Chapter 344: Chapter 344: A Love with Nowhere to Go

"Don’t bring up Tristan Grayson. You know perfectly well that the only thing I have left for him is hatred."

"Heh..." A sad smile touched Silas Kent’s lips, his eyes filled with pain.

’Nothing left but hatred? But Mika, don’t you understand? There’s no hate without love. If you truly didn’t love him anymore, why would you still hate his guts two years later?’

’The deeper the hatred, the deeper the love...’

’Mika, when will you finally let this go...’

*****

The first thing Cassian Jennings did upon returning to Tridell was go to see Fiona Vance.

In a coffee shop.

Fiona Vance looked at Cassian Jennings in shock. "You announced that you had an affair?"

"Mm."

"COUGH, COUGH... Cassian, why did you have to announce that? There were so many other ways to go about this. You didn’t have to destroy your own reputation."

Cassian Jennings’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile. "Given my reputation, if I announce it this way, everyone will believe I’m the one at fault. Plus, it won’t affect your company at all."

"Cassian, you really don’t have to worry about me. I can handle my own affairs."

"Ultimately, I’m the one who let you down. Even though our marriage was fake, you still ended up with the label of a divorcée."

"Cassian Jennings, now you’re treating me like a stranger. You know I don’t care about superficial reputations," Fiona Vance said, raising her hand to take a sip of the coffee on the table.

"You may not care, but I do. I’ve dragged you into this for long enough."

"Cassian Jennings, you know that I, Fiona Vance, don’t care about any of that. I’m your friend because of who you are, not because of what I can gain from being associated with you."

"I know. You’re a good woman." ’If it weren’t for Amelia, maybe... maybe one day, I might have actually fallen for the woman in front of me.’

’After all, a woman like this, one who asks for nothing in return, is rare.’

’When I had nothing, she was willing to bear all the public scorn with me and help the Jennings Family.’

’But I guess that’s the strange thing about timing. Because I had Amelia first, no other woman could ever catch my eye, no matter how wonderful she was...’

’Perhaps this was how fate had arranged it. I’m meant to spend this life repaying my debt to Amelia, and the next repaying my debt to the woman before me.’

"Cassian Jennings, if you want me to help you find her, I can," Fiona Vance said with a sigh.

Ever since Amelia Avery had pulled out a knife and tried to kill herself at their wedding, Fiona Vance knew that she could never love someone the way Amelia did.

Besides, she didn’t love Cassian Jennings *that* deeply. It was just that being with him felt good, comfortable. She liked him, and that was why she had decided to marry him.

"No need. I want to find her myself. The mistakes I’ve made, the debts I owe—I should be the one to repay them."

Fiona Vance smiled and nodded. "If you find her, you have to tell me. And when you two get married, you have to invite me."

"Definitely."

Cassian Jennings smiled and nodded, picking up his coffee from the table. His gaze, somewhat distant, drifted out the window.

’Amelia, where on earth did you go?’

’Please stop hiding, okay?’

’No matter how hard the road ahead is, please let me walk it with you, okay?’

...

Fiona Vance looked at the man sitting across from her. He was much more mature than he had been two years ago, and even more charming.

It was just that a man like him would never belong to her, and she had never thought of trying to force a love that wasn’t hers to keep.