Chapter 204

“You haven’t changed at all.” Charis looked down at her glass of wine, unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

Ethan swept a glance over the room, then made a point of glancing at his watch. Without another word, he stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. “It’s getting late, and I still have work to do. Enjoy yourself.”

He had only attended the party for formality’s sake. Charis’ return was no small matter, after all, and Brandon Larson certainly had to be present at her welcome party.

Charis’ head immediately shot up. “Oh, you’re not done for the day yet?” she blurted out. “Do you need my help with anything?” They had only been talking for a few minutes. She was reluctant to see him leave so quickly.

Her offer made Ethan frown, but his tone remained polite. “This party is all about you. There’s no point in you disappearing in an event held in your honor.”

In the end, Charis could only sit back and watch dejectedly as Ethan walked away. When he was finally gone from sight, she downed her wine glass in one gulp.

“Oh, did you not have a pleasant conversation?” Garrett asked, plopping down on the seat beside her.

“Didn’t he give you an update on what has been happening to him recently?”

With a bitter smile, Charis picked up the bottle on the table and filled her glass with more wine. “How do you expect us to catch up with anything? He said he was busy with work and took off within a couple of minutes.”

Garret cocked his head to the side and rubbed his chin. So Ethan hadn’t told her anything. He watched her drink her sorrows away out of the corner of his eye. “I know you came back for Ethan, but there’s something you need to know, Charis.”

She recognized the seriousness in his tone and paused. She already knew what was coming. “You’re going to tell me to give up on him, aren’t you?”

Charis’ face crumpled into a sneer. “There’s no need for that, I’m afraid. I’ve loved him all these years.

I’m not giving up until I have absolutely no choice but to do so.”

Garrett chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. “I haven’t even finished talking yet. I’m not telling you to give up, I just wanted you to understand something. Now, if you don’t want to hear it, then I won’t say anything. But know that if you act carelessly in the future, it might affect more than just your relationship with Ethan.” He grabbed the wine bottle and placed it somewhere out of her reach.

Charis sat back and mulled over his warning. After a while, she asked, “Does he have a girlfriend?”

She told herself that it was all right if he did. Ethan was a catch; there was no way someone so brilliant would stay single for years at a time. That was all okay, because she could wait. She had already waited for the better half of her life.

“He is married,” Garrett stated bluntly.

His words struck her like lightning, and Charis’ eyes instantly welled up.

How was this possible?

How could Ethan have gotten married without her noticing?

“Why haven’t I heard of this?” Charis demanded. “I’ve been paying attention to his every move, even when I was abroad.”

Garrett raised an eyebrow and sighed. “You might have been paying attention to Brandon, but he isn’t the one who got married. Ethan is.”

True enough, Charis hadn’t cared much for Brandon’s other identity as an illegitimate son. She always saw him as the CEO of the Larson Group, nothing more, nothing less.

“What exactly happened?”

Garrett proceeded to recount the circumstances that had led to Ethan and Janet’s marriage. “Ethan cares about his wife,” he emphasized. “Very much so. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to overstep his boundaries. If you do, you would only be ruining whatever relationship you have with him, and you may never have the chance to mend it again.”

Charis struggled to hide her shock and her pain. She covered her face with her hands and took several deep breaths, but she still couldn’t calm down.

For a moment, Garrett just watched her, helpless and unsure of what to say next. In the end, he reached over and gave her a light pat on the shoulder. “Take your time to process this. You’re not a child anymore, you should know what to do.” He got to his feet. “I’m leaving now.”

It was all Charis could do to contain her sobs. She managed to compose herself enough to stop Garrett with a question—”Does his wife know that Ethan and Brandon are the same person?”