You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 116

Sylvia subconsciously looked up, only to see Reina Winslet throwing herself at Ashton like a little bird and clinging to his arm.

As she shifted her gaze slightly, she met Ashton's icy stare.

Ashton watched her, his eyes dropping to the small cake in Sylvia's hands. A mocking smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He started walking toward her, and just as he expected, he saw her expression gradually stiffen.

Standing lazily before them, Ashton smiled, though his eyes harbored a freezing chill. He spoke first. “What a coincidence.”

Julian remained as placid as still water, giving a slight nod. “It certainly is.”

Reina's expression soured slightly when she saw Sylvia, but for Julian's sake, she didn't say anything.

She tugged on the hem of Ashton's shirt. “Ash, did you look at the birthday present I gave you yesterday? Did you like it?”

Sylvia paused when she heard that. She looked up. Yesterday was Ashton's birthday?

No wonder...

She hadn't remembered it at all.

Ashton's gaze skimmed over her briefly, completely ignoring her presence. He merely smiled at Reina. “It was great. I liked it a lot.”

He looked back up and gave Julian a lazy nod. “Excuse me, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now.”

It was rare for him to be this polite.

Julian pushed his glasses up slightly. “Why don't we get dinner together? My mother mentioned you helped out with a batch of medical resources? Thank you.”

Ashton raised an eyebrow. “No big deal. Just pulling a few strings. You don't need to treat me to dinner. Come by The Reign tomorrow night; drinks are on me. We run in the same circles. There's no bad blood here that we can't get past.”

His words sounded magnanimous and open.

He really sounded like he had moved on.

Julian nodded. “That works.”

Only then did Ashton look at Sylvia, as if he had just remembered she was there. “Ms. Harlow should come play too. We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future, so it wouldn't hurt to make more friends.”

Julian also turned to Sylvia. “Do you want to go? Don't force yourself if you don't want to.”

Ashton curled his lips into a smile, observing her, though his gaze and tone remained cold.

For some reason, Sylvia glanced back and realized Ashton was still standing in the exact same spot.

The man's lips were pressed into a tight line, his dark pupils bottomless. He was staring at her coldly, his gaze like frost.

She felt a sudden chill in her heart.

—

Sylvia had originally wanted to take Ellie out to grab a bite with them, but Ellie stubbornly refused to be a third wheel. Julian had to drop her off on their way, and Sylvia ended up giving the small cake to Ellie.

It was quite late by the time they arrived at the restaurant. Sylvia hadn't eaten anything since one o'clock that afternoon, so she ordered a glass of orange juice to start.

“What do you want to ask?” Julian found it somewhat amusing, noticing Sylvia hesitate to speak several times.

Caught in the act, Sylvia thought for a moment before asking, “It might sound petty of me to say this, but... do you really think there are no strings attached to the medical connections Ashton hooked you up with?”

She couldn't shake the feeling that the look Ashton had given her earlier was incredibly hostile.

Julian pushed a plate of crab roe buns closer to her. He thought for a second before answering. “You really don't need to overthink it. This kind of resource exchange is very common. To him, it's just a small favor. When the Wyatt family needs the Sterling family, we'll return the favor.”