Chapter 538

“Why don’t we talk tomorrow? It’s getting late there.” Nicholas checked the time on his phone, so he knew that it was past midnight in Vienna. He didn’t want Tessa to be loo tired the next day. Tessa couldn’t argue against his words, so she had no choice but to agree with him.

However, when she lay alone on the large and empty bed, she didn’t feel sleepy at all. On the contrary, her surroundings were silent, making her feel incredibly lonely. “Now that I’m staying alone in this villa without you and Gregory around, the whole place feels so empty. I’m not used to it.”

Nicholas wasn’t used to her absence either. Things had been going too well previously, and he was used to having her by his side. Now, he didn’t know how to feel about going back to sleeping on his own. However, he didn’t reveal this to Tessa as he didn’t want to make her feel any sadder. “Don’t worry. I’m here now, aren’t I?” He comforted her through the call.

“But I miss you guys so much. It’s only the first day, and I already miss you guys so badly. What am I supposed to do for the rest of my time here?” she whined. Nicholas could feel his heart melting into a puddle of water when he saw the longing gaze in the girl’s eyes.

“I’ll find some time to visit you in a few days,” he offered.

“Forget it. I don’t want you to overwork yourself.” She shook her head and rejected his idea.

Relationships were a two-way thing—Nicholas cared about her, and she cared just as much about him.

He simply chuckled without continuing this topic after that. Instead, he tried to coax Tessa to go to sleep.Perhaps Nicholas’ voice has some magic to it as Tessa soon felt her eyelids turning heavy after a while. When he saw the sweet, innocent look on her face as she slept, he couldn’t help but beam as he continued staring at her. “Goodnight, my girl,” he whispered before ending the call with a longing expression on his face.Throughout the next few days, Tessa practiced, practiced, and practiced.

However, she no longer spoke to Kathleen after her encounter on the first day. One of the reasons was that Kathleen was also busy with her practices. Both of them didn’t mess with one another, but everyone in the orchestra could still sense a shift in their dynamics.One day, while they were all on break, Kathleen sat alone on one of the benches while a few orchestra members chit-chatted beside her. Kathleen knew thatmost of the members had a wall up against her after what happened with Tessa previously.

So, she held her hands up and clapped a few times to attract everyone’s attention. “Let’s all go for drinks tonight. It’s all on me! We have been working too hard; it’s time to relax.” In the past, all the members would immediately cheer once they heard her words.However, all of them rejected her offer now. “I’m sorry. I have work tonight,” someone said.“My boyfriend asked me to go home and spend time with him,” another one said.“I promised my dog that I’d walk it around tonight.” Kathleen could barely keep the smile on her face when she heard everyone’s half-hearted excuses.

Fortunately, she managed to maintain a neutral expression as she spoke in a nonchalant tone. “Next time, then.”The members nodded before they began chatting among themselves once more. Kathleen returned to her seat and felt her heart sinking as she listened to the loud noises around her.Although she hadn’t heard anyone talking behind her back in the past few days, she could still sense that the members’ attitude toward her had changed after the incident. They no longer respected or feared her like they used to.This was no big deal—what troubled her the most was that the members were actually starting to get closer to Tessa. “Let’s have dinner tonight, Tessa. Then, we can go shopping to relax a little,” one of the members suggested.“Sure.” She agreed with a smile. She was the only one in the villa, so she didn’t want to head home too early. However, before she and the other members could head off, she received a call from Louis. “Your violin is fixed. You can come and collect it.”