Just then, her phone buzzed. It was Moran again.


    Annoyed at being ignored, he tagged Thorne in the group chat once more: [@Thorne You there?]


    This time, Thorne finally responded: [What''s up?]


    Moran: [...]


    Seeing that Thorne had no intention of answering his first question, Moran assumed he just didn''t want to talk about it. He figured Thorne was probably frustrated himself. After all, he''d always been eager to get divorced, but something always seemed to get in the way after each cooling-off period. Deciding not to press the issue, Moran changed the subject.


    He asked: [Still busy these days? Want to hang out this weekend?]


    Vesta''s breath caught. A momentter, Thorne replied to Moran: [Can''t. I have ns this Saturday and Sunday.]


    Moran immediately shot back: [What ns?]


    Thorne didn''t answer.


    Moran: [ What''s that supposed to mean?]


    Still getting no reply, Moran tagged Vesta: [@Vesta Spill it. Do you two have some big ns this weekend? Is that why you can''t include me and Granger?]


    Vesta didn''t respond. Staring at Thorne''sst message, she clutched her phone and, after a moment of hesitation, sent him a private message: [I saw the messages in the group. Are you really busy all weekend? Is it something important? I wanted to talk about something. Can we meet tonight?]


    She waited, but a long time passed with no reply.


    Meanwhile, Moran, fed up with being ignored, tagged Granger in the group chat: [@Granger Harden, those two are ditching us for each other. They''ve gonepletely silent


    you''re my only affy how can''t


    abandon me.]


    Granger had just caught up on the messages.


    Since realizing his feelings for Charlene, he had been seeing less and less of Thorne and Vesta. He h?d no idea that Thorne''s attitude, toward Charlene had changed after learning about her abilities.


    So, like Moran, he misinterpreted Thorne''s silence about the divorce.


    After a few seconds, he replied to Moran: [What do you need me to do?]


    Moran: [They''re busy, so let''s just the two of us go out and have some fun. You guys have all been so busytely, I''m bored to death.]


    Granger: [Okay.]


    Moran''s mood finally improved slightly, and the group chat fell silent.


    Vesta put her phone down, trying to focus on work, but then it buzzed again. It was


    a message from Thorne.


    [Sorry, I have something tonight.]


    Vesta''s eyes darkened as she read his reply. He didn''t ask what she wanted to talk about. No further messages came. He sounded so cold, so distant.


    She gripped her phone tightly. After taking a deep breath topose herself, she typed back: [Okay, next time then.]


    Seeing her troubled expression,


    Rhoda tried to offer somefort.


    "Vesta, I''m sure Thorne still cares


    about you deeply if you just take the Initiative and reach out to him more often, things will go back to the way they were in no time."