His narrowed eyes always looked at her sideways, as if glaring. He never said anything, but Danielle couldn’t not know the meaning contained in that gaze. It couldn’t have been just her imagination.

“…How should I apologize?”

Right, it couldn’t have been my imagination. Danielle raised one hand to grab her hair.

‘What good would a few words do now.’

The bruises you left on me will never disappear forever.

The words you carelessly threw will gnaw at my self-esteem for life.

The moment she reached one thought, Danielle became surprisingly calm. Everything was settled.

“Kneel.”

“…What?”

Danielle lowered the hand that had been brushing through her hair.

“If you don’t want to, get lost along with your pathetic confession. I don’t want to hear one more word of your selfish, arbitrary rambling.”

There wasn’t a trace of anger in Danielle’s voice. It was quietly low.

Danielle was prepared to mock even Cove Blanton’s hesitation. As expected, he couldn’t move easily.

It was natural. For Cove Blanton, the embodiment of competitive spirit, the most important thing would be that petty pride.

She was about to tell him to get lost since that was enough.

The moment Cove slowly bent one knee, everything seemed to move in slow motion to Danielle. It felt like reality was disappearing.

‘He’s kneeling?’

Cove Blanton is really kneeling to an Asian girl he looked down on?

Danielle knew very well how proud Cove Blanton was. Athletic department incidents always became the first topic of conversation in the cafeteria the next day, so Danielle inevitably heard about them.

“The lacrosse locker room window got broken.”

“Yesterday’s loss was really close. You should have heard Cove Blanton yelling.”

“You guys didn’t hear? After that, he did shuttle runs in full gear alone in the gymnasium all evening. The team members couldn’t even talk to him.”

He’s throwing away that precious pride he’d protected so difficultly, pushing himself to the limit like that?

Danielle’s eyes wavered in confusion for the first time. But an external noise froze both Cove and Danielle.

Knock knock.

The next words that followed were like a disaster.

-Honey.

Danielle’s eyes widened as if they might pop out at the familiar voice.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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