?Chapter 415:


    But whenever her name came up, there wasn’t a smile waiting for him.


    Instead, it stirred up a tight knot of anxiety and heavy questions he couldn’t quite answer.


    “You don’t even know if you like her? What’s going on in your head?” n teased, draping an arm around Kristian’s shoulders and pulling him in close with a conspiratorial lean. “Tell me this—if she were with someone else, would you feel upset?”


    A firm “yes” echoed in Kristian’s mind, immediate and resolute. Not only would he be upset, but he’d also feelpelled to intervene. The mere thought made his jaw tighten.


    “And if Mina were wronged, would you stand up for her, help her get back at them?” n probed further, his curiosity piqued.


    The response sprang to Kristian’s thoughts unbidden, clear and sharp.


    “All right, the real kicker,” n murmured, his voice dropping to a whisper as he brought his finger to his lips and leaned closer to Kristian’s ear. “Can anyone ever take Mina’s ce in your heart?”


    Kristian mulled it over, his mind a battlefield of emotion and logic.


    Ultimately, he reached a definitive conclusion—No.


    In that moment, as the realization washed over him, Gerard’s words came back to him, echoing in his mind. True affection often came intertwined with sexual desire.


    Other than Freya, no one had ever stirred even a trace of desire in Kristian—not even Ashley in the past. With that thought quietly swirling in his mind, he took out his phone and began searching the web. But the moment heid eyes on the responses, his expression clouded over like a sky before a storm.


    “Is this some kind of wild daydream? Only feeling attracted to one person? Ridiculous!”


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    “Sounds like impotence to me.”


    “Seriously, stop justifying it. Who goes through life without a hint of desire?”


    “It might actually be love. Some men are naturally disinterested in physical intimacy—until they meet the one. Then it’s not lust, but something deeper. Perfectly normal.”


    His gaze lingered a moment longer on that finalment, as if the words had struck a chord.


    n leaned over, trying to sneak a look, but before he could make out anything, Kristian had already locked the screen.


    “If all those questions I asked earlier didn’t clear things up, there’s still onest test,” n offered, his determination unwavering. He was on a mission—to pair up this brooding man with Freya.


    Kristian, ever the picture of calm, sat upright like a teacher listening to a student’s drunken ramblings. “And what’s that?”


    “When you like someone, you want to be near them,” n exined with a rare note of sincerity, despite the alcohol clouding his head. “You crave their voice, their presence. You want to be part of their every moment, their every day. That’s how you know. Of course… minus the obsessive types.”


    Those words found their way into Kristian’s heart like pebbles dropped into still water.


    He did want to be near Freya—to speak with her, to share his time. More than anything, he couldn’t bear the thought of being left out of her world entirely.


    The very idea of vanishing from her life filled him with a sense of quiet despair.


    “So… if that’s how I feel, does that mean I love her?” he asked, the question almost rhetorical.


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