Reborn, Reawakened, Rekindled novel Chapter 298

That night, I had no idea where Neil had vanished off to, and he wasn't responding to my calls either.

I found myself staring at the falling snow outside the window, and before I knew it, I dozed off, swamped with anxiety and confusion.

I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. I looked at it groggily, then snapped wide awake. It was a call from Russel.

"Can we meet?" Russel was the first to speak. His voice was raspy and sounded incredibly weary.

"Russel, about your mom's passing, I'm sorry for your loss." I was a bit wary of Russel, so I trod lightly, being extra polite. Even though I wanted to grill him with questions, I held back.

Russel was silent for a few seconds before resuming, "I want to meet you to clear things up."

I didn't want to meet him. There was no need to stir up more drama, "We can talk over the phone."

"You know, I want to see you," Russel's voice turned firm, "Don't you want to know why Neil and Bonnie were in that room?"

That was exactly what I wanted to know. Neil said it was all Russel's doing, but what was the truth?

Of course, Russel wasn't exactly reliable now, and he could have been lying.

I didn't respond immediately; I took a moment to think.

Russel spoke again, "You know why I proposed to Chloe. Now my mom is gone; I'm calling off the engagement."

"What?" I was taken aback, and I hadn't expected Russel to take such a drastic step. His mom had just passed away, and he had already planned on breaking his engagement.

"This isn't the life I want. I just wanted my mom to be at peace before she passed. Now that she's gone, I don't have anything to hold me back." Russel seemed to have made up his mind.

"Russel, calm down. Everyone knows you're engaged to Chloe. If you break it off right after your mom's death, what about Chloe? And your dad, he definitely won't agree with this." I tried to reason with him.

But my attempts fell on deaf ears.

Russel's voice turned stern, "You don't need to advise me. I won't let anyone control my life, not even my own parents."

With that, he hung up.

Sleep was far from my mind now. Once Russel called off his engagement with Chloe, I would be the target of gossip again. As if my life wasn't messed up enough already.

"Still not up?" The bedroom door swung open. Neil walked in, casually tossing his tie onto a nearby chair.

"You..." I was about to ask Neil why he hadn't come home last night, but I changed my question at the last minute, "Did you know about Russel's mom?"

Neil stiffened, his face turned a bit unnatural, then he replied, "Yeah."

"Are you going to the funeral?" I asked.

"I won't be attending, but I'll send someone in my place." Neil stripped off his clothes, revealing his impeccable physique that could put any professional model to shame. He moved towards the bathroom, bare-chested.

I caught a whiff of alcohol and women's perfume. I frowned. What had Neil been up to last night?

I tried to dismiss it, but for some reason, I felt a strange sensation in my heart. It seemed like Neil was hiding something.

After hesitating for a while, I got up and picked up Neil's clothes, taking a gentle sniff. The scent of perfume was indeed coming from his clothes.

"Ding!"