No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

Conrad gave me a look, a twinkle of knowing in his eye. "Does he have any idea what he's missing out on?"

He had picked up on Dustin's feelings for me, so this was his way of probing.

I feigned ignorance. "Only he knows what he's missing."

Conrad dropped the subject, and we continued our walk. As we passed a koi pond, he remarked, "He's got quite the collection of koi here. I've heard him say that when he calls out 'Dinner time,' they all line up and swim over." "Really? Dustin's got a special talent for fish whispering, then," I joked.

"Don't believe it? Let's give it a try," Conrad suggested, leading me to the pond's edge. True enough, there were all these koi fish-reds, yellows, whites, and even some with patterns, looking plump and well-fed, clearly well taken care of and quite charming. "Your turn," Conrad encouraged me.

I reached out to touch the water, and the fish scattered in alarm. "How do I try?"

"Just call out 'Dinner time," he instructed with a smile.

"But I've got nothing to feed them with. Wouldn't calling them over without food make me a liar?"

Conrad laughed. "I'll go get some."

As he went off to find some fish food, I watched the corpulent fish, my interest piqued. I cleared my throat and announced, "Dinner time."

But as my voice fell, the fish remained uninterested.

Conrad, retrieving the fish food, chuckled. "You're too quiet. They can't hear you through the water."

Even though I knew Conrad was teasing, I raised my voice and called out again, "Dinner time, dinner time..."

Still, no response. I stopped believing what Conrad had said, until he came back with the fish food in hand. "No luck?"

"You're just messing with me," I huffed.

"No, really wasn't. Maybe we're not

calling them right. We'll ask Dustin how to do it later," Conrad said, handing me the fish food. "Just throw some in, and they'll come." en FindNovel

When words failed, culinary delights prevailed.

IMS

As expected, the fish swarmed over to snatch up the food, fearless even as I reached out to touch them.

After feeding the fish, Conrad and I arrived at the villa's entrance hall. He gave me a set of numbers, and I unlocked the door.NôvelDrama.Org holds © this.

The interior was understated yet

luxurious a stark contrast to Conrad's colder room design. This house was all warm tones, creating use w a relaxing ambiance as soon as you stepped inside.

Conrad began to explain, "He designed all of this. Dustin said everything here, from the overall decor down to the smallest teacup, was handpicked by him." "Dustin's really polished, you know? Super thoughtful and pays attention to the details," I said, giving him props.

"Indeed, men like him are always popular with the ladies," Conrad's remark made me think of his previous mention of Jacqueline setting Dustin up on blind dates. Curiosity got the better of me. "Did anything come of those blind dates?"

"No, he wasn't interested in the other

party, although they were quite taken with him," Conrad chuckled.

"Seems like the world's full of

unrequited love stories."

I didn't dwell on his comment, as Conrad's phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he said, "It's Dustin."

After answering, he spoke briefly before handing the phone to me, "Dustin... yeah, Felicia's here, even fed your fish... Alright, I'll pass her the phone."