Too Late to Love Her: When She Divorced, He Fell Apart-Chapter 101: Picking You Up After Work, Let’s Go Home

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Picking You Up After Work, Let’s Go Home
When Claire Hale received Tristan Lockwood’s call again, the time on the phone screen showed that there were still two minutes left until midnight.
She paused for a moment, but finally chose to answer.
"Happy Valentine’s Day."
Tristan’s deep voice came through, carrying a subtle undertone of joy in its clear tone.
Claire lowered her gaze, looking at the clock on the wall, and ultimately, as the hands nearly overlapped at midnight, she sighed almost imperceptibly and said, "Happy Valentine’s Day."
"Yes, I’m indeed quite happy," Tristan said. "The tie clip you gave me, I really like it."
She froze for a moment.
That tie clip had clearly been...
"Though it stayed in the trash pile for a while, the smell isn’t too great."
He joked.
Claire’s heart skipped a beat, and she blurted out, "Where are you now?"
"Downstairs at your company," Tristan paused, then said, "I’m here to pick you up from work, let’s go home."
A layer of mist appeared in Claire’s eyes.
An indescribable warmth kept flowing slowly and steadily through every cell in her body.
When she reached the first floor and walked out of the office building, she could see Tristan’s tall figure standing gracefully under the streetlight from afar.
The navy blue suit he wore was a style she hadn’t seen before; it looked very new, as if he was wearing it for the first time. However, it had patches of stains on it, which made it look rather unsightly.
Under the dim streetlight, the light gray tie clip she had carefully chosen the day before was intact and pinned to the lapel of his suit.
Tristan waved at her.
For a moment, Claire suddenly felt like she was finally experiencing a small, enduring stream that is typical between ordinary couples.
She walked towards Tristan, her steps quickening, and the heat in her eyes growing more intense.
Finally, before the tears could fall, she embraced him.
Tristan looked down, and under the streetlamp, the strands of hair on her head slightly shimmered, reflecting a warm orange light. He did not immediately hug her back but instead said, "Don’t mind my smell?"
With no lights around the trash pile, he had used his phone’s flashlight and spent more than ten minutes finding the gift.
When he brushed aside the miscellaneous garbage, drops of oil and stains ended up on him, leaving him quite unclean.
Claire didn’t speak, but her arms tightened around his waist.
Tristan said, "I was wrong about this, I promised to pick you up at the airport but broke my word. No matter what, I’m sorry."
The early hours of spring weren’t any less cold than winter. He took her hand, his large hand enveloping hers completely, and led her to the car saying, "The reason I accompanied Jade Sutton to the hospital is that she got hit by a car at the hospital entrance, and I just happened to be passing by, so I couldn’t ignore it."
Claire pressed her lips in a line, even though suspecting at a moment like this might spoil the mood, she couldn’t help but say, "She did it on purpose."
Tristan’s hand on the steering wheel paused as he turned his head to look at her.
Claire raised her eyebrows and looked at him, "Do you still not believe me?"
Tristan didn’t say whether he believed or not.
He looked away and calmly gazed ahead, saying, "I have my own judgment."
Her eyes darkened slightly, "Not denying it is no different from acknowledging it."
"I’m not acknowledging it," Tristan furrowed his brows, knowing she was very stubborn about this matter, he explained, "After all, Jade Sutton helped me during my hardest times, I just think that her nature should be kind, though time has changed her."
"The help you’re talking about means those letters?"
"Yes."
Claire turned her head to look out the car window, the buildings on both sides lit with twinkling lights, the scene outside rapidly receding.
She tightened her lips as if steeling herself to make a big decision, took a deep breath, and said, "Actually those letters..."
"Those letters are also a thing of the past to me," Tristan’s voice sounded simultaneously with hers.
Claire paused, instinctively closing her mouth.
Tristan didn’t notice her anomaly and continued, "No matter what happened more than ten years ago, things are now different, there’s no need to dwell on it."
To him, the debt of gratitude owed to Jade Sutton had already been repaid. Whatever happened to her in the future had nothing to do with him anymore.
He couldn’t be responsible for her whole life.
"What were you going to say just now?" Tristan looked at her, "What’s up with those letters?"
Claire shook her head, "It’s nothing."
Tristan stared at her profile for a second and said, "If you’re still concerned about those letters, I can throw away all those responses Jade Sutton sent me, treat it as putting an end to it."
Those replies had been Tristan’s most cherished memories over the years.
Each word in those letters had long been etched in his heart.
Though he’d never met Jade Sutton at that time, whenever he thought of the contents of those letters, he’d sketch the girl’s image in his mind.
Strong, brave, warm like a little sun.
Tristan’s gaze once again fell on Claire.
In his youth, he had often seen these qualities in her, so in many cases, he treated her as a stand-in for that girl.
However, as she grew up, she became more aloof and unfeeling.
He gradually felt an indefinable sense of disappointment towards her.
Until Jade Sutton finally appeared.
Initially, when she revealed those letters he had written back, he was overjoyed and spared no effort in helping her escape Sean Lockwood’s pursuit.
Later, as she continually cried, continually hurt herself, and constantly tried different ways to force him away from Claire, Tristan once again felt the kind of disappointment he had felt towards Claire.
So when Sean Lockwood came to take Jade Sutton back, he didn’t have a firm stance to keep her by his side.
On the contrary, he felt a bit relieved when she left.
However, Tristan and Sean Lockwood ultimately shared the same blood. In this matter, Tristan and Sean both used Claire, pushing her into the eye of the storm.
The car arrived at the villa.
When Tristan drove into the garage, Claire suddenly asked, "Are you really going to throw away those letters?"
He got out of the car, walked around to open the passenger door for her, and as she stepped out, he asked, "Don’t you believe me?"
Claire pressed her lips tightly, seeming to be hesitating over something.
Tristan took her hand, suddenly strode back into the house, pulling her up to the second floor and stopping outside his room.
He walked in, opened a safe, took out a neat stack of letters, and placed them in front of her saying, "I was serious about what I said earlier, I can destroy these letters to draw a clear line with Jade Sutton."