He Was Never Shy, Just Not With Me Chapter 03
He didn’t show up to my birthday party after all.
My friends tacitly avoided mentioning Logan Reynolds’s name.
I felt a strange sense of relief; because Logan had never stepped into my circle of friends, our conversations could exist entirely without him.
When I went outside to get some fresh air and sober up, I suddenly caught a glimpse of his silhouette.
My heart raced as I walked toward him, thinking this was the first time he had ever proactively come to join one of our gatherings.
He heard me approaching and turned around, a look of pure panic washing over his face when he saw it was me.
“I’m so sorry, I have a business dinner tonight, but I bought you a present—”
His words cut off instantly because Hailey Brooks suddenly appeared, affectionately wrapping her arm around his.
When she saw me, she flinched slightly, but she didn’t pull her hand back.
“Nora, please don’t misinterpret this. I was just worried Mr. Reynolds would get lost. You have no idea—my friends just forced him to drink so much alcohol.”
No matter how many times you watch something in a video, it never compares to confronting it face-to-face.
I hated conflict and dreaded arguments, so I just stood there, waiting for him to offer me an explanation.
But there was nothing; lying to me had become a reflex for him.
I bit my lip, forcing the corners of my mouth up as I questioned Logan.
“Where did your social anxiety go?”
“You completely blew off my birthday party, yet you came out to join your female assistant for her dinner gathering?”
Logan instinctively reached out, intending to pat my head to placate me, but I fiercely swatted his hand away.
His expression turned frantic; this was the first time I had ever humiliated him in public.
It felt as though something was spinning completely out of his control.
Frustration flared inside him, and his voice carried a sharp edge of anger.
“Nora Vance, that’s enough! I was invited here by my friends. I had no idea Hailey and her friends would be here before I arrived.”
“I already bought your birthday present, and I’ve been waiting for us to celebrate together, just the two of us, when you get home!”
Behind him, the door to the private dining room was pushed open from the inside.
There were over a dozen people in the room. I only recognized five or six of them—they were Logan’s friends.
The rest were complete strangers to me.
Everyone fell into a tense, quiet stillness.
Suddenly, a familiar voice shattered the awkward silence.
“Oh, it’s Nora! Logan was just saying you were too busy to make it tonight, but look at you now. You two lovebirds are too much, you know that?”
He enthusiastically invited me in, arranging a seat for me right next to Logan.
Only when I sat down did I realize that Hailey was sitting directly on Logan’s other side.
This wasn’t a business dinner; it was a celebration party for Hailey successfully passing her internship and transitioning to a full-time position.
Half of the room consisted of her friends, and the other half were Logan’s friends.
The two groups were mingling in perfect harmony.
Hailey’s roommate said something I couldn’t understand, but the entire room erupted into laughter.
It was an inside joke of theirs.
I scanned the room, my gaze finally landing on Logan, who was laughing along too.
Smiling, he slid a plate of spicy crawfish right in front of Hailey.
In that instant, I felt myself grow stiffer than a stone.
One of Logan’s friends suddenly brought me into the conversation.
“It’s been so long since we last saw you, Nora. Are you looking down on us brothers? Logan tries to invite you every single time, but he can never get you to come out.”
Starting about two years ago, Logan had stopped inviting me to see his friends altogether.
When I proactively asked him about it, he always claimed everyone was just too busy with work.
Now, the group started egging me on, demanding I take three penalty drinks to make up for it.
I looked at Logan. He knew how weak my stomach was; in the past, he would always step in to shield me from drinking. Now, he didn’t move an inch.
Instead, it was Hailey who stood up, holding a glass.
“Nora isn’t feeling well and shouldn’t drink. I’ll take her place and just have one glass, okay?”
Her cute, pleading tone worked like a charm, and the others began praising her for being so straightforward.
Yet even for that single glass, Logan snatched it away and downed it in one gulp himself.
The crowd began to cheer and jeer.
Logan answered flatly, “She has to drive later, so she can’t drink.”
Someone perceptive in the group quickly chimed in to flatter him.
“As expected of the assistant Logan handpicked himself. She’s so considerate and sensible. She’s definitely going places in the future.”
Only then did I learn that Hailey had gotten the assistant position because Logan had personally selected her name after interviewing her.
Before this, he had complained to me, grumbling that the intern HR found was clumsy with both her hands and feet, dragging a one-hour task into an entire afternoon.
I told him that if she wasn’t a good fit, he should let her go so as not to waste her time finding another job.
He had gone silent for a moment before saying he would wait until her internship ended to see, mentioning that jobs were hard to come by these days.
In the end, he chose to be her safety net.
Hailey thanked everyone for their well-wishes, then blinked her eyes, looking toward Logan.
“It’s all thanks to Mr. Reynolds’s guidance. He hasn’t just helped me a lot with work; he’s helped me immensely in my personal life too.”
Her friend laughed along. “Exactly! We owe a huge thanks to Mr. Reynolds for staying with us to call the police that night. Otherwise, the two of us would have been scared to death.”
“Oh, by the way, Nora, thank you so much for the bracelets you gifted us. They are absolutely gorgeous!”
Her tone carried an underlying note of mockery.
I felt the blood in my veins run cold.
What bracelets?
I snapped my head around to look at Logan. His right hand gave a violent tremor, and his fork clattered to the floor.
