Reborn, Reawakened, Rekindled

Chapter 423

“Quit pretending.” I outed Neil, “I’m just a bit puzzled why you’re doing this.”

Neil responded calmly, “I just don’t want you to waste any more time.”

“Alright then,” I didn’t press the issue.

If Neil admitted he was doing this on purpose, I wouldn’t know how to react.

On our way back, Neil’s phone rang, it was a call from Karina.

He didn’t use a headset, he answered directly, so I could hear their conversation clearly.

“Neil, are you at Mitch’s place?” Karina’s voice was soft.

“Uh-huh, what’s up?” There was something about Nell’s demeanor that always seemed off to me.

Sometimes it seemed like he was really in love with Karina, yet his tone always felt distant. Sometimes I thought he was with Karina out of a sense of duty, but then there were times when I caught the way he looked at her, and it was unlike how he looked at other people.

It was all too confusing.

Karina must have been in the hospital corridor, every once in a while, you could hear someone calling for a nurse and some background chatter. But her voice was still clear, “Will you be home for dinner then? Hiram has been nagging about wanting you to take him to the carnival, there’s an event going on tonight.”

Just as Neil was about to reply, my phone also rang. It was a call from my mom, I chose to decline it and sent a text message instead.

But Karina was no fool, after a brief pause, she asked, “Why is Ms. Finch at your place?”

Neil and I exchanged glances, and Karina chimed in, “It’s no big deal. I won’t overthink. I just heard her ringtone and figured she was there. She and Stella are good friends, so it’s normal for you guys to have dinner together.”

keep the conversation going but answered Karina’s earlier question.

waiting for

patient than Bonnie. Here I was with Neil, and she

tell what she was really thinking.

to Stella’s place, I knew something was

room was filled with an invisible tension. Stella was sitting

other hand, had red-rimmed eyes and kept glancing at

face a mix of

asked as

man who had accompanied Ariana explained

out for a drink and saw Ariana using her personal mug. This set Stella off, and she smashed the mug on

to know where he

then he could go to

my gaze when he felt it on him.

divorce,” Stella proposed this in front of Neil and

upset and disappointed.

Mitch looked shocked and disbelieving. “Divorce? You want to divorce me over this?”

just about this, Mitch, you’ve changed,” Stella

Mitch, the scumbag, had been siding with Ariana.

A surge

anger welled up within me. I turned to Ariana and said, “Ariana, you’ve caused enough trouble for this

didn’t deliberately choose

glanced at the shattered pieces of the mug on the floor. On the larger pieces, you could clearly see the pattern. On the table was another mug, with a similar pattern, clearly a couple’s set. Many of the things here were bought

of the meaning

and

picked up the mug from the table and asked Mitch, “This

face was now