"Is it true that you like me?"
At Evie's question, Ren felt as though a nuclear bomb detonated inside his skull. His expression stayed perfectly calm—stoic, unreadable, almost cold—but inside? Chaos.
Absolute chaos.
His thoughts scrambled in every direction, his emotions collided like bumper cars, and his brain refused to form a single coherent sentence.
For ten whole seconds, he just stared at her.
Leonel stared too—equally shocked. In fact, he was probably even more panicked than Ren. He knew his friend better than anyone. Ren might look emotionless on the outside, but on the inside, he was stunned into silence. Completely frozen.
That was why Leonel ended up responding instead, despite being the least equipped to handle the situation.
"W-what made you say that?" he asked, trying—and failing—to keep his voice steady.
