Chapter 3

The other end of the line went quiet for a few seconds.

Professor Perez was a legendary figure in the chip industry. After retirement, he'd been working on a cutting-edge project with a few students. The technical difficulty was extremely high, and they were always short-handed.

Three years ago, he had approached Lynn, wanting her to join, but she had just given birth at the time. Ethan wasn't in good health, and she couldn't leave, so she had to decline.

"You want to come?" Professor Perez's tone became serious.

"Yes." Lynn's voice was soft but firm. "I want to come."

Professor Perez was silent for a moment, his tone growing even more serious. "Lynn, you should know this project is classified, with backing from the government and financial groups. If you want to join the project team, you won't be able to balance family life. You probably won't even be able to keep in regular contact."

"It's fine. They won't care." Lynn's tone carried a hint of mockery as she spoke lightly.

"Good! I'm very happy you've thought this through." Professor Perez's voice relaxed, tinged with both relief and emotion. "With your abilities, joining this project will definitely take our field to the next level."

"You've sacrificed a lot for your family these years, but I know your foundation is still there. It's not too late to come back and give it your all."

Not too late.

Those two words made Lynn's nose sting, and she almost couldn't hold back her tears.

So she wasn't unwanted after all. At least Professor Perez had been waiting for her all this time.

"Thank you, Professor." She tried to keep her voice steady. "When can I come over?"

"Handle your personal matters, and in a month, I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Okay."

After hanging up, Lynn watched the traffic flowing past and took a deep breath.

This was the first time in days she'd felt this relaxed.

——

When Gavin brought the child home from the hospital, it was almost evening.

Sophie only had a mild allergy. After being observed at the hospital for one night, she was fine.

But he still stayed at the hospital for another day, only bringing Ethan home in the evening.

When they walked in, the living room was very quiet.

No lights, no smell of cooking, and no one sitting on the sofa waiting for them.

This had never happened before.

In the past, whenever Lynn was home, she would always wait for them to return.

Sometimes she'd wait until late at night, sitting on the sofa reading while waiting. When she heard the door, she'd stand up and ask if they were hungry, if they wanted something to eat.

Gavin stood in the entryway for two seconds, frowned slightly, but said nothing.

Ethan changed into slippers and ran into the living room. He looked around but didn't see Lynn, and the angry expression on his face froze.

He had planned to come home and confront Lynn, to blame her for being so mean and causing Sophie to be hospitalized.

He had even thought about making her go to the hospital to apologize to Sophie, or he would never forgive her!

But he didn't expect her not to be here.

Ethan sat down at the dining table, fuming.

Rowan quickly brought out dinner.

Ethan was already hungry. He picked up his favorite chicken wing and stuffed it in his mouth, but quickly spat it out, his little face angry. "Bleh! This doesn't taste like Mom's cooking!"

Gavin looked at the table full of unsatisfying food and frowned deeply too.

In his memory, whenever Lynn was home, the meals were always made by her own hands.

To make sure they enjoyed the food, she had specifically found top chefs to learn cooking from.

No matter what cuisine, she could cook it as well as a professional chef, and even the plating was beautiful.

Rowan looked a bit awkward and stammered, "I made dinner. Mrs. Green hasn't been back since last night. When I cleaned the bathroom this morning, I found that Mrs. Green's toiletries were all gone."

Gavin's frown deepened.

"Gone?"

"Yes..." Rowan glanced at him nervously. "And some clothes from the closet are missing too."

She looked worried and asked tentatively, "Mr. Green, is Mrs. Green angry? Has she run away from home?"

Run away from home? Gavin found it amusing.

In six years of marriage, he had never seen Lynn angry.

No matter how cold he was to her, how he forgot their wedding anniversary, or missed dates because of business dinners.

She was always gentle and soft, smiling and saying "it's okay."

How could someone like her get angry? Let alone run away from home.

Thinking this, Gavin felt Rowan was overthinking it and said casually, "Don't worry about it. Mrs. Green is probably on another business trip."

He didn't take it to heart at all.

Rowan wanted to say more but ultimately said nothing and turned back to the kitchen.

The next day, Gavin went to the office as usual.

As soon as he entered his office, his secretary knocked and came in. "Mr. Green, here are today's documents."

"Put them on the desk."

The secretary put down a stack of documents, which included the one Lynn had asked Ivy to deliver yesterday.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Mr. Green, Lynn came to the office yesterday."

Gavin's hand didn't stop flipping through the documents. He didn't ask what Lynn came to the office for. In his mind, she was always finding excuses to appear in front of him. He was used to it.

Seeing that he didn't ask further, the secretary didn't say more either.

He actually wanted to mention that Lynn had submitted her resignation letter, but on second thought, he felt it wasn't necessary.

Lynn resigning? Who would believe that?

She liked Mr. Green so much, she practically wanted to stick to him 24/7. How could she possibly resign?

She was probably pretending to resign and would change her mind in a couple of days.

He'd better not say anything.

After the secretary left, Gavin started processing the documents.

After flipping through a few, he suddenly remembered something. Sophie had said yesterday she wanted porridge from that shop in the east part of town, and he'd promised to bring it to her today.

He picked up his phone, about to make a call, when it rang first.

"Gavin..." On the other end, Sophie's voice was tearful. "I'm not feeling well..."

Gavin's brow immediately furrowed. "Wait there, I'm coming right now."

Gavin hung up, grabbed his car keys, and rushed out.

He left in such a hurry that he knocked the top document into the trash bin.

It was Lynn's resignation letter and divorce agreement.

And he hadn't even glanced at it.