"I have something to take care of," Charlene said. "Whatever it is, can it wait until I get back?"


    Gaylord was about to agree, but then he remembered that Charlene had no off-site meetings scheduled for today. She rarely left the office in the middle of the day for personal reasons. He''d been following the news of her divorce and knew it had been dyed because her ex was too busy. In a sh of insight, he realized why she was suddenly leaving.


    He asked without thinking, "Are you... on your way to city hall?"


    Charlene was surprised he had guessed correctly. She stopped, gave a quiet "Mmm," and then turned and left.


    Watching her go, Gaylord felt a sudden urge to follow. He was genuinely curious about the man she had married. But after taking two steps, he stopped himself. Ever since she became aware of his feelings, Charlene had been avoiding him outside of work. If she found out he had followed her just to see who her ex-husband was, she would definitely be angry. In the end, he decided against it. Once Charlene was out of sight, he turned and went back to his desk.


    Charlene arrived at city hall and waited for about fifteen minutes before Thorne rushed in.


    "Sorry, the meeting ran about ten minutes longer than expected. I''mte."


    Seeing his harried expression, Charlene could tell he was truly busy. She didn''tment on it, simply saying, "Let''s go get the paperwork done."


    "Right," Thorne agreed.


    As they went through the process, Thorne''s phone rang nonstop. Right before they signed the final documents, Charlene had to wait several minutes for him to finish a call it seemed he had managed to squeeze their divorce into his jam-packed schedule.


    With the divorce certificate in hand, Charlene was about to leave when Thorne


    spoke. "I have to run. I''ll be in touch when I have some time."


    They had nothing left to talk about. Charlene knew it was just an empty pleasantry.


    She gave a faint nod, got into her car, and drove away from city hall.


    ***


    Over the next two days, Charlene was swamped with work. On Thursday, she had another meeting at The Henderson Group. This time, Thorne didn''t drop in to observe. However, as Charlene and Mr. Windsor were heading out for lunch, they saw Thorne and Vesta in the lobby. Vesta was holding Thorne"


    arm, and they were leaning close together, smiling and chatting with someone.


    Mr. Windsor and the others saw them and couldn''t help but remark with a smile, "Mr. Henderson and Ms. Hawkins are as close as ever."


    Since Thorne''s group seemed to be in a conversation, they didn''t go over to interrupt. Vesta, however, spotted Charlene. Her gaze was as cold and dismissive as always. For the past few days, she and Thorne had been inseparable, and he continued to treat her wonderfully. He had even gone to city hall with Charlene again, all for her sake. This proved that even if Thorne had developed some feelings for Charlene, his love for Vesta was stronger. He couldn''t live without her. Charlene''s existence was no threat to her ce in his heart.


    Charlene noticed Vesta''s stare but ignored it. Just then, Thorne saw her too. But before he could react, Charlene had already shifted her gaze away indifferently and left with Mr. Windsor and the others.