The Unveiled Rose
Chapter 119

"Annalise must've been aware of this," Gavin said. "You two were married for six years. Even if she didn't develop feelings for you, she must at least be possessive of you."

He explained further, "To reconcile, she would try everything she could to trigger you. First, she pretended to no longer be in love with you by treating another man well. You'd feel upset because of that. "Then, you couldn't help but miss her. If you couldn't suppress the urge to meet her, she'd pretend to be close to other men."

Steven never thought Annalise would do all that just to get back with him. His frustration gradually dissipated after hearing Gavin's explanation.

With a smile, he asked, "What should I do, then?"

"Ignore her," said Gavin nonchalantly. "She'll eventually realize that those tactics don't work on you, and she'll come back to you sobbing and asking you to get back with her."

The image of Annalise crying, her eyes red and puffy, appeared in Steven's mind, and he chuckled at it.

If things really got to that point, he'd give Jessica some money, break up with her, and then get back with Annalise. Annalise gave birth to Zachary, after all.

"If you don't believe me," Gavin said mirthfully, "there's actually a way to prove that what I said is true."

"How do we do that?" Steven's ears were pricked.

"We'll call her and tell her that you're drunk and keep on calling her name. She'll surely rush over to replace you." Gavin seemed absolutely certain.

Hearing that, Steven handed his phone to Gavin right away.

Gavin found Annalise's number and called her, but she didn't answer.

Noticing this, Steven reminded, "She blocked me."

Gavin wanted to message her using Steven's WhatsApp account, but she'd blocked him there, too. That wasn't a problem, though.

Gavin then fished out his phone and dialed her number.

"Hello?" Annalise's voice sounded from the phone.

...

I was busy adding speech bubbles to my comic when my phone started ringing. Picking it up, I answered the call.

"You are?" I asked. It was a stranger's number.

"I'm Steven's friend," said the person. He didn't beat around the bush.

It was odd. I wasn't close to any of his friends, so why would any of them call me?

I was about to hang up when he said, "He's in a foul mood today and called us to grab a drink at the bar. But he refused to tell us anything. He just won't stop drinking. He's already drunk, but he just won't stop calling your name while crying." He continued, "We wanted to drive him back, but he said he wouldn't leave unless you come."

How touching! This friend of Steven had quite the silver tongue. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't moved at all.

"I'm busy," I simply told him.

After a pause, I added, "Besides, I've made it very clear that he and I are divorced, so we won't see each other again. You can just drive him home."

I hung up right after that. My workload had increased tremendously these days, and I didn't want to waste my time on someone of no significance.

...

Gavin was stunned at how Annalise responded upon learning that Steven was drunk-it was totally different than what he'd expected.

What was going on? Did she really not love Steven anymore?

He stared at the screen for some time before turning to meet Steven's hopeful eyes.

"When is she coming to pick me up?" Steven asked, sure that Annalise would come for him.

Looking at Steven's expectant face, Gavin hesitated, replaceing it hard to break the news to him. In the end, he resorted to shifting the topic of conversation. "We can't let her come to you," said Gavin as if he'd changed his mind.

"Why?" Steven was bewildered.

"You aren't drunk yet. She'll know that you're lying." Gavin could only come up with an excuse.