Too Late to Love Her: When She Divorced, He Fell Apart-Chapter 35: Love Is a Ray of Light

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Love Is a Ray of Light
Dean Dawson actually thought the same thing.
"Tristan Lockwood comes from a wealthy family. Even if a marriage in such families breaks down, for the sake of face, they wouldn’t normally kick someone out with nothing. After all, they’re not short of money. But if news of bullying a woman got out, they’d lose a lot of face."
Claire couldn’t help but think, Tristan Lockwood really must hate her, preferring to lose face rather than give her a single penny.
Seeing her silence, Dean Dawson thought she agreed with his view and continued to analyze: "But I think Tristan’s wife must be a tough one. To make someone from a family like his so stingy, she must have really humiliated him in some way."
Claire thought to herself, she’s worn plenty of hats, but they were all on her own head.
When the car arrived at the hotel, she said blandly, "We’re here."
Dean Dawson paused in the passenger seat, then suddenly turned his head, looking at her with a complicated expression, and said, "There’s something I might say that could offend you..."
"If it will offend me, don’t say it."
Claire interrupted him.
Dean Dawson’s expression stiffened a little, clearly not expecting her sudden coldness.
Claire also realized her loss of composure and softened her expression.
Dean Dawson immediately said, "I heard from Tristan that you used to chase after him relentlessly, insisting he was the only one for you."
Claire: "..."
Tristan Lockwood was really something, he left nothing good unsaid about her.
Claire rubbed her temples: "I don’t really want to bring up the past. Besides, we’re not close enough to discuss our love lives."
"Is there a chance for us to reach that point?" Dean Dawson asked earnestly, "Lawyer Hale, I really like you and hope you’ll give me a chance."
Without thinking, Claire said, "I don’t have feelings for you."
"I will try to make you willing to accept me. I know Tristan hurt you, is that why you were crying in Seacliff that day? Claire, I will never let you cry."
Dean Dawson suddenly held her hand.
"You certainly won’t," Claire naturally pulled her hand away, "because I won’t develop romantic feelings for you, so how could I cry because of you?"
Dean Dawson fell silent.
He originally thought she was just a bit cold by nature—deep down, she should still be like a little woman.
But he didn’t expect her to suddenly become so indifferent.
A complete attitude of keeping people at a distance.
However, the colder she was, the stronger his desire to conquer became.
"I won’t give up."
Dean Dawson left that sentence and got out of the car.
In the legal world, he’s won countless battles, and nothing challenges him more.
Making a woman like this submit to him would be very rewarding.
The next day, Claire received a large bouquet of pure white lilies, accompanied by a card with the words: May you be happy.
The signature was the initials of Dean Dawson’s name.
These lilies were sent rather flamboyantly, and now the whole law firm knew that their almost nun-like queen bee boss was being pursued.
So, despite risking a death glare, they wanted to gossip a little with Claire.
And the bearer of gossip fell to Tina Hayes.
Tina knew a bit more than the others, and after entering Claire’s office, she secretly asked, "President Hale, have you finally come around and decided to plant some greenery at Tristan Lockwood’s place?"
Claire glanced at her: "You’re such a young girl, why are you always thinking about betrayal?"
"Love is a light, you know."
Tina cradled her face in her hands, sat opposite her, and said earnestly:
"Since I joined the company, I haven’t seen any men around you. At first, I thought you had high standards, but then I realized you’ve been claimed by Tristan Lockwood. President Hale, Tristan is indeed unreasonably handsome, and his family is top-notch too, but he’s not nice to you at all, always so harsh, not worth following."
Claire raised an eyebrow, finding that Tina was more clear-minded and fearless than she had imagined.
She spoke lightly, "I married him not for who he is. Marriage can be a choice of love, but love doesn’t necessarily exist in marriage."
Tina was confused by her talk of marriage and love, and bluntly said, "Even so, you could still go enjoy the sweetness of love. Tristan’s given you countless hats to wear, why stay pure for him? There are plenty of men in the world; we could try something fresh even if we aren’t in love!"
Claire lowered her eyes and didn’t respond.
The difficult-to-discuss background and a childhood filled with nightmares made it hard for her to develop intimate feelings for men, or people in general.
For so many years, she slowly and profoundly realized that she might truly be someone who doesn’t know how to love others.
Sometimes, in the face of someone’s sincere feelings, she felt not touched, but rather, burdened.
Claire thought someone like her wasn’t fit to enter any intimate relationships.
Friends or lovers, all the same.
As for Tristan Lockwood, with his petty, bad-tempered, and narrow-minded ways, she felt perfectly justified taking advantage of him as a capitalist.
However, Dean Dawson’s persistent gift-giving was rather tenacious.
Every day for half a month, each bouquet was different.
Claire found the flowers too fresh and vibrant to waste by throwing them away, so she bought a few vases for the office. When Dean sent flowers again, she’d unpackage them and arrange them in the vases.
As for Dean himself, aside from discussing cases as before, any ambiguous statements were simply ignored by her.
She believed that Dean was also a person with a sense of boundaries; although gentle in nature, to win so many cases, he must have some pride and skills.
After being cold to him for a while, he’d naturally give up.
Her analysis was accurate in the first half, except this pride only made Dean more determined, driving him to Riverbend.
This time, he came directly to the firm to find her.
Dean Dawson, with his great reputation in the legal world, had this scholarly and elegant face that attracted many young girls.
Not to mention those exemplary winning cases unearthed as textbooks.
Practically an idol-like existence.
The whole firm nearly blew the roof off.
Dean looked around, smiled slightly, and said to Claire, "You’ve kept all the flowers."
Claire said blandly, "Throwing them away is wasteful, don’t overthink it."
"That makes me happy too."
They stood in the common office area, and in just a few words, it became apparent to others that the room full of flowers was all gifts from Dean to Claire.
Tina Hayes was so excited, she secretly filmed a short video and immediately posted it on her social media, captioning it: A Perfect Match!
Her social media had no privacy settings; anyone could see it. Nathan Quinn saw her avatar light up with a red dot, clicked in, and his mouth almost split to the back of his ears.
He casually handed his phone to Tristan Lockwood beside him: "Old Tristan, this winter’s too cold, and your wife is afraid you’ll catch a chill, so she gave you a hat!"