Page 103 of The Friend Zone Experiment

This was disappointing, but less crushing than it might have been, because he forgot to let go of her hand.

Perhaps it was just that he needed it to tow her along. Renee had to work to keep up with Ket Siong’s pace. By the time they arrived at her building, she had warmed up.

He slowed to a stop in the foyer, releasing her. Renee put her hand in her coat pocket before remembering it wasn’t her coat. She took it off, fumbling a little with the buttons.

Dragan was on holiday. The reception desk was manned by a haughty-looking blonde woman Renee didn’t recognise. She eyed them without interest before turning back to her computer screen.

Renee passed Ket Siong’s coat back to him. “Thanks.” A thought struck her. “I could get it dry-cleaned.”

“No need,” said Ket Siong. He glanced at the glass door that separated the foyer from the residents-only parts of the building. He looked uncertain, now they were here. “You’ve got my number. You could let me know, when… if you’re ready to speak.”

“Ket Siong,” said Renee. “I’m ready now. Do you want to come up?”

Ket Siong’s ears were pink. Presumably he, too, was thinking about what had happened the last time he’d accepted that invitation. “Do you want me to?”

“I wouldn’t ask if not. But I need a shower,” said Renee. “Sorry. Can you wait until I’m done? Or do you have somewhere else to get to?”

“I can wait,” said Ket Siong.

28

Renee felt betterfor the shower, cleansed and calm. After the day’s extremes of feeling, she was wrung out, too tired to be nervous about the man waiting in her living room. She pulled on black leggings, an oversized grey cable-knit jumper and her fluffiest bed socks, and went to see what he was doing.

Ket Siong wasn’t in the living room, where she’d left him nursing a barley tea. He was in her kitchen, apparently busy poking through her cabinets.

“Looking for something?” said Renee.

“I thought you might want something to eat,” said Ket Siong. He shut a cabinet door.

“And then you found out I live on Nespresso pods and Graze packets.” The pot of barley tea she’d made for Ket Siong before going off for her shower was still hot. Renee got a mug out and poured herself some. “I don’t really cook. There’s a Whole Foods nearby if you’re hungry. We could pick something up.”

“It’s OK. I’m not hungry.” Ket Siong hesitated, looking her over.

It was more of a checkup than a checkout. He said, “How are you feeling?”

Fine,Renee was about to say, automatically.

But Ket Siong had found her crouched and shivering on the ground like an injured animal, barely capable of speech. There wasn’t much point in lying at this stage.

“Better,” she said. “I’m sorry about all of that.”

Ket Siong waved the apology away. “I’m glad I found you.” He paused. “What you said earlier… I know you were upset. But you know, you aren’t stuck. It’s not too late. You can make a different choice.”

Renee stared down at her tea. She’d chosen her favourite hexagonal mug, hand-thrown in a celadon glaze by a former CSM coursemate. In it, the barley tea took on an unearthly green tint.

“The Freshview deal’s going ahead,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do to change that, now. If I hadn’t apologised to Andrew, maybe…”

Ket Siong’s eyebrows drew together. “What did you apologise to Andrew for?”

Renee told him. “I should have refused to go back with my brother. Apologising seemed like the right thing to do. But it’s not like anyone could blame Lin for me telling off Andrew. What’s the worst that could have happened to her?”

Ket Siong listened with the completeness of attention she was used to from him, his hands cupped around his own mug.

Staring at them, Renee was visited by a vivid sense-memory of him hoisting her up against the kitchen island, those long fingers digging into her thighs. Warmth flooded her cheeks.

She pushed off the counter like it had scalded her. “Shall we go sit down? I’m pretty tired.”

“Of course,” said Ket Siong, looking concerned.

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