Chapter 168
The car pulled to a stop at a red light.
Mia turned her head, looking at Grace with a complicated expression, her voice filled with barely contained shock. "So, the client is Damian?"
Grace didn't speak, just nodded in acknowledgment.
"Don't tell me he specifically asked for you?"
Grace nodded.
Mia took a deep breath, feeling like this whole thing was absolutely absurd.
"But... didn't he lose his memory?"
"Yes," Grace answered. "He forgot about me."
"Then how did he still find you? And put you in charge of this project?" Mia felt like her brain couldn't keep up. "This doesn't make any sense."
"At first, it was just a collaboration with the Parker family, but they weren't satisfied with any of the designers the Parker family could provide, so my mom called me back." Grace looked out the window, the city's neon lights stretching into blurred streaks of light in her eyes. "I originally just came back to see my mom and stepfather, but then ended up getting involved in this project."
"I see." Mia's voice carried a sigh. "So he... working with you, he hasn't shown any interest in getting back together? I heard he got engaged to the Green family's daughter a while ago?"
Wolfe Corporation was one of the top companies in the industry, and as a designer, Mia naturally heard about industry developments.
"Yes, there's nothing between us," Grace stated the facts calmly. "He's engaged to Nina. We have nothing to do with each other."
"Why?" Mia blurted out, full of confusion. "He loved you so much before. How did he end up engaged to someone else?"
"What is he even thinking?"
The more Mia talked, the stranger it seemed. "Or is it that after all these years, you still haven't forgiven him?"
Grace turned her head to look at Mia, her eyes carrying a hint of confusion she herself hadn't even noticed.
"Forgive?" She softly repeated the word. "There's nothing to forgive. He doesn't need my forgiveness. Back then, he said he was just playing around with me."
"Playing around?" Mia sounded like she'd heard the biggest joke ever. The car slowly started moving as the light turned green, and after a moment, she found her voice again, her tone full of disbelief.
"Impossible. If he was just playing around with you, why would he go through so much trouble?"
"Back in college, to prepare a birthday gift for you, he secretly came to find me, asking what color you liked, which designer you liked, and what books you usually read. He asked in such detail, practically trying to dig up all your preferences from childhood to now. He specifically told me not to let you know."
"I asked Damian then, Do rich guys usually go to this much trouble over gifts? You know what Damian said? He said, Anyone else gets a gift, but for Grace it has to mean something - there's a difference."
"And before you left, Damian couldn't find you and was calling everyone. When he called me, his voice was shaking, asking if I knew where you went, which flight you were taking. That was the first time I saw Damian so out of control, like he'd gone crazy, nothing like his usual high-and-mighty self."
Mia finished in one breath, her chest still heaving. She looked at Grace through the rearview mirror and saw her sitting there stiffly, motionless.
These words unlocked memories Grace had buried deep inside.
She remembered the bracelet Damian gave her, with the daisy charm—her favorite flower.
She remembered that sunny afternoon, Damian's youthful appearance as he patiently explained design problems to her with his head lowered.
She remembered the design books that appeared on Damian's bookshelf, many of them versions she had borrowed from the library.
So, in places she couldn't see, Damian had done so much.
And Grace, just because of Damian's one phrase, "just playing around," had negated everything he'd done. and had been torturing herself with those words ever since.
Without realizing it, the car had entered a quiet area.
The streetlights along the road were artistically designed, their soft light falling on the neatly trimmed greenery. Detached villas of various styles were nestled among the trees, quiet and private.
This was Harmony City's famous wealthy district.
Mia slowed down, looking at the surroundings, and couldn't help but sigh softly, "If I weren't dropping you off, I probably would never have the chance to drive in here in my lifetime."
She glanced at Grace. "You're living here now? With your mom and stepfather?"
"Yes." Grace snapped out of her daze and answered softly.
"That's nice." Mia's tone carried genuine envy. "Back in school, I already felt you were different from us. Now you're even more different. You're an internationally renowned designer yourself, and your family is like this. A total life winner."
Hearing her words, Grace's lips curved into a helpless, bitter smile.
Life winner?
Those words were too far from her reality. She was just trying to survive, caught between impossible choices.
"Don't tease me." She said quietly.
Following the navigation, the car finally stopped in front of an impressive villa.
"We're here." Mia stopped the car.
"Thank you for driving me home." Grace unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Don't be so formal with me." Mia looked at her. "Grace, about what happened back then, there might be a lot of hidden details we don't know about. Damian... maybe he's not as bad as you think. At least we all know he was sincere about you."
Grace didn't answer. She just opened the car door and got out.
"I'll head in then. Drive safely."
"Got it." Mia waved at her. "About the bridesmaid dress, Amy will contact you. Don't forget."
"Okay."
Grace stood by the roadside, watching Mia's car turn around, the white taillights quickly disappearing at the end of the road.
She turned around and looked up at the villa before her, appearing especially grand in the night.
Brightly lit, yet she couldn't feel a trace of warmth.
She stood there for a long time, the evening breeze lifting her long hair, but unable to dispel the fog in her heart.
She took out her phone, opened her contacts, her finger hovering for a long time over that number she knew by heart.
In the end, she still didn't press it.
Even if she knew about the past, so what? It was just the past.
And it was all in the past now.
What Damian was doing now, his actions that hurt her, his actions that hurt Miles, were still unforgivable.
Grace put away her phone and stepped through the heavy ornate iron gate.
The villa's ornate iron gate slowly closed behind her with a dull, soft sound.
Grace stood in the courtyard, the night breeze carrying the dampness of grass and trees brushing past her cheeks. She didn't immediately walk into the main building, but stood for a while in the garden along the stone path.
The living room lights shone through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching her shadow very long beneath her feet. She could see the crystal chandelier inside, the light bright but unable to illuminate any sense of life.
She took a deep breath, the air ice-cold.
Pushing open the heavy wooden door, a blast of cold air hit her face. The central air conditioning was set very low, and in the spacious living room, there was only the faint hum of machinery running.
Adele and John had already gone to bed.