Chapter 178: Ties that hold no truth don’t carry meaning —only weight.
Adelyn paused at that.
"My background?" she repeated, watching as the secretary nodded.
"I’ve heard several times that children from wealthy families often step out of their comfort zones to experience the hardships of real life. Are you here for the same?"
Adelyn smiled faintly and glanced around the apartment.
"No, Mr. David," she said, continuing calmly, "this place is already quite comfortable. If I were here to experience hardship, I wouldn’t have chosen somewhere like this."
The expectation on the man’s face dimmed almost instantly.
"Then ... does that mean—"
Even before he could finish, Adelyn nodded, already understanding what he was trying to ask.
"Yes, you finally guessed it right," she said, her tone polite yet composed. "I’m not some wealthy heiress. My background is quite simple. No family ... no strings attached."
Charles looked at her, clearly a little disheartened. But then, as if something suddenly clicked in his mind, he asked quickly,
"Then ... was it your boyfriend last night?"
Boyfriend?
Adelyn paused at that.
Seeing her silence, Charles smiled as though he had figured everything out.
"Haha ..." he laughed lightly. "No wonder he was standing out there waiting for you for so long last night. A boyfriend could easily do things like that for his girlfriend."
When Adelyn’s gaze met his, he added,
"I heard from the guard that he only left well past midnight."
At first, Adelyn couldn’t quite understand who he was referring to.
Until—
Something clicked in her memory.
The messages. The missed calls from earlier that morning.
Xavier.
It was him.
She didn’t need to confirm, she knew.
"He—"
Before Charles could continue, she cut in smoothly.
"You’ve misunderstood, Mr. David," she said, her voice calm but edged with firmness. "He isn’t my boyfriend."
The secretary frowned at her denial.
"But he said he was here looking for you. He came in a Mercedes and—"
"I don’t really know him," Adelyn repeated, her tone steady. "There must be some misunderstanding."
Charles seemed inclined to argue, but the composed seriousness on her face made him hesitate.
In the end, he simply nodded.
"Then it seems I truly misunderstood. I apologize, Ms. Grace."
He stood up, preparing to leave—
But paused again, as if remembering something.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot to ask—what do you do?"
Adelyn answered vaguely,
"I’m in the entertainment industry."
"Entertainment industry?" Charles repeated, giving her a longer look. Her beauty was hard to overlook. "An actress?"
Adelyn didn’t confirm it. She only smiled.
Understanding her reluctance, Charles didn’t press further. He nodded politely.
"It was good meeting you, Ms. Grace. I’ll take my leave now."
She nodded and walked him to the door.
As she closed it behind him—
Charles paused outside and glanced back.
Even though she had denied being from a wealthy background, he didn’t quite believe her.
And after learning she was in the entertainment industry, her reluctance to share details only made more sense to him.
After all, people in that field often kept their personal lives guarded.
A faint smile curved his lips before he finally turned and left.
Downstairs, he stopped near the guard and said,
"Keep an eye on Ms. Grace from the third floor."
The guard frowned in confusion.
Seeing that, Charles added,
"Her privacy must not be disturbed. Don’t allow random people to show up or enter without her permission."
Though the guard didn’t understand the reason for such instructions, he still nodded.
"I’ll pay extra attention, sir."
Charles gave a small nod before walking away.
Meanwhile—
Upstairs, back inside the apartment—
Nigel hadn’t come to the door, but he had heard everything.
He stepped out only after Charles had left.
Seeing Adelyn closing the door, he asked,
"Who was he referring to?"
From her reaction —sharp and firm —Nigel could already tell it wasn’t Dylan.
Adelyn turned toward him, looking completely unbothered.
"Xavier Colson," she said simply.
Nigel quirked a brow at the name.
"He came here looking for you?"
She shrugged lightly.
"Seems like it."
After a brief pause, she added,
"He even called a few times last night."
"Don’t tell me," Nigel said, leaning back slightly, "now that he has found you again, he has started missing you."
Adelyn didn’t react.
She wasn’t surprised that Xavier —or Liam —had managed to find her address. It had never been something impossible. And she hadn’t exactly tried to hide from them either.
"They’re not missing me," she said evenly, her voice devoid of any emotion. "They’re just feeling guilty."
Nigel nodded as he walked over and took a seat in the living room.
Once settled, he lifted his gaze back to her.
"So ... are you going to forgive them?"
Adelyn smiled faintly.
"Forgive them?" she echoed, as if the idea itself didn’t quite register. "For what?"
"For abandoning you."
She shook her head.
"They didn’t abandon me," she said, her lips curving into a small, knowing smile. "They just didn’t consider me important enough to choose first."
She paused—
"And I can’t blame them for that, can I?"
Though she said it so easily, without a trace of visible pain, Nigel knew better.
That kind of indifference didn’t come naturally.
It was built —after losing every bit of hope and affection she once held.
And once something like that was lost ... it was never truly found again.
"So you’re planning to sever ties with them completely?" he asked, even though she had already implied it before.
Adelyn took a slow breath and nodded.
"I have to," she said. "Ties that hold no truth don’t carry meaning —only weight. And I’ve long been done bearing the liabilities that were never mine."
Nigel watched her for a long moment.
"Then when are you going to give them the papers?" he asked.
Adelyn didn’t answer immediately.
She had been planning to deal with it from the very first day she had returned—
But she hadn’t set a time yet.
So when Nigel asked, she paused to think.
"I still need to figure that out," she admitted.
Then, after a brief pause, she added—
"But I won’t delay it for long."
