Chapter 4
Offering no rebuttal, Autumn stared at the faint mark on her ring finger that wouldn’t disappear anytime soon. “This imprint looks awful. I should’ve removed the ring sooner.”
Hearing this, Olivia figured Autumn was serious this time.
Even though she couldn’t be certain Autumn was serious this time, the latter’s attitude toward this was better than ever before.
She knew it wasn’t necessary to mock Autumn anymore, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Your so-called love isn’t even worth a decent meal to me.”
Autumn merely replied, “Then let’s go. I’ll treat you to a meal.”
Showing no intention of moving, Olivia raised a brow at her. “My time is precious. Tell me exactly what you want from me first, and I’ll see if it’s even worth my time to eat with you.”
Autumn looked at her wordlessly for a few seconds. “I want to rewrite the thesis I previously stopped working on. I’ll need to use your lab to run some data.”
The industry was evolving quickly, so she’d have to make a lot of adjustments.
Autumn hadn’t dared to bring this up over the phone before because she had felt diffident.
Knowing Olivia, Autumn was sure she would scold her for wasting time all this while. After all, if Autumn hadn’t gotten married, she’d have already published her paper when she was still in university.
Sure enough, Olivia looked at her like she was some rare exhibit. “Is this a whim?”
Autumn replied, “I’m being serious.”
Olivia scrutinized her.
As she’d been active in the field, she knew that Averpark University’s Luther had gained massive attention from top tech companies for his research.
Barely anyone knew that the problem he was working on had already been solved by Autumn three years ago, and that the complete version of Lugi-X was in her company.
Autumn was the sole developer behind Lugi-X, a large language model. Any one of the technical hurdles she’d overcome would have stalled an entire lab.
Autumn was, without a doubt, the most gifted genius Olivia had ever met.
Yet, this genius was a hopeless romantic. Not only did she leave the field to get married, but she had also been reduced to serving tea and playing the role of a secretary.
Olivia simply couldn’t understand how a genius like Autumn could waste so much talent instead of moving forward in her field.
“You’ve been out of the field for three years. Are you sure your thesis still holds any value?”
Autumn answered, “I’ll make some adjustments. Once Professor Beck is available, I’ll confirm the research direction with her. If she approves, I’ll continue.”
That was only if her mentor was even willing to see her.
“Then you’ve got a long wait ahead of you. She’s currently fully committed to national research projects and won’t be back anytime soon.”
Autumn stated calmly, “I can wait.”
Now that she was no longer obsessing over making Damien fall for her, time was the one thing she had plenty of now.
Olivia wanted to say something else, but stopped herself. She was well aware that even if Autumn had been out of the field for years, the things she wanted to work on were beyond Olivia’s capabilities to comment on.
The world of a genius was always incomprehensible to most.
Hence, Olivia merely said, “Fine. I’ll have that meal with you.”
Olivia may have a sharp tongue, but her heart was far softer than she let on.
Despite acting like she was reluctant to go along with Autumn, she was actually just putting on an act. If not, she wouldn’t even be here.
Autumn chuckled. “Thank you for taking the time to be here, Ms. Clements.”
…
Barry was shopping with his influencer girlfriend, whom he’d officially started dating just an hour ago, when he spotted someone familiar.
He tried to go after her, but she was already gone.
He walked into the jewelry store and let his girlfriend pick what she liked while he asked the store clerk about Autumn.
The more he heard, the more excited he got.
That bastard Damien had lied to him!
If Autumn had really gone crawling back to him, how could she have sold her wedding ring?
After thinking it over, he decided to round up his friends.
That night, everyone was already drinking and having a great time when Damien finally arrived.
As soon as Barry saw him, he loudly exclaimed, “Hey, guys, guess what? Autumn suddenly sold her wedding ring. What kind of stunt is she pulling now?”
They’d poke fun at Autumn for a bit at every gathering.
At first, they’d worried Damien might mind.
If Damien so much as frowned, everyone would fall silent. But in the end, they were worried for nothing.
Damien didn’t care at all. Even if they joked about Autumn in front of him, he would have no reaction.
