I Ran Away After Three Years as Stand in, CEO Went Mad Chapter 09

I Ran Away After Three Years as Stand in, CEO Went Mad Chapter 09

My head was buzzing.

The System was also losing it.

It said, [The plot’s already this messed up. Whatever.]

The ship will sink when it reaches the bridge-or whatever.

I couldn’t sleep at all. Stared at the ceiling until dawn.

At 10 a.m., Declan’s product launch started, and he trended again.

I watched the livestream with dark circles under my eyes.

When he introduced the product, his words were crisp but his pace was a little fast.

Chat said: [Is the livestream at 1.5x speed?]

[Did Thorne borrow someone else’s mouth? Is he in a hurry?]

Declan paused and slowed down.

The viewer count kept climbing.

Listening to Declan, people got as excited as monkeys seeing bananas.

[I want a custom robot of my favorite character!]

On his final word, Declan gave the spotlight to others and walked off.

He really seemed in a rush.

I napped a little, then got up and caught a flight.

Now I really had to run.

As a spontaneous travel blogger, my IP changing daily was totally reasonable.

While Declan was checking on his Oakwood County branch, I’d already flown to Pine Ridge.

When he rushed to the capital of Pine Ridge, I was already in Cedarville.

He chased. I fled.

We ran through eighteen states and single-handedly boosted tourism.

When Declan finally caught me, I was scarfing down Cuties mandarins at an Airbnb.

He stood in the courtyard, looking at me.

My breath stopped for a second. I whispered to the System, [Give me your crappy script. Let me take a look.]

I’d never played a “reunion after a long time” scene. Didn’t know what to say.

In my head, a fuzzy voiceover began: [Declan never expected to see Sloane here. She was laughing, arm in arm with another man, not sparing him a single glance……]

I blinked. Once. Twice. Nothing. Where did the second male lead come from? I didn’t know about

this.

I took a deep breath.

The System was useless.

After more than a year apart, Declan and I saw each other again.

He looked haggard, pale, with red veins in his eyes.

He used to slack off at work. He’d never looked this worn out.

Maybe he was just tired from all the travel.

I said, “You ever heard of ‘resting tired face’?”

He cracked a brief, forced smile.

I sighed. “You came at the wrong time.”

He visibly tensed up, veins popping on the back of his hand.

While peeling a tangerine, I said, “If you’d come a few months earlier, you could’ve had Florida

oranges. But they’re gone now. You came all this way for nothing.”

He said, “It wasn’t for nothing. I came for you.”

My heart skipped a beat.

Even I shipped us a little.

When people panic, they pretend to be busy.

I stuffed mandarins in my mouth and handed him an unpeeled one.

What was I supposed to say? The System didn’t teach me this.

i sat on the courtyard lounge chair, awkwardly peeling mandarins.

Declan stood in the yard, silently peeling mandarins.

After our fingers were stained yellow, I finally figured out what to say. “But I was a stand-in.”