The Heart System Chapter 905

She closed the door. I stood there for a moment longer, then clapped my hands once, turned around, and walked back to the car. Damn it. Mendy was the reason I had become a subject of a Goddess in the first place, and now she probably thought I didn’t care about her at all. If I could just tell her the truth about that... but no. Too dangerous.

"Could’ve gone better," I muttered as I put on my seatbelt. "Minus four points and a scolding... I’ll take that."

My phone buzzed inside my pocket when I was about to turn onto the street. Fishing it out, I saw that... I had an email. From Layla. Right, she used email. Man, she really wasn’t trusting me, I guess, huh? Not even giving me her social media, just her email.

’Hey, sorry about the other night. About the unexpected guest.’

I eased toward the red light, then grabbed the phone with both hands. I thought about what I should write to her, but while I was in the process of doing that, the light turned green. So I just gave her a thumbs-up emoji and wrote, ’I really had fun. Don’t worry about it.’

Well, since I knew the boss lady, maybe I could head to work later. Oh, wait... Melvin. I still had to go to Stingy Ladies with him. Remembering that just... actually killed my mood a little. Two different people, and I was trying to play the matchmaker.

"Oh, man," I exhaled, feeling a little tired. "Hope everything goes well with Melvin and Isabelle for once..."

? ? ?

Stingy Ladies.

I really wondered who had come up with that name for a bar. Or a nightclub. Half bar, half karaoke, maybe? Honestly, I still wasn’t sure what the place wanted to be.

Either way, here I was, standing in front of Stingy Ladies with Melvin.

The clock showed five in the afternoon, and the sun was already getting ready to disappear behind the buildings as if it were an overworked employee who couldn’t wait to clock out. Snow was falling lazily from the sky, though it was starting to mix with rain, making the sidewalks wet and miserable.

Melvin got out of his car, which he’d parked right in front of me, and walked over.

There wasn’t a line at the entrance. It was still too early for most of the club-goers to show up, which I was pretty sure was exactly what Melvin wanted. He wanted to catch Isabella before she got busy and, more importantly, before half the customers were around to watch him embarrass himself.

"Okay," he exhaled, standing beside me. "I put on my best perfume. I did my hair. How do I look?"

I glanced at him. He looked exactly like Melvin usually did. I wasn’t sure what he meant by doing his hair. Where had he done it, in his dreams? His hair looked pretty much the same as always. Maybe there was some invisible improvement that only he could see.

The perfume, however, was impossible to miss. It was strong. Really strong. So strong that I could practically taste it in the back of my throat. If he sprayed even a little more, I was pretty sure I’d have to call an ambulance for myself. This guy was as clueless as they came. Man... this was just... so bad.

"You look awesome," I lied. "Are you ready?"

"I am." He nodded firmly. "Let’s conquer her!"

I immediately raised a finger to my lips. "Keep your voice low, man. Don’t talk like that."

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah."

He lowered his voice, though his grin remained exactly the same. We walked toward the entrance together, where Sophia was standing guard. She looked exactly as intimidating as ever.

Her buzzcut looked freshly shaved, leaving only a tiny layer of hair on her head. The scars covering her face stood out even more against her expression, and her arms were crossed over her chest, making it pretty damn obvious she wasn’t someone anyone should mess with.

"Evan." Sophia nodded. Her eyes shifted toward Melvin. "And Melvin."

"Yo," Melvin said with a smile. "What’s up?"

"Are you here to harass my workers again, Melvin?"

"Um... yes?"

Sophia closed her eyes for a moment and let out a tired exhale. I had a feeling she’d already regretted asking. Melvin glanced at me, and I gave him a small nod toward the entrance.

He immediately gave me a thumbs-up. "Wish me luck."

"Just go."

He grinned and walked inside, disappearing through the entrance.

Sophia watched him leave before turning her attention back to me. "Isabella again?"

"Yep." I nodded. "He really wants to be with her."

"Just talk some sense into him," Sophia said. "He can’t score a girl like her. They’re two different people. Very, very different."

"I know, but what can you do?" I shrugged. "Love is blind, huh?"

"No." Her expression didn’t change. "There’s no such thing as love."

I stared at her. "You never loved someone?"

"I loved my modified M9 back in the army."

"M9? Beretta?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "How do you know? Gun person?"

"From... games?"

She didn’t reply.

She just kept her arms crossed and gave me another disappointed look before letting out a quiet sigh. I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong, but apparently knowing what an M9 was wasn’t enough to save me from judgment.

I looked toward the entrance. Sophia tilted her head in the same direction, basically telling me to go inside.

I guess she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. I couldn’t really blame her. We didn’t exactly have a lot of common ground to talk about, and I wasn’t about to start asking her about her military days when she looked like she could throw me through the nearest wall for being annoying.

"See you, Sophia."

"Behave yourselves," she said sternly.

Then she paused.

"Please."

Somehow, that please sounded almost more threatening than the rest of the sentence.

It wasn’t even loud. She didn’t need to raise her voice. Somehow, it still felt like she’d stabbed me ten times just by saying it.

"Yeah, yeah. We’ll behave."

I stepped inside.

The atmosphere changed almost immediately.