The Wife He Forgot to Marry (Winona and Yule) novel Chapter 390

Lily's jaw dropped. "He seriously makes that much?"

To pull in that kind of money entirely on brainpower—without relying on family money or nepotism—was genuinely impressive. Because Shirley's own academic credentials were mediocre, she had only landed her administrative job at the Institute thanks to the Shipley family pulling strings. Making less than eight thousand a month as an assistant, Lily had assumed everyone at the Institute was scraping by. This was a massive reality check.

"Wait," Lily said, a new thought occurring to her. "Didn't you say Winona works in Jericho Harper's lab? Does she make that kind of money too?"

Even though Shirley knew Winona had previously served as a guest lecturer at the Institute, her jealousy refused to let her acknowledge Winona's brilliance.

"Her?" Shirley scoffed dismissively. "She obviously only got in through connections. There's no way her salary is anywhere near his."

Lily visibly relaxed, her ego soothed. "Ha! For all we know, she's probably paying them to let her work there. You see it all the time—those 'academic gold diggers' who just want a prestigious title to trap a rich husband. That's definitely Winona's game. How pathetic."

Determined not to miss her chance, Shirley smoothed her hair and skated over to the men. "Sheldon! Zack! What a coincidence. You guys skate here too?"

Sheldon, having smoothed out his socially awkward edges since becoming a team lead, offered a friendly smile. "Dean Ziegler wants us staying active so we don't burn out in the lab. He bought a few of us memberships. We had the weekend off, so we figured we'd check it out."

Zack simply gave Shirley a polite nod and kept his mouth shut. He was determined to stay completely loyal as Winona's backup plan, which meant keeping a strict, gentlemanly distance from other women.

"Since we're all here, let's hang out!" Shirley suggested brightly. "Want to grab lunch together?"

Always happy to network, Sheldon readily agreed.

At noon, Shirley dragged Lily alongside Sheldon and Zack to the rink's upscale restaurant on the first floor.

Zack, who had zero interest in the fancy Western food like steaks and salads, headed straight for a side counter and ordered a hearty beef pasta.

Normally, Shirley would be busy snapping pictures of her elegant meals to show off on her feed, heavily filtering the photos to project a life of luxury. But seeing Zack head for the simple counter, she immediately followed him.

"I'll take a large portion with extra beef and pasta," Zack told the server.

"I'll have a small bowl of the same," Shirley chimed in quickly.

Winona pulled out her phone, smiling, but Stefan gently intercepted it. "I'll take the photos for you guys."

"Sure," Winona said, handing it over.

It dawned on her how long it had been since she had done something this simple and fun. Back in college, she and Rhea used to scrape their money together to eat at aesthetically pleasing restaurants, taking dozens of photos and obsessing over the perfect filters. She hadn't felt that carefree, girlish joy in years.

After Stefan snapped a series of beautiful photos, they finally dug into their food.

Watching her cousin laugh and blush under Stefan's gaze, Greta felt a sudden tightness in her throat. Winona had never smiled like this when she was with Yulen.

Adults always assumed kids were clueless, but they noticed everything. It was painfully obvious when grown-ups were miserable together, and it was just as obvious when they were truly in love.

Greta desperately hoped her cousin would hold onto this happiness. She also hoped that someday, her mom could find someone just as wonderful. As for herself, she didn't mind the idea of a blended family at all. As long as her mom was happy, Greta promised herself she would be a good girl, grow up fast, and never be a burden to anyone.

Just then, Zack spotted Winona across the room, his eyes lighting up as he eagerly walked toward their table.