This was not a business deal. This was not logic. This was emotion, and emotion did not follow rules.
How was he supposed to say it?
I think I'm in love with you. And I don't want you to go to your dream school. I need you to stay with me.
It sounded selfish. Desperate. Wrong.
And worst of all, it sounded like suicide.
Because the moment those words left his mouth, the contract would truly end. Not because she was going to school… but because she would finally see him. Completely. Vulnerably.
The contract did not allow for this.
And he wasn't sure he could survive that kind of rejection.
Besides, he did not want to keep her from her dream. He loved her too much to do that.
The feeling wasn't entirely new. It reminded him of what he had felt for Adaugo, love rooted in childhood, naive and fragile. But what he felt for Olaedo… was different.
It was certain. Mature. Stronger than anything he had ever felt before.
And yet, he still had to let her go.