But tonight, before anyone could say anything else, Damien calmly stated, “She’s just putting on a show for me.”
Scott had told Damien word for word what Autumn had said in the café.
Truth be told, he was taken aback, but just like Scott, he believed Autumn was only acting out because of the shock of losing her child.
As such, selling her ring was just another part of her act.
“A show, huh? That does sound like something Autumn would do.”
“That trick won’t work on Damien, though. Everyone knows he hasn’t worn his wedding ring since the day he got married.”
Barry scoffed, saying, “Oh, he’s definitely worn it on certain occasions. There’s no way he’d dare to not wear it in front of Mr. Caldwell Senior…”
Damien gave him an annoyed glance.
Barry immediately cleared his throat and backpedaled. “Yeah, yeah—of course he’s never worn it! Not even once!”
Only then did Damien’s expression ease slightly.
Barry’s lips twitched, and he asked, “Anyway, I saw Autumn head into a different jewelry store afterward. Maybe she was buying a new pair of matching rings to give you. Would you wear it?”
Damien acted like he hadn’t heard anything.
As he fidgeted with his fingers, a touch of warmth appeared in his eyes.
Damien was cold and aloof, the epitome of restraint. That gentleness in his expression was extremely rare.
Barry immediately leaned in and saw that Damien was texting Emilia, but the screen went dark almost instantly.
Damien looked up, clearly displeased. “You called me here just for this nonsense?”
It was then that Barry finally realized—even if Autumn were gone for a month, Damien wouldn’t bat an eye.
No matter what antics Autumn pulled, if Damien didn’t care, it was all meaningless, and Barry still would not get to watch the fun unfold.
Barry clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Well, I may not have won either, but you lost first. You owe me a meal.”
He was talking about the bet they made.
Damien went along with it. “Just tell me when.”
“Isn’t Emilia’s birthday coming up? Let’s just do it on that day. It’ll be more festive.”
Damien remarked, “Even if you didn’t ask, I was going to invite you anyway.”
“Oh? So you already had everything planned. How thoughtful of you.”
It was painfully clear whether Damien cared for someone or not.
If Barry remembered correctly, Autumn’s birthday had been a month ago.
That night, Damien had been drinking with them. Autumn had called, but Damien was too drunk to answer, so he picked up.
The first thing she said was, “Are you still busy? My birthday’s already over.”
It had been 1:00 am when she called.
Barry said, “It’s me. Sorry, but Damien’s drunk. Uh… Happy birthday.”
Autumn had gone silent for a few seconds before calmly accepting the fact that her husband had forgotten her birthday.
Without a word of complaint, she’d merely asked Barry to take care of Damien.
At the time, Barry had thought that Autumn was truly a master of emotional restraint.
…
In the early hours of the morning, Damien returned home from Barry’s gathering.
As he passed by the living room, something occurred to him, and he glanced at the couch.
Of course, the familiar figure was nowhere to be seen.
Upstairs, the guest room at the end of the hall was dark.
That was Autumn’s room, also the room furthest from the master bedroom.
A day had passed, yet she still hadn’t come back.
Unbothered, Damien turned back into the master bedroom.
It was now Monday, a workday.
Damien finished washing up and went downstairs. Rosetta bustled around, preparing a lavish breakfast for him.
He glanced at the table, and although he wasn’t particularly hungry, he sat down anyway.
Rosetta finally let out a sigh of relief.
These past two days without Autumn around had been rough for her.
As Damien was raised to be well-mannered, he never lashed out at staff without good reason.
Nonetheless, his presence alone was overwhelming. Just being near him made people like her nervous.
“Mr. Caldwell, please take your time eating.”
The food she made wasn’t bad, but compared to Autumn’s cooking, it was subpar.
Damien was already starting to miss her breakfasts, even though it had only been two days. “Did she call you?”
Rosetta had just turned to leave when the question startled her. “W-What?”
Damien knitted his brows, which scared Rosetta even more.
She immediately came to her senses and answered, “No!”
Damien’s frown was now a scowl. “Not even once?”
