“Please come in.” The waiter pushed open the private room door and made an inviting gesture.
Leah Sterling stood at the door, taking in the birthday party decorations inside the room at a glance.
None of Adrian Hawthorne’s friends had birthdays coming up anytime soon.
And aside from this circle of friends, he wasn’t the type to casually celebrate a birthday for just anyone.
So, the answer to who they were celebrating today was painfully obvious.
Raucous noise spilled out from the private room.
The man sitting at the center was undeniably handsome, a lazy smile playing on his lips.
A beautiful, elegant young woman sat right beside him, leaning in close while the crowd cheered them on.
“Kiss!
Kiss!”
Wendy Scott smiled bashfully, raising her eyes to look at Adrian with shy affection.
It seemed like they would kiss if they just leaned in a fraction of an inch closer.
Ian Sloan spotted Leah standing stiffly at the door.
His voice carried a teasing lilt.
“Leah’s here?
Come on in.”
The once-boisterous room fell into an eerie silence.
Wendy’s face paled, and she instantly pulled away from Adrian, putting distance between them.
Looking utterly embarrassed, she whispered, “Adrian, maybe I should leave first.”
Adrian frowned as he looked at Leah standing by the door.
He hadn’t seen her for a few days and thought she had finally learned to behave since she had been so quiet.
To think she would pull something like this…
Adrian’s lips curled into a cold smirk.
“What are you doing here?”
Yes, what was she doing here?
Leah really wanted to ask herself the same question.
Ian crossed his arms and chuckled from the sidelines.
“I called her over.
You were going to call her anyway once you got drunk, weren’t you?”
“Mind your own business,” Adrian frowned, shooting Ian a sharp glare.
He then turned his indifferent gaze back to Leah.
“Go back home.”
Truthfully, the moment Leah heard the commotion inside the room, she had wanted to back out.
But hearing Adrian’s words now, she suddenly lost any intention of turning around and leaving.
Their five-year marriage deserved a proper conclusion.
“Still not leaving?” Adrian’s voice dropped to a freezing temperature when he saw her standing motionless at the door.
Leah stepped forward and walked right up to them.
There was no trace of embarrassment on her face; her posture was calm and unhurried.
The less embarrassed she looked, the more awkward Wendy seemed to feel sitting there.
Adrian’s frown deepened.
What was she trying to do?
Leah looked at him.
“Sorry for bothering you these past five years.
Thank you for the parting gifts you sent.” She held out a document folder to him.
“This is my return gift.”
“What is this?” Adrian’s voice was ice-cold.
He made no move to take the folder.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to take it, Leah handed it to Wendy, who was sitting next to him.
Wendy’s expression stiffened.
Biting her lip, she reached out and took it.
“What’s this…” She opened the folder and pulled the document halfway out.
The bold black letters of the title, DIVORCE AGREEMENT, instantly caught everyone’s eyes.
“A birthday gift for you,” Leah said.
Someone tried to smooth things over.
“Leah, don’t be impulsive.
Let’s talk this out calmly.”
Another chimed in, “Yeah, Leah, we’re all friends here.
We were just messing around.
Don’t take it to heart.”
Adrian sneered coldly.
“Divorce?” He snatched the divorce agreement and slammed it onto the table.
Given his attitude toward their marriage over the past five years, it wasn’t hard to see that Adrian should have been thrilled about getting a divorce.
Yet, he didn’t look happy at all right now.
Leah figured it was probably because she was the one bringing it up, making him lose face in front of his friends.
“Whenever you have time to go through the formalities, you can contact me anytime,” Leah said, glancing around the room with a faint smile.
“I’ll be taking my leave now.
Have fun, everyone.”
It was no secret in Corvin’s social circles that Leah was stunningly beautiful and possessed an ethereal elegance.
But it felt like it wasn’t until today that they truly experienced the impact of her beauty.
After Leah turned and left, an awkward atmosphere settled over the private room.
“Uh…
Adrian, are you okay?” someone asked.
“Do you want to go and have a proper talk with Leah?”
Adrian glared coldly at the door.
“Talk?
What’s there to talk about?
Divorce?
As long as she doesn’t regret it.”
Seeing that Adrian was in a foul mood, the crowd didn’t dare to persuade him any further.
They only muttered, “That’s true.
The Sterling family isn’t what it used to be.
They rely on the Hawthorne Group’s capital injections for so many of their projects.
Leah has always been sensible.
There’s no way she’d actually act so willfully right now.”
Only Wendy sat on the sidelines, her expression a bit stiff.
The party’s atmosphere grew stifling after this little interlude, and it didn’t take long for the gathering to break up.
After everyone left, Wendy asked Adrian in a low voice, “Adrian, are you…
not planning to divorce her?”
Adrian curled his lips and gently stroked Wendy’s cheek with his finger.
“There are a lot of complications involved.
It’s not that simple.”
Wendy looked at his handsome face, her eyes dimming slightly.
Was it really because of the complications, or was it because he couldn’t bear to let her go?
Forcing a smile, she said, “That’s true.
Even if you keep a dog for five years, you’d still develop feelings for it.”
Though a smile lingered on Adrian’s lips, his deep eyes were cold and grim as he stared at the divorce agreement on the table.
She was right—even if he had kept a dog for five years, it would have become loyal.
But Leah hadn’t shown a single ounce of hesitation when bringing up the divorce.
Five years, and he still couldn’t tame an ungrateful wretch like her.
“Are you coming over to my place?” Wendy asked, acting shy and timid.
“I originally just wanted to celebrate alone with you today.”
Adrian pondered for a moment before saying in a low voice, “I’ll have the driver take you back first.
I still have some things to take care of.”
Wendy couldn’t hide the disappointment on her face.
“Go pick out a car tomorrow,” Adrian said before stepping out of the vehicle.
“Happy birthday.”
Robert Rhodes drove over and stopped in front of Adrian.
“Mr.
Hawthorne, where to now?”
Adrian glanced at the divorce agreement in his hand, his eyes surging with a frosty chill.
“To Seaview Manor.”
But on second thought, going to find her right now would be giving her too much face.
“Never mind, we’ll go tomorrow,” Adrian said in a deep voice.
“Let’s just head back for now.”
The next day, when Adrian arrived at Seaview Manor clutching the divorce agreement, he was met with an unexpected situation.
“What do you mean we can’t get in?” Adrian’s voice was sharp and biting.
“It’s my house.
Why can’t I get in?”
Robert hadn’t expected this situation either and looked taken aback.
“Maybe because the property has already been transferred to Mrs.
Hawthorne’s name, so she…
changed the locks?” The original lock was quite advanced; simply changing the password would have sufficed.
Yet she had gone out of her way to completely replace the physical lock itself.
It seemed Mrs.
Hawthorne was very determined to get this divorce, Robert thought.
“Please wait a moment, Mr.
Hawthorne.
I’ll call her and ask.”
“No need.” Adrian took out his phone and dialed Leah’s number himself.
It rang several times before she finally picked up.
“Hello?” Leah’s voice was soft.
Adrian ground his teeth.
“Leah, you actually changed the locks?”
It was very quiet on Leah’s end.
“I changed them a few days ago.”
Adrian’s voice was frosty.
“Didn’t you want a divorce?
Let’s meet and discuss the details.”
“Uh, I’m a bit tied up with something right now and can’t get away.
Let’s do tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning at nine-thirty, I’ll see you at the Civil Affairs Bureau.” It was quiet on Leah’s end, and her voice sounded light and airy.
Adrian furrowed his brows.
“Where are you right now?”
BEEP— The call had already been disconnected.