Secret Marriage: The CEO's Pampered Wife

Chapter 164: Chapter 160: Georgia Thorne, You Look Like a Friend of Mine

Silence filled the car. Unable to get an answer from Byron Shaw, Georgia Thorne could only look out the window.

’Countless questions bubbled up in her mind.’

’Ever since she first met Byron Shaw, it seemed like he was always helping her.’

’And he did it all without any apparent motive. He had never asked for anything in return.’

’Now, he’d even introduced her to Goldsmith. That was the most incomprehensible part of all.’

The car soon stopped outside Georgia Thorne’s apartment building. Georgia didn’t get out right away, waiting for Byron Shaw to give her an answer.

Byron Shaw rolled down the window and took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the storage compartment. "Do you mind if I have a smoke?"

Georgia shook her head. She had spent a fair amount of time with Byron Shaw, but the man had always been so refined and elegant. She had never seen him touch a cigarette.

’In fact, maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe I’d built him up to be something he wasn’t.’

’Just because I’ve never seen him smoke doesn’t mean he doesn’t.’

Byron Shaw skillfully lit a cigarette. "I’ve been trying to quit recently, but sometimes the craving hits and I can’t resist having one."

Georgia hummed in acknowledgment, waiting quietly for him to finish.

He finished the cigarette in less than a minute.

His voice, now raspy from the smoke, was slightly hoarse. "I told you, you can think of me as an elder."

She knew. She just didn’t understand why.

Georgia looked at Byron Shaw with bewildered eyes. "Attorney Shaw, you..."

"Georgia Thorne, you look a lot like a friend of mine."

"Uh..."

Georgia was momentarily speechless.

’Who do I look like?’

"If you feel it’s a burden, you can tell her yourself. I have no objection."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s up to you how you seize it. I hope you don’t do anything you’ll regret. I’m just the person who made the introduction. Your success or failure after this is up to you."

The next morning, Georgia Thorne woke up early, all sleepiness gone.

She took out the business card from her pocket, torn over whether to go or not.

She had thought about it all night and still couldn’t make a choice.

Byron Shaw said she looked like a friend of his, but he didn’t say who, or how much she resembled them.

’Was he helping her this much just because of a resemblance?’

She made herself some porridge and watched the seconds tick by on the wall clock.

The address on the card was at least an hour away from her place.

Just as the clock hit seven-thirty, Georgia Thorne threw down her chopsticks, threw on her coat, and rushed out the door.

She hurried all the way there. Just as Byron Shaw had said, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she really didn’t want to miss it.

The address on the card wasn’t Goldsmith’s studio, but her home.

Of course, one could say it was both her home and her studio.

The moment Georgia stepped inside, she was taken aback by the dozen or so easels in the living room.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Plain water is fine," Georgia said reservedly.

In truth, even now, she felt like she was still in a dream, unable to believe it was real.

"Thank you."

"No need to be so formal. Call me Seraphina Goldsmith."

"How could I!" Georgia hurriedly shook her head. The world knew Seraphina Goldsmith as either Goldsmith or KING.

She was just a rookie; how could she use her first name?

However, Seraphina Goldsmith stopped her with a single sentence. "You’re a friend of Byron’s."

’In other words, I can use her name.’

Georgia couldn’t figure out the relationship between Byron Shaw and Seraphina Goldsmith. They seemed very close, yet Seraphina said she owed Byron for this.

"I’ll be in Akashima for a while. Starting today, you can come here to study every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday." Seraphina Goldsmith picked up a still-wet brush, applied some color to the paper, then turned to look at Georgia, her expression exceptionally serious. "I don’t take on apprentices."

Seraphina Goldsmith had an unusually resolute expression as she said this. Georgia nodded.

’No matter what, as long as I can learn from her, I’m more than willing.’

’She had never cared for titles, anyway.’

The next day, Byron Shaw asked her out to eat.

Byron Shaw chose a Sinean restaurant. He’d heard the chefs there were all from Sinea.

When a plate of braised pork belly was brought to the table, the normally fragrant aroma filled her nostrils, and a wave of nausea instantly churned in her stomach.

The smell was overwhelming. Georgia couldn’t help but run out of the private room.

Byron Shaw watched Georgia’s retreating back, her hand clamped over her mouth, and frowned deeply.

His middle finger tapped lightly on the tabletop as he considered something.

Georgia ran to the restroom. She didn’t throw up, only dry-heaved.

Her eyes immediately became bloodshot. Georgia splashed her face with water, then came out while rubbing her stomach.

Back in the private room, the braised pork belly had been taken away, but the nauseating smell still lingered.

Georgia Thorne furrowed her Amber brows and sat down. "Sorry."

"Did you and Elliot Sheridan take precautions... in that department?"

"Hm?"

Georgia had been wondering why Byron Shaw had asked her out to eat and didn’t immediately grasp what he meant.

By the time she understood, Byron Shaw was already continuing, "Georgia Thorne, you’re still young. You don’t need to waste your energy on a man."

