Dear Sweetheart novel

After a while, Gabriel nodded. “You’re right. I should keep my distance from Ms. Garland. Mr. Faymon’s temper has

worsened, so if he sees me chatting with Ms. Garland and gets reminded of their past relationship, he might take

his anger out on me. I, for one, know how bad that can be.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Stella replied with a chuckle. “By the way, I bought two scarves when I returned from

Radford. Remember to bring them to your mother.”

“You’re already busy enough with work, though. Why did you still take the trouble to buy her scarves?” Gabriel said,

feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“Well, the designs are pretty, and I think Mrs. Tylinski will like them.”

“All right. I’ll transfer the money to you later,” Gabriel said, only to be met with utter silence. “Hmm… Why have you

stopped talking?”

Just as he pulled up to a red light and turned his head around, Stella, who had been waiting behind his seat,

suddenly leaned in and kissed him.

“There’s no need to transfer anything,” Stella said, grinning impishly as she touched her lips. “I’ve already received

the payment.”

Stunned, Gabriel hurriedly turned his gaze back to the road, his ears all flushed from the unexpected kiss.

Meanwhile, Rayna had been ringing the condominium’s doorbell to no avail when a sudden realization hit her. Ah!

Silly me! Since Jessica’s pregnant, Wyatt must’ve taken her home to care for her. Why should she be here?

Unfortunately, Jessica hadn’t left her keys behind, so Rayna quickly headed to the property management office to

get a set of spare keys.

Upon entering the seemingly neat and clean condominium, she was shocked to find a thick layer of dust on the

floor.

Wow. It looks like Jessica hasn’t been here in a long time… I need to clean this place up, but I don’t think it’d be

advisable to do any strenuous activity while pregnant.

With that thought in mind, Rayna whipped out her phone and wasted no time hiring a cleaning service. After

pushing her luggage into the bedroom, she made a couple of calls to Jessica, only to find out that the latter’s phone

was off.

She proceeded to call Wyatt instead, but oddly enough, all the calls went unanswered.

Argh! Even if he’s accompanying Jessie, he wouldn’t have tossed his phone aside, would he?

Of course, Rayna knew nothing about what had happened between Wyatt and Jessica in the past two months. In

her mind, Jessica must’ve gone to stay in the Lopez residence and was being pampered by both Wyatt and Pamela.

Since it was impossible to get through to either of them, Rayna eventually gave up and decided to look for Wyatt

the next day.

After tidying up the place a little and leaving instructions for the cleaner who had just arrived, she changed her

shoes and headed out.

Rayna knew Kristie resided in the same building, and she remembered the unit number, too. What she didn’t know,

however, was if the latter still lived there.

It didn’t take long before Rayna found Kristie’s unit, but alas, she was hesitant to ring the doorbell for some reason.

Just then, the door suddenly opened, making her jump.

Needless to say, the woman on the other side of the door was just as startled. “W-Who are you?”

“Are you the new resident of this unit?”

Seeing how guarded and tight-lipped the woman was, Rayna added, “I’m looking for Kristie Winton. Is she still living

here?”

“What’s your relationship with Ms. Winton?”

“I…” Rayna mumbled, not quite knowing what to say.

The woman’s face instantly clouded over with anger. “You reporters are so annoying! Why must you show up every

day to harass Ms. Winton? I’ll have to inform Mr. Faymon and let him teach you guys a lesson! Leave this instance!”

The next second, Rayna staggered backward as the woman shoved her away. Thankfully, she reacted fast enough

to hold onto the wall and keep herself from falling.

Seconds later, Rayna heaved a sigh.

I shouldn’t have come to look for Kristie. Who knows? She might not even want to see me…

All of a sudden, a soft, gentle voice rang out. “Mdm. Lovett, why are you still here?”

Following the pitter-patter of slippers on the floor, a head poked out from behind the woman at the door.

“I’m leaving in a bit. Go back inside, Ms. Winton. There’s nothing to see here,” the woman replied while closing the

door. Alas, it was all too late. Kristie had already seen Rayna standing outside, and her eyes lit up immediately.

“Rayna!”

Upon seeing Kristie being her usual lively self, Rayna held back happy tears and smiled. “Hi, Kristie. It’s been a

while.”

Without further ado, Kristie darted past Larissa and jumped into Rayna’s arms, almost knocking the latter over as

she did.

“Rayna, where have you been for the past few months?” Kristie asked, looking somewhat unhappy. “Why didn’t you

call me?”

As she thought of all the missed calls, Rayna felt tears welling up in her eyes and patted her friend’s head. “I was

away for work.”

“For so long? And to think you even went radio silent on me,” Kristie grumbled before pulling Rayna into the

condominium. “Come on, Rayna. Let’s talk inside! You can throw the trash later, Mdm. Lovett. Help us cut some

fruit first, will you?”

Soon, Kristie had sat Rayna down on the couch and began flooding her with questions.

Rayna answered every question patiently, but she also quickly realized that something was amiss.

“Kristie, do you miss James?” she carefully asked while handing a slice of fruit to her friend.

To her surprise, the latter merely looked at her with curiosity. “Who’s James?”

When Rayna didn’t reply, Kristie tugged at her arm. “What’s wrong, Rayna? Why aren’t you saying anything? Who

on earth is James, anyway? Why do you want to know if I miss him?”

Rayna’s breath hitched as she stared at Kristie.

Oh, my goodness. She genuinely has no idea! I can’t believe she even asked me who James is…

Just then, Larissa brought the drinks over and accidentally spilled some juice onto Rayna.

“Ms. Winton, I’ll take Ms. Garland to the bathroom to clean up,” Larissa said before giving Rayna a pointed look.

Of course, the latter quickly went along with it and followed her to the bathroom.

Once the two women were alone, Larissa finally spoke up. “I’m sorry, Ms. Garland. I just wanted to talk to you in

private.”

“Go on,” Rayna replied with a smile.

“It was only two months ago when Mr. Faymon sent me here to take care of Ms. Winton. She may look all bubbly on

the outside, but the truth is, she refuses to speak with anyone but Mr. Faymon. I had taken care of her for more

than a month before she finally acknowledged and talked to me. You, Ms. Garland, are the third person Ms. Winton

has spoken to. She was even the one to take the initiative.”

Rayna suppressed the uneasiness creeping up on her and asked, “Can you tell me what happened to Kristie?”

Sadly, Larissa shook her head. “I’m not sure, either. All I know is Ms. Winton doesn’t like talking to other people.

Also, please refrain from mentioning James in front of her. Mr. Faymon has instructed me to throw out anyone who

talks about James and ban them from returning. Even Mr. York, who comes by to deliver medicine, will not be

spared.”

Upon hearing that, Rayna closed her eyes.

Oh, how my heart hurts. I thought everything was all right when I saw Kristie in such high spirits. Alas, who knew…

Just as Rayna was about to say something else, Kristie’s voice gently wafted through the bathroom door. “Curt, why

are you here?”

Huh? Curtis has dropped by?

“Ah, that’s Mr. Faymon!” Larissa exclaimed as she opened the door. “Do you know him, Ms. Garland? Would you like

to go out and say hi?”

Rayna placed a hand against the door and smiled. “I’ll be out in a bit.”

“Okay. I shall take my leave first.”

Once Larissa was out of sight, Rayna plopped herself down on the toilet bowl and sighed. She was so upset and

guilty that she couldn’t muster up the courage to face Kristie again.