Trapped in the Pool with a BROKEN ARM and I AM DONE Chapter 10
Everett lunged to his feet
He immediately sprinted across the crowded plaza toward the glowing billboard
“Maren! Maren!”
He ran recklessly into traffic, drawing screams and the shriek of brakes.
A cab stopped only inches from his body, and the furious driver leaned out to curse at him.
Everett did not seem to hear.
He reached the base of the billboard and stared up at the familiar woman moving across the screen
“You’re alive. I knew you couldn’t be dead.”
When the short advertisement ended, the scuba club’s downtown address appeared in bright letters across
the screen.
It was located in Briarhaven’s downtown business district.
Everett immediately started running again.
Before he had crossed the first block, a violent rainstorm broke across the city.
Cold rain pounded his body and washed the mud from his clothes.
Breathless and soaked through, he finally reached the building that housed the new scuba club.
He stopped beyond the building’s wide floor-to-ceiling windows.
Through the rain-streaked glass, he saw me.
I wore a tailored business suit and sat on a couch near the glass while a manager gave me a report.
Everett threw his entire body against the glass and pounded on it with both hands.
“Maren! Maren, look at me!”
Hearing the pounding, I calmly raised my head, and my gaze settled on him through the glass.
There was no hatred or grief in my eyes.
There was only the indifference I would have shown a stranger.
Without changing my expression, I lifted my coffee and took one quiet sip.
Then I turned away and continued speaking with the manager.
The relieved smile on Everett’s face slowly froze beneath the pouring rain.
At last, he realized I was not trying to make him chase me.
I had truly let him go.
At that moment, the System’s familiar mechanical voice sounded clearly inside my mind.
“Host, the designated male lead’s regret has reached its maximum value. Punishment protocol has been
activated.”
“The mission is complete. We wish you a happy life in your new world.”
I calmly set down my coffee, rose from the couch, and walked toward the club’s private interior corridor.
I never looked back.
Outside the glass, Everett’s strength gave out, and he slid slowly down the wall into a muddy puddle.
He pulled the broken half of the charm from inside his coat.
Then he pressed it tightly against his heart.
