Chapter 154 A Photo of Me Dancing
The atmosphere was very lively on the day of Mom’s birthday. I sat in a corner with Jean, Natalie, and Olivia. We ate and chatted.
Naturally, Chester also showed up. For some reason, his good friend, Jasper, had tagged along.
The two of them were chatting not far away when Olivia suddenly nudged me. “Isn’t that Ivan?”
I couldn’t help but be amazed when I looked over.
There was no doubt about it. Ivan’s looks, stature, and bearing were outstanding among the crowd.
However, he rarely wore suits because of the nature of his work. He spent most of his time wearing his white coat, while he was more inclined toward casual and comfortable clothes when he was free.
The black suit he wore today was extremely eye–catching. Brimming with charisma, it was completely different from the cold bearing he had when he worked as a doctor. “Did you invite him, Ivy?” Jean asked.
“Yes, I did,” I replied.
“Doesn’t that mean Rowan was the only one who wasn’t invited?” Natalie chimed in.
Jean gave Natalie a knock on the head. “Of course, he’s not invited!”
Natalie smiled awkwardly when she realized what she’d just said. “I just thought it was unusual that he didn’t attend, especially when Ivan, Chester, and Jasper had all gathered at the same place.
“Don’t tell me Rowan’s distanced himself from his friends because he’s placed all his attention on Ashley?” she asked.
Jean rolled her eyes. “He’s all hoes before bros!”
“He’s such a strange guy.” There was a puzzled look on Olivia’s face. “Let’s say he’s an affectionate man. However, he loathed and distanced himself from Ivy for the longest time. “But if he wasn’t affectionate, then why was he so fixated on Sophie’s heart?” Olivia asked.
“He just doesn’t like Ivy!” Jean replied bluntly. Then, she immediately comforted me when she realized she might have touched a sore spot.
“Don’t be sad, Ivy. You’ll definitely meet someone better after leaving him. He doesn’t deserve you.”
“What’s there for me to be upset about? I’ve already moved on,” I replied with a smile.
All of a sudden, Jean stood up after my words fell. Then, she stormed aggressively toward Chester.
It turned out that a woman had tried to hit on him. However, she left when she saw Jean coming over.
I was watching the show with the rest of them when I saw Ivan approaching out of the corner of my eye.
“Come on, Liv. Let’s take a breather outside!” Natalie stood up immediately when she saw Ivan approaching as she dragged Olivia away.
Just like Jean, the two of them were convinced that Ivan had feelings for me. They’d even banded together behind my back to convince me to accept him.
Not only would that infuriate Rowan, but I would also be able to get my hands on a good man.
Of course, I rejected that proposal heartlessly. I didn’t want to take advantage of his feelings. The nicer and more sincerely someone treated me, the less I wanted to take advantage of them.
“You look dashing today, Dr. York!” I gave him a thumbs–up as I complimented him sincerely.
Ivan sat beside me. “How dashing?” he smiled slightly and asked.
“You’re so handsome that more than half of the women here were sneaking glances at you. Haven’t you noticed it? How bad is your eyesight?” I teased.
Ivan looked around. Indeed, there were many young ladies here, and most of them were all socialites.
However, his expression didn’t change. He turned around and gazed at me. “What about you? Did you sneak a glance at me too?”
I avoided his gaze out of embarrassment. I did sneak a glance, but it wasn’t for the same reason as the other women. I only wanted to take a look at his popularity.
Even with such an attractive appearance, Ivan had only fallen for Ashley in my past life. After giving it some thought, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Ashley.
Ashley had everything in her favor when it came to conquering both Rowan and Ivan. It wouldn’t have been possible without Sophie’s heart and her own means.
This time, Ivan finally didn’t fall in love with Ashley. However, he was interested in me instead.
Although I felt slightly awkward, I felt a little vain about that too. His liking for me proved that I also had my charms.
“Given our relationship, it’s not good for me to be sneaking glances at you, right?” I smiled as I replied.
“You’re right.” Ivan smirked. “You didn’t invite Rowan?”
Come to think of it, my family still had some collaborations with the Paynes in business. But business wasn’t like marriage–you couldn’t divorce as you wished.
Both of the families would definitely suffer a loss if we’d cut ties in a fit of temper, and my family would’ve taken a worse blow.
Mom had deliberately provoked the Paynes by not inviting them. It would become a topic of gossip once the news spread to others.
“Why would I invite him?” I asked casually.
