Chapter 9
I stood with the young members of the hilang club, taking a group photo at the top of Ivoryspire Peak. By my count, I’d be able to finalize my divorce in another two weeks.
On the day I left the Locke residence, I bought a one–way ticket to Velkhana.
Benson and I used to talk about living in Velkhana for a while, but he had always been too busy with work, so we never got the chance.
A week after staying in Velkhana, I joined a mountaineering club online.
The club was filled with young people in their 20s. At first, they were worried I wouldn’t keep up, but after climbing two mountains together, they stopped treating me like I was old. I had become fully part of their group.
Sometimes, it felt like I had returned to being 20 again.
What I hadn’t expected was to run into Benson at the foot of the mountain. Or rather, it wasn’t exactly a coincidence. He had come looking for me on purpose.
drinks.
After saying goodbye to my friends in the club, I took Benson to a small local café fotom
Having just come down from the snowy peak, my body still felt flushed, so I ordered an ice cream.
Benson frowned as he watched me spoon it into my mouth, one bite after another.
“Eating ice cream in this kind of weather is bad for your health. You’re not in your 20s anymore…” He paused mid–sentence, and I froze too.
Then, I gave a light smile, looking relaxed. “I saw a doctor. He said my body
still young.”
After a brief silence, I slowly finished the ice cream and then turned to him. “So, what brought you all the way here?”
Benson pressed his lips together. His eyes were heavy as they settled on me. “About Stellan’s stomach issue… I’m sorry.”
I gave a faint, indifferent smile. “It’s fine. It’s already in the past.”
He drew in a breath, then spoke again, his voice trembling slightly. “And what I said back then… I’m sorry about that too. I didn’t mean it.”
I stared at him, puzzled. I was trying to recall what he meant. After a while, I finally understood what he was referring to. I thought for a moment and made a phone call.
Fifteen minutes later, a little girl with pigtails was led over by the club leader. She threw her arms around me, gave me a quick kiss, and called out in a clear, sweet voice, “Mom.”
Benson’s eyes widened in disbelief.
I took out an earlier photo of the girl. She looked dull and lifeless in it, nothing like the delicate, lovely child she had become.
“Her name is Nessa.”
I held her in my arms and told him her story.
She was the child I adopted from the orphanage on the very first day I left the Locke residence. Back then, she was scrawny and malnourished. Honestly, she wasn’t very cute. But in just 20 days, she had grown soft and chubby, her skin fair and smooth.
“So, Benson, I don’t agree with what you said that day. It’s true that I don’t have a child of my own, but do you really not know why that is?”
The truth was, I had wanted a child later on. But he was the one who didn’t want it. And the reason was simple–Yara was already pregnant then.
Benson stumbled back a step His words were choppy. “You
I nodded.
You knew?”
Yes, I knew all about Benson and Yara’s past. I was the key figure behind the company’s success. Compared to Benson, most of the employees saw me as the true driving force behind the business. He felt threatened by me, but he couldn’t cast me aside. At the time, he still loved me.
He was torn and conflicted. And that was when Yara appeared.
She had no real abilities. She was like a dodder vine, surviving only by latching onto men. Yet when she was gentle, she was exactly like me.
