No More Waiting, She Chooses Love novel Chapter 554

Mack was silent, a clear sign he was either struggling to find the right words or had other reasons for his reticence.

Mulling over my suspicions, I decided to confront him directly. "Mack, have you been deliberately hanging around Susie?"

His head snapped up, eyes flickering with a hint of panic. That reaction said it all.

Remembering how similar my face was to Judie's, and how, after Judie's passing, he had accompanied me to Susie's surgery, I couldn't help but say, "Are you trying to use your proximity to Susie as a way to keep seeing me, to reminisce about Judie through me?"

"No," Mack denied quickly, his voice laced with tension, "Felicia, I'm not, and I never have."

After hastily taking a large gulp of his coffee, seemingly trying to calm or suppress something, he continued, "Felicia, believe it or not, I've never seen you as Judie. Yes, you two look alike, but I've always been clear that you're not the same person," he said with utmost sincerity.

He didn't seem to be lying, and that gave me some relief.

I was afraid Mack was seeing me as Judie, trapped in his grief forever.

Now that he said he wasn't, I believed him. Yet, I was still puzzled and asked, "But your presence around Susie seems too coincidental."

Mack pressed his lips together, falling silent again.

It was clear I wasn't overthinking; there was a reason he was so close to Susie.

"Mack, if you can't be honest with me, I'll have to stop you from seeing Susie," I stated bluntly.

"Felicia, I have no ill intentions towards Susie. I...," he stumbled over his words again, "I just want to protect her, silently."

I could see his sincerity, not thinking it feigned. Yet, his lack of previous connection with Susie meant he had no deep-seated reason to protect her this fiercely.

"Why do you feel the need to protect her?" I asked, suddenly feeling a nerve tense as a thought flashed through my mind, "Mack, you don't mean..."

Finding myself too shocked and agitated to continue, Mack seemed to grasp something from my reaction.