The weekend arrived in the blink of an eye.

There were only 24 days left until the divorce could be finalized.

Over the past few days, Aster had been staying at the mansion for longer and longer periods of time. However, he was also getting increasingly distracted.

He never noticed anything amiss throughout the mansion, especially with Carina hiding the truth from him and pretending that nothing had changed.

The suitcase full of clothes had been at the front door for a few days, and nobody said a word about it.

Today was the day that Carina and Delphine had agreed upon to go house-hunting. However, Aster kept tagging along, as if he was planning to dutifully fulfill his promise to her.

Carina had no other choice but to go to the mall with him.

Plenty of things were on sale at the mall, but neither Carina nor Aster were in the mood to actually go shopping.

Carina kept thinking of ways to flee. Meanwhile, Aster kept looking at trendy clothes in styles that would only fit someone a lot younger than Carina.

"Why don't you ask Stella if she'd like to come shopping with you too, Aster?"

Aster's eyes lit up at once when he heard that. "Really? Can I do that? That might not be a good idea, though, because I promised that I'd spend all day with you today. I don't want to talk about work at all."

Carina sighed inwardly. Aster had already taken his phone out, ready to call someone.

So, why did he pretend to look reluctant to ask Stella out just now? What was the point of lying to himself as well?

Stella arrived very quickly. It didn't even take her more than ten minutes to show up.

Carina wasn't dumb. She guessed that Stella had probably already been waiting nearby. Aster had already given himself away earlier. After all, this was only something he would do.

So, the three of them continued browsing through the shops, but only two of them were happy with how things turned out.

Suddenly, there was a loud siren in the mall. A shop had caught on fire.

Thick, black smoke poured out and surrounded the crowd of shoppers, and everyone dispersed as quickly as they could.

Aster made sure to protect Stella the whole time. Meanwhile, Carina got pushed and shoved so much that she nearly lost her footing and fell.

She looked back and suddenly met Aster's gaze.

Aster looked anxious and wanted to head toward Carina, but Stella kept calling out to him. Ultimately, he turned and left.

"Wait for me, Carina. I'll come back to save you as soon as I've brought Stella out to safety."

Carina's face was void of emotion. She just watched quietly as Aster and Stella then disappeared into the crowd.

With panicked shoppers covering for her, Carina finally managed to get away and leave the mall. She met up with Delphine, and they immediately headed straight for the first house on their list.

It was dark by the time Carina returned home. She didn't think that she would see Aster still waiting for her.

He ran over to her anxiously when he saw her entering through the door.

It had only been half a day since Carina saw him, but his face had gone pale, and he looked like he'd seen better days.

"Where have you been, Carina? Your phone was turned off too! I was so worried about you!"

Aster grabbed her arms and kept checking her body for any cuts or bruises. Finally, he noticed a faint red mark on her neck.

Aster suddenly slapped himself in the face.

The sound was so loud and clear that it stunned Carina for a moment, and she froze. However, she quickly snapped back and stared at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Carina. Today was all my fault. It's all my fault…"

Carina suddenly burst out laughing.

She didn't feel touched because of what Aster was doing. On the contrary, she found it ridiculous, and she was quickly losing interest.

"Nothing bad happened to me. I just didn't realize that my phone went out of battery while I was shopping with Del."

She suddenly took one step away, neatly avoiding Aster's hand that was reaching out for her.

"I'm a little tired today, so I'm going to bed now."

Aster froze in place. He didn't know what to do.

He suddenly felt as though Carina was getting farther and farther from him. He couldn't even grab hold of her anymore.

Carina stayed home for the next few days so that Aster wouldn't get suspicious of her. She didn't go anywhere and just stayed put at home, just waiting for time to pass.

Initially, she thought that had settled everything regarding her new rented place. But to her surprise, the landlord suddenly changed his mind on the day they were supposed to sign the leasing contract.

Delphine called Carina. "The landlord said that some guy, a Mr. Ducant, rented the apartment for another woman, Ms. Winters, and he offered double the asking rental price. They signed the contract immediately, and the apartment is now rented out to them."

Delphine knew about Aster's relationship with Stella. Coupled with Carina's weird antics lately, she could already guess what had happened.

Carina didn't say much and just asked Delphine to find another place for her.

That night, Carina tried testing the waters with Aster.

"I heard that you rented a place for Stella. Is that true?"

She hadn't meant it as a provocation or anything else. She just thought that she would steer clear of that area if that was the truth.

To her surprise, Aster got all flustered and hurriedly raised his hands in defense, shaking them and saying, "Don't get the wrong idea, Carina! You know how terrible the place Stella was renting is, always getting the electricity cut off for no reason.

"I just thought that since Stella is a company employee, this could also count as part of her employee benefits. That's what that rental is for! Employee benefits."

Carina nodded in understanding. She didn't cry or make a fuss about it and even joked with him for a bit.

Aster looked at her, who was weirdly calm after receiving the news, and a flash of fear suddenly surfaced in his eyes.

"Carina, are you hiding something from me?"

Carina froze very slightly while scrolling on her phone. However, she quickly composed herself. She looked up at him and said, "No, I'm not. But why would you think that way?"

Aster kept quiet. He had an inkling that Carina was keeping something from him. However, he didn't have proof of it. So, he just smiled back forcefully at her and said, "No reason."

A few days later, Carina finally managed to find another rental apartment far away from the first, with Delphine's help.

After signing the lease, Carina immediately moved everything she owned from the mansion into the rental. She didn't even leave a single towel behind in Aster's mansion.

Tonight would be the last night Carina was spending in Aster's home.

She sent him a text message early that day, planning to tell him everything that night over dinner.

She made a seven-course meal for dinner that night. This was her last dinner with him before she divorced him.

However, Aster never turned up.

When the clock struck 10:00 pm, Aster still hadn't come home.

Carina took out her phone, tapped into Instagram stories, and saw that Aster was busy celebrating with Stella. She only learned then that Stella had coincidentally moved into her new place today as well, and they were celebrating it together.

She watched the stories calmly.

So, Aster wasn't willing to spare her any time for Stella's sake.

Carina took all the food that she had made and threw them into the trash can.

She wondered if Aster would regret standing her up if he knew that today was the very last day before their 30-day waiting period was up.

She left him a letter. However, after some thought, Carina didn't think that there was any need to bring up the past again since they were getting divorced anyway.

So, she tore the letter up, threw it into the trash can as well, and left a copy of the divorce agreement on the table, along with the wedding ring from her finger.

After making sure that there wasn't a single trace of her left in the mansion, Carina walked out the door and left.

Aster finally got home long after Carina had left.

He tidied up his shirt, checking himself twice in the reflection, and then put an apologetic smile on his face, immediately apologizing as he stepped into the mansion.

"Sorry, Carina. I was just about to come home when I bumped into our biggest client, Sirius Jackson, and he invited me out for dinner. We ended up chatting for a long time."

This time, however, there was no other sound besides his own voice echoing throughout the empty halls.

Aster then called out to Carina again a few more times, but the place was still as quiet as ever.

His expression changed immediately, a look of horror and disbelief on his face.

The night breeze blew right past him, slightly rustling the pages of the divorce agreement and resignation letter on the table.

The agreement fluttered in the wind, and he suddenly caught sight of his signature on the very last page.

Aster's eyes widened at once. He mumbled in shock, "No, this can't be! This has to be fake! I never signed something like this!"

He flew over to the table, flipping the document open and reading the agreement. Then, he shakily took out his phone and called Carina.