But then she thought of Finnian. He''d continued to be good to her even after finding out she was pregnant...


    No, that wasn''t right. Finnian had married Liliana; he loved Liliana.


    As for his feelings for her, they probably weren''t nonexistent, but they wereplicated, and he likely didn''t understand them himself. So that wasn''t a validparison.


    Amara''s mind was racing. Seeing that Dorian was still waiting for an answer, she quickly fabricated a lie. "He did mind, at first. But he really likes me, so he gradually came to ept it."


    She felt her face flush as she told the lie, but she had no choice. She had toe up with some excuse, or the situation would look too suspicious.


    Dorian frowned slightly. It seemed Keith and Finnian really were different from other men, willing to be such... suckers. Or was it just that their feelings for Amara ran that deep?


    He dropped the subject of Amara and nced at Elysia''s back on the balcony. He lowered his voice. "Let me ask you something. Has Elysia mentioned me to youtely? What does she think about our rtionship?"


    *Oh, so now he''s asking me about this.*


    Amara answered matter-of-factly, "Ely hasn''t mentioned you. She''s a bit annoyed with youtely."


    That was putting it mildly. The truth was, Elysia was extremely annoyed with him, but since they were about to have dinner at his house, Amara decided to be diplomatic.


    Dorian was taken aback. Then Amara continued, "I''ve watched the two of you from the beginning. To be honest, as Elysia''s friend, I hope she divorces you."


    When Dorian''s face fell, she added, "Don''t get upset. Weren''t you the one who was hoping Finnian would divorce me back then?"


    "..." Dorian was silenced again, with nothing to say.


    Amara went on, "But your families'' businesses are tied together, which makes divorceplicated, so you''re stuck like this."


    "If you really want to win Elysia back, you''re going to have to put in a lot of effort. You can''t just expect her toe back without you doing anything. Dont forget what you put her through all those years."


    Of course Dorian remembered what he''d done to Elysia. If their roles were reversed,


    he wouldn''t have been able to stand it either. His face was grim as he remained silent.


    Before long, Finnian returned with tworge bags of groceries. He went straight to the kitchen and started washing and chopping vegetables with practiced ease.


    Neither Dorian nor Elysia knew how to cook, so they couldn''t help at all. Amara considered whether she should go offer a hand.


    But as soon as she went over to wash an eggnt on the cutting board, Finnian stopped her. "They don''t have hot water hooked up in this kitchen. The water''s too cold for you to touch right now. Just go wait in the living room." And with that, he shooed her out.


    Dorian and Elysia watched from the side. Dorian could barely look.


    "Okay, okay, my fault for not getting hot water installed in the kitchen. I''ll get on it."


    Since neither of them ever cooked or did dishes, they hadn''t paid any attention to the kitchen''s hot water supply during the renovation. He never thought Finnian would be the one to point it out.


    Finnian shot him a look, too busy to bother with him, and went back to cooking.


    Although Dorian and Elysia didn''t cook, they often had a housekeepere overto prepare meals, so the kitchen was well-equipped. It even had a food processor and a grater, which greatly improved efficiency. As a result, Finnian managed to prepare five dishes in just two hours.