There was no response on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of a call being disconnected.


    Though the door hadn’t opened yet, I knew I had been right.


    Momentster, the door swung open, and Josh appeared in front of me, dressed in gray loungewear.


    So my new neighbor was him.


    All this time, he hadn’t been avoiding me-he had been living right across the hall.


    And his decision to stop working overtime? It wasn’t just for work; he was living here to keep an eye on me, and he hadn’t


    told me.


    He had probably decided to rent the ce across from me when he came to fix my plumbing.


    When I saw him, everything clicked into ce.


    “Come in,” Josh said,pletely at ease, without an ounce of the awkwardness you’d expect from someone caught in the act.


    It wasn’t that he had done anything wrong by renting this ce-it was me overreacting-but I couldn’t bring myself to greet him calmly.


    I stood still at the door, ring at him. “Don’t you think you owe me an exnation about what’s going on here?”


    “Come in, I’ll exin,” Josh said, stepping aside.


    I clenched my teeth and walked in.


    Though I knew his intentions were likely to protect me, I was still angry. Angry that he was ying with me.


    I stepped inside, then froze. I’d been here before. I remembered what the ce had looked like, but now, it was nothing like it was before.


    All the furniture was gone. The living room now only had a sofa, and it looked so empty it could have been robbed. It felt more like a ce no one lived.


    “What happened to the furniture?” I asked instinctively.


    Josh looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “You came to check the ce out already?”


    He always dodged my questions, and I was getting more frustrated by the second, ring at him.


    Under my gaze, he finally gestured to a room nearby. “I moved everything into that room.”


    But really? All he needed was a sofa?


    In any normal home, there would be a TV stand, maybe a small table to put a coffee cup or phone on. If he didn’t like the clutter, then why did he leave all that stuff in my parents’ room in Tideport?


    But I didn’t ask that question, just letting out a sarcastic one instead. “Why did you choose to live across from me?”


    “Rent’s cheaper,” Josh replied, matter-of-fact.


    True, the rent wasn’t expensive here.


    “There are plenty of other apartments in thisplex. Why choose to rent the one across from me?” I asked, thinking back to the time I overheard Josh’s phone call in his room.


    Now I realized how silly I had been. He must’ve thought I was some kind of fool.


    Josh met my gaze directly, no hesitation. “Because you’re across from me.”


    He was blunt, no games.


    I snorted. “You’re even scarier than that blind date guy. You just moved in across from me without a second thought.”


    Josh frowned slightly. “I’m not like him. I’m here to protect you, he’s not.”


    I couldn’t argue with that, but my anger red. “That still sounds pretty selfish to me.”


    Josh fell silent for a moment, then simply said, “Yeah.”


    Did he just admit it?


    I was stunned. He was really something-no wonder he’d worn a uniform before. He could own up to anything.


    But I was so furious at this point that I snapped. “Yeah? What does ‘yeah’ mean?”


    He looked at me, his expression calm yet unwavering. “I want to be close to you.”


    It sounded almost poetic, and my heart skipped a beat. “I’ve told you before that we’re not possible. If that’s what you’re thinking, then I think we shouldn’t even pretend to be a couple. I’ll just find someone else.”


    With that, he took a step forward, his long legs closing the distance between us. “Then who are you nning to find?”


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