How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue novel Chapter 428

Elodie was caught completely off guard, her expression frozen in confusion for a couple of seconds before she finally processed what Watts had just said—*pursuing* her?

After all, in her mind, she and Watts hadn’t known each other long; they’d only met a handful of times. Now, out of nowhere, he’d… confessed that he liked her?

“I just wanted to say, if you ever need anything, you can always come to me. Being in a foreign country can be full of inconveniences. As for me, don’t feel pressured or let it affect any decisions you make. And please, don’t feel uncomfortable—just interact with me however you feel most at ease. Well then, Elodie, we’ll talk again soon.”

Watts spoke with an easy, measured tone, but his words were unguarded and earnest, making his feelings plain.

Before Elodie could even start agonizing over how to politely turn him down without making things awkward, Watts—sensible as ever—ended the call himself.

It seemed as if he simply wanted her to know how he felt. He wasn’t expecting anything from her, wasn’t demanding a response.

Elodie stared at her phone, a little bewildered.

Watts liked her?

Since when?

Across the table, Alexander was just as stunned. He’d been holding his glass of water for ages without taking a sip.

“So that was his angle all along! I knew there was something up with how friendly he was from the start.”

Now that he thought back, their very first meeting had felt odd.

Elodie didn’t find it hard to understand, exactly—just surprising that Watts was so openly direct. Ever since her school days, she’d never lacked admirers. She’d always known her looks attracted a lot of attention. Ivan, her ex-husband, had been so strict: no dating, no male friends, nothing even close. At university, she’d had plenty of admirers from other departments, too.

But after she faded out of campus life, got married, and later started working PR at The Silverstein Group, even though she often interacted with all sorts of people, no one had seriously tried to pursue her anymore.

And now, out of nowhere, Watts appeared.

It was all a bit sudden.

Who knew what he was waiting for?

“Ouch,” Alexander muttered with a playful wince. “Didn’t see that coming—your words sting sometimes, you know.”

Elodie didn’t dwell on the incident. Adult relationships were complicated—nothing like the all-or-nothing passion of teenage love. Grown-ups made choices based on a hundred considerations. When she got home, she’d have a proper conversation with Watts, just to make sure he wasn’t left waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen.

Besides, she suspected that, for someone Watts’s age, these crushes were often just passing fancies.

They finished their simple meal.

Elodie stood up, while Alexander helped gather the large bouquet of flowers they’d just bought.

Only the single bloom left on the table—the one a little girl had given Elodie earlier—was left untouched, forgotten as they walked away.