Chapter 2

Feeling thirsty, I got up and went downstairs to pour some water.

But I saw Adrian Blackwood on the rooftop terrace, making a phone call.

His voice was not loud, but I could hear him clearly.

“Do you like the ring? Mm, of course it looks good on you. It’s a gift for you, so you don’t need to thank me.” After a short pause, his tone became even gentler. “Are you settling into the new apartment? If you need anything, tell me directly.”

His tone was indulgent, and that tone had once belonged only to me, but now it no longer did.

I held my glass of water and stood quietly downstairs, listening for a while.

I found it meaningless.

I had just turned around when I heard him say, “Claire? When did you come down?”

He had already hung up the phone. “Just now…”

He wanted to explain, but I interrupted him. “I was thirsty, so I came down for some water. Keep going, don’t mind me.”

He walked toward me and reached out as if to grab me.

But I had already turned around and gone upstairs one step before him.

At the corner of the staircase, I saw from the corner of my eye that his gaze had been following me the whole time.

The next day, when I went downstairs for breakfast, Adrian Blackwood saw me and instinctively wanted to come over and give me a good-morning kiss.

That was his habit.

But this time, I took a step back and avoided his lips.

His smile froze on his face, but he did not say anything.

Adrian Blackwood stood up, picked up his coat, and walked outside. “I need to go out for a while.”

“Okay,” I replied.

He reached the door, stopped, and looked at me. “You don’t want to ask anything?”

I froze for a moment.

Indeed, if it were the old me, I would definitely have dug to the bottom of it.

I would have asked what he was going out to do, how long he would be gone, and with whom.

I did not know when I had started becoming so insecure and so afraid that he would leave me.

Fortunately, I would not do that now.

I spoke in a calm tone. “No.”

Adrian Blackwood stood in place for a few seconds, but in the end, he said nothing.

After he left, I got up and went to the room to pack my luggage.

There was actually not much to take.

I did not want to bring the clothes I had worn during my hospitalization, because seeing those clothes would remind me of those painful memories.

I put the “Recovery Diary” I had written in the sanatorium into my suitcase, then took it out again and threw it into the trash.

Every page of that diary was printed with a template, and at first I filled the “triggering event” column with “Adrian Blackwood,” then it became “none,” and the last few pages were completely blank.

Adrian Blackwood came back soon, and he brought his three friends with him.

They discussed company matters in the billiards room.

The door was not fully closed, and I could hear their conversation from the living room.

“Adrian, how are things with her?” It was Ethan Hayes.

Adrian Blackwood’s voice was very calm. “Not bad.”

Ethan Hayes said again, “But seriously, hasn’t that little lover of yours, Sophia Lane, been a bit too flashy lately? That ring on her hand, did you really give it to her? The style is exactly the same as the one Claire picked back then. You really have guts.”