?Chapter 643:


    He figured since the termination agreement was already signed, no matter how she spun things for his grandfather, there was no turning back.


    Adah stole a quick look at him, lips quirking into a victorious little smirk. The rest of the ride passed in silence until they pulled into the sprawling Shaw estate.


    The house was abuzz—Raymond had summoned the entire family to formally meet Adah. An’s fiancée, the future matriarch of the Shaw family, surely deserved attention.


    Adah’s return to the Norris family after years in a backwater vige hadn’t gone unnoticed by the Shaw family—and neither had the whispers about herck of beauty.


    From the moment she and An stepped into thevish living room, Adah felt it. The subtle shift. The guarded stares. The heavy air of judgment. She understood it all too well.


    She had never been one to swoon over men like An—his polished arrogance and cool demeanor weren’t exactly her type. Still, even she couldn’t deny the obvious: the man was absurdly handsome and disgustingly gifted. Next to him, with her


    Disguised as an awkward bumpkin, the contrast between them couldn’t have been more ring. Given this, the Shaw family’s difort was hardly surprising—it was only natural.


    Even Raymond, who had stubbornly insisted on honoring the engagement, visibly faltered when he saw Adah. He had held her once long ago—a rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed child who giggled when he bounced her on his knee. That cherished image had remained untouched in his memory all these years, preserved like a delicate photograph.


    Raymond had expected some change, of course. A life in the countryside could soften anyone’s charm. But this? The transformation from a cherubic darling to an awkwardly in young woman left him momentarily stunned. Still, Raymond was a man of his word. The engagement had been sealed by the bond of friendship and trust between him and Adah’s mother—something sacred to him. No amount of surprise would make him break it. Composing himself, he softened into a warm smile.


    “You must be Adah Norris.”


    “Yes, Mr. Shaw,” Adah replied calmly and courteously.


    He gestured gently. “Come, sit beside me.”


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    She obeyed, settling gracefully into the seat next to him.


    Raymond engaged her in small talk—questions about her upbringing, family, and daily life. Adah responded with poised politeness, her tone respectful without seeming meek.


    Though she had teased An mercilessly in private, in the presence of elders she carried herself with thoughtful decorum. That, more than anything, earned Raymond’s approval.


    An, meanwhile, drifted a few seats away, arms crossed, watching silently. For some reason, he found Adah enigmatic. The day before, she’d struck him as clumsy and dull—a strange, slightly annoying bumpkin. Yet here she was, holding her own in dignified conversation with his grandfather, even showing shes of sharpness. Had she just been ying dumb?


    As An mulled over that possibility, his mother, Eleanor Shaw, broke the silence with a gentle smile. “Adah, since this is your first visit, and dinner’s still a while away, how about I show you around the garden? It’s lovely this time of year.”


    Adah nced at Eleanor. Though they hadn’t been formally introduced, she didn’t need a name to ce this woman. Her posture, her clothes, and the quietmand.


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