’What’s the point of this now?’

’You’re over. She’s getting married!’

When this thought occurred, Leona Grant suddenly wanted to laugh.

In the end, the only thing he could do for her was to stay out of her way.

He stood frozen, unsure of what expression to wear as he held the invitation. All he felt was his heart hollowing out once more.

It was an emptiness that seemed to rip out his very soul along with his heartbeat, as if all his organs were failing.

Leona Grant stood like that all night.

His mind was a complete blank.

He felt that he had already died that night.

...

The next day, Leona Grant went back to being the normal Leona Grant.

He wasn’t disruptive, he didn’t lose his temper, and he barely even spoke.

He stopped working himself to the bone. He clocked in and out on time, ate his meals regularly, didn’t drink, and didn’t smoke. He just never smiled anymore.

He exuded an air of indifference, as if he had sealed himself away in his own world.

In a way, he was starting to resemble Annabelle Linton.

The rest of the world ceased to exist in his eyes. He simply went on living—indifferent and cold. Even the slightest hint of a smile was a rarity.

At work, he was still as swift and decisive as ever.

Outside of work, he remained unwilling to speak with anyone more than necessary.

On the surface, he seemed the same, but those who knew him well could tell something was off.

Chase would watch Leona Grant stare blankly at his phone for an hour or two without moving an inch. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but feel bewildered. ’What in the world is wrong with him?’

He began to watch him more closely and, sure enough, started noticing changes.

For example, Mr. Grant would sometimes stare at a blank white wall for a long time, his face completely expressionless, his thoughts a mystery.

Other times, Chase would finish reporting on a task, and a second later, Mr. Grant would ask about it again, only to immediately forget the answer.

Then there were the times in meetings. Just as they reached a critical point, with managers presenting reports they had spent months preparing, he would suddenly get up and walk out, leaving everyone in the conference room to stare at each other in bewilderment.

The most absurd incident was during a television interview.

He had done countless interviews like this in his life.

It was a routine, formulaic interview; he knew what the host was going to ask before she even spoke. But when the host asked the tired, old question, "Mr. Grant, what are your thoughts on this latest investment?" he fell silent for a full five minutes. His eventual reply was three simple words: "I don’t know."

’"I don’t know"... And it was a live broadcast!’

At first, Chase assumed his strange behavior was just from exhaustion, even though he had never seen him this worn out before.

But it wasn’t until later, when he saw the invitation fall out of his suit pocket, that he finally understood.

’So that was it. His ex-wife is getting engaged.’

...

Time passed quickly. In a flash, it was two days before Annabelle Linton and Aaron Wyatt’s engagement ceremony.

The connections between people are a strange thing.

They can vanish in an instant.

You might see someone every day, talking and laughing with them, never once imagining you’d part ways. But you never know if the person who says "goodbye" to you one day will be gone from your life forever the next, without you even having a chance to say a proper farewell.

Or perhaps you’ve been apart from someone for so long you’ve nearly forgotten them, only for them to suddenly reappear in your life. And you have no idea that this time, they’ll be with you for a long, long time to come.

Living in the same city, the chances of running into each other are high.

But in the past half a month, Leona Grant and Annabelle Linton hadn’t crossed paths even once.