Devilish secretary
Chapter 385 His pain (1)

Chapter 385: Chapter 385 His pain (1)

The room was silent.

The kind of silence that felt too still, too heavy like time itself had paused to listen.

Lilith didn’t move.

She stood like a shadow carved from marble, her back chilled by the wall behind her, her face unreadable in the dim glow of the desk lamp.

"I asked you something," Lilith said again, softer this time yet sharper, like a slow knife sliding beneath the skin.

He flinched.

Something in his eyes shifted, as if the mask cracked. His pupils seemed to lose their sharpness... softening like fog touching glass. And then, suddenly, he wasn’t him anymore.

It was Ray.

His gaze found hers instantly, like he’d been searching for her through fog. "Miss Mystery?" he breathed, voice trembling, soaked in a kind of relief that felt like pain. His eyes were wide, almost too bright, like he hadn’t seen her in years. Maybe, in his world, he hadn’t.

Lilith’s hands curled slightly at her sides. Her throat tightened.

And Ray saw it.

His expression fell, soft and broken. "Please don’t be angry..." he whispered.

He stepped forward slowly, like approaching a wild creature that could vanish or strike at any moment. Gently, he reached for her arm and guided her to the edge of the bed, and she let him—though she didn’t speak.

He made her sit down.

Then he sank.

Right there on the floor in front of her, he sank to his knees, like a boy in mourning. His head lowered, resting against her lap as if trying to remember something–warmth, safety, home.

And then he reached up and took her cold, stiff fingers in his shaking hands.

He placed her hand on top of his head.

And for a second, just a second, it felt like the old days—when she used to hold him gently, stroke his hair, laugh softly at his silly words.

But Lilith’s eyes darkened.

She slowly pulled her hand back.

And that was enough.

The light in Ray’s eyes flickered... like a candle ready to die.

Pain—real, raw pain—spread across his face.

He didn’t try to touch her again.

Instead, he turned his head away and curled in on himself. He hugged his knees like a child lost in a dream, and looked at the corner of the room like it was miles away.

"I don’t know what it is..." he said slowly, his voice cracked and dry. "They call it... ’inner world collapse’..."

He didn’t look at her.

Because he was afraid.

Afraid if he saw her eyes, he’d fall apart completely.

Lilith stared at him, her eyes unreadable but glowing faintly with emotion. Her fingers twitched on her lap.

Ray rested his chin on his knees and continued, voice thin like thread. "I think it happens once a year. The collapse. Like something inside... shuts off. We... disappear. I don’t know where we go."

He gave a sad laugh that wasn’t really a laugh at all.

"Maybe we were never meant to exist. People like me... like us. Multiple souls inside one body. Maybe we’re just... glitches."

His fingers dug into the sleeves of his shirt, holding tightly as if trying to stay grounded.

Lilith lowered her gaze.

The light in the room was dim now, casting a long shadow behind him. His figure looked so small on the floor, so lonely like a forgotten puppet tossed in the corner.

He pulled his knees in tighter and rested his chin on them, staring out into the distance but not really seeing anything.

"I didn’t mean to hide it from you," he said, quieter now. "But... I didn’t want you to see me like that."

She remembered how Ray used to bring warmth to cold places and now here he was shattering right in front of her.

A long silence followed.

The air was heavy with unsaid things. The kind that made your chest feel tight. The kind of silence that whispered: this is the moment where hearts either heal... or break completely.

Finally, Lilith reached out slowly.

She placed her hand gently back on his head.

And for a second, Ray closed his eyes and leaned into the touch like it was the only warmth he’d known all year.

Lilith’s breath was uneven, her chest rising and falling slowly as she watched him huddled on the floor. His shadow looked so small, and his shoulders trembled every time he blinked too long. She couldn’t sit on the bed any longer. Quietly, she slid down beside him, her back touching the side of the bed as she folded her knees.

Her voice was low, calm, but firm. "You know what, Ray... I understand that something happened to you. Something you couldn’t control." She turned her head to look at him, her gaze steady. "But that doesn’t mean I’m not angry."

Ray looked at her slowly, his eyes red, glassy, like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

"I’m angry at you," she continued, "because you didn’t tell me anything. You left me confused. You let someone else message me, pretending to be you. Making me wait... making me hope..."

Her voice cracked slightly near the end, but she swallowed it quickly.

Her eyes turned colder, darker as if a storm had passed through them and left only ice behind.

"I don’t like anyone using your name to talk to me," she said, her tone cutting, honest. "It’s not the same. It never is."

For a second, Ray looked like he was about to say something but no words came. Just his breath, shivering, and a faint broken sound escaping from the back of his throat.

And then Lilith saw it.

That flicker in his eyes.

That unbearable loneliness he tried so hard to hide.

She couldn’t hold it anymore.

Without saying a word, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. Her body pressed gently against his as she pulled him close, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

Ray froze at first. Then slowly, painfully, he clung back. His hands gripped the back of her shirt like he was afraid she’d disappear.

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