******Red didn’t answer Glenn right away.Instead, she just sat there completely still, her head lowered, and her shoulders trembling slightly.For the first time since he had known her, she looked… small and defeated.The fiery woman who used to charge into fights without a hint of hesitation now looked like someone who had been crushed under a weight too heavy to bear.Glenn’s chest couldn’t help but tighten at this sight.This wasn’t the Red he knew, no.The Red he knew was never the one who broke... she was the one who did the breaking.She never hesitated or stumbled... she tore through every obstacle with that wild, unyielding stubbornness that scared half the community. But the woman sitting before him now seemed utterly empty, her strength stripped away, leaving only quiet devastation behind.And just like that, minutes stretched thin, neither of them speaking or moving, until finally, she raised her head.By them, her eyes had become red and heavy with unspoken t

******“They took most of our customers in the first three days. But by the fourth day, people started coming back… our regulars and even new ones,” she uttered."They said the restaurant’s food was terrible... beautiful to look at, but completely soulless, that everything looked perfect, yet tasted like nothing.”Her lips twisted bitterly. “And it wasn’t just the food. They said the staff were rude, the service was cold, and they felt unwelcome. In short, it was the complete opposite of what we stood for.”She inhaled again, this time so deeply that her shoulders lifted, then dropped with visible effort… as if breathing itself took strength.When she looked back up at Glenn, her gaze was glassy, her voice trembling as she asked, “Tell me, was that our fault?”Glenn’s face remained unreadable for a moment, then finally, he gave a small shake of his head.That single gesture seemed to snap something in Red again.“Thank you!” she barked suddenly, slamming her hand against the d

******The silence that currently enveloped the office wasn’t the kind that filled the air naturally, no.Instead, it was the heavy, suffocating kind that pressed against the chest, making breathing feel intense and difficult.Even the faint hum of the ceiling fan seemed to vanish now, appearing as though the entire room itself was holding its breath.Red kept her head bowed, tears dripping onto the wooden desk one after another to the extent that they left faint, uneven stains that spread slowly, one tear at a time.Her hands lay limp in her lap, her fingers twitching occasionally as if trying to hold onto something that wasn’t there anymore.Glenn, on the other hand, sat perfectly still… not out of coldness, but contemplation.His face remained unreadable, though a faint line creased between his brows.He wasn’t used to seeing Red like this… this woman who had once felt unshakable now looked like she could crumble under her own guilt.When he first stepped back into the res

******Still inside the moderate-sized office, a strange stillness hung in the air.The hum of the ceiling fan sounded louder than usual at this moment, slicing through the tension that had suddenly taken root in the room.Both Glenn and Red remained frozen in their seats, both of them caught in that suspended moment.Their gazes remained locked on the anxious, pale waitress who had just burst in… still trying to catch her breath, shaking, and her eyes wide with panic.It took a long, dragging moment before either of them finally processed the words that had spilled from her trembling lips.Then…“You…” Red’s voice cut through the silence, sharp as shattered glass.In the following second, all the shock on her face drained away as though it had never been there before, replaced by the cold, imperious fire that defined her.She shot up to her feet, the chair screeching behind her as she stormed toward the waitress, her movement abrupt and predatory. “What did you just say?” sh

******Even before Glenn reached the restaurant’s main dining area at all, the uproar from there had already invaded all his senses, the sound of chaos utterly thick in the air… furniture crashing, glass shattering, and terrified screams slicing through the clamor.The noise wasn’t just loud... it was maddeningly relentless, the kind that burrowed deep under the skin and provoked irritation in anyone unlucky enough to hear it.And over all of it were the voices… arrogant, loud, and completely unhinged. “Hehehe! I could go on like this for weeks!” a man bellowed, his laughter echoing with a deranged delight that made Glenn’s brow twitch just a bit.Another voice chimed in, also loud, hoarse, and manic. “No, no, leave those bottles to me, brother! I’ve been dying to break expensive wines for ages!”Then came a sharp crash… the unmistakable sound of glass bursting apart, followed by splashing liquid and another burst of lunatic laughter.“Hahahaha! This was so satisfying!”And t