Chapter 3

“Regardless of your feelings for me, you won’t get away from me so long as I still love you.”

Too bad Tia couldn’t take a hint. She either left me on read or shot me down flat out, not leaving the slightest room for hope.

The repeated rejections rubbed me the wrong way.

So, she wanted to play that game, just ignoring me and playing hard to get.

Making use of my privilege as the secretary, I secretly installed 138 cameras all over Tia’s manor.

It was complete coverage, with every inch of the space covered.

I was determined to find out whether Tia still kept walls around her behind closed doors.

For the next month, I spent every evening glued to the camera feeds, somehow losing myself as I observed the woman who was mine.

Soon enough, I felt that something was off.

When night rolled around, Tia would sit alone at the desk, rubbing her thumb along a photograph, her gaze tender.

The affection in her eyes was unlike anything I’d seen before.

If my guess was right, Tia must have a crush.

Overwhelmed with jealousy, I racked my brain trying to see the face in the photo.

Back when I installed the cameras, I figured I wasn’t there to steal confidential documents, so I never bothered putting one near her desk.

Now I was practically trying to crawl through the screen, yet I still couldn’t see anything beyond the blurry silhouette of the man in the photo.

Just as I silently spiraled, my work phone rang. It was Tia calling.

Putting my thoughts aside, I switched to my poker-faced secretary mode and took the call.

“Ms. Hart.”

On the other end of the line, Tia laid out work instructions in an emotionless, distant, and professional manner.

Yet, through the surveillance feed, Tia was discussing work with me while caressing the photo affectionately. The contrast was so unreal that I was bubbling with jealousy.

With the tightness in my chest, I irritably rose to my feet to grab my work laptop.

Distracted, I banged my knee against the couch and cried out in pain.

The line went quiet on Tia’s end, and that was when the neighbor pounded on my front door.

“Please! Some of us have kids. Can you keep your bedroom noise down?”

Once the neighbor was gone, Tia asked gruffly, “Levi, are you alright?”

I tried to play it cool. “I’m fine. It was just a bump.”

“Okay.” Tia didn’t press further. “Never mind then. We can pick this back up tomorrow. Get a good night's sleep.”

She hung up.

Confused, I shifted my attention back to the monitors. Tia sat in silence for a few seconds before heading straight to the bathroom for a shower.

It was strange. Tia abandoned a work call halfway just to hit the showers.

As if finding out about her crush wasn’t bad enough, I was already in a foul mood. I started bombarding Tia with messages from my alt account.

Halfway through, I had to step aside due to a nosebleed.

…

On the screen, Tia emerged from the bathroom.

Her wet hair dripped with water, droplets sliding along her curves. I could likely wrap one arm around that tiny waist. The only thing covering her decency was a loosely wrapped towel.

Uff…

It was a testing moment for a psycho like me.

My eyes sparkled as I tapped frantically across the screen to take screenshots.

Thoughts of her crush were pushed completely out of my mind. That night, I drifted off with my phone in hand and a goofy smile on my face.

That good mood lasted all the way until the next day, when I went with Tia to a business meeting.

Inside the car, Tia stared at the wide grin on my face, her nerves somehow tense.

“You look happy. Do you have a date?”

Realizing I was getting a little too carried away, I reined myself in right away and put my professional poker face on. “You’re joking, Ms. Hart.”