Chapter 19: Another Night Away
The atmosphere in the living room suddenly fell silent. The stillness wrapped tightly around everything, and the air seemed to freeze, leaving only the sound of the clock ticking on the wall.
"It's nothing."
As soon as I finished speaking, the phone rang again. I let out a cold laugh. "If something's come up, just go. And if you're not coming home tonight, you don't need to tell me. I'm really tired today and don't want my sleep disturbed by phone calls."
With that, I lifted my dress and went upstairs without looking back.
Downstairs, the phone rang again. I deliberately hid in a blind spot, listening to the conversation below.
I heard Tyler say in an extremely gentle voice, "Ava, I'm coming to pick you up right now."
In that moment, I didn't feel like crying. Instead, I wanted to sink down, like a stone sinking to the dark bottom of the water, completely cut off from the light.
I heard the sound of the door closing, followed by the car engine starting in the yard outside.
It seemed that Ava still held an important place in his heart.
I dragged my heavy steps into the room. Each step felt like fighting against invisible gravity, as if my feet were filled with cement, requiring extra willpower to lift them.
I forced myself to change into pajamas, remove my makeup, and then shower.
After finishing all of this, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. I hadn't really done much, but I was just so tired—the kind of exhaustion that came from deep within.
Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
When I woke up again, it was already past eight in the morning. I rolled over and drowsily half-opened my eyes. When I caught sight of the clock on the wall, I suddenly sat up in bed.
Oh no, it was past eight—Jasper was going to be late for school!
I scrambled out of bed, put on my slippers, and ran out, running straight into a maid carrying breakfast upstairs.
"Jasper's going to be late for school." I was a bit anxious and was about to head to Jasper's room, but the maid stopped me.
"Mrs. Thompson, don't worry. I already took Jasper to school. He wasn't late, don't worry."
Hearing this, I breathed a sigh of relief. "I was so tired yesterday, I overslept."
The maid smiled warmly. "Mrs. Thompson, you never sleep in, so I figured you must be tired. I told Jasper you were tired and still resting, and he was very good—he ate his breakfast by himself, and I took him to school."
I thanked the maid. "I really appreciate it."
"It's nothing to appreciate, it's what I should do."
Then the maid said, "I was just about to bring breakfast up to wake you. You can eat in your room."
I felt warmth in my heart. "Okay."
After entering the room, the maid placed the breakfast on the table. Since I hadn't washed up yet, I went into the bathroom first. When I came out, the maid was helping me make the bed and was almost finished.
"I can do these things myself."
Being a housewife left me with nothing to do all day, so I had told the maid early on that I would clean my own room—it gave me something to do.
"I can do it myself."
"It's fine, I'm almost done. Go eat quickly, or it'll get cold."
A warm feeling welled up in my heart, and I walked over to sit on the sofa in the room to eat.
I took a sip of porridge and a bite of sandwich, then asked, "Did Tyler come home last night?"
At my words, the maid stopped what she was doing, her expression full of confusion. "I was wondering about that too. Mrs. Brown Thompson came home very late last night, and Mr. Tyler Thompson said he would wait for you downstairs and told me to go rest. This morning when I went to clean Mr. Tyler Thompson's room, I discovered that Mr. Tyler Thompson hadn't come home—the bed hadn't even been touched."
My eyes dimmed slightly, and a trace of self-mockery crept into them.
I was asking even though I already knew the answer. I knew he wouldn't come home last night, yet I still asked, inviting pain upon myself.
"Okay."
The maid sensed something was wrong and quickly said, "It must be that Mr. Thompson had something come up at the company again."
I smiled without saying anything, just eating my breakfast on my own.
After breakfast, I went to the study and threw myself into work. Zachary had replied to me by email last night—the law firm abroad had agreed to let me be in charge of opening a branch office in the country.
So from now on, I had to handle every detail of the law firm's preparations perfectly. I absolutely couldn't let the main office abroad see me fail.
I first wrote out a detailed plan for the future of the domestic branch office and included the scope of services we would cover. As for recruiting lawyers for the branch office, I didn't think that would be a concern. The main office abroad was a globally top-ten ranked law firm. If the branch office opened in the country, there would surely be countless lawyers applying.
After that, I logged into the software to search for suitable properties in Harmony City. The space definitely couldn't be too small. From what Zachary said, it would be best to have a small building.
After searching for a while, I actually found a property that was suitable in every way. It was a small building similar to a shopping mall, three floors with a rooftop terrace. The surrounding environment was also nice. It wasn't in the city center, but right next to it, so the location was good too.
Since the rent wasn't listed, I called the landlord's number.
"Hello, I saw online that you're renting out a commercial property."
"Yes, yes, yes. This building was originally meant to be a shopping mall, but the developer suddenly backed out, leaving an unfinished building."
An unfinished building...
I thought for a moment, then said, "Are the water and electrical systems all in good condition?"
"Don't worry about that. You can see the exterior walls are all finished. It's just that the interior is bare, but everything else has been done. I had people install the plumbing later to make it easier to rent or sell."
"May I ask how much the rent is?"
The landlord asked, "Are you renting such a large building to open a shopping mall? Is it a franchise or...?"
"No, it's to open a law firm."
The landlord on the other end was stunned for a moment. "Open a law firm? In such a large building?"
I felt a bit awkward because there were quite a few law firms in Harmony City, most of them in office buildings or storefronts. The largest was only a four-story building. Using a large space like a shopping mall to open a law firm—I would be the first.
"Yes, we have our considerations. We're currently looking for properties. May I ask about the rent?"
The landlord was straightforward. "I usually rent it out for one million five hundred thousand dollars a year. Since you're opening a law firm, I'll make it cheaper—one million four hundred fifty thousand dollars."
This amount was within my expectations, but it was still a bit expensive.
I didn't rush to negotiate the price. Instead, I said, "Okay, I'll contact you if we need it later."
"Okay, okay."
After hanging up, I fell into deep thought. I would definitely have to contribute a lot of money to open the law firm. After all, it was my proposal. Decorating such a large space would definitely cost a lot of money too.
Just as I was frowning with worry, Zachary's call came through.