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.”

Neil didn’t keep the conversation going but answered Karina’s earlier question.

Hiram and I will be waiting for you.” With that, Karina ended

I was with Neil, and she was so nonchalant about it, no accusations, no suspicions.

couldn’t tell what she was really thinking.

back to Stella’s place, I knew something

with an invisible tension. Stella was sitting on the couch,

red-rimmed eyes and kept glancing at

looked deeply troubled, his face

as

accompanied Ariana explained in a low

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

to know where he stood amid all this. Was he siding with Stella

was siding with Ariana, then

when he felt it on

in

looked incredibly upset and disappointed.

this, Mitch looked shocked and disbelieving. “Divorce? You want to

not just about this, Mitch, you’ve changed,” Stella was convinced that Mitch had stopped loving

Mitch, the scumbag,

A surge

I turned to Ariana and said, “Ariana, you’ve caused enough trouble for this family. Isn’t it

not my fault,” Ariana argued, “I just wanted a drink of water. I didn’t deliberately choose that mug, I just picked one up. I didn’t think Mr. Mitch’s wife would mind so

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

of the meaning

with normal intelligence and

mug from the table and asked Mitch, “This is your mug, isn’t it?”

now a