The System Said I Wasn’t the Heroine, So I Left My Alpha and He Broke Down Chapter 04

The System Said I Wasn’t the Heroine, So I Left My Alpha and He Broke Down Chapter 04

I was so embarrassed I wanted to disappear. The system, meanwhile, sounded thoroughly exasperated.

[Are you seriously trying to turn yourself from a side character into the villainess? You know he cares about boundaries, yet you keep doing things that are easy to misunderstand…]

I was terrified Adrian might be thinking the same thing. I grabbed the cup and was about to go wash it for him, but he stopped me.

“You already drank from it. Just finish it. I’ll wash it myself later.”

He stood right in front of me, but for some reason, I kept feeling like his eyes were fixed on my lips. When I raised the cup to my mouth again, that burning stare seemed to follow me. I couldn’t drink another sip.

Because the system wouldn’t stop making noise inside my head.

[Do you know why he won’t let you wash it? Because he’s planning to throw that cup away afterward.]

The next day, Adrian really did show up with a different insulated tumbler. My chest felt tight, and I couldn’t help feeling a little hurt. For the first time, I genuinely started to believe that Adrian, the boy who had always indulged me since we were little, actually hated me.

He hated me touching him.

He hated everything about me.

Anything I touched, he would replace.

So after school, I listened to the system. Instead of waiting for Adrian like I usually did, I left first. By the time Adrian came home from school, I was on the second-floor terrace taking in the dry laundry.

He came around the corner with his backpack slung over one shoulder. Even from a distance, he was impossible to miss. And even from up there, I could tell he looked like he was in a terrible mood.

[He’s walking toward my house. Is he coming over to ask why I didn’t wait for him today? What am I supposed to say?]

I was still worrying about it when the system laughed at me.

[He probably wishes you’d stay as far away from him as possible. Why would he be coming to see you?]

I kept sorting through the laundry while I thought. The hangers knocked lightly against one another. Down on the street, the boy suddenly stopped.

Adrian looked up. Our eyes met. My hands froze awkwardly.

“Elena, why did you leave by yourself after school today without…”

He stopped halfway through the sentence. His gaze rested on me for a second. Then his entire face turned bright red.

He immediately turned around and hurried back home. The system burst out laughing.

[What did I tell you? Look how fast he ran. He’s obviously trying to avoid you.]

My eyes started to sting. It had already been two days since I’d bitten anyone. The restless itch inside me had become almost unbearable, leaving me frustrated and miserable.

I hung the clothes back up. Then, while lightly biting down on my own arm, I made an appointment with a behavioral therapist at Virginia Mason Medical Center for Sunday. The next morning, I found Adrian waiting outside my house.

He walked silently beside me. The sounds around us seemed strangely loud because neither of us was talking. School buses rolled past.

Bike bells rang. The coffee shop on the corner chimed as its door opened. Every little sound stood out against the heavy silence between us.

“Yesterday… why did you leave without waiting for me?”

Adrian finally spoke when we were almost at school.

“Ryan’s mom came to pick him up. She gave me a ride since it was on the way.”

I used Ryan as an excuse. But instead of relaxing, the atmosphere around Adrian became even more tense.

“When did you two get that close?”

Adrian’s gaze sharpened at once. His brows drew together, and a trace of Alpha pressure slipped into the air around him. I pressed my lips together.

“He sits right next to me. We’re beside each other in class every day. Of course we know each other pretty well.”

Another silence followed. When Adrian spoke again, his voice had gone slightly hoarse.

“You haven’t bitten anyone in three days. Isn’t it getting uncomfortable?”

“Come to my room after school today. I…”

Normally, I couldn’t go more than a day and a half without biting Adrian to take the edge off that maddening itch in my teeth. But now, it had already been three days since I’d gone to him.