His Unveiled Passion

Tessa replied, "That's fine."

Mike was tending to the fire at the stove, while Wynn was playing with Melody's son, Finn Greene.

When Tessa was done washing all the vegetables and turned around, she saw Wynn and Finn playing together happily. She raised her eyebrow and smiled. "Wynn, I never took you to be the type who likes kids."

Wynn had always maintained a cold expression no matter where she went, exuding a cruel and ruthless pressure in the air around her.

She did not look like the type to like kids.

Wynn held a toy figurine as she played with Finn, replying expressionlessly, "This little thing is quite fun."

Tessa, Melody, and Mike all fell into silence. The atmosphere around them froze, and the awkward silence stretched on.

After a few seconds, Tessa chuckled awkwardly and turned to Melody. "I'm sorry. She's not very sensible with her words, so she doesn't know how to express herself well.

"Please don't take it the wrong way. She didn't mean it like that. What she meant to say is that Finn is really cute."

Melody's lips twitched. "Your friend is quite special."

"She rarely gets the chance to interact with children, so this is new for her," Tessa explained.

...

Once dinner was served, the group sat around the round table, ready to eat.

Suddenly, Melody's phone rang. She glanced at her phone and turned to Tessa. "It's a number from Rivertown. Could it be for you?"

Tessa replied, "I'm not sure either. Why don't you try answering it?"

Melody did as she was told. "Hello, what's this call about?"noveldrama

The person on the other end said something, and Melody turned to Tessa. "Yes, she's at my place."

Then, she handed Tessa her phone and said, "It's for you. He claims to be a friend of yours."

Tessa took the phone. "Hello?"

Hearing her voice, the person on the other end seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then, a familiar and charismatic voice came through the other end. "Tess, are you alright? I couldn't reach you."

Before Tessa could answer, Stephen continued, "I called you at least a hundred times today, but none of them got through. You didn't reply to any of my texts either, so I was worried sick.

"I called Naomi and Sienna, but neither of them knew where you went. So, I went

to your law firm, and they told me you went to Haverford to meet with someone named Melody Brown."

Stephen's voice was anxious as he continued, "Then, I saw the news about the flooding in Haverford, and I was worried sick. Tess, why can't my calls get through? Did something happen?"

Tessa paused before she pursed her lips and explained, "I'm fine. I accidentally dropped my phone in the water, so it died."

Stephen fell silent before he mumbled, "Couldn't you have used someone's phone

to call me back? I was worried sick."

"I dropped my phone in the water

last night and it's only been a day. In

fact, it hasn't even been 24 hours

since How could I have known that

you'd call me? Besides, I..." Tessa trailed off.

She paused momentarily before she added sheepishly, "I don't remember your phone number."

Silence ensued on Stephen's end.

She didn't even have his number memorized. Stephen took a deep breath and reminded himself that it wasn't the time to argue with her over that matter.

With a hoarse voice, he said, "The flights to Haverford keep getting delayed, and the trains have stopped running.

"After I left the law firm this afternoon, I drove straight to Haverford. I'm at Lindwell, so I should reach Haverford at around 1:00 am."

"You drove here?" Tessa asked in disbelief.

Stephen hummed in reply.

Tessa raised

her

voice

(n

subconsciously and exclaimed, "Rivertown is about 560 miles away from Haverford. How could you drive here alone? The storm has been ongoing for a few days straight, and it's flooding

wny

everywhere. Why are your coming to

Haverford? You should turn back

immediately!"