?Chapter 1074:


    Rnd’sugh carried a bitter edge. “Mature women really do excel at nurturing, don’t they?”


    Their age difference loomed like an ever-present shadow, but Amanda had grown immune to his barbed words. She shifted to face him, her eyes holding a fire that spoke volumes before her lips moved. “After everything we’ve shared, has even a spark of feeling kindled for me?”


    Love wasn’t a subject Rnd dwelt on. Yet, he couldn’t deny the truth staring him in the face.


    “If I didn’t have feelings for you, why would I let you take over my household? I could easily hire a maid—someone more attractive and half as stubborn as you.”


    A spark of hope illuminated Amanda’s features. “Are you actually admitting you have feelings for me?”


    “Enough with the interrogation,” Rnd grumbled, yanking the nket over himself as he turned away. These questions were bing too much to handle.


    Her lips curved into a knowing smile. “Is the tough guy getting shy?”


    “Hell no.”


    Amanda yfully poked his side. “Just guard your heart carefully. There’s no future for us.”


    Sleep beckoned Rnd, but curiosity got the better of him. “Why’s that?”


    “You’re only eighteen, with your whole life stretching before you.”


    Rnd shifted onto his back, crossing his arms behind his head. “Continue.”


    The warmth faded from her smile. “I understand perfectly why we gravitated toward each other—pure loneliness. I was drowning in it. And so were you. But while you have endless possibilities ahead, I’m at a dead end. My father’s behind bars, I’m approaching thirty, and youth is slipping through my fingers. I’m lost in every sense of the word—unsure of my present, my purpose, or my potential.”


    As the words spilled out, she drew into herself, knees pulled tight against her chest. The weight of solitude seemed to seep into her very bones, filling every empty space within. They say physicians make the worst patients.


    Keep reading at gαlηovels?c〇m


    For years, Amanda had guided others through their emotionalbyrinths, dissecting their feelings with practiced precision. Yet when it came to her own psyche, she was blind to where she’d lost her way. Looking up, she found only an endless void of uncertainty.


    She had been a lighthouse for so many lost souls, yet couldn’t illuminate her own path.


    Rnd let out a bitterugh at her words. “What grand future are you talking about? You don’t know a thing about me. Stop pretending you do.”


    Amanda forced a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But you still have youth on your side.”


    “And you don’t?” Rnd challenged, his voice sharp. “Have you seen the elderly who can barely take a step, whose bodies have betrayed them? Is that where you are?”


    Amanda brushed away a tear before it could betray herposure. “Even so, we’re still heading nowhere.”


    Rnd turned away, his voice softening. “Let’s take it day by day. Whyplicate things? If it’s meant to be, it will be. If not, we part ways. Neither of us is trapped here.”


    A heavy silence settled between them. They both contemted his surprisingly uplicated approach to love.


    After her split with Nasir, Amanda had resigned herself to believing love was merely a Band-Aid for loneliness and physical desire. But Rnd’s wisdom caught her off guard, especiallying from someone so young.


    .


    .


    .