Noreen didn't interrupt.
The best way for adults to interact was to maintain a healthy sense of boundaries.
For the next two days, Noreen was swamped with work.
The next she heard of Dylan was at a business dinner.
"I heard Mr. Wilder of Omniva Group is getting engaged. It's a strategic alliance. The woman is the granddaughter of the head of the largest overseas bank—a beautiful mixed-race woman, I'm told."
The speaker was Hugh Summers of NaviTech, who always enjoyed this kind of gossip and was therefore one of the first to hear the news.
He then turned to Noreen for confirmation. "Ms. Gilmore, you and Mr. Wilder go way back. Can you confirm if this is true?"
"I honestly don't know," Noreen said truthfully.
Hugh Summers continued, "I heard Omniva Group's overseas credit operations are in serious trouble. Dylan is using this marriage as a resource exchange with Terra Highland Bank to save Omniva's international crisis."
The others at the table sighed in sympathy. "Mr. Wilder has had it tough. Omniva Group was a complete mess when it was handed to him. To save the struggling company, he's been trying to expand overseas for the past year to find a path to survival. If that path is blocked, Omniva Group is truly done for."
Hugh Summers nodded. "That's why he's betting the rest of his life to save Omniva Group."
"A difficult position for Mr. Wilder to be in."
After the dinner, Sophia came to pick Noreen up. Seeing her slightly drunk, she frowned. "Wasn't this a business dinner? Why did you drink so much?"
It was because she knew it was a business dinner with familiar faces that Sophia hadn't stayed by her side to fend off drinks for her. She assumed someone had been deliberately toasting her.
"I wanted to," Noreen explained.
Sophia paused, glancing at Noreen in the rearview mirror. The streetlights flickered across her face as they drove, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow. In the dimness, her expression was somber.
Sophia could tell that Noreen was feeling down, but she didn't know why. She wanted to ask, but she didn't dare.

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