As she spoke, Celeste stopped looking at him and turned to leave.Trevor stepped forward, trying to stop her, but just then, his phone rang.He glanced at the caller ID and paused, watching as Celeste got into her car. Then he answered the call.Matthias had intended to stop Trevor when he saw him move toward Celeste, but seeing Trevor give up on his own, he shot him a glance, let out a cold snort, and got into Celeste's car.Matthias hadn't really caught what Trevor and Celeste had just been talking about. After getting in the car, he asked. "Where did he want you to go?"Celeste told him about Martha's upcoming birthday celebration.Matthias genuinely hadn't known about that. The Yoder family and the Fleming family didn't have particularly close ties, but since Martha's birthday was being arranged so grandly, the Yoder family would probably receive an invitation. He just didn't visit his family often, so he wasn't aware.After hearing it, he said, "You're right not to go." The
Celeste had no idea what Trevor and Jorge talked about. After lunch with Matthias, she returned to the office to continue working.On Wednesday, she received a call from Gideon inviting her over for dinner that weekend. He added, "Jo will be there too." Celeste paused for a moment and said, "Alright."On Friday afternoon, while Celeste was in a meeting, her phone suddenly rang. Just as she was about to answer, the call ended.Since she was still in a meeting and the number was unfamiliar, she didn't give it much thought.The person calling had actually been Janet. She had officially started working at Harper Corporation on Wednesday.She had called Celeste to tell her that she had joined the company and would be settling down in Baumond.But just after dialing, she remembered something Linda had said—that Trevor's friends, like Beck, didn't like Celeste. No matter how hard she tried to win them over, they never warmed up to her. Yet they had easily accepted Wynn.If she told C
Celeste was still at YodaVision Co. when she saw Beck's call. She answered, "Mr. Harper?"Beck's tone softened as soon as he heard her voice. "Shanice hasn't seen you in a while. Are you free this weekend? Maybe we can go out for a bit?"Celeste glanced at the data models she had been organizing on her computer. "I'm tied up these next two days. Will next week be okay?"Hearing she was busy, Beck lowered his gaze. "No problem. Next week, then.""Alright."Her mind was already back on the date, Celeste added. "Let's leave it at that for now?"Beck paused. "Okay."Celeste ended the call and stayed busy at work until after 10:00 pm before leaving YodaVision Co.The next morning, she went to the Yuvenhart manor.When Gideon went abroad for treatment years ago, Jordyn was already over two years old.Back then, she was especially adorable and quite close to Gideon. He was very fond of her.Even when he left for recovery overseas, he had been reluctant to part with her. This was so
That day, Celeste stayed at the Yuvenhart residence to drink coffee and play chess with Gideon.Jordyn seemed quite eager to return to the Rodriguez residence with her that evening. In the afternoon, Celeste found a free moment and sent Trevor a message, asking him to take Jordyn back home later that night.Trevor didn't reply. She thought he might not have seen it. But after dinner, though Trevor himself didn't show up, the car he sent to pick up Jordyn arrived right on time at Yuvenhart Manor.After Jordyn left, Celeste also drove away.Martha's birthday was coming up the following week. Celeste had already decided not to attend.After thinking it over, Betty also agreed it was better for them not to go. With that settled, Celeste and Betty called Martha that evening.When Martha answered, she hadn't finished dinner yet. Her leg had mostly healed, and she was able to walk normally again.She glanced at Trevor and then got up and stepped out of the dining room as she answered t
Martha's birthday arrived quickly.Since Trevor had reminded her in advance, Jordyn had already prepared a birthday gift for Martha. As soon as she came downstairs for breakfast, she immediately presented the gift.Martha's eyes crinkled with a smile. "Thank you, Jo."Trevor also handed over his gift. "This is from both Cel and me. Happy birthday."At his words, Martha shot him a glance.Before she could say anything, the butler entered carrying two gift boxes. "Mrs. Fleming Senior, these birthday gifts were sent by Madam Klein and Mrs. Fleming."Martha accepted the gifts and then looked at Trevor. She knew he had mentioned Celeste's name just to make her happy, but she no longer insisted on meddling in their affairs.She huffed, "Cel already prepared a separate gift for me. There's no need for your unnecessary gestures."With that, she ignored him.Trevor just chuckled. He remained unfazed and turned to urge Jordyn to finish breakfast quickly so he could drive her to school.