"Wait!" His words sounded so absurdly laughable that she had to interrupt him. "You think I’m pregnant?"

"Weren’t those the symptoms of morning sickness just now?" ’She’s still just a kid, not even understanding something like this.’

Georgia truly wanted to laugh. How could she possibly be pregnant?

But, counting the days, she realized her period was very late.

Her heart dropped. The rosy flush on her cheeks vanished, replaced by a deathly pallor. She stared at Byron Shaw, her eyes wide.

’That time, on New Year’s Day... Elliot Sheridan hadn’t used protection, and she hadn’t taken anything afterward.’

"No, it can’t be! How is that possible!" Georgia immediately panicked, gripping her own fingers tightly.

"Don’t panic just yet. Let’s go to the hospital and find out for sure."

Amidst her panic, Byron Shaw took her hand, his voice softening to soothe her. "Don’t be nervous. I’ll go with you to the hospital for a check-up, and then we’ll know."

With her period being so late, Georgia was so flustered she was close to losing her mind.

Dazed and confused, she followed Byron Shaw into the car and to the hospital.

Her thoughts were a chaotic mess the entire way.

’What if I really am pregnant? Should I keep it or not?’

She followed a nurse to get the tests done.

After the tests were finished, the results would be out soon.

Georgia was so nervous her whole body went rigid. She sat on a chair, head bowed, completely still.

Her gaze fell to her lower abdomen. During the examination process, her panic had slowly given way to a sense of calm.

’If there really is a child, it would be someone for me to lean on, too.’

Finally, Georgia Thorne’s name was called. She walked over anxiously, but Byron Shaw had already taken the report from the nurse’s hand.

"What are the results?" Georgia felt her throat go dry and hoarse.

"Negative." Byron Shaw let out a strange sigh of relief. He handed the report to her, his voice steady. "You’re not pregnant."

Georgia’s head was buzzing, and she couldn’t hear a word Byron Shaw was saying. She snatched the report.

She was so nervous that her vision blurred. The black characters on the paper were just a smudge. She stared hard for a long time before she could make out the word "Negative."

Negative. That meant she wasn’t pregnant.

A hollow feeling bloomed in her heart. She wasn’t pregnant.

There would be no child. She wouldn’t be a mother.

She had been so close to convincing herself to keep the baby.

Georgia Thorne wasn’t pregnant; the nausea was caused by an upset stomach.

Byron Shaw saw the disappointed look on Georgia’s face when she learned she wasn’t pregnant.

"Georgia Thorne, you deserve to be cherished by a better man, not to be a single mother!"

After the pregnancy scare, that whole misunderstanding, Georgia’s life went back to normal.

Every morning she had training classes. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, she taught children to draw at Mr. Ford’s. The rest of her time, Georgia threw herself into her studies with Seraphina Goldsmith.

It had to be said, Seraphina Goldsmith was incredibly talented. No wonder she was called a maverick genius and hailed as KING.

There were over a dozen easels in the living room. Seraphina didn’t paint one canvas at a time; she worked on all of them at once.

The title of ’maverick genius’ wasn’t for nothing.

Georgia Thorne had a dream. She believed that one day she, too, could carve out her own path in the design world.

She studied painting almost day and night, starting from the very basics. Sometimes she would paint alongside Seraphina.

They didn’t compete on the brilliance of their work, but on speed. The loser was responsible for dinner.

And Georgia was always the one who lost.

After spending over a month with Seraphina Goldsmith, she discovered Seraphina wasn’t as reclusive as the rumors claimed.

On the contrary, she was very easy to get along with, just not very talkative.

When Seraphina critiqued her work, her words were sharp, hitting the weaknesses in her pieces with a single blow.

But when it came to personal matters, Seraphina became very quiet.

Georgia was dying to know how she had met Byron Shaw and why she was teaching her.

To her questions, Seraphina gave only one answer: "I owe him a favor. As for the rest, if Byron wants to tell you, he will."

"Byron is not one to hide things."

Her words were filled with trust for Byron Shaw.

The days passed one by one, and soon it was time for the cherry blossoms to bloom.

The man who had once promised to watch the cherry blossoms with her was no longer here.

Taking advantage of the weekend, Georgia asked Seraphina for some time off, saying she had to go out for something.

Seraphina readily agreed, telling her to go out and clear her head.

On Friday night, Georgia bought a train ticket and set off alone.

After a night on the train, she emerged from the station into the misty morning of the next day.

The train had been noisy; Georgia hadn’t been able to sleep at all.

She reached her destination in a half-asleep, half-awake state.

She took the subway straight to Vimana.

Half an hour later, Georgia stood amidst a crowd of people.

She tilted her head back, gazing up at the giant lantern hanging overhead.

The feeling was completely different from her first visit.

She tightened the straps on her backpack and followed the stream of people into the temple.

Her state of mind was already vastly different from when she had first come.

By comparison, there were even more tourists visiting the temple in the spring.

Not only could they pray, but when they got tired, they could also stop to rest and admire the beautiful cherry blossoms.