I Fell for the Man Who Ruined Me, Then He Forgot He Ever Loved Me Back novel Chapter 231

The final scene captured an extremely blurry, terribly angled close-up of a face.

Instinctively, Jorrod's finger tapped the screen, pausing the video at that exact second.

He stared down at it before the corner of his lips suddenly twitched into a very brief smile.

Jorrod had unlocked the phone solely to view this video. Logically, he should have locked it right back up once it was over. Yet, after closing the media window, his thumb autonomously scrolled up.

In the chat history, he focused on the messages on the left side.

It was completely unlike how she usually spoke to him. She used the cloying, affectionate tone of a girl head-over-heels in love, yet reading it didn't make him cringe at all.

This scrolling ended up lasting a full ten minutes.

His initial curiosity slowly morphed into a bizarre wave of guilt rising in his chest.

Yes, guilt.

He had personally typed the responses on the other end. He knew that person was him. Yet, he felt as if he were violating someone else's privacy.

The glow of the screen reflected on his face. His scrolling slowed down until the guilt swelled so overwhelmingly that he couldn't stomach reading another word. Finally, he placed the phone face-down on the table.

-

On the first floor of the villa.

"Achoo!"

Stella had lost count of how many times she had sneezed.

Susan handed her a tissue, which Stella graciously accepted, wiping her nose. "Thanks, Susan."

Susan was puzzled. "How did you catch such a stubborn cold out of nowhere?"

Stella guessed it was because of the chilly weather over the past few days and getting caught in a draft.

Catching a cold was whatever, but catching one right at this crucial moment left her incredibly bitter.

She scoffed. "Wesley really lucked out. He was supposed to treat both of us to dinner. It's so rare for Sienna to actually have free time. Since my nose is running like a faucet and I was worried about getting her sick, I had to bail at the last minute..."

Susan chuckled. "No wonder Wesley was dressed up so sharply today."

A man and a woman dining alone didn't sit right with her, so Sienna had invited Stella along.

However, Stella caught a terrible cold right at the worst time, sneezing and sniffling non-stop, forcing her to cancel last minute. Thus, the three-person gathering turned into a slightly awkward dinner for two.

She had planned on eating as fast as possible and heading straight home, but a single phone call forced her to abruptly cancel her own plans.

Sienna assumed Jorrod wouldn't return her phone until she went back to work on Thursday.

She never expected the man to actually honor his word, find it the moment he got home, and try to return it at his earliest convenience.

But the infuriating part was that he demanded she come to the office to pick it up right this second.

"I am so sorry, something urgent came up. I have to go grab some of my things."

Given her history with Jorrod, Sienna didn't mention it was him calling in front of Wesley.

Wesley was very understanding, urging her to go take care of her business.

Sienna apologized profusely. "Next time, once Stella's cold clears up, the three of us will go out together. I've already paid the bill for this meal, so please, enjoy yourself."