“Is there no chance for the two of you to reconcile at all?” He seemed to be probing me.
I replied seriously, “No. Haven’t you heard about Sophie?”
Although I didn’t tell Ivan, with Chester’s big mouth, I was certain that he’d told Ivan in private.
Sophie’s heart had been transplanted to Ashley. It was such a shocking piece of news.
Indeed, he knew. “I heard about it, but I never expected such a twist. I don’t think Rowan truly likes Ashley. He just can’t let go because of his guilt and remorse toward Sophie.”
Chapter 154 A Photo of Me Dancing
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“Is a heart that important?” I suddenly asked.
“You find it hard to understand, don’t you?” Ivan didn’t express any disdain. Instead, he started explaining it carefully to me.
**Imagine if Rowan had died when you were deeply in love with him. After that, you discovered that his heart was in another man’s body. What would you do then?”
I listened silently. If I thought about it from that perspective, I could indeed understand Rowan’s current feelings.
If none of these things had happened between the two of us and we were still a loving couple, I would’ve been devastated if he died.
“I think I understand it a little now.” Nodding, I smiled. “But even so, I won’t look back. Fate truly works in mysterious ways.
“Back then, I’d already pursued Rowan for five years. However, he still fell in love with a person he just met not too long ago–Sophie. I’d sacrificed five more years of my life because of that. That’s more than enough,” I said.
Ivan’s eyes lit up as his smile grew wider. “That’s right. You’re still young, and there are plenty of choices left for you. You should start anew.”
I definitely intended to start my life anew. But before that, I needed to expose Ashley’s deceitful facade.
I originally wanted to tell Ivan my plans, but I held back.
I’d only told Benjamin about the specific plan. The more people knew about the matter, the more dangerous it would become.
Once Mom’s birthday banquet ended, Lee told me that there was a birthday gift from Rowan in the car. Rowan had stayed for a short while downstairs, but he didn’t come up. There was an exquisite gift box in the car. I picked it up first and felt its weight. It was very heavy.
Mom had a complex look on her face when she heard it was a gift from Rowan.
“We don’t want his gift. I’ll tell my men to return it to his company later!” Dad spoke up immediately. Mom and I had no objections to that.
After we reached home, Dad sent Lee to return Rowan’s gift. Lee only returned after two hours.
“Ms. Sadler, Mr. Payne’s not in his company. His assistant accepted it on his behalf and placed it in his office,” Lee reported.
“Alright.” I nodded, then asked casually, “Oh, that’s right. Is your father feeling better now, Lee?”
“He’s doing well. The rescue was timely and he’s had a good recovery. If you hadn’t allowed me to return earlier for Christmas and lent me your car, I’m afraid…” He was filled with gratitude.
I replied to him with a smile, “You should pay more attention to your parents‘ health.”
“Yes, I will.” He nodded.
A few days after Mom’s birthday celebration, Jean told me that Ashley had been discharged from the hospital.
I was really impressed by her unyielding health. Delicate yet tenacious, she was just like an unkillable cockroach.
Ashley was unlike me. In my past life, I’d been diagnosed with late–stage breast cancer. It quickly worsened, and before long, I’d died.
It had been a while since I dreamed of my past life. But for the past two days, I was haunted by nightmares again. Each time, I would wake up with tears on my face and sweat covering my skin.
A sense of uneasiness crept into my heart, but I couldn’t figure out why.
It wasn’t until the photos of me and Benjamin hugging each other appeared on the Internet that I realized the uneasiness I felt was an omen.
That wasn’t all. There was also a photo of me dancing at Symphonica. The hem of my shirt had rolled up in the photo, and part of my waist was revealed. I also looked intoxicated because I’d had a few drinks.
The photo looked a little blurry as if the person had zoomed in and taken the photo from upstairs. The angle was clearly taken from above.
My eyes twitched. In contrast, the photo of me dancing was more dangerous. It would definitely have a negative impact on Dad’s work once it attracted public attention.
Just then, Enoch sent me a text. “Ms. Sadler, I’ve looked into the matter. The photos were indeed taken by a colleague. He admitted that he initially wanted to give it to you to extort
some money.
“Later on, he chose to make a deal with Rowan. All the photos are in Rowan’s hands.”
Was Rowan the one who released the news? Was it to retaliate against me and my parents?
Rowan wasn’t some kind of saint. A man who’d taken the lead of Payne Corporation at such a young age would never be soft–hearted. He’d already used all kinds of means agains his opponents countless times before.