Chapter 100 No Need for an Explanation
"It's me, Arthur. Ann made some late-night snacks, so I brought some up for you."
Arthur cleared his throat to announce his purpose.
The person inside fell silent after hearing his voice. After a long pause, she finally said, "I'm not hungry. You eat it. I'm going to sleep."
"Aria, you don't even want to see me?"
Hearing Aria's rejection, Arthur frowned deeply. Was she now unwilling to even pretend anymore?
"Yes, so Mr. Grant, don't waste your time here. You should spend it comforting Sophie instead—she needs you more."
Aria's mocking words came directly from inside the room.
Arthur's grip on the bowl tightened, a dark look crossing his handsome face as he said through gritted teeth, "Do you have to talk to me like this?"
"Do you think what you've done gives me any reason to talk nicely to you?"
Aria couldn't see Arthur's expression, but she could hear his displeasure in his words. But so what? If he was unhappy, did that make her happy?
Why should she be the one to humor him? Who did he think he was?
Arthur had originally come back today wanting to explain the wedding situation to Aria first, to prevent her from feeling upset when she found out later. Now it seemed he had been completely fooling himself—there was no need to explain anything.
"Aria, don't you want to divorce me? Now you won't even see me. How can I possibly sign the divorce papers like this?"
When Arthur said this, Aria only felt it was ridiculous. So now he was willing to divorce her for Sophie's sake?
It seemed he really did love Sophie!
How could she have thought before that Arthur loved Sophie just because of that time she took a bullet for him? They must have pledged their lives to each other long ago. The gunshot wound was just something that deepened their feelings. Well, let him stay in the dark about it forever.
"Arthur, so you're threatening me with this now to make me argue with you face to face? What's wrong? Couldn't Sophie satisfy you? Got that much energy to spare?"
Arthur's anger surged at Aria's retort. "Aria, you're really something!"
He had been speaking to her nicely, and this was her attitude. He must have been out of his mind to want to explain anything to her!
Aria heard the footsteps leaving outside and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Honestly, she never thought there would be a day when she and Arthur would be at each other's throats like this. If she had known they would end up this way, she definitely wouldn't have agreed to marry him.
But in life, many things only become clear after you've experienced them. Regret is the most useless thing in the world.
After that argument, the two tacitly avoided each other at home. More accurately, Aria was the one avoiding him.
Arthur naturally wasn't going to keep backing down, so they went several days without speaking.
Elizabeth saw the situation between them and felt uncomfortable. After thinking it over, she decided to talk to Arthur about it again.
"Arthur, with things between you two like this, are you planning to just let it continue?"
Arthur saw Elizabeth's concern, and something deep flickered in his eyes. He told Elizabeth about the decision he'd made. "Mom, I've decided to give Sophie a wedding."
Elizabeth's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Arthur. "What did you say?"
She hadn't heard wrong, had she?
Arthur said he wanted to give Sophie a wedding? Then what about Aria?
"I've discussed this with Sophie. We've set the date for next month."
Hearing this, Elizabeth frowned deeply. "Arthur, you haven't divorced Aria yet. What position does this put Aria in?"
"Mom, I can't let Sophie die without any status or recognition. People will talk behind her back."
"What about you? Aren't you afraid of people talking behind your back? Having a wedding with Sophie without getting divorced first—this is bigamy!"
Elizabeth looked at Arthur with disappointment. How could he do something so foolish?
"Mom, I'm not planning to register the marriage, just have the wedding ceremony first."
"It's the same thing, Arthur. If you really want to be with Sophie, then just let Aria go. What does it look like, holding onto both of them like this?"
Elizabeth absolutely couldn't let Arthur do such a thing. If his business rivals found out and used this against him, the impact on him would be huge.
"Have you thought about what happens if your business competitors find out? If they use this against you, what will happen to the company's stock? Have you considered that?"
Elizabeth tried to calm herself down and analyze the situation for Arthur.
She could understand that Arthur might make wrong choices while caught in this dilemma, but that certainly wasn't an excuse for doing the wrong thing.
Arthur's expression changed slightly. Clearly, he hadn't thought much about these things at the time, only acting according to his wishes.
After a long silence, Arthur said, "Mom, if it weren't for her back then, there wouldn't be me now, and there wouldn't be the company now. If the company ends up being affected by this, I accept it."
Seeing that Arthur had made up his mind, Elizabeth sighed deeply. "Since you've already decided, I hope you won't regret it. Have you told Aria about this?"
Arthur shook his head. "No."
"I think you should tell her about this, but I doubt any woman could tolerate such a thing. You need to be mentally prepared for that."
Elizabeth had a feeling that Arthur would regret this decision in the future, but she had said what she needed to say. What he chose to do could only be up to him.
Arthur didn't speak, just nodded.
"You're old enough now. Some things I shouldn't have to keep telling you."
"Mm."
Elizabeth didn't say more and turned to go into her room, leaving Arthur alone in the living room.
After sitting alone in the living room for a while, Arthur grabbed his car keys and went out.
He drove aimlessly through the streets until his car stopped in front of Aria's studio, and only then did he realize where he was.
It had been a while since he'd been here.
Arthur sat in the car for a moment before getting out and walking into the studio. Lucy was clearly stunned when she saw Arthur, her eyes full of surprise. "...Mr. Grant."
Arthur took in Lucy's astonishment, something deep flickering in his eyes. "Where's Aria?"
"She's in the office upstairs."
Arthur just nodded slightly. Seeing people in the studio bustling about, with some construction workers moving things, he was somewhat puzzled. "What's going on? Are you renovating?"
During this time, news about Aria had been reported by his subordinates, but they hadn't reported on her studio's situation in such detail, so he didn't know what was happening with her studio recently.