CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 5: INVITATION LETTER

This morning, Serena Jennings stayed in bed.

Partly because she slept late last night, and partly because she didn’t have to get up early to buy the freshest groceries at the morning market, nor did she have to get up early to make at least four dishes and a soup for Caleb Lockwood’s breakfast.

After cooking a packet of instant noodles at home, Serena ate with relish, filled her stomach, and went out to the bank to fill out a transfer check, transferring ten million to the other party, with a note saying it was for medical expenses.

After leaving the bank, Serena went to Azure Cafe, where she had arranged to meet Lana Xavier for a meal.

After getting married, she had almost cut off contact with all her classmates and friends to devote herself fully to being a competent housewife for the Lockwood Family, and she hadn’t seen her best friend Lana Xavier for three years.

Thinking about her youth of these last three years, Serena felt like showing herself the middle finger.

Serena sat at the spot she had reserved in advance and waited for Lana Xavier.

Lana Xavier was now a vocal teacher at a well-known training school in City A, and Serena guessed that besides wanting to catch up, Lana probably also intended to help her find a job.

Sure enough, once Lana arrived, she quickly brought up her school’s recruitment for a piano teacher.

"Lana, thank you," Serena said with a relaxed smile, waving her hand, "But I’ve sworn off playing the piano, and I’ve already found a new job."

"Oh?" Lana was curious, "Is it a jewelry design company? After all, that’s your major!"

Serena shook her hand again, "Wrong! I didn’t graduate from college, those companies all require degrees."

"But it’s hard to find jobs without degree requirements these days!" Lana whispered and couldn’t help but express indignation for Serena, "Caleb Lockwood is truly a scumbag; he cheated during the marriage, and you left the marriage with nothing. If it were me, I wouldn’t feel satisfied unless I squeezed a few million out of him for wasting my precious years!"

Serena stifled a laugh, and just then, her phone lit up with a new WeChat message.

"It’s definitely from Caleb! Give it to me, and I’ll curse him to death!"

Serena opened WeChat, and it wasn’t from Caleb.

While replying, she said to Lana, "I actually don’t have any evidence of Caleb’s infidelity..."

Regardless of whether Caleb physically cheated or not, his heart certainly had, to the point of even rejecting their own child.

Thinking of that child who only lived for two months in her womb before dying at the hands of its own father, Serena’s expression turned cold.

"I just want to quickly get rid of Caleb Lockwood, get rid of my past life..."

"So?"

"So I applied here."

Serena sent a webpage to Lana, who, seeing Serena so happy, thought Serena had found a good job, but when she opened it—

"A Juvenile Correctional Facility?"

Lana’s eyes went dark, while Serena smiled brightly.

With limited lunch break time, the two didn’t manage to talk to their heart’s content before being forced to part ways, and Serena returned home but didn’t go inside; instead, she opened her parcel locker and took out an envelope.

At this point, she received a new WeChat message, this time from Caleb.

There was no text, just a picture of shredded paper scattered all over the ground.

In the General Manager’s office of The Lockwood Group.

Caleb Lockwood supported himself on the edge of the desk and slowly sat down, with the divorce papers he had just torn up by hand at his feet.

"President Lockwood, I’ve brought all the stomach medicine I could find..." Mr. Miller said nervously, only to see Caleb sweep all the stomach medicine on the desk to the floor with a wave of his hand.

"Absolutely useless, the more I take, the more it hurts."

Caleb clutched his stomach, beads of sweat from the pain forming on his forehead.

He hadn’t taken his herbal medicine for several days, and his stomach hadn’t felt well. When he arrived at the office today to see the divorce papers Serena sent, his stomach hurt even more.

Mr. Miller was anxious inside as he watched Caleb Lockwood.

The herbal medicine Caleb drank was a special formula from an old Chinese doctor, and only Serena knew how to brew it with the proper ratios, timing, and heat, and she was the only one who ever prepared it.

