Chapitre 46: Chapter 46
"Shinichi just left me alone and went off to investigate on his own!"
Ran told Lin Yi everything that had happened and why she was so angry: "For him, solving the case is always the number one priority!"
Lin Yi quickly assumed his role as a good friend, defending Shinichi: "Maybe... Kudo just thought that by solving the case quickly, he could come back and play with you sooner."
"There's no way it's like that!"
Ran began to feel downcast, and her tone changed: "If it were like you say, that would be good... but after the case is over, I told Shinichi not to call me anymore to go out, that we're not compatible, and that it would be best to just be friends... and then... then..."
As she spoke, her voice faded, her eyes turned red, and tears began to well up in her eyes.
Seeing this, Lin Yi handed a handkerchief to Ran and curiously asked, "Then what?"
Ran took the handkerchief, thanked him, wiped her tears, and after calming down a bit, continued: "Then Shinichi just said, 'Oh, I understand'... and told me to go home alone."
After finishing her speech, Ran began to cry.
Lin Yi was instantly petrified.
No way? Really? Shinichi Kudo had that reaction? It shouldn't be like that.
Lin Yi was frozen for a moment and then understood the reason behind his last sentence telling her to go home alone.
Recovering his reasoning ability, Lin Yi realized why Shinichi had said that.
Probably at that moment, his attention had been diverted by Vodka; he didn't hear what Ran said and simply responded superficially before rushing off to pursue him.
Tsk, heh, Shinichi, it seems even heaven can't stand this, it's not my fault.
Understanding the background of the situation, Lin Yi began to think about the consequences this would bring.
Just then, Lin Yi's phone screen lit up, ringing continuously.
Lin Yi continued to ignore it, but Ran couldn't.
While sobbing, she said, "Lin Yi... your phone has rung several times. Answer it... I'm okay."
"Well... okay."
Lin Yi hesitated for a moment before answering the call and putting the phone to his ear.
However, Lin Yi "accidentally" pressed the speakerphone.
Then, a furious shout came from the phone: "Lin Yi! Where the hell have you been, bastard!? Why didn't you answer the phone after so long? I just asked you to deliver some food, how could you get lost on the way?!"
Lin Yi was startled and quickly removed the phone from speaker mode. He covered the phone with his hand, leaned to one side, and whispered, "Sorry, boss... I just had an accident, and there were some issues while negotiating with the car owner... I wasn't paying attention to my phone at that moment, sorry."
Although he didn't say much and his voice lowered, if you're not a fool, you could guess something about what had happened from the boss's furious shout.
Ran wasn't particularly smart, but she definitely wasn't stupid.
From just a few words, she immediately understood what was going on.
It turns out Lin Yi had lied when he said there were no more orders and that he could take a break.
He didn't have the confidence to tell her the truth, so he lied.
During work hours, how could there be time to rest?
I'm so stupid that I couldn't even realize this.
No wonder Shinichi isn't interested in me; I didn't realize it until now.
Ran felt very guilty, but also somewhat touched, and a warm feeling of affection flooded her heart.
Unconsciously, she compared Shinichi to Lin Yi.
One had completely forgotten about her in order to solve a case and simply left her aside.
The other, on the other hand, had abandoned his work and lied to comfort her.
What a big difference between the two!
The difference in who cared more was evident.
The more she thought about it, the more moved she felt.
This made her cry even more.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Yi offered her another handkerchief and asked with concern, "Why are you crying even more?"
"I... I'm okay."
Ran took the handkerchief from Lin Yi's hand, wiping her tears while saying, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine alone... You still have to work, go do it."
"I already asked for permission... It's no problem."
Lin Yi said with a smile, "The boss is very nice. Don't be fooled by his way of speaking; in reality, he's very good to the employees. He has never deducted our salary. Once I was late for work, and he just told me to hurry so as not to keep the customers waiting."
"Really?"
Ran leaned in slightly, feeling that Lin Yi was saying that so she wouldn't feel guilty.
"Tap, tap, tap."
Suddenly, there were knocks on the café's glass wall. Ran looked outside instinctively and saw a middle-aged man standing outside with an unpleasant expression, banging on the glass harshly.
Ran was puzzled, not understanding what this middle-aged man was doing.
"I'm sorry, Ran... I'm going out to see what's going on."
Lin Yi said a bit embarrassed, took the keys from the table, quickly left his seat, and rushed out to talk to the middle-aged man.
Through the glass, Ran couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw Lin Yi with a "sorry" expression, bowing several times with a very humble attitude.
Seeing Lin Yi in that posture, Ran was stunned, watching them with a bit of guilt.
In her impression, Lin Yi was someone with a cold attitude, always wearing a serious expression and an aura of "I don't want to deal with you," showing only his kind side in front of them.
However, now he was humbly apologizing to the middle-aged man.
He didn't need to do that, but he did it because of me.
If he hadn't been worried about her, he wouldn't have put aside his work to comfort her.
Thinking about this, Ran felt a deep sense of guilt, believing that the current situation was completely her fault.
Seeing Lin Yi hand the keys to the man, Ran realized that the middle-aged man must be the store manager, and her feeling of guilt intensified.
After handing over the keys, Lin Yi also took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to the manager.
This surprised Ran a little. She carefully looked at the envelope and noticed its rectangular shape and considerable thickness... Money?
Connecting this to what Lin Yi had told her earlier, she understood that it had all been a lie.
The store manager was nothing nice and probably had a very unpleasant character.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have personally come to get the keys and humiliate Lin Yi in front of so many people.
The fact that the store manager had never deducted salaries was also a lie.
He was surely the type of boss who would deduct wages for any little mistake.
The envelope in Lin Yi's hand should be his salary that the manager had given him, right?
But... can salary be taken back once it has already been paid?
Although Ran had not formally studied law, she knew she couldn't just sit there.
So she immediately got up and went out.
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone