Chapter 469

To his surprise, Aurora was actually kind of adorable in private.

“Alright, my bad,” Jan said with a tactful smile.

Then, with deliberate phrasing, he asked, “So… has a friend of yours been going through something lately?”

That instantly soothed Aurora’s earlier tension. She suddenly gave off the air of a proud Persian cat–poised, elegant, and just a little aloof.

“Let me think…”

The truth was, Aurora didn’t quite know how to bring it up. She kept telling herself it was something between the two of them. Involving too many outsiders might just make things messier.

But at the same time, if she kept fighting this battle alone without ever confronting it, what good would that do?

So, she framed the situation as if it had happened to a “friend” and explained it to Ian from that angle.

“So, your… I mean, your friend suspects that her husband and his so-called childhood friend having lunch together is actually just a cover for something else–and the whole thing might be deceiving you… I mean, your friend?”

Ian tried to summarize the tangled story, but under Aurora’s sharp gaze, quickly corrected himself from “you” to “your friend.” If not for that glare, he would’ve gone all in and just talked about solutions directly. But since Aurora was technically his boss, and his direct superior, he had to keep walking that tightrope.

“Honestly, I think with something like this, you–uh, your friend should just talk it out. If they’ve decided to stay committed, they can’t keep tiptoeing around like this.”

His firm tone caught Aurora off guard for a second.

“You’re saying I–my friend–is the one being difficult?”

She almost started questioning herself. Was she the one making this more complicated than it needed to be? Did that mean she should be the one to start, to ask directly? But wasn’t it Lucas who had once promised there was nothing going on with Wendy? Then what was this all about now?

Aurora pressed her lips together, then gave Ian a look, signaling him to go on.

Ian carefully chose his words. “It’s not that your friend is being difficult. I just think that once two people decide to be together, it’s better to talk things out than to keep it bottled up. Don’t you think so, Miss Walton?”

Aurora had to admit that he made a good point. She couldn’t just judge the whole situation based on the fact that two people had lunch together. That would be too presumptive, too biased. It wasn’t fair.

“Alright, I hear you. You can get back to work.”

“Got it. Take care, Miss Walton. And please send my regards to your… friend.”

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Chapter 469

With a cheeky wink, he slipped out and gently closed the door behind him.

Aurora sighed. There was no use pretending anymore—he had clearly seen right through it. That “friend” was her.

“Should I ask directly?”

Her fingers tapped lightly on the desk, pen in hand–a habit she had when deep in thought. Maybe honesty really was the key to staying together. That evening, she was just about to bring everything up and ask Lucas what was really going on.

Then a message popped up from him:

“Dear, I’ll be out of town for a few days on a business trip. Don’t miss me too much. I’ve arranged for someone to come by and cook for you, so stop ordering takeout all the time.”

Aurora frowned slightly. What were the odds? A business trip now?

Chapter 470