Leslie nced at how red Aurelia’s ears were and remained silent.


    After settling her mother down, Aurelia left the hospital.


    Linda said that she needed to go home for her beauty sleep and left in a taxi.


    Aurelia followed Leslie into the car and the two didn’t speak throughout the journey.


    Her phone kept vibrating and that was the only noise in the car.


    She took out her phone and saw photos of Kimberly partying with her colleagues. The others had nothing but praises for


    Kimberyl.


    “Thank you, Kimberly, for taking us out.”


    “Anyone will benefit from following Kimberly''s lead.”


    “Here’s to our department. Let''s hope we will get even better in the future.”


    There were photos of them drinking in a high-end restaurant.


    There were eighteen people in the department and seventeen of them were present with the exception of Aurelia.


    She exited the group chat and saw Millie’stest post on her social media ount.


    It was a photo of her and Kimberly with a caption of “My best friend.”


    Seeing those three words left Aurelia’s hands trembling. She took a deep breath and locked her phone, before turning to stare


    outside the car window.


    Leslie saw everything but did notment much and focused on driving.


    Once they were home, Aurelia set her purse aside and turned to walk into the kitchen.


    “Let''s just eat something casual,” she said in a weak voice.


    Without waiting for Leslie to answer, Aurelia darted into the kitchen.


    Fifteen minutester, she came out with two servings of mushroom soup.


    “Thank you.” Leslie took the bowl, intending to chat with Aurelia after they finished eating. However, when he took the first sip,


    the overly salty taste nearly made him spit it out.


    He frowned and wondered if Aurelia pour half a bottle of salt into this.


    “What''s wrong?” Aurelia looked at him with lifeless eyes.


    “Aurelia, can we talk?”


    “No, I’m fine. | have to thank you for today, even though the result ...isn’t great.” Aurelia forced a smile and lowered her head.


    She knew she must look awful when she smiled at this moment.


    Leslie stood, then took two sses and a bottle of wine from the liquor cab. “Want some?”


    Aurelia looked at the red liquid and bit her lip.


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    She didn’t usually drink, but at this moment, she felt an overwhelming urge to grab the bottle and chug it down. Maybe that would


    ease the pain in her heart.


    She nodded. “Sure.”


    Leslie poured two sses of wine. He pushed one towards Aurelia and then raised his own ss to take a sip.


    Under the warm light, Leslie tilted his head slightly, and even his eyshes seemed to glow. The bright red liquid slowly slid over


    his lips, disappearing as it rolled down his throat. He looked both graceful and restrained.


    His every movement was deeply etched into Aurelia’s mind, and she couldn’t help but swallow hard.


    Leslie noticed her gaze and lowered his eyes slightly:


    Startled, she picked up her ss and took a gulp.


    This wine was quite good.


    Aurelia poured herself another ss, thinking Leslie might stop her. To her surprise, he just sat there and quietly sipped his own


    drink.


    4


    This made Aurelia gradually rx, and she slowly opened up.


    By the fifth ss, Aurelia was already quite tipsy and started speaking freely.


    The next moment, Aurelia mmed the table with a loud bang and red fiercely at Leslie.


    Leslie was surprised and almost dropped his wine ss.


    Before he could react, Aurelia’s finger poked sharply at his cheek. “You! What gives you the right? Why do you treat me like


    this?”