The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

He nodded obediently. "Okay."

Watching the exchange, Haynes's dark eyes deepened.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Rachel.

Every time they ate together, Rachel would order overly sweet drinks, just to please Keen. Even if Keen was supposed to avoid certain foods, Rachel would insist, "Just a little taste won't hurt him."

Back then, Keen was constantly getting sick. Once, after eating a slice of nut cake, he ended up in the hospital with a severe allergic reaction.

As the memory resurfaced, Haynes looked down, a trace of regret in his eyes. How foolish he had been, blindly trusting Rachel's reckless advice.

He'd thought Rachel genuinely cared for Keen-but looking back, even someone with questionable motives like Joshua seemed more sincere.

Haynes poured Stella a glass of water and was just about to hand it to her when his entire expression froze.

For a moment, he wondered if he was seeing things.

Was that really... Rachel, standing here?

After Rachel had run off, Haynes hadn't bothered to hunt her down. As long as she stayed out of sight, he saw no need to pursue her any further. Truth be told, his divorce from Stella wasn't entirely Rachel's fault. He bore a fair share of the blame himself. Without his indulgence and favoritism, Rachel never would have grown so brazen.

He had his own mistakes to answer for; there was no point trying to pin everything on Rachel.

Rachel into a corner could drive her to extremes.

stare with a coy,

"Haynie."

up to the group, her voice soft

utterly baffled. "You're pregnant. And what does that have to do with

replied, "But this

to look

ignored their stares and gazed only at Haynes. "Haynie, don't you remember? That night, not too long ago, when you drank so much. you could barely stand That night,

Rachel could finish, Stella shot to her

Keen and

looked from one adult to another. Even at

for someone

didn't care about any

here to make

and the more public

e bette scen

knew, it would

Haynes to deny

but