Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 301

But her expression didn’t soften in the slightest. She just looked at Landon Ford, genuinely puzzled, and asked, “Why are you waiting for me?”

There was nothing fake about the confusion in her eyes.

That made it even harder for Landon to accept.

“So… you forgot?” he asked, his voice unsteady.

The confusion in Zinnia Quinn’s eyes only deepened. “Forgot what?”

It felt like someone had driven a knife straight through Landon’s chest.

He finally understood—Zinnia hadn’t skipped his birthday party out of spite, or because she was angry with him. She’d simply… forgotten. She really had.

Landon’s lips trembled harder; he stared at Zinnia’s face, his voice shaky. “It’s my birthday today. You promised you’d come.”

His birthday.

Only when he said it did something flicker in Zinnia’s eyes—recognition, as if she was only now recalling it.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot,” she said.

She apologized, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of regret in her voice or her expression.

If anything, it was as if she was saying, “I forgot—so what do you want me to do about it?”

Landon lowered his gaze, remembering he’d even sent her a WhatsApp reminder earlier. She ignored his calls—had she not even seen his messages?

It was almost masochistic, the way he pressed on, unwilling to give up. “I texted you on WhatsApp.”

“Huh?” Zinnia humored him by pulling out her phone and opening their chat.

But Zinnia’s heart was harder than the fish she’d gutted for ten years at Big-Gain Mart. She just stared back at him, her face blank.

“Happy birthday,” she said, every syllable crisp and detached, like she was just checking an item off her to-do list.

“You promised you’d come,” Landon pressed on, still refusing to let go, as if determined to torture himself. “You promised. How could you forget?”

Red-eyed, he looked at Zinnia, repeating, “You promised me.”

Zinnia’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t even bother to fake another apology.

She just met his gaze and said, “Yeah, I promised. So?”

Landon opened his mouth, wanting to ask how she could stand him up after making that promise.

But before he could get the words out, Zinnia spoke first, “Just because I promised, does that mean I have to follow through?”