Main Characters in This Batch

Evelyn (Evelyn Carter)

Adrian Vale (Mr. Vale / Baby boy)

On the other side of things, Evelyn grabbed her hair in frustration.

The annoyance from being force-logged out hadn't fully faded yet, and now a work crisis was piling on top of it.

She was about to draw a crucial scene and needed to reference a very old-school shoujo manga called "When Stars Fall."

That manga was a childhood memory of hers—the art style and story were absolute classics and had been her original inspiration to start drawing.

She was sure she owned a copy, but after searching her bookshelf three times, there wasn't even a trace of it.

"That's weird. Did I lose it when I moved?"

This was bad; a digital version just wouldn't cut it.

Evelyn didn't give up and turned several storage bins upside down, but the result was still nothing.

It looked like she had to turn to the all-powerful internet.

She opened her computer and searched several major e-commerce platforms, but they all showed "Out of Stock" or "Item No Longer Available."

It made sense; it was a twenty-year-old manga, after all. It was normal for it to be out of print.

She switched to various second-hand trading platforms and manga forums, posting several "Want to Buy" ads with a sliver of hope.

[Desperately seeking the classic manga 'When Stars Fall'! Physical copy only! Price is negotiable!]

[Calling all internet wizards! Does anyone have a copy of 'When Stars Fall' sitting around? Help a girl out, I need it urgently!]

After posting, she kept refreshing the page, hoping for a miracle.

However, several hours passed. By dinner time, aside from a few nostalgic users commenting "Omg I love this one too" and some people asking if she wanted a digital copy, no one was selling the physical books.

"Ugh..." Evelyn sighed, feeling a bit hopeless.

Without the reference, she couldn't nail the retro vibe for this scene, and the atmosphere of the whole story would suffer.

She gloomily refreshed the trading app one last time. It started as aimless scrolling, but her eyes locked onto a listing.

It was a link that had just been posted. On the cover, a blonde boy was hugging a black-haired girl under a starry sky—the art was delicate and dreamy.

The title screamed at her—[Out-of-print manga 'When Stars Fall' full set, local pickup at low price].

Evelyn's eyes lit up instantly.

She clicked in excitedly. The photos were clear, and it was exactly the set she was looking for! Plus, looking at the corners and the pages, it was in great condition.

Talk about perfect timing; the gods of luck were actually smiling on her!

Most importantly, the price was ridiculously low, basically like giving it away for free.

What kind of insane luck was this!

Evelyn didn't have time to overthink it; terrified someone else would snatch it, she immediately clicked "I want this" and messaged the seller.

[Hi! Is the set still available? I want it!]

After hitting send, her heart was pounding as she stared at the screen.

The other side replied almost instantly.

[Yes.]

Evelyn was overjoyed: [Awesome! I'll buy it right now! How should we handle the hand-off?]

For safety reasons, the platform automatically showed the seller's IP location. Evelyn glanced at it and realized the seller was in the same city.

What a coincidence!

The other person sent a detailed address. When she looked closer, it was even crazier—it was the same apartment complex!

She added a message in a rush of surprise: [Wait, it looks like we live in the same complex! Can we meet in person? That'd be the fastest!]

The reply came back quickly: [Sure.]

[Building A, 1802.]

[If it's inconvenient for you, I can leave it at the security desk for you to grab when you get back from work.]

The person was actually being quite thoughtful.

Evelyn was originally leaning toward the latter option. He was a stranger, after all, and based on the profile picture and info, he was a guy. Going to someone's door directly felt a little unsafe.

But when she saw that apartment number, her mind changed.

Building A, 1802...

She lived in 1801.

That was literally right next door!

Evelyn was completely stunned. How could the world be this small? She desperately needed an out-of-print manga, only to find the seller wasn't just in her complex, but lived right next door as her new neighbor.

This was the kind of fate even a TV drama wouldn't dare to write!

She replied immediately: [No need for that! We're neighbors! What are the odds? Can I come by and grab it now?]

[Yes.]

With the green light, Evelyn bounced out of her chair, threw on a jacket, and rushed out the door in her slippers.

Standing in front of 1802, she still felt like this wasn't real.

She rang the bell, and the door opened almost immediately.

Adrian Vale was wearing a deep gray loungewear set. He was tall with broad shoulders; because of the sheer pressure of his height, Evelyn instinctively took a half-step back.

The last time she'd caught a glimpse of him in the elevator, she just thought he was tall and handsome, like a character stepped out of a manga.

Seeing him this close now, the impact was even stronger.

"Hi?" Evelyn felt a bit awkward under his gaze and spoke first to break the silence. "I'm here for the manga... 'When Stars Fall'."

Adrian stepped aside and picked up a well-packaged paper bag from the entryway console, handing it to her.

"Your manga."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Evelyn took it quickly. It was heavy; looked like the full set for sure. She felt like she had just been handed a lifeline, her smile practically beaming. "You really saved me. I've been looking everywhere!"

The man's gaze stayed on her bright face. He gave a polite invitation: "Do you want to come in for a bit?"

Evelyn instinctively glanced past him into the apartment.

The decor was minimalist and cool-toned—a mix of black, white, and gray. It looked like the owner: high-end and distant.

In the air, there seemed to be a scent of... home-cooked food?

It was tempting, but...

"Oh, no thanks!" Evelyn waved her hand quickly in refusal, giving an apologetic smile. "I don't want to bother you, and I really have to get back to my deadlines."

They were neighbors, but they had just met. They weren't close at all, and it felt a bit too sudden to walk into a single man's home.

"Thank you so, so much!" She clutched the paper bag like it was a rare treasure and thanked him sincerely again. "This is a lifesaver! I'll buy you a coffee sometime!"

With that, she waved and headed back to her own place.

With a click, the door to 1801 closed.

The hallway was silent again.

Adrian stood at the door, watching the closed entrance. The polite softness on his face vanished without a trace.

He closed the door. The wood cut off the outside light and stripped away his disguise. In his calm eyes, a long-suppressed, crazed obsession and disappointment began to churn.

On the entryway console, five or six more copies of "When Stars Fall," all still sealed in plastic, sat quietly. Every single one was something he had his assistant track down through private channels, paying a fortune to get them as fast as possible.

He had prepared so many just to ensure that the "coincidence" she saw was the only one, and the most perfect one.

On the dining table, dishes of carefully prepared food—sweet and sour ribs, cola chicken wings—were laid out. All her favorites.

She always said her own cooking wasn't good enough and that she just made do for every meal.

So every dish here was a piece of his heart, a dinner invitation he had been planning for a long time.

He had even practiced the lines countless times, rehearsing how to say naturally, after she got the manga, "I happened to make dinner and can't finish it alone," to smoothly ask her to stay.

But she said no.

"We aren't that close yet."

That must be what she was thinking.

Yeah, to her, he was just a neighbor who moved in recently and had just traded names.

But to him, she was his entire world, lost and found again.

Adrian sat down and expressionlessly picked up a rib.

The seasoning was exquisite, the cooking time perfect. It should have been a culinary masterpiece.

But to him, it tasted like nothing at all.