When he dialed again, the number could no longer be reached.
Adrian Hawthorne thought back to her suspicious tone from earlier.
“Find out where she is right now.”
Leah Sterling wasn’t in Corvin at the moment.
There was an exhibition of the master Shawn Bell’s works in Roslyn, and Leah had arrived there early.
Wearing a face mask, she stood a short distance away, watching Old Master Bell being interviewed by reporters in front of the main exhibition piece.
Old Master Bell’s energy was practically identical to how it had been five years ago when he angrily scolded her for wasting her talent and gifts.
Leah lowered her eyes and smiled.
Sure enough, quick-tempered people didn’t seem to age.
“Not going over to take a look?” a tall, upright man asked in a low voice, stopping beside her.
Leah turned her gaze and met the man’s gentle, handsome face.
He looked familiar, but she couldn’t recall where she had seen him before.
She shook her head.
“No, I’ll bring my work with me next time I visit him.”
With that, Leah turned and left the exhibition.
Meanwhile, the gentle and handsome man walked forward.
“Old Master, I think I just saw that apprentice you’re always thinking about.”
Shawn Bell had just finished his interview.
Hearing this, his face immediately darkened.
“Who’s always thinking about her?!”
“If you aren’t always thinking about her, how did you know exactly who I meant the moment I brought it up?” the young man asked, his eyes curving into a smile.
Old Master Bell’s expression remained dark.
He stayed silent for a moment before asking quietly, “She really came?”
“She did.
She said she’ll bring her work with her the next time she comes to see you.”
“Hmph!”
The old man snorted coldly, though his previously grave and tense expression softened considerably.
On the way back to Corvin, Leah thought it over.
Charlotte Quinn was right; she really did need to seriously reconsider her future.
But before that, she had to resolve things with Adrian Hawthorne.
The next day, Leah purposefully woke up early and changed into a beautiful yet formal outfit.
After applying a delicate layer of light makeup and seeing that it was about time, she prepared to head to the Civil Affairs Bureau.
To her surprise, she ran into Adrian’s mother, Julia Jules, in the parking lot.
Mrs.
Hawthorne’s face was stern and rigid.
The moment she saw Leah, her brows furrowed.
“It’s good that you’re here.
It saves me the trouble of going upstairs to find you.”
Leah was taken aback.
“Uh…
Mom, what brings you here?”
“I heard that the Song woman came back.”
Mrs.
Hawthorne looked Leah up and down, her voice flat.
“The moment she returned, you were kicked out of The Verdant?
How useless.
Come with me.”
Leah frowned.
“I have things to do.” She looked Mrs.
Hawthorne in the eye.
“Adrian is waiting for me at the Civil Affairs Bureau.”
The implication was clear: she was going to divorce Adrian.
Mrs.
Hawthorne sneered.
“Do you think marriage is a child’s game?
Get in the car.”
Leah stood her ground.
Out of politeness to her elder, she refrained from simply walking away.
Julia Jules, however, had no such manners.
She calmly ordered her men, “‘Invite’ her into the car.”
Two burly men in black suits approached Leah from both sides.
“Madam, please get in the car.
Don’t make things difficult for us.”
Leah bit her lip and got into the vehicle.
She didn’t know where Mrs.
Hawthorne intended to take her.
She only glanced at her watch, hoping this wouldn’t delay her appointment with Adrian.
The car drove to what looked like a resort villa hotel.
When it stopped in front of a building, Leah realized that this was not a hotel lobby, but rather a high-end private medical center.
Upon walking inside, the contents on the LED screens along the walls gave away even more clues.
“Assisted Reproductive Medicine Center”—the words pierced Leah’s eyes like needles.
Leah stopped in her tracks.
“What did you bring me here for?”
Mrs.
Hawthorne turned to look at her.
“What else could we be here for?
To get you examined, of course, to see if there’s anything wrong with you.
“Otherwise, why is it that you’ve been married for five years without a single sign of pregnancy?”
Mrs.
Hawthorne sneered.
“If you ask me, your womb is just too useless.
Because you haven’t been able to give Adrian a child, you can’t keep a hold on his heart.
“If you really are a barren hen, then hurry up and get treated while you still can.
Medical technology is excellent these days; there’s no shame in doing IVF.”
Listening to Mrs.
Hawthorne’s disparaging words, Leah’s fingers clenched into tight fists.
Before she could speak, a gentle-looking female doctor approached them.
Perhaps having seen many such scenes, the doctor was highly sympathetic to the plights of women.
She said in a soft, soothing voice, “Please don’t get agitated, you two.
It hasn’t necessarily reached the point where IVF is required.
“Let’s do some basic examinations to assess the situation.
Sometimes it isn’t necessarily the woman’s issue; the man could also have…”
Before the doctor could finish, Mrs.
Hawthorne sneered, “What problem could my son possibly have?
Just make sure you examine her thoroughly!”
The doctor sighed softly.
“Then please wait outside for now.
I will perform some tests on her.”
Julia Jules shot Leah a cold glare and walked out of the consultation room.
“Take off one leg of your pants and lie down here.
I’ll do a routine gynecological exam, then draw some blood to test your hormone levels.
After that, you’ll go get a transvaginal ultrasound…”
Leah stood to the side, not moving an inch.
“Doctor, I can’t do that.”
The doctor was puzzled.
“You can’t?”
“Right, because…”
A moment later, the door to the consultation room opened.
Mrs.
Hawthorne walked in.
“Are you done?”
“I respected you as an elder today, but in the future, don’t ever seek me out for something like this again.” Leah looked at Mrs.
Hawthorne.
“I’m leaving.”
Mrs.
Hawthorne froze, her face instantly flushing with anger.
“Leaving?
The examination isn’t even finished!
Where do you think you’re going!
“And you’re acting like you’ve been wronged?
I’m doing this for your own good!
If you could just get pregnant and have a child, Adrian wouldn’t want to divorce you!
He wouldn’t abandon you!”
Julia Jules simply couldn’t understand it.
Leah couldn’t even conceive, and Adrian was about to divorce her.
What right did she have to act so high and mighty?!
Leah took a deep breath.
“Mom, this is probably the last time I will ever call you that.
“First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me.
You’d be better off taking Adrian to get checked out.
“Secondly, it’s not Adrian who wants to divorce me; I am the one who asked for a divorce.
Therefore, I won’t, nor do I plan to, get pregnant and have a child just to ‘keep a hold on a man’ as you put it!
“Adrian is an adult.
He should keep a hold on himself!”
After delivering those words, Leah couldn’t care less about how ugly Mrs.
Hawthorne’s expression had become.
She grabbed her bag and quickly strode out of the room.
Mrs.
Hawthorne’s face was livid.
She took a deep breath, turned to the doctor, and asked, “What exactly did you find during her examination that made her fly into such a defensive rage?”
The doctor spoke awkwardly, “I couldn’t perform any examinations on her.”
“What?
Why!” Mrs.
Hawthorne demanded.
“I cannot perform any invasive gynecological exams on someone with no prior sexual experience.
Not only me, but no doctor would ever do so.”
“No prior sexual exp…” At first, Mrs.
Hawthorne didn’t quite grasp the doctor’s meaning.
It was only as she mumbled those words that the realization struck her, and her eyes suddenly widened!
Did that mean Leah and Adrian had never even consummated their marriage!?
How was that possible?
They had been married for five years!