Chapter 31: Unexpectedly adorable
A deafening silence settled inside the boutique.
Grace sat gracefully on the sofa, silently studying Clara.
Meanwhile, Clara maintained a polite smile.
One minute passed.
Then another.
The corners of her lips began to twitch.
Why isn’t she saying anything? Clara wondered inwardly.
Is she waiting for me to speak first?
Another few seconds passed.
My cheeks are starting to hurt...
She wanted to lower her smile, but the moment Grace looked up again, Clara instinctively stretched it even wider.
Grace frowned slightly.
"..."
"..."
The awkward silence only grew heavier.
Clara had met Grace only twice before the marriage. The first time was when Dominic formally introduced her to his family, and the second time was when Grace privately asked her to reject Dominic.
Back then, Grace had witnessed Clara’s arrogance and sharp tongue firsthand. Convinced that Clara wasn’t the right woman for her son, she had even offered her a generous check in exchange for disappearing from Dominic’s life.
Ironically, that had been exactly what Clara wanted.
She had rejected Dominic over and over again.
Yet no matter how many times she turned him down, he stubbornly refused to let her go.
And in the end... he still married her.
Grace finally broke the silence.
"Dominic told me you want to give this marriage a chance."
Her calm gaze met Clara’s. "How much of that is true?"
Clara straightened in her seat.
"I wasn’t lying." She answered without hesitation. "I really do want to give this marriage a chance."
After a brief pause, she added sincerely, "I know it’s hard to believe me after everything I’ve done. But I’ll prove it with my actions."
Grace quietly observed her. Her mind drifted to what Hannah had told her the other night.
According to Hannah, Clara had slapped Alex in front of everyone and ended their relationship without the slightest hesitation.
When Hannah questioned whether she was pretending, Clara had replied with those exact same words.
"I’ll prove it with my actions."
Yet Grace still found it difficult to believe. This wasn’t the Clara she knew.
The Clara from before had never spoken so calmly. She had never been this respectful.
The last time they met, Grace had begged her to leave Dominic.
Instead, Clara had laughed in her face.
"Why would I marry a man I don’t love?"
Those words had lingered in Grace’s mind ever since.
She had always believed Dominic was the most sensible of her children. Until he stubbornly insisted on marrying Clara.
No matter how much the family tried to stop him...no matter how much evidence they placed before him...his decision never wavered.
Desperate to protect her son, Grace had even come to Clara with a blank check, hoping money would convince her to walk away.
Instead... Dominic found Clara before she could leave, and the two of them were married the very next moment.
Thinking back now, Grace realised there had been nothing she could have done to change their fate.
She looked at Clara again. The young woman was meeting her gaze without hesitation, her eyes filled with quiet determination.
For the first time... Grace’s guarded heart eased, if only a little.
Just then, Clara suddenly cleared her throat.
"Mrs Sterling..."
Grace looked at her. "Can I... relax my smile now?"
Grace blinked.
"My cheeks have been cramping for the last five minutes." Clara rubbed the side of her face with an awkward laugh.
"I wasn’t sure if smiling less would make me look disrespectful, so I just... kept going."
Grace stared at her in silence.
"..."
"..."
Seeing Grace’s expression, Clara immediately straightened her back again and forced the smile onto her face once more.
"Never mind. I can keep smiling."
Grace looked at the painfully stiff smile on Clara’s face before letting out the smallest, almost inaudible sigh.
For the first time since they had met...she genuinely couldn’t tell whether Clara was serious...or simply being unintentionally ridiculous.
Why is she acting so strangely? Grace wondered.
The longer she looked at Clara, the more confused she became.
This young woman was nothing like the Clara she remembered.
Meanwhile, Clara noticed the sceptical look in Grace’s eyes, and a sudden realisation dawned on her.
Don’t tell me... she still doesn’t believe me.
She couldn’t blame her.
After everything she had done, it would be unreasonable to expect the Sterling family to trust her overnight.
In their eyes, she had been nothing but trouble ever since she entered Dominic’s life.
The thought made Clara’s heart sink.
The smile on her face slowly faded, replaced by a dejected expression. She looked like a child who had just been told she couldn’t have her favourite dessert.
Grace noticed the dramatic change and raised an eyebrow.
"..."
Before either of them spoke, the boutique manager approached with a warm smile.
"Mrs. Sterling, the gowns are ready."
Clara blinked in confusion. Only then did it occur to her.
She had been so focused on wondering why Grace had called her here that she hadn’t questioned why they were meeting at a boutique in the first place.
She glanced between Grace and the manager.
Wait...
Her heart skipped a beat.
Why are they both looking at me?
The manager smiled politely, waiting.
Grace, on the other hand, simply looked at Clara as though her reaction was perfectly normal.
Realisation slowly dawned on Clara. She pointed at herself.
"The... gown is for me?"
Grace frowned.
"Didn’t Dominic tell you?"
Clara instinctively shook her head.
Grace let out a quiet sigh.
"Hannah’s engagement is in a few days. As Dominic’s wife, you’ll naturally be attending."
Clara’s eyes widened.
"And you can’t possibly attend wearing these clothes."
She gestured toward the fitting rooms.
"So stop staring at me as if I’ve grown another head. We still have several stores to visit today."
Clara remained rooted to the spot.
"..."
"...You’re... taking me shopping?"
Grace looked at her matter-of-factly. "What else do you think we’re doing in a boutique?"
Clara opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"I... honestly thought you called me here to scold me."
For a brief moment, Grace was speechless. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"If I wanted to scold you, I could have done it over the phone."
The boutique manager lowered her head, desperately trying not to laugh.
Clara gave an awkward cough. "...That actually makes sense."
"Now," Grace said, her patience beginning to wear thin, "go try on the gowns."
"Yes, Mrs Sterling."
Clara hurried toward the fitting room, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process.
Watching her flustered retreat, Grace sat there silently.
A moment later, she shook her head in quiet disbelief. She still couldn’t decide whether Clara had truly changed... or whether she had simply become unexpectedly adorable.