Too Late to Love Her: When She Divorced, He Fell Apart-Chapter 113: Do You Ever Think of Me?

Tristan Lockwood glanced at her coldly, started the car, and absentmindedly said, "Didn’t I say already? She’s my sister, and also Sean’s niece. In our family, she’s the only girl, and the old folks dote on her a lot."

Zoey Adler’s eyes showed a hint of envy: "Miss Hale is really fortunate, having you and Sean doting on her. In the future, finding a husband will probably have to get through you two, right?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Tristan Lockwood shot her an icy look.

Zoey frowned, watching Tristan Lockwood press the accelerator with an expressionless face, before calmly regaining her composure.

But in her eyes, there was a hint of complexity.

...

Returning to Riverbend a month later, Claire Hale clearly felt that many of the cases at the firm faced obstacles that hadn’t been there before.

Especially the many contacts needed for information, which had become difficult to communicate with.

Claire Hale visited several contacts in person, almost all of whom brushed her off with being too busy.

It was only when she found Chelsea Walton that the other party, considering the friendship from a previous case win, sincerely said, "Lawyer Hale, you can’t entirely blame them for this. We’re all just employees, and without a word from above, no one wants to sever ties with your firm."

Chelsea Walton had high regards for Claire Hale’s professional abilities, knowing she always gave her all and genuinely cared for her clients.

She had a few minor connections in Riverbend’s political scene, not deep, just occasionally getting some insider news that she’d share with Claire Hale.

However, not long ago, during a chat with someone else, the other person pointedly asked, "You haven’t shared this news with anyone else, have you?"

Chelsea Walton was startled then and naturally denied it repeatedly.

Nonetheless, she became more cautious and didn’t contact Claire Hale immediately.

After all, she’d only ever shared this information with Claire Hale, so others would easily guess the source by seeing Claire’s access.

Chelsea Walton: "Lawyer Hale, maybe you should think carefully if you’ve offended some big shot recently. Someone who can single-handedly block so many of your paths is not ordinary."

Hearing this, Claire Hale was also puzzled, unable to immediately think of anyone who would go through so much trouble to target her, so she thanked Chelsea Walton:

"Miss Walton, thank you. If you’re in a difficult position yourself, don’t force it. I’ll find another way."

"Ah, I’m really sorry," Chelsea Walton felt guilty seeing Claire being so polite, "You, as a woman in the legal field, have it tough. I’ll still try to help as much as I can."

Claire Hale thanked her sincerely again.

After hanging up, Claire Hale mulled over it for a while. In Riverbend, someone who could block her paths and also had history with her, the only person that came to mind was Tristan Lockwood.

After all, in the past, if anything she did displeased him, he could disrupt her career with just a few moves. It wasn’t unheard of.

Claire Hale finally decided to go to Central Hospital.

...

Tristan Lockwood entered the operating room in the afternoon and came out when it was already dark.

Clarence Finch, on the shift with him, saw the exhaustion in his eyes and couldn’t help but say, "You’re really treating yourself like a surgery machine. Three operations in a day, and you’re spinning non-stop; are you trying to kill yourself?"

Tristan Lockwood rubbed his brow, his voice muffled behind the mask, "I can wait, but the patients can’t."

"Don’t use the patients as an excuse." Clarence, as if seeing through him, "Don’t think I don’t know, this is your post-divorce syndrome!"

Tristan Lockwood glanced at him and took off his mask, without saying anything.

Clarence was a chatterbox, and once he started, he couldn’t stop: "I saw a scandal about you and Dr. Zoey Adler not long after your divorce. The whole hospital thought you two were an item, but when you see her at work, you act like you don’t know her. What’s on your mind?"

"The hospital is a workplace; I don’t like mixing work with personal affairs."

"Oh really?" Clarence wasn’t convinced, "I thought maybe you’re still thinking about your wife—sorry, your ex-wife."

The term "ex-wife," no matter how it sounded, was harsh, and Tristan Lockwood’s brow furrowed slightly, almost imperceptibly.

He ignored Clarence, took off his lab coat, washed his hands, and got off work.

Spring was beginning, and Riverbend’s springs were always rainy. Fine raindrops landed on the concrete, filling the air with the fresh scent of earth.

The moment Tristan Lockwood stepped out of the hospital, he saw Claire Hale standing gracefully at the entrance, holding a transparent umbrella.

Her gaze was fixed on the ground, her eyes seemed vacant, and her snow-white skin was like the rain.

Clear, clean.

Tristan Lockwood felt a stir in his heart and walked over to her.

"What are you doing here?"

Claire Hale snapped out of her daze when she met the dark eyes of Tristan Lockwood.

In those warm, cool eyes, there seemed to be an indescribable emotion churning—like a vortex that could swallow someone whole.

Claire Hale moved her lips, saying, "I’m waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?"

Surprise flashed across Tristan Lockwood’s eyes, and there was an undetectable hint of pleasure in his tone.

Claire Hale nodded slightly, "There’s something I wanted to ask you."

Tristan Lockwood naturally took the umbrella from her hand and held it over her head, saying, "Let’s find a place to eat and sit down to talk slowly."

His mood, which had been gloomy for days, noticeably improved.

Claire Hale didn’t notice the change in Tristan Lockwood; she was still pondering how to begin, until Tristan suddenly took her hand, making her instinctively want to pull away.

Tristan Lockwood, however, held on firmly and didn’t let go.

Once he’d brought her to the car, Claire Hale finally spoke, "I wanted to ask you if it’s you who recently cut off many of my firm’s contacts?"

Before she finished, the temperature in the car suddenly dropped.

Tristan Lockwood’s formerly gentle expression turned ice-cold in an instant, and his gaze was like a blade.

He asked coldly, "You think I did it?"

Claire Hale didn’t answer immediately.

Her first instinct was that Tristan Lockwood was very angry.

For some reason, Claire Hale suddenly felt a pang of regret for bringing up such a topic with him.

Though he was cold and rather heartless, he seldom got truly angry. Tristan had always been restrained with his emotions. Such a visible display of anger was rare.

She explained, "I didn’t think you did it. I just wanted to check with you first. If not, I’ll naturally investigate others."

"Then why was I the first you thought of?"

Tristan Lockwood’s face was stern, his heart even felt a twinge of disappointment.

"Claire Hale, is it that whenever I’m the first person you think of, it’s only when you suspect I did something like this? Do you never think of me for anything else?"

Since their divorce, it had been two months.

In these two months, except for that encounter at the hot springs, it was as if she vanished from the world, with not a single thought about him.

It was as if the decade or so they spent together was only something he alone remembered.