Chapter 101 Determination
Lucy shook her head at his words. Thinking that Arthur would find out eventually anyway, she told him about Aria's plan to expand the studio.
"No, it's not that. Aria is planning to expand the studio. Right now she's reorganizing the layout here. Once everything is rearranged according to the new plan, the studio's layout will be much clearer."
Arthur's eyes showed even more surprise. He hadn't expected Aria to actually be expanding the studio.
When Aria first started this studio, he just thought she was playing around and wouldn't amount to much. But the Grant family wasn't short of that kind of money, so he let her do as she pleased.
What he never expected was that Aria hadn't spent a penny of his money when setting up the studio, and she hadn't bothered him to do anything either. From start to finish, she handled everything herself.
Now she had not only made the studio work, but was even planning to expand it.
Arthur had to admit, this side of her had a strange appeal to him.
Arthur didn't show his inner thoughts. He suppressed the stirring in his heart and gestured for Lucy to take him upstairs.
Aria was busy with the flower exhibition scheduled for three days later. When Arthur came in, she had her back to the door, arranging flowers. Hearing the door open, she assumed it was Lucy and didn't turn around.
"Lucy, can you bring me that glass of water from my desk?"
Aria didn't get a response from Lucy, but soon the glass of water she wanted appeared in front of her. Just as she was about to take it, she glanced down and noticed the hand holding the water was pale and slender...
Aria's heart jumped. She quickly turned to look at the person.
It was Arthur!
When did he get here?
"When did you get here?"
Aria didn't have a good attitude toward Arthur. She stepped back two paces, watching him with slight wariness, and didn't take the glass of water from his hand.
Arthur watched Aria avoid him like the plague. His face darkened suddenly, and suppressing the anger in his heart, he said in a low voice, "Didn't you want water?"
Aria just nodded lightly. "Just put it down. I'll get it myself."
Arthur's tone grew colder. "You're avoiding me this much?"
Aria's attitude made him very uncomfortable. Did she really reject him this much?
"Just say what you came to say. There's no need for this."
Aria figured Arthur wouldn't come without a reason. If he suddenly came to the studio looking for her, he definitely wasn't up to anything good.
Arthur's anger flared even more. He slammed the glass of water down on the table and said through gritted teeth, "Aria, is this what you think of me?"
"Does it matter what I think of you? Do you even care? If you want attention, you should go find Sophie, not waste time here with me. Besides, aren't you already planning to have a wedding with her? Why are you still looking for me? Aren't you afraid she'll find out and make a scene again?"
Aria didn't understand what Arthur was trying to do now. Since he wanted to have a wedding with Sophie, why did he keep hanging around her? Was he trying to prove something to her?
Arthur's tall figure stiffened slightly, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes. How did she know?
Aria caught the change in Arthur's expression. A mocking look flashed in her eyes as she looked at him with a half-smile. "Wondering how I know? Arthur, if you don't want people to know, don't do it in the first place. Since you dared to do it, you should have known I'd find out sooner or later."
"Her condition has gotten worse than before. This is her dying wish. I can't let her down..."
At this moment, all of Arthur's explanations seemed incredibly weak. He tried to grab Aria's hand, but Aria avoided his movement as if she'd predicted it, looking at him coldly, her delicate face carrying a hint of mockery. "Yeah, I'm not asking you to let her down. I just need you to sign the divorce papers. Since you've already chosen her, stop pretending to be so devoted in front of me. Arthur, don't make this ugly for everyone in the end!"
Aria was no longer that naive girl from before. In this relationship with Arthur, she admitted she had lost, completely lost.
And she accepted it.
Arthur saw how determined Aria was. At this moment, he felt like something was slipping away from his grasp. Panic rose in his heart, and he suddenly lost the will to continue talking with Aria. He fled in defeat.
"We'll talk about this later. I have things to do. I'm leaving."
Aria watched Arthur drop that line and leave directly, her brows furrowing tightly.
She really couldn't figure out what Arthur was trying to do lately.
Time after time, what was the point?
Over the next few days, Aria didn't see Arthur again. That episode at the studio didn't affect her much. She devoted herself wholeheartedly to preparing for her flower exhibition.
The venue for this flower exhibition was provided by Lance. Ever since Lance learned that Aria was planning to hold a flower exhibition, he had given Aria several addresses. One of them happened to match Aria's requirements, so Aria went directly with Lance's location.
Aria did a lot of promotion for this flower exhibition, and with some of her clients helping to spread the word, many people came to attend.
Lance also arrived early that day. After looking around, he found Aria, who was busy working, and went up to greet her.
"Not bad. This flower exhibition seems pretty successful. I can see quite a lot of people came."
Aria smiled lightly at his words and nodded. "Of course. Look who organized it."
The time she'd spent with Lance recently made her increasingly relaxed. When facing him, she didn't deliberately put on airs, and the two got along more harmoniously than before.
Lance chuckled at Aria's words and nodded in agreement. "Not bad at all. Our Miss Hall is really capable. If someone had told me in the past that you could do this, I wouldn't have believed it for a second."
When Lance came over, Aria had already handed off some tasks to her studio staff. At this moment, she was walking with Lance along the corridor. Hearing his words, the smile in her eyes deepened, and she sighed similarly, "Never mind you not believing it—if it were the old me, I wouldn't believe I could stick with this either."
She had always been interested in floral art, but she never thought that years later she would persist with her interest like this and achieve some success in this field.
She had built this studio step by step. She understood the hardships involved and knew how much she had invested in it. It was precisely because of this that when she reaped these rewards, the sense of achievement in her heart was so profound.
The two chatted as they walked along the corridor. Lance seemed to think of something and looked at Aria. "I heard Arthur is preparing for a wedding with Sophie?"