Chapter 6

Noelle's cheeks burned. She had no idea why she'd habitually clung onto someone else whenever there was thunder. As the victim, she somehow became the perpetrator in the situation.

"I-I'll make breakfast for you." As she dodged Quentin's glare, she gritted her teeth, put on her clothes, and sneaked away.

When she was busy cooking in the kitchen, she heard him speaking from the living room. "The sea urchins delivered by air from Nordenia will arrive soon. Pick them up and deliver them to Ms. Cadwell. She loves sea urchins."

Noelle paused upon hearing his words. Her mood was utterly ruined. Half an hour later, she tossed a package of bread and a carton of milk on the dining table. "Mr. Lowe, here's your breakfast; take it or leave it. Remember to meet me at the courthouse after breakfast." With that, she made her way upstairs.

She had merely taken the food out of the fridge, which was still cold to the touch. Quentin seethed. He couldn't believe that she gave no thought to his breakfast.

What upset him the most was her reminder to meet at the courthouse. All she could think about was the divorce.

Noelle emerged again. She was dragging a suitcase with her this time. Upon hearing the sounds of the wheels on the ground, Quentin went up to her. He questioned, "Why do you insist on getting a divorce? Is it because of what I said? That you were trying to imitate a superior woman? Hm?" His eyes flashed with anger.

She spun around and replied, "There are too many reasons. I can't list them out right now." She seemed very calm as she met his eyes with her crystal-clear gaze.

Feeling frustrated, he snapped, "Fine! You'll get what you want!" He grabbed his car keys and left without having breakfast.

Noelle received a call from John right after she left Windsor Villa. He requested her help to pick a wallpaper for his living room, which she readily agreed to. Then, she called Quentin.

Quentin didn't sound at all happy when he picked up. "Stop hurrying me! I'm almost there."

Noelle, rendered speechless, suddenly felt embarrassed to bring up the topic. "Uh, Mr. Lowe, something came up. I can't go to the courthouse today. Can I trouble you to meet me there tomorrow?"

Quentin choked in anger when she addressed him as "Mr. Lowe." He thought, "Woah, she's putting distance between us right away. Wasn't she calling me darling just last night?"

He hung up in a fit of rage before sipping on the coffee that his secretary just served. Then, he hurriedly let go of the cup as though he was scalded. He hissed, "Do you want me to burn my tongue?"

The secretary chattered in fear. "B-But it's not that hot!" She had clearly tested the temperature of the drink before serving it to him. He seemed unusually irritated over the past few days.

"Get out!" Quentin scowled.

The secretary hastily exited the office.

Meanwhile, he was struggling to keep his temper in check. His anger had ballooned from the first time Noelle brought up divorce. Today, his anger grew. Even Martin got into trouble a few times with him.

By 11:00 am, he finally called up Dennis. "Let's have a drink."

…

Noelle accompanied John to visit a home improvement store selling imported goods. He had chosen a wallpaper imported from Swintonia, which cost around 50 thousand dollars. It would arrive by air in a few weeks' time.

John later treated Noelle to lunch. By coincidence, she spotted Quentin and Dennis in the lobby. Quentin seemed quite moody and irritated.

Dennis gasped in disbelief. "I heard you ordered a box of sea urchins for Xyla! I bet you've never treated Noelle like that before!"

"She isn't worth the special treatment," Quentin carelessly remarked.

He thought of the time he asked her for the reason behind the divorce. To his dismay, she answered in a troubled manner. She claimed that there were too many reasons and that she couldn't list them all right off the bat. Was he really that lousy?

Dennis was dumbstruck by his friend's blatant ignorance. He thought, "Well, let's see if you're going to learn your lesson soon, you jerk."

Noelle, who happened to overhear the conversation between the two friends, found herself struggling to breathe. A raw pain shot through her chest. She had to take deep breaths to keep her emotions in check as she headed to the booth that John had reserved for them.

During lunch, John offered her a sea urchin dish. "This is a sea urchin freshly flown over from Nordenia. Give it a try. It's pretty tasty."

Noelle was taken aback. Though she didn't like seafood, for some reason, she beamed at John and replied, "Sure!"

Quentin witnessed the exchange between Noelle and John when he returned from the washroom. He knitted his brows as his expression stiffened.

He then called a waiter over and whispered something. Soon, the waiter headed to Noelle's table and served her a bowl of vegetable consommé. "Madam, Mr. Lowe ordered this dish for you because you dislike seafood."

Noelle was stunned at the soup. Then, she laughed at the absurdity of it. Mr. Lowe? That was likely Quentin.

The vegetable consommé, a clear soup, was him dropping a subtle hint that she needed to "steer clear" of developing a relationship with her clients—in this case, John.

The audacity of him to even warn her about it!

Smirking, she replied to the waiter, "Please thank Mr. Lowe on my behalf. Do tell him that one will get sick of a type of food if they have too much of it. Besides, once you taste the food, you'll realize that it's nothing special anyway."

Done with roasting him, she picked up the sea urchin with her fork and took a bite.

In another room, the waiter conveyed Noelle's full message to Quentin. Just as Quentin was frowning and trying to put it together, Dennis got the hint and chuckled with glee. He taunted Quenton, "Serves you right!"

Quentin was a jerk who deserved every bit of the roasting, as he had treated Xyla much better than the way he treated his wife.

Dennis raised a glass of wine with a satisfied look.

On the other hand, Quentin looked rather cross. Noelle had taken a jab at him with the food analogy, describing him as underwhelming after getting to know him better. In another sense, she had described him as appearing better than he really was.

"I'm not eating!" Fueled by anger, he stormed out of the room.

Back at the booth seat, John cast a searching look at Noelle's face. Grinning, he leaned into the seat. "Is that dish from your admirer, Ms. Xanthos?"

She shook her head. "I have no admirers." When she took a bite of the sea urchin, she realized it tasted pretty decent, even though she had never liked it much.

Perhaps, the sea urchin lesson indicated that she was right to divorce Quentin. There were plenty of suitable men out there. One day, she'd surely meet a man who loved her with his entire existence.

Suddenly, John felt more relaxed and bold in her presence. Raising a glass, he said to her, "Cheers!"

She clinked glasses with him. "I find that sea urchin is not that bad. Mr. Xenos, I'm afraid I'll burn a hole through your pocket today."

He beamed warmly at her. "That's not a problem at all."

…

After lunch, John drove Noelle back to her apartment. He watched her enter her apartment from his car before he drove away.

As Noelle didn't sleep well the night before, she fell asleep right as her head hit the pillow. As for Quentin, the poor man paced in anger but failed to get over the incident at lunch. He called Martin. "I need you to look into where Noelle is staying now."

Soon, Martin sent him an address and explained, "This is Mrs. Lowe's private residence. She's always here when she's not at Windsor Villa."

Quentin immediately drove to the address without hesitation. He had planned to stop her when she returned home to demand an answer. He would like to know the reason she described him as appearing better than he really was. What did she mean by getting sick of a type of food that one frequently ate?

Was she tired of him?

When he arrived at her apartment, he was aghast to see John driving out of the compound. As they were business rivals, Quentin instantly recognized John's car and grew upset.

He thought, "Seriously? Has John Xenos been visiting her at home?"