Chapter 51

A week passed. Jo was at the office until late every day, running the company. By the time he came home, he was dead tired. The same was true for Chloe. All she did was be at home and attend to her needs. She was buying books left and right. Her new hobby was reading. The more she read, the happier she was.

In the winter, it would be great to be cuddled up around a fire, with the heat filling the rooms. Jo emerged, blinking against the sudden brightness of the living room. He had been buried in his work for hours, the steady rhythm of typing and the occasional scratch of pen against paper the only sounds in the quiet house. Stretching his legs, he needed to step out to see why everything was so quiet.

As he stepped into the room, a hushed stillness enveloped him, broken only by the gentle hum of the heating system and the soft crackle of flames in the fireplace. He stumbled upon – Chloe, curled up on the couch, bathed in the warm glow of the lamp beside her.

For a