Chapter 871

In Tyler’s mind, he had gone through many things with Rachel. Although they were still under contract, that was just a means for him to keep her by his side.

Thankfully, his feelings for her were reciprocated, and he no longer needed to rack his brains for ways to make her stay.

When Thomas first brought this up, he wasn’t sure what Rachel’s response would be, but he certainly didn’t expect her to reject him so readily.

Tyler felt his throat constricting.

Awkwardness filled the air.

Rachel could sense the change in the atmosphere with her response and quickly said something to ease the tension.

“Mr. Lewis, try out the pastries I bought for you. I think they’re really good.”

“Oh, sure.” Thomas snuck a glance at Tyler as he held the bag of pastries.

There was no visible change in the look on Tyler’s face, but Thomas could sense that Tyler was affected by Rachel’s response.

Thomas sighed inwardly. It seemed Tyler still had a long way to go in pursuing Rachel; he had to try harder.

Thomas had seen his fair share of people, but he couldn’t quite figure out what Rachel thought. He couldn’t say that Rachel didn’t like Tyler, though, because he could sense that she had feelings for him.

What she was hesitating about was something he would never know.

After William left the hospital, he called his friends out to a bar.

Samuel sat on the couch, scrolling through his phone and texting Zane.

[Why aren’t you guys here yet? He’s downed three bottles so far, and they’re the strongest liquor!]

Zane soon texted back. [Quit hounding us. We’re at the door.]

Samuel started off being the only one staring at William drink, and it eventually became the three of them staring at William drink. Their faces were sullen.

“What’s wrong with him? Something feels off.”

“How would I know? Isn’t it obvious, though? It’s probably because of a woman,” Zane analyzed.

“What woman? Samantha?” Samuel said.

“What does this have to do with Samantha? To think you actually grew up with him, but you don’t even understand him one bit. Don’t you know he was the one who insisted on divorcing her? She even came knocking on my door two days ago, asking me to convince William not to divorce her.”

Caleb rotated the stem of the champagne glass in his hand. “Why don’t you guys consider that it might have something to do with Rachel?”

Samuel and Zane were both stunned.

“Wait, his relationship with Rachel ended so many years ago. He divorced Rachel to reconcile with Samantha, didn’t he? Is he only realizing right now that Rachel is the woman he loves?”

Zane stared at William, finding the notion ridiculous.

“William, if that’s really what you think, I really have nothing more to say to you. How much of a bastard can you be?”

Samuel chimed in, “Exactly! Rachel was so devoted and faithful to you back then, but you pushed her away and insisted on having an affair with Samantha. She was generous enough not to count it against you. She didn’t take any of your money with the divorce. And now, you want to reconcile with her? What in the world are you thinking?”

William looked disoriented, having downed a couple of bottles of hard liquor.

He said with squinted eyes, “Rachel’s dating my uncle. My grandfather used to object to them being together, but for some reason, he suddenly agreed for them to get married.”