The moment Alex got to room 305, the door flew open. Riley instantly pulled him inside, quickly shut the door, and locked it.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly; she was clearly very nervous.
“You weren’t just watching me from the window the whole time, were you?” Alex chuckled as he looked around Riley’s room. Its decorating style was completely different from Sera’s.
Riley pouted but didn’t say anything, because he was right. That’s exactly what she had been doing.
She had even been thinking earlier that maybe the dorm supervisor would stop him, and then he might leave.
But things didn’t go as planned. Not only did the supervisor not stopped him, she practically ran out to greet him from afar.
‘Supervisor, you’re not like this when I bring takeout back…’ Riley felt both shy and scared. She watched as Alex showed no sign of nervousness about being in a girl’s dorm. Instead, he casually walked around like he owned the place, found a stool, and sat down.
He made himself completely at home.
Following Alex’s gaze after he sat down, Riley’s face instantly turned bright red. She hurried over to block his view, saying defensively, “Don’t look.”
‘It’s not like I haven’t seen them before. I’m the one who took that white one off you…’ Alex thought, remembering how different the two girls’ underwear styles and colors were. He shifted his gaze to look at her instead.
Riley was wearing modest pajamas in the dorm, a pink and white short-sleeved top with matching shorts, the complete opposite of Sera’s black lace camisole.
“I bought you a shirt and some pants. Try them on now, see if they fit,” Alex said, pointing to the shopping bag on the floor.
Riley didn’t move. A very complicated look crossed her face. “I don’t want them.”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
Riley lowered her head and explained, “You didn’t even charge me for Grandma’s hospital stay, and hiring that foreign doctor must have cost so much money. I can never pay you back in my lifetime. How can I accept gifts from you too?”
She remembered clearly how Alex had said hiring the doctor would cost lots of money. She had never even seen that much money together in her life; she couldn’t imagine what a huge amount it was.
“Do you want them or not?” Alex asked again, but this time his tone was clearly unhappy.
Riley bit her lower lip and stayed silent for a long time. She really wanted to say “I don’t want them,” but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
It wasn’t about being materialistic. Plenty of rich guys at school chased after her, and countless were willing to spend money on her, but she had turned them all down.
Riley didn’t care about money; she was the kind of girl who would happily share simple food with someone and still smile.
But her feelings about Alex were very complicated.
This man had not only taken her first time, but also her second. Her grandmother’s life was basically in his hands. And now he was buying her things, making her feel almost like he was keeping her.
If asked what she felt for Alex, Riley couldn’t say for sure. Maybe it was liking him, maybe it was gratitude.
Finally, Riley nodded. She picked up the shopping bag, went out onto the balcony, and closed the balcony door behind her.
After quite a while, she came back out, wearing the new clothes.
A full-length mirror stood on the balcony, catching the light. After Riley changed, she found herself rooted in front of it, staring. Minutes stretched on.
The longer she looked at the stranger in the reflection wearing those clothes, the hotter her face burned. A powerful urge surged through her, just rip them off, hide them away, put her old comfortable self back on.
And yet, somehow, she didn’t. She walked back inside, towards Alex, wearing the outfit he’d chosen for her. Clothes practically engineered to make heads turn, the kind that drew eyes exactly where she didn’t want them.
The white shirt was loose, flowing in a way that, strangely, seemed to highlight the youthfulness of her face rather than clash with it. It only had three buttons, clustered low near her waist.
When she’d first slipped it on, seeing the expanse of bare skin above them, her immediate thought was that Alex must have sneakily removed the upper ones.
But she checked, smoothed the fabric, searched for missing threads or empty buttonholes, and found nothing. It was just… made that way. A white shirt intentionally designed to leave her chest almost completely bare.
Beneath it, the black shorts were shockingly short, barely offering more coverage than her actual underwear. She felt exposed, vulnerable.
She’d also traded her familiar, thick black glasses for a pair of thin, silver-framed ones. Her hair, usually pulled back severely, was now tied loosely, letting soft strands escape to brush against her forehead and the delicate frames.
Combined with her naturally innocent eyes, the effect was startling. The shy, sweet girl was replaced by someone cooler, more distant, beautiful in a way that felt both sharp and fragile.
But her lips remained pressed into a thin, tight line.
The blush staining her cheeks screamed shyness, yet it couldn’t entirely mask the troubled seriousness hardening her gaze.
“Very nice,” Alex said, his voice smooth with approval. “See? I told you I have good taste.” His eyes swept over her, making it impossible to tell if he meant the clothes, or the girl wearing them.
Then, his expression shifted deliberately. The smile vanished, replaced by a carefully constructed frown. His tone cooled. “What’s this? I give you a gift, and you look like you’re facing a firing squad?”
Riley flinched slightly at his tone. Her mouth opened as if to protest, or explain, but no sound came out. She looked down.
Alex pushed himself up from the stool he’d been perched on. He closed the small distance between them and gently took both of her hands in his.
Leading her back towards him, he sat down again, pulling her down so she ended up settling somewhat awkwardly on his lap.
He let out a long, deliberate sigh, loud enough to be unmissable. Predictably, her head snapped up, her worried eyes meeting his.
Still holding her hands, Alex sighed again, even deeper this time, his gaze full of practiced sympathy. “Riley,” he began, his voice soft now, understanding.
“I know how incredibly hard things have been for you. All those years, studying, taking care of your grandma… it was too much for anyone. But listen,” he squeezed her hands gently, “I’m here now. I will take care of you. You can finally, finally relax.”
The words were like a balm, warm and soothing.
And incredibly effective. He still had her working shifts down at his club,, though he’d moved her from the front floor to the relative anonymity of the back storeroom. When it came to playing people’s emotions, Alex was a master.
There, settled on his lap inside the room, listening to his comforting promises, Riley felt the knot of anxiety in her chest loosen.
Truthfully, the moment he’d stood up, closed the distance, and taken her hands, that prickly feeling of being bought, of being kept, had already started to fade. Now, wrapped in his words, it vanished entirely, replaced by a fragile sense of… security.