The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella and Romeo) novel Chapter 1445

With a huff, she tossed her phone aside, refusing to reach out to him first.

Martin sat behind his desk, his usually bright eyes now shadowed by a cloud of melancholy and dejection.

His deputy, sitting nearby, was at a loss for words on how to comfort him.

Since this morning, Martin had been planted at his desk, silent, not working, lost in his thoughts.

The scenes from last night replayed in Martin's mind.

Serena, full of heartfelt emotion, kept calling him Romeo and saying those things.

How much she liked Romeo, how her boyfriend was Romeo, and that he, Martin, was nothing in comparison, not even fit to be her boyfriend.

When he offered her a cup of soup to sober her up, she had scorned it, telling him to get lost and stop interrupting her "date" with "Romeo."

The way she tiptoed to plant a kiss on "Romeo" was so loving, so lost in the moment, so shy and endearing—a stark contrast to how she was with him usually.

The more Martin thought about it, the more his heart ached.

Until the screen of his phone lit up, showing a text from Serena.

He quickly opened it to find a picture of a wound and a crying emoji, with the message, [It hurts so bad.]