Chapter 488
On Saturday evening, Celeste accompanied Betty to watch an opera. As they arrived at the ticket checkpoint, someone not far away- already attracting quite a bit of attention-spotted them, broke into a smile, and quickly walked over. “Celeste.” Hearing her name, Celeste turned her head. She immediately saw Kieran making his way toward her through the crowd. Celeste smiled lightly. “What a coincidence.
You came to see the maestro’s performance too?” But of course, it wasn’t a coincidence. Kieran had planned it. 1 At the company, he always addressed her as “Ms. Rodriguez” This was the first time-aside from the day of her interview-that he had ever called her by her given name. Seeing that Celeste didn’t seem to mind, his smile deepened slightly. When Celeste introduced him to Betty, Kieran gave her a polite nod. “Good evening, madam.” Betty returned the smile with a nod.
“Hello.” —- Nowadays, it was rare for young people to enjoy opera. And more than that, when Kieran spoke to Celeste, the way he looked at her… As an onlooker, Betty almost immediately caught on to Kieran’s feelings for her granddaughter. But since Celeste herself seemed completely unaware, Betty chose not to say anything. 2 Noticing that Celeste and Betty had come alone, Kieran asked, ” Why didn’t you bring your child?
Does she not like opera?” At the mention of Jordyn, Celeste’s smile faded a little. Earlier, Jordyn had told her she’d be back in Baumond by noon, and that they could go out together once she returned. Yet now it was already evening. She had indeed come back, but hadn’t asked Celeste to pick her up from the airport, nor had she called after returning. 7 Celeste hadn’t taken it to heart. She was used to it by now. And as for what Jordyn was doing at the moment-Celeste had a pretty good idea.
5 So, when Kieran brought her up, Celeste simply said in a flat tone, “Something like that.” Kieran had thought this would make for a good topic to chat about. But seeing her lack of interest-and more so, the cold —- indifference that came over her face when her daughter was mentioned-he was caught off guard. Then again, he reasoned, maybe it was because she hadn’t been able to win custody. The thought must weigh on her. Since she clearly didn’t want to talk about it, he dropped the subject.
Once inside the theater, Kieran swapped his two front-row tickets with someone so he could sit beside Celeste. 1 He had even taken the trouble to learn a bit about opera in advance. Before long, he was chatting easily about it with both Celeste and Betty, and the three of them found themselves having a pleasant conversation. As the performance neared its climax, the hall had grown completely quiet. Just then, Celeste’s phone vibrated softly. She glanced down. It was a message from Trevor.
“Grandma’s health has improved a lot. Thank you for visiting her so often these past few weeks. Are you free on Monday?” 2 The moment she read the first few words, Celeste already knew what he was getting at. Sure enough, just as she had expected, Trevor was texting to set the time for their divorce. —- She picked up her phone and replied simply. “Yes.” The response from him came almost immediately. “Good. See you in the morning.” Celeste didn’t reply again.
She slipped her phone back into her bag and returned her gaze to the stage. The opera had just reached its most dramatic moment. Kieran, about to make a comment, turned his head toward her-only to stop short when he caught her expression. The smile on his lips froze, and the words died in his throat. Because he realized, though her eyes were fixed on the stage, her heart was heavy with something else entirely.