But Martha shook her head firmly, a faint crease forming between her brows as she spoke.
"I don’t have a boyfriend," she said quietly. "I only said that because I was afraid Kael would continue to hate if he thought there was soone else."
Hearing those words, Ivy let out a long sigh of relief.
A weight she hadn’t fully realized she was carrying finally lifted from her chest.
Earlier, when she had revealed Kael’s feelings to Martha, guilt had gnawed at her, the fear that she might be breaking apart an existing relationship lingering in the back of her mind.
Now, knowing there was no such person at all, her heart finally settled.
"That makes sense," Ivy said softly. "It was never about you lacking charm. You just built walls too high around your heart."
She paused, her gaze thoughtful.
"You were never brave enough to chase the people you truly liked," Ivy continued gently. "Not because you didn’t care, but because you were afraid of being rejected."
Martha let out a quiet sigh, her shoulders drooping slightly.
"Maybe... maybe that really is the truth," she admitted, her voice tinged with resignation.
Ivy smiled faintly and shook her head.
"You don’t even need to chase anyone," she said calmly. "All you have to do is look at soone for more than a minute."
Martha blinked in confusion.
Ivy continued, her tone light but confident,
"They’ll assu you’re interested without hesitation, and before you know it, they’ll start chasing you on their own."
She leaned in slightly.
"If you don’t believe , try it on soone near you."
Martha couldn’t help but laugh softly, though there was still uncertainty in her eyes.
After a brief pause, Ivy added,
"Either way, I still hope you’ll give Kael a chance."
Martha exhaled slowly, her fingers tightening together before loosening again.
"I’ll... think about it," she said at last.
Ivy let out a quiet sigh of relief before finally leaving.
When she returned to her apartnt, she barely had ti to close the door before a familiar warmth wrapped around her from behind.
Strong arms pulled her close, the heat of his body seeping through her clothes, grounding her instantly.
She couldn’t help but mutter with faint complaint,
"You’re getting more and more clingy these days."
Silas chuckled softly near her ear, his breath warm against her skin.
"That’s not my fault," he replied lazily. "It’s my wife who hasn’t been paying enough attention to ."
Ivy smiled. She turned around and hugged him tightly, pressing her face against his chest.
"I miss you too," she murmured.
What she didn’t say aloud was that sotis, even when they were only apart for two hours, it felt as if an entire year had passed.
The separation gnawed at her more than she liked to admit.
She pulled back slightly and looked up at him.
"Once the apocalypse ends," she said softly, "let’s have a destination wedding."
Silas froze.
For a brief mont, he simply stared at her, confusion flickering across his face. Then he spoke quietly,
"Why are you so sure the apocalypse will end?"
Ivy blinked, montarily caught off guard.
"I’ve told you before," she replied. "It’s just... my instinct."
Before she could say more, Silas shook his head. His expression turned serious in a way that imdiately made her heart tighten.
"Ivy, you need to regulate your thoughts."
She paused. "What do you an?"
Silas hesitated before answering.
"Lately, you’ve been coming up with ideas out of nowhere. That alone wouldn’t be strange. What worries is that those ideas feel... planted."
Ivy froze.
She stared at him, disbelief and confusion washing over her face.
Silas sighed, then pulled her gently toward the bed and sat down, placing her carefully on his lap. His arms wrapped around her protectively.
"I didn’t want to bring this up before," he admitted calmly, "but the more ti passes, the more it feels like soone is guiding you toward certain actions."
Her heartbeat grew louder in her ears. Silas continued,
"Take the wedding tiline you ntioned before. Or the way your intuition keeps pushing you toward things like agriculture."
Ivy frowned.
"But I really did gain more vegetables in the past few days," she countered. "Especially over the last five days."
Silas frowned deeper.
"Doesn’t that make it even stranger?"
Ivy’s temper flared.
"What are you implying?" she snapped. "Do you think I’m waiting for soone else to tell what to do?"
Silas imdiately shook his head and hugged her tightly.
"That’s not what I an," he said quickly. "I’m not accusing you. I just want you to consider the possibility that there’s an invisible force influencing us."
Ivy frowned harder.
"What are you even talking about?"
Suddenly, Silas went silent. He raised one hand to his head, fingers pressing against his temple, his brows knitting as if he were fighting sothing unseen.
Ivy’s heart lurched.
She hugged him imdiately, panic creeping into her voice.
"What’s wrong?"
She rubbed his back gently, trying to soothe him.
Silas breathed unevenly.
"I don’t know," he muttered. "Sotis it feels like soone is directing our actions."
Ivy’s blood ran cold. Silas continued,
"Once, when I woke up, I felt like soone was whispering in my ear. There was no one there, but it felt... real."
The room seed to grow heavier.
"There are too many strange things," Silas added. "You suddenly wanting to learn agriculture, for example. You never cared about that before. It’s suspicious."
"You think I’m being hypnotized?" Ivy whispered.
The mont the word left her lips, her eyes went blank.
A vision flashed before her.
She saw herself, but not the present her. It was her past-life self, standing in the distance, speaking softly.
’If only I had learned agriculture... maybe...’
The rest of the sentence blurred.
Ivy tried desperately to hear it, to grasp the aning, but the words slipped away no matter how hard she tried.
When her vision cleared, she gasped softly.
’I forgot...’
Her fists clenched.
There were mories missing.
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