"Maybe, President Lockwood... I should call Miss Jennings?"

Mr. Miller tentatively suggested, only to see Caleb glare at him with sharp eyes and retort:

"What did you call Serena?"

"Miss Jennings!" Mr. Miller was puzzled.

Not just him, everyone around Caleb Lockwood, without exception, referred to her as "Miss Jennings."

It was only at this moment that Caleb realized that, even after being married for three years, Serena had always been "Miss Jennings" and not "Mrs. Lockwood."

He picked up his phone, wanting to see how Serena would react upon seeing the torn-up divorce papers, but Serena hadn’t replied. Instead, Claire Shaw called him.

In the evening, Serena arrived alone at the magnificent The Violet Auditorium in City A.

She had changed her clothes.

This blue Chanel-style suit was one of the more presentable outfits she owned before marriage.

The doorman smiled politely at Serena; Serena returned the smile and was just about to open her handbag when a voice she didn’t want to hear suddenly came from behind.

"Miss Jennings, what a coincidence, what are you doing here?"

Serena turned around and saw Claire Shaw coming towards her, arm-in-arm with two girlfriends.

Claire Shaw had clearly dressed with care today, wearing a pretty fairy dress in pink, the pink diamond necklace around her neck still as eye-catching as ever.

"Claire, who is she? Your friend?" Lily Sutton looked Serena up and down, "Surely she can’t be here to attend the FY celebration banquet, right?"

"No way," Owen Warren frowned disdainfully, "FY is a high luxury, international brand, and all its invitees are prominent figures. Look at what she’s wearing... probably here to deliver food!"

Serena watched Claire Shaw’s two girlfriends speaking in unison, clearly aware of who she was.

"Lily, Owen, don’t blame Miss Jennings..." Claire Shaw began to explain earnestly, "I heard from Caleb that Miss Jennings dropped out of college to get married and has been a housewife for years, mostly wearing aprons and seldom going anywhere other than the market, so she definitely hasn’t seen much of the world and lacks sensitivity to fashion, unlike us designers working at FY."

"You work at FY?"

Seeing Serena so surprised, Claire Shaw proudly took out her business card and handed it over.

"Claire is now a rising star in the jewelry design world. Even FY’s HR thinks highly of her!"

"You’re just a housewife; you probably don’t even know what HR means!"

Their ears were filled with Lily Sutton and Owen Warren’s noisy taunts. Serena looked at Claire Shaw’s business card—

FY Jewelry Design Department Intern.

Claire Shaw originally thought seeing her business card would make Serena feel inferior, but Serena merely gave a faint smile.

"Hmm, you’re excellent."

Lily Sutton immediately rolled her eyes, "What are you pretending to be calm for? You must be dying of jealousy inside!"

Seeing Serena turning around to walk inside, Owen Warren shouted, "Delivery people can’t go that way."

Claire Shaw couldn’t help but cover her mouth to laugh, giving Lily Sutton and Owen Warren a look, and the two immediately squeezed in, forcefully pushing Serena to the side.

"See that? Only those with invitations get in." Lily Sutton showed her invitation, allowing Claire Shaw to go in first.

Claire Shaw carefully lifted her pink dress, walking inside like a princess, head held high.

"Sorry, Miss, your invitation is for entering through the staff entrance." The doorman stopped Claire Shaw.

Claire Shaw felt embarrassed, but Lily Sutton and Owen Warren quickly compensated, "Claire is an FY employee anyway!"

"Exactly, exactly, going in through the staff entrance is still better than someone who can’t even get in."

Finally, Claire Shaw and her friends made way, and Serena once again proceeded to the VIP entrance, taking an envelope out of her handbag and handing it to the doorman.

The doorman’s eyes lit up, and his smile became more respectful.

"Miss Jennings, this way please..."

Under the shocked gazes of Claire Shaw and her friends, Serena walked into the auditorium through the VIP entrance.