Chapter 70
To Aston, Sebastian had always been the definition of control and decisiveness. So, seeing him in a defeated state just didn’t feel real.
The sudden intrusion earned a faint flicker of displeasure from Sebastian. His eyes narrowed, then in an instant, he slipped back into the composed persona that the world knew.
Aston quickly grabbed the tablet without saying a word and hurried out.
After the door was shut, Sebastian’s phone buzzed with a new notification.
He hadn’t been in the mood to check it, and his thumb was already swiping to lock the screen again when the sender’s profile picture stopped him cold.
It was Noelle. He instantly straightened in his chair.
Holding his breath, he tapped the message open. Noelle was asking him to have dinner with her.
His brows furrowed as he wondered why she would suddenly want to meet for dinner. Could it be that she was planning to come clean?
The thought made Sebastian instinctively clutched his chest. A sharp pang shot through his heart.
Had Conner confessed to her? Had she already made up her mind to go back to him?
Sebastian gripped his phone so hard his knuckles turned white and the veins on the back of his hand bulged. Had she really made up her mind? Was she truly ready to go back to Conner?
Conner had done such terrible things. Even after everything that had happened, why would she even think of giving him another chance?
Sebastian’s thoughts were a tangled mess. He ignored call after call from his family. When his phone rang for the third time, that was when he finally answered.
His energy was gone, and even his voice came out low and heavy. But Denise didn’t think much of it, assuming he had just been busy with work lately.
Sebastian took the wedding seriously, so much so that he had cleared as much of his schedule as possible before and after the big day.
“Do you have dinner plans tonight? If not, I’ll ask Lydia to have the kitchen make something you like,” Denise asked.
His brows stayed furrowed as he said quietly, “I won’t be home for dinner tonight.”
“You’ve been working all day, and now you’ve got another dinner meeting? You really don’t think about your health, do you?” Denise asked, her tone filled with concern. Not caring for his own health was something she had known about for a while.
Chapter 70
2/2
After all, knowing full well he was allergic to a certain perfume, he’d still sprayed it on just to make Noelle happy. The allergy reaction was so bad that the entire Cole family was scrambling, and he was secretly enjoying it. That told Denise everything she needed to know.
Sebastian stayed quiet for a moment, as if gathering the strength to speak. “It’s not a business dinner.
Noelle asked me to dinner.”
Hearing Noelle’s name brought a smile to Denise. “That’s good. You two need to spend more time together. While you’re at it, pay attention to what she likes to eat so we can have the kitchen make it for her. She’s so polite. Whenever she’s here, she just eats whatever we put on her plate…”
She kept talking, but the more Sebastian listened, the heavier his chest felt. All those emotions tangled together until he suddenly said in an unusually deep voice, “Mom, I might not be able to marry Noelle.”
It was his way of preparing her for the possibility, but it came so suddenly that Denise wasn’t ready for it. Her voice rose, sharp with both shock and anger. “What! You can’t be serious. We’ve had this planned for
ages. The wedding gifts have already been delivered. What happened?”
Sebastian stared out the floor–to–ceiling windows at the view outside. The sunset’s red hue was reflected
in his eyes, betraying the emotion he was holding back.
He said, “Mom, we gave the wedding gifts willingly. Even if the wedding doesn’t happen, let’s not bring it
up again. And please, don’t raise your voice with Noelle. I know you mean well, but she tends to overanalyze things and is sensitive, so she’d be upset if she heard it.”