Charlene and Thorne walked side by side out of the hospital room. Once they’d put some distance between themselves and the door, Charlene spoke first. “If you have something to say, now’s your chance.”

Thorne glanced over at her. “My grandmother’s condition still isn’t stable. I’d like to put off the divorce for a few more days.”

Charlene didn’t look at him, but his words didn’t come as a surprise.

After a brief pause, she said, “Alright.”

“Thank you.” As she was about to leave, Thorne added, “Is there anything you want? As a thank you, I’d like to help you with something, or grant you a wish- anything within my power.”

Charlene paused, her step faltering for just a moment, but she didn’t turn around. Her voice was calm as she replied, “No, there’s nothing. What I want isn’t something you can give.”

Realizing her words might be misunderstood that he might think she was talking about his feelings for her—she quickly clarified, “And just so you know, that’s not what I meant.”

Thorne gave a small laugh, watching her profile. “How do you know what I thought you meant?”

Charlene had no idea what he’d read into her words. From his tone, though, she could tell he wasn’t upset.

Whatever he thought, she had nothing more to say. Without looking back, Charlene walked away.

Thorne watched her go. “So, I owe you a favor, then?”

She didn’t break stride. “Suit yourself.”

That evening, news spread quickly through both the Hawkins and Spencer families: Irma had woken up, and the divorce between Charlene and Thorne had been postponed once again.

Georgina Spencer was the first to comment: “Irma waking up is a good thing. Now we’re one step closer to that Ross girl divorcing Thorne. No matter how you look at it, this is progress.”

Leah Spencer and Rhoda, among others, felt the same. But Leah had been downcast for days since Granger Harden had rejected her in front of Charlene, so she kept her thoughts to herself.

Vesta Hawkins shared their opinion, though her feelings ran deeper. More than anyone, she longed for Charlene and Thorne’s marriage to end as soon as possible. But no matter how anxious she was, she had to be understanding when Thorne-because of Irma-kept postponing the divorce.

Objectively, she should’ve been happy that Irma was awake. But when she heard that Charlene would be visiting The Henderson Group the next day, her mood soured.

Charlene had only needed to showcase her skills once at The Henderson Group to win over not just Thorne, but the entire core development team. Now, with Charlene returning, if she impressed them again—and if Thorne found out-

The thought made Vesta lose her appetite entirely. She set her fork down, suddenly uninterested in her meal.

The next day.

After visiting Irma at the hospital with Helena Ross, Charlene made her way to The Henderson Group.

Thorne was at the hospital too, and he knew she’d be heading there. Charlene was running late, so

instead of returning to PrimeStamet

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Technologies, she went straigh from the hospital to The Henderson Group. s

Thorne also needed to go back to The Henderson Group for work.

Normally, they could have traveled together, but neither of them brought it up. Instead, they left the hospital separately, one after the other.

By the time Charlene arrived, most of the meeting room was already full.

The meeting had been underway for a while. After some lively discussion, Charlene glanced around and realized Thorne had slipped into the room at some point without her noticing.

She caught his eye for a brief moment, then looked away.

Noticing her uncertainty, the colleague sitting beside her leaned in and whispered with a smile, “Mr Henderson’s been here for over ten minutes. He wasn’t even supposed to attend this meeting todayo Honestly, he’s been watching and listening to you the entire time-you could say he came just to hear you speak.” s

Charlene’s reputation in the technical department was already well established. Plenty of people wanted to attend her talks, but not everyone could just walk int@these meetings. s

She didn’t respond, simply listening as the meeting continued.

After she finished her latest presentation, Thorne still showed no sign of leaving.

At that moment, someone glanced out through the glass wall and leaned over to Thorne, lowering their voice. “Mr. Henderson, Ms. Hawkins is here.”

Thorne looked toward the door. Sure enough, Vesta was standing just outside.

Others in the room noticed her too. As the meeting broke for a short recess, someone whispered, “Mr. Henderson’s girlfriend is here to see him again.”

Charlene overheard the gossip but ignored it.

Thorne excused himself and headed out to Vesta. “Didn’t Neural Nexus Tech have something going on? What brings you here all of a sudden?”