Old Yves didn’t even bother to respond to Matteo. Treya didn’t say anything in reply to his comment either.
Matteo didn’t mind being ignored. When he saw that Freya’s tea was about to run out, he picked up the purple clay teapot and poured more tea for both her and Old Yves.
Throughout lunch and tea, Ireya mostly spoke with Old Yves and Isabella. It was unclear whether it was because she didn’t want to speak to him or because Matteo didn’t want to speak to her.
By the time they were about to leave the Yves family’s house around 2 p.m., Freya suddenly realized that they had been in the same room for nearly four hours, yet neither of them had said a word to each other.
Old Yves had naturally noticed the awkward silence as well. But Matteo didn’t look back, and Freya had already let go of her feelings for him. She understood that the reason he had invited them here today was not to try to reunite them. With nothing to say to each other, she had nothing more to add either.
Just as they were getting ready to leave, Isabella looked up at Freya and asked, “Mom, are you going home today?”
Before she could respond, Isabella added, “You haven’t been home for so long.” Hearing this, Old Yves paused for a moment, but didn’t speak. He simply let out a quiet sigh.
Matteo also remained silent. Freya gently stroked Isabella’s small face and said, “Mom still has work, so I won’t go home today.”
“Oh…” Isabella’s face fell, and she asked, “Then are you going to Grandma’s house or are you going on another business trip? I couldn’t reach you last weekend, so I went to Grandma’s, but you weren’t there. Grandma said you were on a business trip…”
Freya hadn’t known that Isabella had gone to her family’s house the previous weekend. She had planned to go back to her parents‘ house to have dinner with Grandma and the family today. Thinking about how Isabella had gone to her grandmother’s house because she missed her and couldn’t reach her on the phone, Freya paused, then said, “I’m going to your grandma’s later. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yes!” Hearing that, Isabella’s face lit up. She had thought that Freya would be busy with work again.
Freya looked at Matteo, and he understood her unspoken words. He said to Isabella, “So, does that mean you’ll stay at your grandma’s house tonight?”
“Yes!”
“Alright,” Matteo said with a smile. “Then tomorrow afternoon, I’ll send someone to pick you up from school.”
“No, I want to go back to Grandma’s after school tomorrow.”
Matteo chuckled and glanced at Freya. “That’s something you’ll have to discuss with your mom. I can’t decide that for you.”
Isabella hugged Freya’s leg and looked up at her. “Mom, are you going to leave Grandma’s house tomorrow?”
Freya nodded. Isabella’s expression dropped. “..Okay.”
After discussing the details, they said goodbye to Old Yves, then left for their respective cars.
The next day, after dropping Isabella off at school, Freya went back to work at Cole. When she entered the company, she once again ran into Matteo and his secretary, Chad, in the elevator. The three of them stood in the elevator, once again pretending to be strangers, not speaking a word.
Later that same day, around 11 a.m., Matteo left Cole. Afterwards, Johnny learned that Freya had returned and came over to talk to him.
Freya remembered, “Has the cooperation been finalized? I heard that Matteo came today to discuss some additional clauses regarding the division of tasks in the cooperation.”