Best Regards, Feli

Chapter 36

When Kaito was at work, he didn't have trouble focusing on what was at hand. He drowned himself in several meetings and paperwork. With all the time that he spent busy, there was little time for his mind to think about what happened between him and Feli.

But once he did have the time, he was always hit with shame.

When he left Feli that day, he must admit that he was terrified of what her answer might have been. He wasn't unfamiliar with rejections because he had faced them most of his life. But it was truly different when it came to matters of the heart.

Guilt ate him up as he thought of how he forcefully backed Feli in a corner. Upon clearing his mind, he realized how absolutely pathetic it was for him to propose to her when her father was possibly facing death. He was so consumed with his own feelings that he was blinded, not seeing her anxiety and fatigue.

"She hasn't called you yet?" Yachiko-san asked him. They had a few minutes before their next appointment. The Public Relations Head-in-Training, previously his secretary, had been quite a patient listener to all his misery.

"Not yet," he replied. He wasn't the type of person to prolong a conflict. He could either not care about it or he could face it head on.

And he faced it head on.

He wanted to talk to Feli when he came to his senses but he was already blocked in her messenger account. Dread filled him, thinking that she cut him off. Fortunately, Yachiko-san explained that he wasn't blocked. Feli deactivated her account so no one could message her.

There was another way to reach her and that was to go and see her in person. But he had to prioritize his business in Brazil. He cannot just leave everything to Yachiko-san because this had been planned for months.

"How about the email? Has she replied yet?" Yachiko-san asked.

He sighed. "No."

Before he left for Brazil, he emailed her to tell her where he was going and that he would stay in another country for three months. He apologized for his actions then he asked her to contact him whenever she was ready to talk. He didn't say that he wanted them to talk immediately even though that was what he wished to do.

He gave her ample space to attend to her family first. If she needed more time, he would give her time.

He realized that Feli had been with her family her whole life, supporting and taking care of them. The Quinz had been there more than half of her life, if not the majority of time. He couldn't compete with their bond, not when he and Feli had only been together for more than a year and spent most of their time apart.

He shouldn't have demanded that she gave him the same vulnerability that she was able to show to her best friends. Instead, he should have let time take its course.

Kaito had been willing to wait for her to be physically intimate with him until she finally let him close. He had been steadily guiding her to open up to him until she eventually shared her feelings. And his waiting had been fruitful.

That was why he was mad at himself for not being able to contain his frustration and snapped at her. If he had just been patient a little longer and undoubtedly showed that he had her back, maybe she would've developed the confidence to lean on him.

"Should I order a bouquet of flowers to appease her?" Yachiko-san asked.

He frowned at him.

"Right. I'm not the boyfriend," Yachiko-san mumbled. Then he sighed and continued, "it wasn't your fault you know? You had been making a lot of effort to reach her. It's time for her to do the same."