and held it out to him. “Zachary, have some candy. However much you can prab is yours. It’s really sweet, so don’t be mad.”
Chapter 28 Zachary Wants to Bathe Her
“Where did you go? Zachary shouted.
“I went to the supermarket.”
“You went to the supermarket yesterday. Do you even know what i
Arther lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong, “Zachary looked exasperated.
Arther didn’t know how to respond to him. She hadn’t meant for things to turn out this way.
Upon seeing Aether looking so small, pitiful, and helpless, Zachary who had been searching for her all day–had no choice but to suppress his frustration.
He had stayed up all night looking for her. He didn’t even get a wink of sleep, thinking that something had happened to her.
He reached into the large hag Aether was holding and grabbed a handful of candy. “Forget it. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
Aetherfinally Inked up, no longer as scared as before Try one. It’s really sweet”
Zachary wrapped a candy, tossed it into his mouth, and let it sit on his tongue.
Arther expectantly looked at him. “Is it sweet?”
“Yeah”
Aether beamed when she got the answer she wan..” lewit! Everyone likes candy.” She then promptly unwrapped one for herself and popped it into her own mooth
After putting away the things she had bought, she packed her books into her bag, getting ready to leave.
Zachary noticed some redness on her back and stepped forward to grab her shoulder. His hand landed right where she had been shot.
Aether yelped in pain, “Ah!”
Zachary immediately stepped closer and yanked up her shirt, revealing the bloodstained bandage on herback
Aether panicked as she protectively crossed her arms over her chest and backed away from him. “Zachary, what are you doing?”
“What happened to your back?”
“L. fell.“Aether’s voice grew quieter, betraying her guilt
“You fell and bled?”
“It’s really not a big deal,” Aether said, quickly pulling her shirt back down and grabbing a jacket to cover herself
“I have to get to my shift at the cafeteria. Let’s talk when I get back” She tried to make an excuse and leave, but Zachary took two steps forward and blocked her
path
At this point, he was dizzy with frustration. “You’re this injured, and you still want to work? What if the wound reopens? Doesn’t it hurt? ”
“I already put medicine on it. It really don’t-
But before Aether could finish, Zachary cut her off, “Your back is covered in blood. You screamed when I barely touched it, and you’re still trying to act tough?
Aether, flustered and out of options, turned red–eyed with urgency. “If I’m late, they’ll dockmy pay.”
“quit,” Zachary firmly :
**If you need money, workforme. I need an assistant. I’ll pay you double of what you make at the cafeteria.
Zachary was furious. “There’s no “bur.“Are you upset about working for me, or are you just hoping your wound rips open? Don’t you cherish your shoulder? Why are you playing around with your health?+
Aether tried to explain and said, “That’s not what I mean, I just think that if you didn’t originally need an assistant, then there’s no need to do this just for me “You‘ giving yourself too much credit,” Zachary impatiently vald,
“I’m doing this for myself, not for you.”
Zachary lost his patience completely. He scooped Arther up in his anna and carried her back to the dorm and sat her down on the bed.
“AL what time do you need to change the dressing?” he asked.
H
“ground moon, I guess.”
1st here. Don’t go anywhere.”
But the cafeteria—”
If you don’t go, they won’t need you anymore. Any other problems?”
Aether was speechless. Upon seeing that Zachary wasn’t in a great mood and seemed rather iritable, she wisely shut her mouth.
She had just wanted to say that the needed to inform the cafeteria before officially quitting. She couldn’t just leave without saying anything.
Aether took out her phone and messaged Eleance Stark, the manager of the cafeteria.
“Ms. Stark, I hurt my back, so I probably won’t be coming is anymore. I’m really sony. Can I pay the contract perdity next month? I found another job, and I’ll pay you a little extra
Bat Aether received some money along with a message from Beaner saying, “Thank you for your hand work over these past few days. Take it
“It was hand work at all. It’s what I should do, I just feel bad for quitting now. You’ll have to find someone else, and the workload will increase because of me.” Aether replied.
It’s really not a big deal, host take it. And forget about the penalty. We only said that at the beginning became we were worried students would fool around in the cafeteria. It was never meant to be serious, just accept it, or I’ll delete you tremumy contacts.”
In the end, Arther accepted the money and typed back, “Thank you, Mts. Stack”
After that, Aethet set bet phone down. She then took out the puzzle she had bought and placed a small table on her bed before putting it together.
Zachary saw her picking up the pieces one by one and tirling them into the frame. Cucions, he leaned over and asked, “What are you doing?”
“It’s a puzzle. Do you want to join me?” Aether asked.
“Only kids like this stuff,”
Aether similed, “It’s pretty fun. I commissioned someone online to paint a picture of us, then I had it fumed into a puzzle.”
Zachary suddenly became interested. “Us?”
[Zachary Conner’s favorability +1. Current favorability: -70)
“yeah. We’re roommates I wanted to put it together and hang it somewhere nice.”
Zachary sat down across from Aether and picked up a small puzzle piece to inspect it. “This is tiny,”
Aether continard dong the puzzle as she spoke, “Yeah, it’s tiny. But we have to fit all of them into this big frame. It might take a while.”
Zachary looked at the fourcomers Aether had managed to assemble and shook his head. “This is not hard.”
“You don’t think it’s hard?”
Zachary spread out the puzzle pieces and glanced at the pattern. Then, he started putting them into place at an astonishing speed. With every passing second, he’d place four or five pieces down, swiftly and effortlessly.
He was precise and fast, so fast that Aether could barely keep up.
She had wanted to work on the puzzle together, but with the way Zachary was solving it, it felt as though she was just watching from the sidelines.
In less than an hour, all ten thousand pieces were in place.
All the while, Aether had done nothing. She simply watched because every time she picked up a plece to compare without having even placed it down, Zachary would snatch it and put it where it belonged
She had only placed the four corner pieces down. Not to mention, she’d only managed to do so since they had curved edges and were the easiest to find.
So, in the end, Aether placed four pieces down, while Zachary completed the remaining 9,996 pieces.
“Y–You’re incredibile.” Aether was genuinely amazed. “You just memorize the pattems and put them together. The only tedious part is physically moving the
“There were so many pieces. How did you memorize them all?” she asked.
“You just look at them, and you remember,” Zachary simply replied.
Aether widened her eyes, stating hard at the puzzle pieces. However, she couldn’t seem to memorize them at all. They all looked nearly identical.
To be honest, she thought only Neil and Russell had this kind of skill. After all, Russell was a genius in academics, and Neil was a natural–bom prodigy.
But Zachary Even if he was a notorious flirt, she didn’t expect him to have such good memory.
“You’re zoning out” Zachary framed the completed puzzle and had found a good spot to hang it up.
“You’re injured Jan’t it hard to wash!”
Aether was contused. “Wasli? Wash what?”
“Shower.”
“oli, I guess it’s a little difficul
“I’ll help you then.” Zachary offered.
This shocked Artber
Chapter 39 Zachary’s Possessivene
