But now, it was rush hour. As soon as she tried to book a ride, the app told her there were over two hundred people ahead of her in line.


    Plus, it was the first day of school, and the streets were packed with parents dropping off their kids. Traffic everywhere was a mess.


    Seeing this, Charlene stopped in her tracks.


    Thorne noticed she wasn''t following and turned back. "What''s wrong?"


    Charlene hesitated. "...Nothing."


    In the end, she got into Thorne''s car after all.


    Once inside, Thorne turned as if to say something to her, but before he could speak, his phone rang.


    "Sorry, I need to take this," he said.


    "Go ahead," Charlene replied, her tone casual.


    The call was clearly international-he spoke entirely in a foreignnguage.


    From the conversation, Charlene gathered that Thorne was supposed to make a trip to Golnd soon. He told the person on the other end that he had urgent matters to handle and would be arriving a couple dayster than nned.


    The call went on for quite a while.


    It wasn''t until the car was nearly at PrimeStar that Thorne finally hung up.


    He looked as though he wanted to say something, but before he could, Charlene nced out the window and spoke first. "Could you have the driver pull over up ahead? I''ll walk the rest of the way."


    Thorne caught her meaning. He looked at her, but didn''t argue, simply told the driver to stop as she''d asked.<fn7b5b> Chapters first released on fin?novel</fn7b5b>


    The car stopped about two or three hundred meters from PrimeStar''s building. Charlene got out. Before closing the door, she offered a polite, "Thank you." Thorne gave a faint smile. "No problem."


    She caught that smile, said nothing more, and walked away.


    Elsewhere—


    Not long after Thorne and Charlene left the school, Jasmine''s smartwatch began to ring.


    It was Vesta calling.


    Jasmine was in high spirits that morning. Seeing the caller ID, Sally called out cheerfully, "Ms. Hawkins!"


    "It''s me," Vesta''s voice came through, warm and caring. "Did Minnie make it to school?"


    "She did, she did!"


    Vesta picked up on Jasmine''s happy tone. "First day of school, and Minnie''s this excited?"


    After a brief pause, Vesta finally got to the real reason for her call. "By the way Minnie, did your dad take you to school with your mom today?"  s


    "He did!"


    "Oh, really?" Vesta''s smile faded a little. "I thought since your mom was taking


    you, your dad wouldn''t need toe along."


    "I didn''t really mind either way," Jasmine replied. "But after dinnerst night, when I was getting my things ready to go to my great-grandmother''s, Dad suddenly said he wanted to take me toschool me to


    or my first day so he askedol


    stay home for the night. This morning, we picked up Mom together at my great-grandmother''s ce."  s


    "I see."


    "So your mom rode in your dad''s car to school?"


    "Uh-huh."


    Vesta''s smile faded further, and she fell silent.


    The truth was, when Jasmine asked Charlene to take her to school on the first day, Yesta hadn''t insisted oning too not because she didn''t Want to, but because she wanted to see whether Thorne would use the opportunity to get close to Charlene.  s


    And, as she suspected, Thorne did just that...


    So Thorne and Charlene...


    The thought made Vesta clench her fist, her chest tightening.


    She chatted with Jasmine for a little longer, then found an excuse to end the call.


    As soon as she hung up, the smile vanished from her face.