Chapter 7

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "Your mom... is on a business trip."

Ethan fell silent.

He wanted to say that mom wasn't on a business trip—she was driven away by him.

But he didn't say it.

"Then..." his voice got even quieter, "can dad bring Sophie?"

Gavin held the phone, not answering right away.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind—where exactly did Lynn go?

He asked Rowan: "Has Mrs. Green come back these past few days?"

"No." Rowan shook his head. "Mrs. Green left almost a week ago and hasn't come back once. Her phone's unreachable too."

A week.

Gavin put down the phone and stood by the window, feeling something he couldn't quite describe.

Before, even when he scolded her or gave her the cold shoulder, she'd hide for half a day at most, but would definitely come back by evening.

But this time, she seemed to have really left.

He remembered that day in the conference room—she hadn't looked at him once the entire time.

His chest felt inexplicably tight.

But the feeling only lasted a few seconds before he pushed it down.

He called Sophie.

"Sophie, Ethan's school has a sports day today. Can you come?"

On the other end, Sophie paused for a moment, then agreed with a smile: "Of course I can. I'll get ready right away and make sure to be there for Ethan." A hint of smugness flashed in her eyes—she thought this was her chance to completely replace Lynn.

At nine in the morning, the sun was bright.

The elementary school field was decorated with colorful flags and balloons, filled with parents and children everywhere.

Gavin wore casual clothes, rarely seen without a suit. Sophie walked beside him in a floral dress, looking gentle and graceful with carefully done makeup.

The two of them on either side, Ethan walking in the middle.

From a distance, they really did look like a family of three.

"Wow, Ethan's dad is so handsome!"

"That must be his mom next to him, right? She's so pretty!"

A few kids came over, looking at them curiously.

A little girl with a ponytail tugged on Ethan's sleeve: "Ethan, is that your mom?"

Ethan glanced at Sophie, then at the envious looks around him.

"Yeah!" He nodded, his voice clear and loud.

Sophie's lips curved slightly, a hint of smugness flashing in her eyes.

Gavin stood nearby. Hearing that "yeah," his brow twitched, but he said nothing.

Across the street from the field, a taxi slowly pulled up.

Lynn had just left the research institute, still wearing her work uniform, carrying a document bag she hadn't had time to put down. Passing through this area, she suddenly remembered that today was Ethan's school sports day.

She had marked it on the calendar last month and prepared sneakers and a T-shirt for Ethan in advance, waiting for today to participate with him.

She hadn't planned to go in.

But her feet carried her to the school gate anyway, and through the iron railings, she glanced toward the field.

Just that one glance, and she froze completely.

She saw Gavin.

Saw Sophie.

Saw her son, walking between the two of them, smiling so happily.

Other parents were greeting them, Sophie responding graciously, and Gavin not avoiding it either.

The three figures blended into the laughter and joy filling the field.

Nothing to do with her.

Lynn stood outside the iron railings, her fingers slowly tightening around her bag strap.

The sun was blazing, but she felt cold all over.

Now just a different setting, the same scene playing out again.

What right did she have to feel sad?

She was the one who wouldn't give up, running back again and again to confirm an answer she already knew.

Lynn turned and left, walking quickly, never looking back once.

Back at the apartment, she sat at her desk, took out the divorce agreement, reviewed the contents one more time, put it in an envelope, and wrote Gavin's company address on it.

Then she went downstairs and personally took it to the courier station.

"Express delivery, it must arrive tomorrow."

"Got it."

After doing all this, Lynn returned to the apartment, closed the door, and leaned against it.

A piece of her heart felt empty, but compared to last time, it didn't hurt as much.

The next afternoon, the courier was delivered to Green Group's reception desk.

Sophie happened to be at the front desk chatting with an administrative colleague.

She casually glanced at the recipient on the courier slip: Gavin, sender: Lynn.

Her smile froze for a moment.

Sophie made an excuse about asking the receptionist about Gavin's schedule, and while the receptionist turned to organize files, she quietly took the envelope—she immediately saw the sender was Lynn, felt vaguely uneasy, and secretly kept it.

Back at her desk, she opened it.

Divorce agreement.

Lynn had already signed it.

Sophie looked at the agreement, her fingers trembling slightly.

Not from fear, but excitement.

But she couldn't let Gavin see this.

At least not now.

She stuffed the agreement back in the envelope and pressed it to the bottom of her bag.

That evening, Sophie stayed at the company under the pretense of working overtime.

Gavin was there too.

She made a cup of coffee and brought it into Gavin's office.

"Gavin, have some coffee, don't work too hard."

She could see Gavin's concern for Lynn becoming more and more obvious, afraid that if too much time passed, something unexpected might happen—as long as Gavin slept with her, even if Lynn came back, she'd have leverage.

She'd added something to the coffee, colorless and tasteless. When she took it from her bag, her hand shook, but she still poured it in.

Gavin took the coffee, took a sip, put down the cup, and started going through documents again.

He'd been distracted all day.

Yesterday at the sports day, Ethan had called Sophie "mom" in front of so many people, and he hadn't corrected him.

But the more he thought about it afterward, the more wrong it felt.

He called Lynn's number, still couldn't get through.

She had blocked him.

He tried calling from a different number, still couldn't get through—it was turned off.

Where exactly had she gone?