The man pondered for a long time before speaking tentatively.

"Are you free to have a meal together in a while?"

Half an hour later.

When Clara was sitting in the restaurant, she only then realized belatedly that something was wrong.

Shen Kuo saw her unease and smiled.

"Is it difficult to eat with me?"

"No."

Clara just felt inexplicably awkward.

The man opposite her stared at her expression for a moment and suddenly put down his knife and fork.

"Since it's not difficult to eat, then is it me that makes you feel uncomfortable?"

"Clara, is there really no possibility for me? Not even as a backup?"

Clara's face flushed bright red, and she didn't know where to put her hands.

"Mr. Shen... no, Shen Kuo, we only just met not long ago; saying these things now is a bit too fast."

Shen Kuo stared at her flushed cheeks and let out a low laugh, no longer pressuring her.

Chapter 18

Julian searched almost the entire city of Hai before he finally found news of Clara.

It took several twists and turns before he finally managed to see the person he had been thinking of day and night.

But before he could even feel happy, his gaze shifted and swept over another man sitting opposite her in the restaurant.

Julian's brow furrowed, his breathing sinking involuntarily.

He suppressed his anger, walked quickly toward the person opposite, snatched Clara's wrist, and stared intently at Shen Kuo with bloodshot eyes.

"Clara, who is he!"

Clara was stunned at first, then her expression turned completely cold. She shook off his grip on her wrist forcefully and retorted coldly.

"Mr. Huo, you have a family, please have some self-respect."

"I'm not—"

Julian's breathing hitched, and a sense of guilt and helplessness flashed across his face.

"I am Julian. Clara, I only have you now, no one else."

Clara laughed out loud uncontrollably, as if she had just heard a joke.

"Julian, don't you find it laughable to say that yourself?"

"Who was it that kept claiming their surname was Huo? Who said I was just a stranger? And who was it that personally sent me into that private room? Don't you have any self-awareness about that?"

The color drained from Julian's face completely.

He opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but no matter how he explained, it only seemed pale and powerless.

"Clara, I was possessed at the time, but I had warned the others beforehand. It was all Ivy who went behind my back and ordered people not to save you; I really didn't know anything about that."

Clara took a few steps back, her heart filled only with contempt.

"Julian, who are you putting on this disgusting act of being uninvolved for now?"

"Pants don't fall off by themselves, and no one can force you to cheat, not to mention that if it weren't for your indulgence in the beginning, how could Ivy have had the nerve to do such things?"

Julian's expression visibly crumbled, and he remained speechless.

The air remained quiet for a long time, so long that just as Clara was about to turn and leave,

Julian lowered his head in a disheveled state, his voice filled with an indescribable choked sob.

"Is there really... not even a sliver of possibility left? Clara, we have been together for ten years—"

"Julian."

Clara turned back to look at him quietly. There was no resentment or interrogation in her eyes, only a calm that had returned to deathly stillness.

"When you were messing around with Ivy, did you ever think about our ten years of relationship?"

A short sentence, yet it seemed to say everything that needed to be said.

Julian's Adam's apple rolled dryly, and a trace of moisture appeared at the corners of his eyes.

In the next second, only a thud was heard—

The sound of knees hitting the ground was exceptionally dull, yet it could no longer stir even the slightest ripple in Clara's heart.

Clara left first, and Shen Kuo deliberately lingered where he was for a while.

He looked down at the man kneeling on the ground, handed him a business card, and the corners of his mouth curled slightly.

"Mr. Julian, right? We might have contact in the future, take it."

Julian stared at him viciously, word by word.

"What do you mean?!"

Shen Kuo scanned him indifferently and chuckled lightly.

"Of course, it's an invitation for you to attend the wedding of Clara and me."

"After all, if Mr. Julian hadn't been so ruthless, Clara wouldn't have left so resolutely. How could I not take the opportunity you personally handed to me?"

Julian's eye sockets were goaded into blood-red. Like a furious wild beast, he swung his fist at Shen Kuo.

But the bodyguards rushed up first, hoisted him up, and took him away.

He could only watch as that familiar figure got further and further away until she disappeared completely from his field of vision.

Julian's outstretched hand dropped powerlessly, and streams of clear tears fell from his eyes.

At this moment, he suddenly realized.

So, not all departures have a warning, and not all regrets can be undone by trying to salvage them.

He had made many mistakes in his life, but he always thought there was plenty of time and that there would always be an opportunity to make amends.

But he had forgotten that there is a kind of pain called "the eternal loss of one's beloved."

The End