A Journey from Bitterness to Truth

Chapter 163

Matilda let out a laugh, her eyes sparkling with humor. “Wouldn’t it be great if you were my boyfriend?”

“I suppose I’d reluctantly agree to that,” Chloe quipped, flicking her crimson lip gloss. “Matilda’s my girl. Anyone who tries to mess with her has to deal with me!”

“Cut the crap, you’re in a rush, aren’t you? Get going,” Matilda nudged Chloe playfully. “We’ll come back next week, and be careful on your way.”

With a confident stride in her heels, Chloe made her exit, and just like that, the fun seemed to drain from the room. Criss and Matilda didn’t linger much longer over their meal before getting up to pay, only to find out someone had already covered their tab.

Matilda’s gaze immediately found Adrian, who was squeezing a credit card in his hand as he walked away from the front desk.

A frown creased her brow. She had wanted to pretend she hadn’t seen him, but Adrian turned back toward the front desk and started walking directly toward her with an unmistakable

presence.

Matilda instinctively stepped back, standing close to Criss for support.

“Finished eating?” Adrian’s voice, laced with an unspoken challenge, demanded attention.

and tried

them. “Matilda, I’m not some kind of monster, and I’m

went again, poking at her sore spots with ease.

face Adrian. “Mr. Simpson, you and I aren’t exactly friends,

had become quite

by your

to Adrian, Matilda had let go of everything. When a person has nothing left to lose, fear becomes

hadn’t seen him in days and could

her sincerity met with his suspicion, turning all her

just another woman trying to use

Matilda no longer cared about how Mason saw her. She had

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Chapter 163

seemed to drift away, but she had come to understand that true friends never part, and those who leave are merely passing through

the earnestness of the past: she

Mason and Adrian called out to her