Chapter Five: Clara's Pov

I took a deep breath and walked forward quickly before the rain got heavier.

Just as I approached the car, the rear window suddenly rolled down. Thorne sat in the back seat, the anger still not faded from his face. "Get in already. Do you enjoy getting soaked in the rain that much?"

I was somewhat surprised. I hadn't expected Thorne to actually be waiting for me.

"What are you standing there for? Do you need me to get out and personally invite you into the car?"

Seeing the rain getting heavier, I didn't act coy and directly pulled open the car door and got in.

"Burke, bring a towel."

Thorne took the towel from the driver's hand and turned to hand it to me.

"Thank you..."

I took the towel and gently wiped the water from my hair and face. Thorne, sitting beside me, spoke in an annoyed tone, "No need to thank me. I just don't want the water on you to dirty my car."

My fingers suddenly paused. The faint warmth that had just surged in my heart instantly disappeared.

I looked up and saw the ornament hanging from the rearview mirror. My heart suddenly tightened.

It was a red dreamcatcher. I'd heard it was something Thorne bought with Elena when they traveled to Poland. Legend has it that if you make a wish to a red dreamcatcher on a full moon night, lovers can be together forever.

I concealed all the emotion in my eyes and told Thorne in a calm tone.

"Since Mr. Thorne cares so much about his car, I can go back on my own..."

After speaking, I raised my hand to the door latch, planning to get out directly.

Click—

Almost the instant my hand touched the latch, the car door locked. Thorne leaned back and ordered the driver to drive.

Burke pressed the gas pedal, and the car slowly drove forward.

I frowned slightly, looking at Thorne sitting beside me.

After a long while, Thorne finally turned to look at me, his deep eyes showing calculation. "I don't want a reputation for mistreating my wife. That wouldn't be beneficial at all for my current business projects."

So that's how it was.

I turned my head to look out the car window.

The rain was getting heavier, and my vision began to blur. So he wasn't specifically waiting for me—he just didn't want to appear callous and unfeeling in others' eyes.

But of course, in Thorne's eyes, we were just strangers bound by a contract. All accommodation and courtesy were only ever related to interests, never to feelings.

At this moment, a phone rang in the cramped car. When I saw my father's name, I frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, but still chose to answer.

"Hello, Father."

"How have you been lately?"

I knew clearly that the purpose of my father's call wasn't to care about my situation. Sure enough, before I could answer, he continued, "Thorne is back. Bring him home for dinner the day after tomorrow."

I looked up at Thorne, not knowing how to respond for a moment. I could only give vague acknowledgments and hastily hung up the phone.

This was about the time when fees were due for my mother's nursing home. If I upset my father, I was afraid my mother's days would become difficult.

Just as I was hesitating about how to ask Thorne to accompany me to my father's house for dinner tomorrow, his phone suddenly rang.

The moment he saw the screen clearly, Thorne's expression changed drastically. My heart tightened, and I almost instinctively blurted out, "Whose call is it?"

Thorne didn't answer the call, nor did he explain. He just suddenly looked up at me, his eyes carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

"Clara, you're meddling a bit too much. Don't ask about things that aren't your business."

Although Thorne had always been cold in attitude before, he had almost never spoken to me in such a harsh tone. I was stunned.

Then Thorne told the driver to pull over, his thin lips coldly saying, "Get out. I have something to handle."

I looked at the large raindrops outside and turned to look at him in disbelief. "Right now? Don't you care about a reputation for being callous to your wife anymore?"

The phone kept ringing. Thorne looked somewhat irritated. He didn't look at me, just coldly ordered Burke, "Give her an umbrella."

"That won't be necessary."

My fingers curled slightly as I opened the car door and plunged into the rain.

The car behind me didn't linger. Almost the instant I got out, it drove away from beside me, splashing half my body with rainwater.

A cold wind blew over, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

I hailed a taxi and returned home before nightfall.

The house was pitch dark, too cold and cheerless to feel like a home. I hurriedly turned on all the lights in the house. Ever since Thorne left, I always liked to have the lights illuminate the house, as if only this way could I feel a little warmth in this home.

I changed out of my soaked clothes and took a hot shower.

As soon as I came out of the bathroom, I received a call from the office.

"Hello, Clara, thank goodness you finally answered." Leora breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did I realize that Leora had already called me three times in a row.

"Sorry, I was just taking a shower. Did something happen?"

"It's okay, as long as I found you. The documents and contract from Yuansheng International have been sent over. You need to confirm them right away. Karen said if we wait until tomorrow morning, things might change."

"Okay, Leora. Send the contract and materials to my email. I'll open my computer right now."

Yuansheng International was a major client of our office, but since their new CEO took office, they had been inclined to transfer their legal work to other firms. In the end, it was Karen who spent a lot of effort to get Yuansheng International to continue renewing with us.

No wonder they were so anxious to have me confirm the documents even at this hour.

I pulled out my laptop. After starting it up, the screen repeatedly displayed error codes. I looked at the heavy rain outside and let out a long sigh.

"Oh god, don't tell me I have to rush to the office to work overtime in this weather."

Just as I withdrew my gaze from outside the window, it happened to fall on Thorne's computer. I looked at the darkness outside again, listened to the pouring rain, and bit my lip lightly, thinking for a moment.

Thorne never allowed anyone to touch his things, but right now...

"It's just looking at a document. It won't take much time."

I kept comforting myself, then walked toward Thorne's computer.

After the computer started up, a password dialog box popped up. I lowered my eyes and entered Thorne's birthday. After it failed, I tentatively entered my birthday. The result was still the cold error popup.

As expected.

I had long known that in Thorne's heart, I was an insignificant person. How could he possibly set my birthday as his password?

Although I was already prepared to rush back to the office in the heavy rain, I still wanted to try one last time.

The enter key fell. A crisp unlock notification suddenly sounded, and the screen instantly jumped to the desktop. I froze completely in place, my palms uncontrollably breaking out in a thin layer of sweat.

Thorne clearly hated me, detested our contract marriage that prevented him from being with the person he loved.

Then why would he set our wedding anniversary as his computer password?