Before Matthias could say anything, Jordyn looked at him again and said, "Mr. Matthias, I feel like I've heard your voice somewhere before too."Back during the Ember Festival, Celeste had put the phone on speaker while discussing business with Matthias for hours.Jordyn was there. So, how could she not find his voice familiar?But Matthias didn't bring it up. He just smiled and said, "Really?"Jordyn nodded. "Mhm."Matthias replied, "Maybe I just sound familiar."Hearing this, Trevor rubbed his sharp nose bridge and let out a small laugh.Matthias heard it and thought, "What's so funny? Does he really think this is amusing?"As more guests arrived, the Fleming family had to attend to their other visitors, so Matthias and the others didn't linger in conversation.…There had long been rumors that Trevor was already married with a child. But no one really knew if it was true.As the banquet hall filled up, people were shocked to see a little girl who looked remarkably like Tr
After saying that, Miles added, "Or do they just don't know about Celeste's past?"A lot of people had assumed Celeste and Matthias were a couple.Ever since finding out that Celeste was also Zachary's student, Beck had paid attention to her interactions with Matthias. He noticed that there was no romantic involvement between them.He didn't know if Melissa truly wished for them to be together or if there was another reason behind her words.But regardless, given Celeste's current achievements, even if she had been married and had a child, she was still worthy of anyone.He replied, "They should know."Miles widened his eyes. "Then why would they still—"He suddenly paused mid-sentence, as if realizing something. Then he blurted out, "So, Celeste really has fallen for Matthias? She doesn't love Trevor anymore?"Before Beck could respond, Miles quickly pieced things together."No wonder she was so calm when Trevor wanted a divorce. She didn't even fight for Jo's custody. I thou
After Martha's birthday, news that Trevor had been married and already had a six-year-old daughter quickly spread throughout the high society circles of Baumond.Wynn had many admirers.Even though it was known that she was already with Trevor, there were still plenty of men who refused to give up.Upon learning that Trevor had actually been married and had a daughter, Wynn's secret admirers felt heartbroken for her, thinking she deserved better.The morning after Martha's birthday, quite a few of them even went to InnovaTech, trying to persuade Wynn to leave Trevor.It took Albert and others stepping in to help "rescue" Wynn from the situation. Word of this incident quickly spread throughout InnovaTech.Some employees couldn't help but sigh, "We already knew from Valentine's Day how popular Ms. Locket is, but I didn't expect it to be this crazy.""Exactly."Everyone at InnovaTech was aware of the strong relationship between Trevor and Wynn. But most of them had no idea that Tr
Bryson, unaware of the grudge between Celeste and Wynn, followed up on Rodney's words and said, "Yes, we were just discussing some new developments in the industry."Ms. Locket also studied AI—more minds mean more ideas. It would be great if Ms. Locket joined the discussion."Wynn responded, "Oh, I see..."As she spoke, she glanced over at Celeste.After finishing the serious work discussions, Celeste had planned to leave. But unable to resist Rodney and Bryson's enthusiasm, she stayed and chatted with them for a while longer.Now with Wynn's arrival, she finally had an excuse to excuse herself.She stood up and said, "It's getting late, and I have something I need to attend to. Mr. Fleming, Professor Leonard, Professor Milford, let's chat again next time."Besides Celeste's recently published paper, a few other companies in the AI field had also made significant technical breakthroughs lately.When they were chatting earlier, Celeste had quickly grasped the core of those break
Celeste nodded and sat down on the sofa by the coffee table.Trevor then instructed, "Have someone bring us some coffee."Zeke replied, "Already taken care of."Just as he finished speaking, Naomi came in carrying coffee.When she saw Celeste, she froze for a moment. "Ms. Rodriguez?"Naomi had been the one to take over Celeste's job after she left Fleming Group. Since then, they had basically had no contact.Celeste nodded with a smile, "Long time no see.""Long time no see." Naomi smiled too. But given the situation, it wasn't really appropriate for her to chat too much.She placed the coffee carefully in front of both Celeste and Trevor, and was about to leave when she seemed to remember something and turned back to report on some work matters.After listening, Trevor said, "Got it. I'll have time this afternoon. Tell him to come by before three.""Okay." Naomi answered, then smiled and nodded politely at Celeste before hurrying out.Celeste watched her leave, slowly stirr
After they finished playing golf, Celeste and the others still had other plans.Trevor and Wynn had joined midway, and perhaps guessing that Celeste and the others had other arrangements that they might not be suited to join, Trevor took the initiative to say, "We have some other plans later, so we won't keep interrupting everyone's fun."Hearing this, Rowan and Theodore didn't insist on keeping them and said, "Is that so? That's fine. Let's meet up again next time when we're free."Trevor smiled and nodded before leaving with Wynn.Matthias had actually been a bit worried that Trevor and Wynn might tag along for their meal afterwards.Seeing Trevor leave on his own initiative, he felt a little relieved and whispered to Celeste, "At least he knows when to back off."Celeste smiled and hummed a response.…After they had walked a distance, Trevor finally asked, "Upset?"Having stumbled twice today, Wynn was indeed feeling down. Especially seeing how much Rowan and the others li
