Chapter 573
Despite Irene’s best efforts in hiding her feelings, Isaac immediately heard the tears in her voice.
"Are you crying?" he asked quietly.
Irene did her best to keep her voice in check while denying it. "No, I'm fine."
There was silence on the other end. "Alright, you totally weren't crying."
Irene hung her head right then, staring at her toes as she said, "I missed you.'
Learning what had happened to Lulu had left her feeling as if she was punched in the gut.
She did her best to keep herself in check, but with Isaac, she suddenly wanted a shoulder to lean on, and to feel vulnerable.
There was a long silence from the other end. "You should go to bed."
Irene asked, "Weren’t you supposed to come home once you’re done over there?"
"Something came up."
Irene felt despondent.
"I see," she murmured, lowering her head as teardrops trickled over her eyelashes. "You called to tell me that you're not returning soon, right?"
"Yeah,” he said quietly.
Heaving a long sigh, she mustered her spirit and said, "I'm fine. Just do what you have to, but tell me as soon as you have something."
"Yeah."
Irene's fingers clenched over her phone. "I'm hanging up if there's nothing else."
"Yeah."
She put away her phone and stared blankly at nothing for a long while.
Late at night, while Irene was sound asleep, the door opened as Isaac's towering frame entered.
His jacket was slung over his hand, while his collar was loose, baring his muscular chest. There was stubble on his chin and fatigue showed in his eyes-a far cry from his former exuberant self.
If anything, he was gloomy.
Still, he did not wake anyone up as he tiptoed into the house, gently opening the door to their bedroom, illuminating by silver moonlight. He stood by the door, watching Irene curling into herself on her bed and sound asleep.
He left the room without waking her, then washed off his travel weariness before putting on fresh clothes and returning to the bedroom.
Irene was unable to fall asleep until it was very late, so she was now sound asleep, unable to sense that someone was in the room.
Walking up to the bed, Isaac quietly lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.
Although there was an emergency, he became worried when he heard Irene's tearful voice over the phone and returned ahead of schedule.
Irene felt the warmth and snuggled against him.
Isaac gave her a peck on the forehead, patting her gently on the back, afraid of waking her up.
As Irene woke up in a daze the next morning, she rubbed her eyes when she saw someone in front of her, before her vision cleared up.
"Isaac...?" Her raspy morning voice sounded quite surprised. "Y-You're home?"
As she spoke, she reached out to touch his face as if to test if it was a dream.
His cheek was warm, and felt real to the touch.
It was no dream.
"What are you doing here? I thought you're busy and won't come back so soon..." she murmured.
Isaac tightened his embrace over her. "I've missed you."
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