The Broken-hearted She And The Icy He

hapter 171 A Mask Too Heavy to Bear

Chapter 171 A Mask Too Heavy to Bear

He cared about Leila:

He truly wanted to meet her.

The Leila he imagined must be an extraordinary girl.

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What he wanted from meeting her wasn’t just a simple face-to-face-it was the hope of feeling that spark, that

rush of excitement when expectations meet reality.

But if he found out that Leila was actually her, it wouldn't be a pleasant surprise-it would be a shock.

The more Lily thought about it, the worse she felt. Even though she was doing her best to tilt her head up,

forcing herself not to cry, tears still slid from her chin and splashed onto her phone screen.

When they blurred the message he'd just sent, she scrambled to wipe them off, but no matter how many times

she swiped, more just kept coming.

“Leila, stand place tomorrow. I'll be waiting by the window,” he messaged again.

Lily quickly used her sleeve to dry the screen, then carefully typed her reply.

“Can we... not meet after all?”

She knew how selfish that sounded.

She knew James didn’t like her. And yet, she still wanted to hide her identity, still wanted to keep chatting with

him as “Leila,” still wanted to selfishly soak up the warmth he gave her like a thief pretending to belong.

“I think just chatting like this, staying friends... that’s good enough.”

James was still sitting in the café.

The second he heard the ping of a message, he opened their chat thread right away.

He'd thought she would agree to meet him tomorrow.

After all, she had agreed to meet tonight. She’d even seemed excited. Tonight's change of plans had only

happened because something urgent cup-he was sure of that.

He didn’t expect her to say no to seeing him again.

If it had been anyone else, he wouldn't have cared.

But he cared about her. He wanted to marry her, to spend the rest of his life with her.

If they couldn’t meet, how could they be together?

Reading her message, he started to realize-this wasn’t just her being polite. She was turning him down.

She probably didn’t feel the sway at all.

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But because she was the only person he wanted a future with, he was willing to put away his pride and give it

one more shot.

“Leila, | want to see you. | like you. | don’t want to just be friends. | want to stand by your side, openly and

proudly, for the rest of my life.”

Seeing that he still wanted to meet only made Lily more flustered.

She was so afraid of losing him as a friend. After discovering who he really was, she had chosen to run away.

Selfishly, she still wanted to keep hiding behind the n“Leila,” just to keep talking to him.

But when she read his latest message, she realized something: it was going to be impossible to stay just friends.

And she still didn’t have the courage to tell him that Leila was really Lily.

Even if they stopped talking for good, she didn’t want him to look back on their friendship with disgust.

If he knew Leila was really her, he would definitely feel disgusted.

She could only make up an excuse-to completely erase his feelings for “Leila,” to end things with sdignity.

“Elias, we can’t meet because I'm planning to go abroad.”

“Leila, which country? Are you at the airport right now?”

Almost instantly, another message cthrough.

“Which airport? I'll cfind you right now.”

1

Panic rising in her chest, Lily knew she couldn't let James clooking for her.

All she wanted was for him to stop liking her and give up the idea of meeting. She acted in haste, without

thinking, and sent a message.

“I lied to you. I'm not a woman. | just wanted to play a joke at first, but | didn’t expect you to believe it, and |

didn’t know how to explain the truth later. I'm really, really sorry.”

“We're both men, so we shouldn't meet. And you definitely shouldn't like me.”

After he confessed to her again, Lily knew she could never ask to be just friends.

Now, all she could hope for was that

James would forget about glia

and that fe everldofel ‘back on

theif thats, he wouldn't feel

completely revolted. The content is

on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

Only after hitting send did she realize-having him believe he’d fallen for a guy after chatting all this time... might

actually make him feel sick.

But then again, the person he hated most was Lily.

He hated her so much, just seeing her disgusted him.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have told her so coldly that morning to stay away from him unless absolutely

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Chapter 171 A Mask Too Heavy to Bear

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necessary.

If he thought he'd fallen for a man, that was still better than knowing he’d once had feelings for her.

With that thought in her head, Lily suddenly felt reassured-what she’d just said was probably the best

way out.

James did have a health issue. He

didn’t have... male ability. But thaty

only made it mse osibie for him

Ne Len man. Once he

believed Leila was actually male, he

would never reach out again. The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

To kill any lingering hope, she even

used a face—altering filter in gyideo