Chapter 196: Chapter 196: One Week Left Until the Court Hearing

"Nothing turned up. It wasn’t her."

In the end, Tristan Lawson replied, going against his conscience.

The court hearing was in a week. He couldn’t let his guard down before then.

As long as Noelle didn’t divorce him and things settled down, he would tell the Sterling Family the truth.

But not now.

’It’s just for a little while longer. I just have to bear it.’

He felt terrible about it, too.

He didn’t want a divorce, so for now, this was his only option.

Hugo Sterling was naturally a little disappointed. However, he didn’t want to pressure Nathan Fulton, so he said, "It’s alright. I wasn’t getting my hopes up anyway. I’ll be heading back in the next day or two. I’ll think of some other way then. If you have time, send me an update if you find anything else."

"Okay. I’m actually heading back today, boarding soon. Let’s meet when you get back and talk about the power station project."

’Since Hugo Sterling has already built the stations, all that’s needed is to connect my solid-state phones and AI system to enable automated battery swapping. It’s a new industry with very promising future profits.’

’Since Noelle Sutton is Hailey Sterling, there’s no issue with me working with the Sterling Group on this project.’

’Besides, he had to deepen his cooperation with the Sterling Group during this time to make their two families inextricably linked.’

’Only then would it be harder for him and Noelle to get a divorce.’

’Hugo Sterling had presented this project to Tristan Lawson a while back, but Tristan hadn’t moved forward with it until now. This must mean he intends to cooperate.’

"Alright. I’ll contact you when I’m back."

"I’m hanging up."

Tristan Lawson didn’t ask Hugo Sterling to take care of Noelle Sutton.

Hugo was already taking excellent care of her.

A short while later, Tristan Lawson boarded his plane.

Hugo Sterling sat in his car, wondering, ’Why is Tristan Lawson suddenly going back?’

’Is he not planning to pester Noelle anymore?’

’Has he seen reason?’

’And Tristan’s attitude toward him was mild; he even planned to work on a project together.’

’He’d been opposing Tristan at every turn lately, yet Tristan hadn’t gotten angry.’

’He couldn’t quite figure out what Tristan was thinking.’

’Or perhaps Tristan believes that Noelle won’t be able to get the divorce granted at the first hearing, so there’s no need to keep pestering her for the time being.’

’Hugo still felt guilty toward Noelle about this, but it couldn’t be helped. Even if he didn’t bring it up, given Tristan’s adamant refusal to divorce, Tristan’s side would surely have thought of the same thing.’

Hugo Sterling sent Noelle Sutton a text message.

Tristan has returned home.

Thank you.

She sent back a smiley face emoji.

Seeing the emoji, the corners of Hugo Sterling’s lips curved up slightly.

Noelle Sutton was with Wyatt Yates at that moment. She was in his office for a follow-up on her throat.

"The swelling’s gone down. You can start your rehabilitation exercises. I’m having you start with simple vowels, not because you need to relearn how to speak from scratch, but because they’re simpler and better for stimulating your vocal cords."

Noelle Sutton smiled and nodded. She knew Wyatt was doing this for her own good.

"You’ve had the minimally invasive surgery, so your vocalization this time will definitely be better than before. Follow my pace and give it a try."

Wyatt Yates watched her with concentration, slowly and gently making an "a" sound.

Noelle Sutton imitated his tone and volume. "a..."

Although she couldn’t form the sound perfectly, it was much better than before, and her throat didn’t sting as much.

"o..."

"o..."

Noelle Sutton continued to practice with Wyatt Yates.

She had a voice now, though it wasn’t very loud.

She used to be able to talk, so she knew what it felt like. Her vocal cords weren’t vibrating properly, which made her pronunciation imprecise.

Wyatt Yates patiently taught her how to control it.

At first, he would say the sound for her to repeat. Later, he had her say it along with him at his pace.

After a few sets, Noelle Sutton could feel she was making some progress.

His focus and diligence while working were a side of Wyatt she had never seen before.

’He really is this exceptional.’

About twenty minutes later, Wyatt Yates stopped and handed her a throat spray.

"Here, spray this."

It was a moisturizing spray he had specially formulated to protect her vocal cords.

Used after her exercises, it could effectively soothe discomfort and help her vocal cords recover.

After Noelle used it, her throat felt cool, refreshed, and very comfortable.

She put down the spray and signed, "What medicine is this?"

"I made it myself. Just take it and use it."

Noelle had a lot of questions from earlier, but she hadn’t had a chance to ask while they were practicing.

She continued signing, "Didn’t you say it was a friend of yours who spent seven years researching a treatment for aphasia? But you seem very knowledgeable about the whole procedure, and you even performed the minimally invasive surgery yourself."

"I was in Aridia before, remember? When my friend was doing his research, I often participated in his experiments, so I’m very familiar with the entire treatment method. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to perform the surgery on you. You want to be able to speak so badly; how could I let you take even the slightest risk? If I wasn’t capable, I would have asked my friend to come and do it for you."

’So that’s how it was.’

Noelle continued to communicate with him in sign language. "By the way, I don’t think I’ve paid for any of my medical expenses."

Wyatt Yates laughed. "I own this hospital. What medical fees?"

"That’s not right," she signed. "You’ve helped me so much."

"If you insist on being so formal with me, I’m going to get angry."

Noelle had no choice but to drop the subject of payment.

She then asked him how long it would be until she could have the second minimally invasive surgery.

"That will depend on your recovery progress. Don’t worry, I’m here for you. I’ll let you know when the time is right."

Afterwards, Wyatt had another surgery to attend to. Noelle urged him to go, and then she left the hospital. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’Wyatt had given her the sound-emitting necklace, helped her continuously since then, and was now treating her aphasia.’

’She felt like she hadn’t given him anything in return.’

She decided to buy him a gift and took a taxi to a shopping mall.

Since the gift was for Wyatt, she went straight to the men’s accessory stores.

After she got married, she had bought many things for Tristan, so she was fairly knowledgeable about brands for men’s clothing and accessories.

However, common gifts like ties, cufflinks, and belts didn’t seem quite appropriate for a male friend.

But the options for men’s gifts were more or less limited to those items.

Tie clips, razors, clothes, and so on.

This left Noelle at a loss for what to choose.

She ended up asking a sales associate for help, typing on her phone, *What kind of gift should I get for a male friend? We’re just friends, not in a romantic relationship.*

The associate replied that anything would be fine; the relationship is defined by the people involved, not by the gift.

That put Noelle at ease.

She had already spotted a pair of pale gold cufflinks that she felt would perfectly suit Wyatt’s style.

She asked the associate to take them out of the display case. As she was examining them closely, she heard Tessa Lawson’s voice right next to her. "Getting ready to make up with Tristan? Buying him cufflinks?"