Page 120 of Toxic

I heard a faint sound from his phone. Soren picked it up and looked at the screen, studying the screenshots I had sent, covered in exclamation points, and I could see the tension on his face.

Then he turned back to his laptop and started typing something. Three minutes later, I received an email from him.

It showed a screenshot of his sent folder, and there were more than 30 emails—one for each day. Even though I could only see the subject lines, they were enough to tell me what kind of emails they were… I knew Soren had been asking me for a chance in them because many of those emails started with a pleading sentence.

Knowing that emotions would soon overwhelm me and feeling like my heart was about to leap out of my chest, I jumped up and ran out of the room. I couldn’t control myself; a growlcame out of my throat, and some beta who passed me in the hallway suddenly looked scared.

Deeply shaken, I didn’t even know where to go. Eventually, I ended up in the restroom, but as soon as I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my flushed face, the door creaked open, and Soren walked in, his face just as red, just as shaken.

I got straight to the point. "How the hell is it possible that I didn’t get any of those emails? Check if you got any bounce-backs, or maybe you sent them to the wrong email address!" I exploded, turning sharply to face him.

He reached out and handed me his phone. "Here, check for yourself."

I grabbed his phone and opened the sent folder. I checked the recipient, and it was my correct email address. I created a new message and emailed it to myself while Soren watched what I was doing.

I pulled out my phone and opened my inbox. But in doing so, I had to show him my screen saver, which was the photo of me and Soren that Josh had taken during our impromptu photo session on the hill. Soren’s eyes widened when he saw it, but he probably forced himself not to comment on it, since we had much more pressing matters to attend to.

We both waited. I kept refreshing, but the message never appeared.

"Wait, but I got the email with the screenshot," I mumbled in surprise.

"I sent it from my work email as a 'reply-to'," Soren explained. "You sent your first email with the screenshot to my inbox at [email protected], not to my private email."

I let out a frustrated breath and refreshed the inbox again.

"You see? These emails aren’t coming through. I just sent a test email, and nothing’s there." My voice was shaky, my hands trembling, I could barely focus on the screen.

"How is this even possible? What day did you send the first email?" I wanted to know.

"In the morning, the day after our… last talk." Soren cleared his throat.

A thought formed in my mind. "Wait… What was the subject of that email? Was it something about penis enlargement?"

Soren bulged his eyes. "What? Why the hell would I send you an email about penis enlargement after what happened?!"

"Alvin was there. I was lying on the bed, and he told me I got an email about penis enlargement. My laptop was open, and he walked right over to it!"

"Alvin? What time was that?"

"I don't remember. It was almost three months ago! But… it must have been after I got back, so probably before noon, maybe 10:30 or 11:00."

"I sent my first email around that time. Look, here's the timestamp."

We checked the first email he sent, and sure enough, it was at 10:41.

"Could Alvin have deleted it? Damn it! Wait! He said he was going to set up a filter for me! Bastard!"

I quickly opened the filters tab, and there it was—one single custom filter named:

"Penis Enlargement."

Created on: 11:42.

"Damn it! The fucker! The scumbag!" I growled.

I turned to him, pressing my free hand against my forehead. "Soren, I never got those emails. I never read them!" I nearly shouted.

We both stood there, now silent, staring at each other. The air seemed to crackle with tension.

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