Chapter 101 You've Really Fallen for Arabella
Wearing Arabella's work blouse in the warm house, she settled down and unbuttoned her shirt to feed Isabella.
Holding Isabella's soft little pudgy hand, her heart melted again.
If it weren't for Isabella and Henry, she would have left long ago regardless of Gabriel's objections. What could he do anyway? She just wouldn't come back to this place.
Perhaps her childhood trauma ran too deep. She remembered being abandoned by her mother and couldn't bear for a similar tragedy to repeat itself.
But continuing this marriage was suffocating her.
Torn, conflicted, struggling, hesitating—her heart was pulled in different directions every day, leaving her at a loss.
Kissing Isabella's little hand, her eyes couldn't help but redden as she silently apologized to her children, hoping they wouldn't hate their mother later and would understand her.
The bedroom door suddenly burst open. She spun around in shock to see Gabriel returning unexpectedly, her face instantly flustered.
Their eyes met, and Gabriel was equally startled—he hadn't expected to find her nursing in the room.
The atmosphere was incredibly awkward. She opened her mouth but couldn't find words.
Gabriel stood frozen in the doorway for a moment, then strode in with his long legs. He first went to the bed to check something, then flipped up the pillows, clearly searching for something.
Not finding it, he headed toward the armchair where Arabella sat.
Arabella felt extremely embarrassed.
Thinking no one would come in, she had unbuttoned her blouse directly, leaving half her torso exposed.
If they were still a loving couple, being exposed wouldn't matter—she could just brazen it out.
But with their relationship so strained they weren't even speaking, this scene felt distinctly intimate.
Gabriel was looking for his personal phone.
Walking to the armchair, Arabella's disheveled state came into view—a provocatively alluring sight.
He wasn't deliberately looking, but his peripheral vision couldn't help catching glimpses.
Arabella burned with embarrassment, holding Isabella with one hand while using the other to casually adjust her shirt collar, trying to cover herself.
But Isabella, who had been feeding contentedly, suddenly released her grip.
Since milk was flowing freely, Isabella's release caused it to spill out. Seeing this, Arabella quickly grabbed tissues to cover herself.
So embarrassing!
In the past, Gabriel would have unhesitatingly helped her, then taken the opportunity for some intimate teasing.
But today, Gabriel acted as if the scene didn't exist.
He bent down, lifted the throw pillows with one hand, found his phone that had fallen between the cushions, then turned and left as if nothing had happened.
Arabella sat frozen, one hand covering herself, the other holding the baby, feeling completely flustered and embarrassed.
Only after the man had been gone for a while did Isabella stir in her arms, jolting her back to reality.
She felt an inexplicable sense of loss at Gabriel's suddenly ice-cold reaction.
But after the disappointment passed, she felt strangely relieved.
Perhaps Gabriel's attitude said everything—he had also decided on divorce.
This was good news, what she'd been hoping for, so there was no reason to dwell on feeling disappointed.
————
Monday morning, the executive floor of Sterling Group was shrouded in oppressive tension.
Gabriel found everything irritating. During the morning meeting, he tore apart several executives, then returned to his office and gave Ralph a thorough dressing-down.
After leaving Gabriel's office, Ralph muttered quietly, "What's gotten into Mr. Sterling this morning? Why is he so volatile?"
Evelyn smiled knowingly. "He looks like a man who hasn't been... satisfied. Maybe it's hormonal imbalance."
Ralph's face went pale. "Evelyn, you're so bold to say that!"
"Pfft! I'm in my forties—what's there to be shy about discussing such things?" Modesty and bashfulness were for young girls. At her age, speaking the truth was nothing.
Around noon, Dominic came by to discuss business.
Seeing Gabriel's gloomy expression and the secretaries outside all walking on eggshells, he sat down and probed curiously, "What's wrong with you? Ralph specifically warned me you're in a bad mood today and told me not to provoke you."
"Nothing," Gabriel replied flatly.
Dominic smiled without responding, then picked up his phone, opened it, and turned the screen toward Gabriel. "Take a look at this."
"What?" Gabriel asked, looking up to see a short video playing on the phone.
Although the license plate was blurred, he could still recognize it at a glance—it was his car.
Specifically, the Maybach that had been parked at the highway rest stop the day before.
Gabriel frowned, not expecting that being filmed by those young people at the rest stop yesterday would result in a TikTok post.
"This is your car, right? What were you doing in Amber District yesterday?" Dominic asked curiously.
Amber District was near the rest stop where Gabriel and Arabella had eaten on their way back yesterday, not far from Arabella's hometown.
Already irritated with Arabella, Gabriel snapped at the question, "Just driving around, relaxing."
"Really? If I remember correctly, that's near Arabella's hometown, isn't it?" Dominic called him out, his expression full of curiosity.
Gabriel was annoyed and retorted, "You ask too many questions! Have you sorted out your own mess with Emily? You still have time to worry about my business."
Seeing him evade the question, Dominic became even more certain. "You've really fallen for Arabella. But judging by your gloomy, dejected reaction, there's probably still conflict between you two—she's still insisting on divorce? I think you need to make your feelings clear. If you confess your true feelings, I don't believe she'd still persist with divorce."
In Dominic's mind, he desperately hoped their relationship would stabilize.
That way Emily would also settle down and stop taking her emotions out on him.
Gabriel looked at Dominic, noting something off about him, and asked curiously, "Why are you suddenly so concerned about me? Is there something related to Arabella?"
Dominic smiled. "Gabriel, you're being too paranoid. I'm just genuinely concerned about you, my friend."
Gabriel looked at him without speaking, but understood something deep down.
"Did Emily come home with you?" These past days, busy with work and family matters, he'd rarely contacted the couple. Also because he'd promised Arabella to maintain clear boundaries with Emily, he wasn't sure about their current situation.
It seemed they still hadn't reconciled.
Dominic's expression was neutral as he leaned back in his chair, spreading his hands slightly. "Same as always... She won't come back, and I can't force her."
"You were just giving me advice on how to pursue women—haven't you tried practicing it yourself?"
"My situation is different from yours. She used to love me; whether she still does is questionable. Your situation with Arabella is that you didn't love her before but do now, while Arabella has always had expectations of you, right? She wants divorce because of your previous intimate contact with Emily, but that problem no longer exists. As long as you declare your feelings to her, she'll definitely change her mind." Dominic had analyzed their emotional entanglements quite perceptively.
Dominic didn't actually want a divorce, so these past days he had indeed swallowed his pride multiple times to seek reconciliation with Emily.
But Emily insisted on both keeping the baby and refusing to reconcile.
He vaguely sensed that Emily had changed her heart and no longer loved him wholeheartedly.
As for who she'd transferred her affections to, he didn't need to think hard to guess.