The group chatted while playing golf.However, it was obvious that Theodore and Rowan were far more interested in the topic they were discussing than in the game itself.At first, they talked about international affairs. As the conversation went on, Theodore and Rowan ended up simulating a battle arrangement right there on the spot.As they got more and more into it, Celeste and Matthias simply stood by and listened, along with Trevor and Wynn.Maybe not wanting the younger ones to just stand around, Rowan said, "Why don't you join in and share your thoughts?"After a moment, Celeste spoke up, "With strong enemies on all sides, it's not suitable to charge in alone. So for now, staying put would be a good choice."Hearing this, Wynn paused.She had to admit, it was a good idea. If Celeste hadn't said it first, she honestly wouldn't have thought of it herself.Just as that thought crossed her mind, she saw Rowan smiling and nodding in agreement.Matthias reacted quickly too. He
Rowan said to Trevor, "Since you're here, why don't you stay and join us for a while?"Trevor replied, "Sure."After exchanging a few pleasantries with Trevor, Rowan turned back to Harold, Matthias, and the others and asked, "Where were we just now?"Matthias answered, "We were discussing how we should appropriately handle the situation if we discover a foreign probe entering our controlled area."Hearing this, Wynn couldn't help but start thinking about it too.Rowan smiled and asked, "What do you think? Cel, do you have any thoughts?"Earlier, Matthias and Celeste hadn't had time to really think about it before Trevor and Wynn showed up.Now that Rowan asked again, Celeste and Matthias both paused briefly.When Wynn heard Rowan call Celeste by her nickname, she suddenly got distracted.Cel? Rowan was addressing Celeste so intimately.Moreover, she noticed that whenever Rowan looked at Celeste, his demeanor was very warm and kind—he genuinely seemed to admire her.She frown
After dinner, Jordyn followed Celeste back to the Rodriguez residence.That night, she received a call from Rowan, inviting her and Matthias to play golf the next morning.Celeste agreed. However, when she saw the address Rowan sent, she hesitated for a moment.The golf course happened to be a property owned by the Fleming family. She had been there before.Still, since she had already agreed, it wouldn't be appropriate to back out now.…Early Saturday morning, she drove out as planned.When she and Matthias arrived at the golf course, Rowan, Theodore, and Harold were already there.Seeing them, Rowan and the others greeted them with a smile, "You're here."Celeste nodded.Rowan asked, "Do you know how to play golf?"Celeste nodded again. "I've learned a bit."After some polite small talk, they began playing golf while chatting casually.Not long after, just as Celeste was putting away her club, she saw two people walking toward them from a distance.It was Trevor and Wy
Although Celeste and Matthias had already asked Candice to politely decline Cayden's request for a meeting, he still showed up uninvited two days later.Since he had come in person, Celeste and Matthias couldn't completely refuse to see him.They gave him a brief, symbolic reception, but after chatting for just over ten minutes, they politely sent him off.After that, whenever Cayden tried to arrange another meeting, they simply ignored him.With Celeste and Matthias maintaining a firm stance, and unable to meet with them, Cayden invited Wynn out for a meal the next day instead.During the meal, Cayden chatted with her about the developments in the industry for a while before saying, "If you had joined YodaVision last year, you would've grown so much by now. What a shame."At their last meeting, Cayden had asked about her current situation. After hearing she hadn't gotten into YodaVision, he didn't comment much.But now, recalling the matter, he couldn't help expressing his regr
Celeste didn't care how Trevor thought of her or looked at her, nor was she interested.After leaving the restaurant, Celeste and Matthias' group headed back to Fleming Tech for a meeting.This time, Lilian and Linda didn't follow. But Wynn did.Seeing Wynn come along again, Matthias secretly rolled his eyes and said, "Mr. Fleming, about Ms. Locket—"Trevor seemed to know what he wanted to say.Before Matthias could finish, Trevor spoke up, "If you're concerned about confidentiality, you don't have to worry. If anything does happen, I'll take full responsibility."Matthias had expected him to say that. After all, when they first started working with InnovaTech, Trevor had said exactly the same thing.Even so, Matthias still needed clear assurance.Hearing Trevor's words, Matthias put on a half-hearted smile and said, "I feel better with your assurance."During the meeting in the morning, the seat at the center of the table was occupied by Trevor alone. Now that Wynn was here,
Before Trevor could respond, his phone rang.He stepped outside to take the call, and by the time he returned, the food was being served.Miles' question was left hanging—brushed aside just like that.Right now, the author of the paper that engineers in the country and abroad were scrambling to read was sitting right in front of them.As the meal progressed, Rodney and his students couldn't help but ask Celeste questions as they skimmed through the paper's core content and experimental data.Whether they asked about specific parts of the paper or about broader problems that had puzzled them in their own research, Celeste responded to everything fluently and confidently.Wynn watched in silence. Her heart was calm.Watching Celeste speak so assuredly with Rodney and the others actually seemed like she did know what she was talking about.But was that really possible?Given Matthias' capabilities, if he was willing to credit Celeste as first author, then he must have ensured she