"Why didn't you tell me that you were sick?" She interrogated while feeling his forehead with the back of her palm.

Lina frowned when she noticed that his temperature was higher than what she had expected.

'This guy is so energetic even with a fever?' She scowled inwardly while thinking of how he had pounced on her earlier.

Hearing her words of concern made Reuben freeze and he shut his eyes as her cold hand touched his warm forehead.

He was certainly startled when she did not yell at him as he had expected her to but rather she was inquiring about his health.

"How did you-" He retorted but she cut him off.

"Benji noticed that you were acting weird and the security guard too felt the same way." She mentioned vaguely about how she was made aware of his sickness.

Reuben was confused when he heard her explanation but decided to let it go for now.

'I'll ask Asst Kim to investigate more about this security guards situation.' He decided and so remained silent about the breach of his privacy.

He was not mad that Lina had somehow ended up in his apartment.

But what would bother him would be if the guards were the ones who spoke about his matters to Benji.

Today they revealed information about him to Benji then tomorrow they might do the same to someone who had malicious intentions towards him.

How could he survive if his enemies knew all about his whereabouts?

'I don't need such reckless and loose-tongued men to work in my building.' He ruled his verdict.

If what he had guessed was the truth then someone would certainly lose their job.

"Did you eat?" She inquired after noticing his prolonged silence.

Seeing him shaking his head in rejection, Lina glared at him before sighing in defeat.

"Benji cooked something for you. I'll pour them in a bowl and get it. You wait right here!" She dictated and strode away with the thermos and the bento.

Reuben sat in the same place and watched as she left his room.

'Isn't she taking this choking incident a little too lightly?' He asked himself why she was being so calm instead of throwing a fit.

He would have been fine even if she had been mad at him or accused him of being ruthless after what had happened.

However, nothing of that sort was occurring now. Instead, she was behaving as though everything was normal.

Thinking of an appropriate reason that could explain her abnormal behavior, a strange and scary thought popped up in his mind.

'Does she? No no… ' He immediately shook off that absurd thought from his mind.

However, that idea had taken root in his mind and was growing larger with each passing second.

He glanced at the door through which Lina had left then at his phone following which he shook his head once again.

__

In the kitchen, there was a bento and a steel thermos placed on the kitchen island but the woman who had brought them here was nowhere to be seen.

The reason for this was that the same woman was sitting on the floor with her back against the kitchen island.

Lina's head was lowered and placed between her knees as her hands continued caressing her burning throat.

She had somehow managed to make it out of the room without letting the fear she felt when she was being choked and the pain to appear on her face.

'I never knew that Ruby could make that expression.' She remarked as she recalled that menacing aura he emitted as his hand clutched her throat.

She began patting her chest to calm her pounding heart when she thought back to what had happened to her.

"Of course he would be pissed when someone practically broke into his house!" She defended his actions but at the same time, she shuddered.

She hated the fact that she had flinched when Reuben had come over to help her drink from the glass of water he had poured for her.

Thankfully, he was also in a panic about what to do and had not noticed her strange aversion to his very touch.

The fear of losing her life was exactly what she felt when Reuben's hands were gripping her throat with pressure enough to kill her.

Yet when she woke up with a coughing fit, she noticed the same fear appearing in his eyes, the fear of losing her.

"I don't know how to react to him!" She mumbled and pulled her hoodie over her face.

It was obvious that she was terrified of his scary side that she had seen for the very first time.

But at the same time, that scary side was also a part of the boyfriend whom she had chosen of her own free will.

Lina looked up in a slapdash manner when she realized that Reuben was still waiting for her.

'I should hurry up now!' She arose from the floor soon after.

The first thing she did was soak a kitchen towelette in cold water and then she rushed to find the bowls and spoons in his kitchen

In a few seconds, she had completed preparations and then walked back towards Reuben's room.

This time around, she did not make the mistake of barging in. She knocked on his door and entered only after she heard his permission.

Reuben's eyes were fixed on her as she walked in with a tray in her hand.

Lina first placed the tray on the bed then sat by his side.

She kept her sights lowered and then picked up the bowl of soul and handed it over to him.

"Kitten… Look at me." Reuben requested when he saw how she was averting her eyes from him.

Lina knew that this was a subconscious reflex she had the moment she walked into the room.

Hearing his words, she gradually looked up and was greeted with his eyes which were gazing right at her face.

Reuben accepted the bowl and then placed it back on the tray.

"We need to talk about what happened." He spoke in a firm tone.

Lina did not avoid eye contact but her brows furrowed when she noticed his actions.

"We do but after you finish eating." She retorted in a firmer tone which gave him no room for refusals.

Reuben did not want to upset her, so even though he did not have much of an appetite he finished what she had brought for him.

"That tasted good. Thank you." He expressed his gratitude while wiping his mouth with a napkin.

That was when he noticed the wet towelette on the tray and then glanced at the red prints on Lina's neck.

His eyes darkened when he was hit with the realization that he was the one to cause her pain when that was the last thing he ever wished to do.

Lina noticed his line of sight and pulled the neck of her hoodie closer to cover the mark he had left on her.

"No! Don't hide that from me!" He commanded which made her flinch.

Reuben felt a shooting pain in his chest when he saw the fear that flashed in her eyes for a split second before she looked away.

"Come here!" He spoke once again with an authoritative voice.

Lina turned and looked back at him with her head tilted to the side.

The fear she felt had vanished and now in its place was an attitude that was bubbling up.

'Who is he commanding like that?' Lina looked intently at him with a frown materializing on her face.

'This is weird but I am doing this to her.' Reuben convinced himself and did not melt when he saw her frown.

"Did you not hear what I just asked you to do? Come here!" He repeated his words as he snarled and this time he slightly raised his voice.

The increase in his volume was enough to make Lina's brows to raise in astonishment and ridicule.

"Excuse me? What was that just now?" She questioned him as she blankly blinked.

The confidence with which he had just thrown out his orders faded away and a look of panic graced his handsome face when he saw that she wasn't reacting as he had expected her to.

"Explain to me why I was doled out those orders? Did I somehow become your employee? What is going on here?" Lina asked again when he did not answer.

She had no plans of letting him get away with how he had just spoken to her.

'He had choked me because he thought that I was an intruder or some creepy stalker. I might even forgive that for once but this…' She thought as she continued to unblinkingly stare at him.

'But if he thinks that it is alright to speak to me in that tone then it's high time that he has some serious introspection to do!' She glowered as her glare intensified.

By now, Reuben realized that he had fucked up in the conclusion that he had come up with, which eventually led him to make those bad decisions.

"I thought that you liked the dominant and obsessive CEOs from the novel…" He muttered as his imaginary doggy ears drooped under her glare.

Lina coughed when she heard the sudden mention of her hobbies being made.

"What does that have anything to do with this?" She scoffed without easing the glare in the slightest bit.

"Did you not want me to behave like a haughty CEO with you being my meek and weak female lead?" Reuben replied with an oblivious question of his own.

"What made you think that I would like that?" She shot right back as she folded her hands across her chest.

"Um… Don't you have a… Umm… a masochistic kink?" He stuttered and watched as Lina's jaw dropped.