Chapter 106 Spending the Night Away
The hotel manager panicked when he heard Arthur's questioning, thinking there was something wrong with the venue setup. He quickly asked, "Is there a problem, Mr. Grant? If you're unhappy with anything, just tell me and I'll communicate with the studio right away."
Arthur's brow twitched at these words. He rubbed his temples somewhat irritably and said in a low voice, "No, I'm actually quite satisfied. That's why I'm asking how you found this studio."
Arthur naturally couldn't say he was dissatisfied - that would only cause trouble for Aria.
The hotel manager on the other end of the line, who had been on edge, let out a huge sigh of relief after hearing this. As long as he wasn't dissatisfied, that was good.
"This studio was recommended by an architect we work with, Mr. Monroe. If you're satisfied with them, Mr. Grant, we can give you the studio's contact information."
After hearing the manager's response, Arthur abruptly hung up the phone, leaving the hotel manager somewhat confused. However, he didn't call Arthur back to ask more questions, afraid of making him unhappy.
Unlike the manager's nervousness, after hanging up, Arthur began searching his mind for this person.
Architect Mr. Monroe?
Why did that name sound familiar?
Arthur quickly found this person in his memory - it was that man who kept sending things to Aria's studio.
After realizing this, Arthur's expression turned very ugly. Had his relationship with Aria become that close?
Arthur wanted to call Aria and confront her about this. He had just picked up his phone when something seemed to occur to him, and he put it back down.
This matter needed to be discussed with Aria face to face.
That evening, Arthur returned to the villa quite early. Dinner time had passed, but Aria still hadn't come back, which puzzled Arthur greatly. He called for Ann.
"Did Aria say when she'd be back?"
Ann looked at Arthur and quickly said, "Mrs. Grant just called. She's having dinner with a friend tonight, so she won't be coming back to eat."
As soon as Ann finished speaking, she felt the air pressure around Arthur drop. Her heart trembled, and she looked at Arthur somewhat nervously. "Sir..."
Arthur didn't say anything, just shook his head. "It's fine, let's eat."
Arthur's expression was quite unpleasant throughout the meal. Elizabeth saw this but didn't say much, just ate quietly.
Aria had no idea about the atmosphere at the villa. At that moment, she was at Summer's house.
After leaving the hotel, Summer had called her, asking her to come over. It had been a while since they'd seen each other anyway.
"I heard Arthur is going to have a wedding with Sophie? Is this true or false?"
Summer had just returned from a few days of travel when she heard this news. She couldn't worry about anything else and quickly grabbed Aria to ask about it.
Aria didn't speak, just nodded lightly.
Seeing Aria confirm it, Summer's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at Aria. "Are you kidding me? Did you two get divorced?"
Aria shook her head. "No, he hasn't signed the divorce papers yet."
Summer's brow furrowed tightly as she looked at Aria with frustration. "Aria, what's going on with you? You're not even divorced yet and he dares to do this, what are you waiting for? You're still not divorcing him? At this point, you still can't let go?"
Summer knew about Aria's feelings for Arthur and knew they were getting divorced, but she didn't expect things to drag on this long without being resolved, and for Arthur to do something so outrageous. It was simply unreasonable!
"I'm collecting evidence. If he won't agree to divorce, then I'll sue him with evidence of his infidelity and bigamy during our marriage."
Aria's heart warmed, knowing Summer meant well, so she didn't hide anything and told her her plan.
Only after hearing this did Summer relax a bit and nod. "That's good then. Does he know you're pregnant?"
As Summer said this, her gaze fell on Aria's lower abdomen, which had already started to show slightly. If someone looked carefully, they could notice something.
After a moment of silence, Aria shook her head. "He probably doesn't know."
Based on Arthur's behavior, he probably didn't know about this. If he knew, his reaction wouldn't be like this.
"That's good. Do you have a plan for what comes next? Do you need my help?"
Aria's heart warmed as she said softly, "Not right now, but I'll let you know if I need anything."
"Okay, I'll be in the country for a while."
"Okay."
After they started talking, the food they ordered arrived just in time. By the time Aria finished dinner at Summer's place, it was already 10 PM. Since they hadn't seen each other in a while and had many topics to discuss, Aria called Elizabeth to say she hadn't seen her best friend in a long time and wouldn't be coming back that night.
After learning this, Elizabeth's heart stirred. She reminded Aria to stay safe before ending the call.
Arthur came downstairs to get water just in time to hear the end of Elizabeth's phone conversation. His brow furrowed tightly as he looked at Elizabeth. "Was that Aria?"
"Yes, she's staying at her friend's place tonight and won't be coming back. She called to let me know."
Elizabeth informed him of the phone call's content. Logically, Aria should have told Arthur first that she wasn't coming home, but now she had directly skipped over Arthur and only called to notify Elizabeth.
Arthur's expression darkened immediately. He felt very uncomfortable. Aria's action showed she didn't consider him at all - she didn't even notify him, her husband, that she wasn't coming home.
Arthur's hand gripping the water glass kept tightening. It never occurred to him to wonder if he had done the same thing before.
Elizabeth saw him like this and sighed softly, but didn't say anything more. Let them sort out their own issues - nothing she said would help.
"Get some rest early. Sometimes, you can take the initiative to call Aria. You don't always have to wait for her."
"Mm."
Arthur gave a muffled response and went straight upstairs.
After going upstairs, Arthur thought for a moment and still sent Aria a message.
[Not coming back tonight?]
Aria was a bit surprised when she received Arthur's message. She hadn't expected Arthur to message her, especially since they were currently in a state of mutual non-interference.
However, after thinking about it, Aria still replied to Arthur's message.
[Yeah, Summer's back. I'm staying at her place tonight.]
When Arthur saw Summer's name, he breathed a sigh of relief, secretly glad that it wasn't the situation he had been worried about...