By the time they wrapped up business, the sky outside had turned dark. Andie suggested they all grab dinner together.


    "Apologies, I have pressing matters to attend to. Take a raincheck," Thorne declined.


    Andie chuckled knowingly. "Pressing matters? Don''t tell me you''re rushing off to have dinner with Ms. Hawkins?"


    Thorne paused, making no effort to deny it.


    Seeing his silence, Andie took it as an absolute confirmation.


    "Didn''t you say she was mostly recovered days ago? You''re still treating her like fragile ss, huh? Having to be by her side for every single meal-"


    Andie''s gaze flicked to Charlene, and he instantly choked on his words. Panic shed in his eyes as he hurriedly backpedaled. "Oh, I''m so sorry, I totally forgot that you guys-"


    He knew perfectly well about the tangled history between Charlene and Thorne. But over thest few weeks of endless meetings, the two of them operated with such clinical professionalism that he genuinely forgot they had any personal connection outside the boardroom.


    Charlene knew Andie meant no harm.


    She also understood the unsaid implications of his joke.


    Her expression didn''t so much as ripple. "It''s fine."


    Gaylord watched the exchange with a perplexed frown,pletely unable to fathom why Andie had suddenly started apologizing to Charlene.


    He couldn''t connect the dots, but assuming it wasn''t a major issue, he didn''t dwell on it.


    A heavy, awkward silence nketed the room.


    Thorne was the one to finally break it. His face an impassive mask, he looked at Charlene and said, "Well... next time, then. I''ll take my leave."


    Charlene gave a silent nod.


    Andie stood there, utterly bewildered.


    Looking at this level of rigid, polite detachment, who on earth would ever believe these two used to be married?


    With Thorne gone, Andie, Charlene, and Gaylord headed out to eat on their own.


    By the time they finished, it wasn''t even eight o''clock. Since their workload had lightened up considerably over the past few days, Gaylord walked alongside Charlene and suggested, "It''s still early. Want to take a walk around the block? Help digest the food?"


    Charlene hesitated, trying to formte a polite refusal, but Gaylord beat her to the punch.


    "I overheard a bit of Mr. Ferguson''s phone call this morning. Did... did you guys go


    to city hall to file for divorce again?"


    Charlene froze for a fraction of a second, but ultimately nodded. "Yeah."


    Having worked alongside her at PrimeStar for a while now, Gaylord was well aware that she and her elusive husband had attempted to finalize this divorce multiple times, only for various obstacles to derail the process at thest minute.


    He couldn''t help but ask, "Are you... really going to go through with it this time?"


    "Barring any idents, yes."


    "So, the previous attempts failed because of idents?"


    If it were purely idents, it shouldn''t have dragged on for this many months.


    Gaylord''s tone was incredibly gentle. He wasn''t interrogating her or overstepping; he was simply asking out of genuine care.


    "idents, and a few other factors," Charlene replied softly.


    Gaylord was burning with curiosity about what those ''other factors'' were.


    But he also possessed enough emotional intelligence to know this wasn''t the time to


    pry.


    He nodded,


    opping the subject


    "I''ll ask you again in a few


    weeks if you two actually finalize it by then, will you tell me the result?


    There was no harm in telling him.


    However-


    She looked up at him, opening her mouth to speak, but Gaylord already knew exactly what she was going to say.


    "I know what you''re thinking. Don''t bother trying to talk me out of it. You won''t seed."


    Charlene was rendered speechless.