CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER 15: ACTING CUTE WITH HER HUSBAND

Sean on the other end lost his temper and quickly said, "Alright, alright, I won’t come. How about I take you and my niece Florence out for dinner alone? Is that okay?"

"Hmm." Poppy Hale, slightly dizzy from the alcohol, kept a straight face and said, "Sean, don’t lie to me."

"How would I dare, my little ancestor! So it’s settled, see you this weekend."

After hanging up, Poppy stood outside the restaurant, feeling the hot wind from the air conditioner’s external unit dissipate some of the alcohol.

Stella Hollis is Sean Lynch’s girlfriend now; in the past, she was Poppy’s college roommate.

While in school, Stella appeared to have a good relationship with Poppy.

But she repeatedly reported Poppy for having someone attend classes for her, which wasn’t a big deal.

Later, Stella falsely accused Poppy of using her family background to bully classmates, causing a huge commotion, even convincing the bullied student herself that Poppy had bullied her.

All because that student had a crush on Declan Hawthorne.

Even Declan probably thought Poppy was secretly warning the girls to stay away from him.

She never did anything like that.

Declan was unaware that she seemed humble and uneducated in front of him, arrogant and capricious on the surface, but not bad at heart.

She never stopped those girls from liking Declan.

In Poppy’s view, if they liked Declan unwaveringly, it only proved he was worth it, or it was his passive approval.

It wasn’t something for her to resolve.

After the scandal broke out, Poppy spent a lot of effort asking Sean for help, and eventually, they discovered it was all Stella’s doing.

No one knew what Stella had said to Sean, but afterward, Sean persuaded Poppy to reconcile, to not leave a young girl with a tarnished record.

Poppy agreed but demanded Stella apologize in front of their counselor.

She also privately slapped Stella a few times and told her to stay away.

Since then, the next time Poppy saw Stella was when she attended Mr. Hale’s funeral with Sean.

Seeing Stella holding Sean’s hand, Poppy sneered sarcastically but couldn’t be bothered to respond, just rolled her eyes and let Sean handle it.

She hasn’t seen Stella since.

Thinking back on the past, Poppy opened a long-unused WeChat account to take a look.

There was a message from someone sent three years ago, someone whose account was now deleted.

"Stella sent me those messages because she likes Declan. Be careful of her."

"I’m sorry, Poppy. We’ve never met, yet I hurt you indirectly."

Poppy stared at her phone.

After dealing with all that stuff back then, the bullied girl seemed to have added her contact, but Poppy didn’t have the heart to deal with her, only focused on handling Stella.

Later, when she went abroad, she changed to a new WeChat account and no longer used the old one.

Unexpectedly, at that time, she received a small yet precious apology.

She knew all along that Stella liked Declan.

That’s why when Stella and Sean got together later, Poppy found it absurd.

She had heard Stella badmouthing her.

One day, when Poppy went to the pantry to get some water, she overheard Stella’s voice from the next room.

"That bitch Poppy might be wild in bed, that’s probably why Declan was interested in her for a moment!"

Someone beside her whispered, "You mean Poppy and Declan did something?"

Stella’s face showed jealousy and disgust, and she exclaimed, "Impossible! Declan would never go for her! Aren’t you afraid of catching something?"

"Huh? Catch something? Poppy isn’t that kind of person, right?"

"You’re not even in the same dorm as her, what do you know."

"Oh, right."

...

But Sean himself didn’t think there was anything wrong.

After quickly browsing through the account, it was just previous messages from people asking where Poppy went, and when they got no reply, they stopped messaging.

At the top was a pinned conversation with a black avatar, WeChat name H.

It was Declan.

In college, Declan rarely looked at his phone, either attending classes or working part-time.

His phone background was a selfie of Poppy, the password was her birthday, all set by Poppy herself.

They were friends back then but rarely chatted.

Poppy would ask him what he wanted to eat, and from her numerous suggestions, he’d pick one to reply, "This."

Poppy still felt happy.

Clicking in, she unexpectedly saw a few messages.

From three years ago.

"?"

"Where did you go?"

"Are you planning to break up with me and not say it to my face?"

"Fine."

After that, nothing more.

Knowing Declan’s temper, he probably already blocked her account.

Poppy felt a deep sadness roll over her, tapping the screen intending to exit.

She didn’t expect to accidentally send Declan an emoji.

She hurriedly retracted it, but the retraction notice would most likely be seen by Declan.

Poppy awkwardly dug her toes into the ground, sobering up from the alcohol she had just consumed.

Quickly, she clicked to deactivate the account, seeing that it would take half a month to complete, as long as she didn’t log back into that WeChat during this time.

Declan was so busy now, he probably wouldn’t see it.

Poppy let out a long sigh of relief, turned around, and unexpectedly saw Declan standing not far behind her, smoking.

He held a cigarette between his fingers, his deep gaze resting on her, not knowing how long he’d been watching.

But the cigarette was already at its end, most likely, he’d been there for a few minutes.

Declan was impeccable in every aspect, each trait was top-notch.

His physique seemed like the product of an artisan’s favoritism, with a slim waist and long legs, every part muscled and toned, wearing suit pants like a runway model.

Declan put out the cigarette and tossed it into the trash can, showing no intention of leaving.

He continued to stare at her.

Poppy braced herself and walked forward.

"Hello, President Hawthorne."

"Hmm."

His expression was indifferent, and when Poppy met his probing gaze, they remained silent for a moment.

Poppy spoke first, "If you have no business, President, I’ll head inside now."

"Hmm."

Poppy dashed away, rushing into the restaurant.

Declan lit another cigarette.

He had just heard her speaking in a sweet tone, calling her husband’s name.