My Gorgeous Director

Chapter 4

Yara was not lying. She and Adrian really had known each other since childhood.

Back then, Adrian's mother had been hired as Yara's private dance instructor, teaching her from elementary school all the way through high school until Yara eventually left the country.

Yara had always been talented at dancing, but her academic performance had never been impressive. Adrian, on the other hand, had been an outstanding student with nearly perfect grades.

After learning this, Yara's grandfather often asked Adrian's mother to bring Adrian along during tutoring sessions so he could help Yara study too. From middle school through high school, the two of them practically grew up side by side.

But shortly before college, Yara fell recklessly in love with a local delinquent. Teenage love always burned hottest when it was doomed from the start.

The boy sweet-talked her endlessly, took her racing through the city at night, drinking, fighting, chasing adrenaline wherever they could find it.

Yara's father hated him on sight. Determined to cut the relationship off completely, he forcibly sent Yara overseas. Furious with her family, Yara refused contact for years and never returned home.

Naturally, Yara was not stupid enough to share this humiliating first-love story with Wren. So instead, she simply said, "Adrian has always loved me. We were childhood sweethearts."

Tonight, Yara wore a camel-colored cashmere coat draped over head-to-toe designer labels. Diamond earrings glittered beneath the living room lights while her makeup remained bold, expensive, and aggressively glamorous.

Then she reached into her Hermès bag and slowly pulled out an envelope. Holding it delicately between two fingers, she handed it toward Wren. "This," she said lightly, "is the love letter Adrian wrote me the day before I left the country."

The truth was that Yara had never really liked Adrian in the first place. Back then, he was nothing more than a quiet honors student in her eyes. He was reserved, serious, and painfully dull, nothing like the reckless boyfriend who had once filled her life with excitement. On top of that, Yara hated studying, so having Adrian constantly tutor her only made her find him even more irritating.

So when Adrian handed her that letter before she left to study overseas, she mocked him mercilessly. She called him delusional and said he was dreaming far beyond his place in life. She never even bothered to read the contents before carelessly tossing the letter aside.

It was not until last weekend that she finally discovered what Adrian had written inside. After finding out that Adrian and Wren were going to the movies together that day, Yara became desperate to ruin their date but could not come up with a convincing excuse.

So she went to visit Adrian's mother instead. Adrian's mother had always adored her, and Yara originally intended to persuade the older woman to call Adrian home at the perfect moment. However, during the visit, she accidentally discovered the letter.

Adrian's mother told her that after Yara left all those years ago, Adrian had quietly picked up the discarded letter and kept it ever since. Then she let out a soft sigh and said, "Yara, Adrian never forgot you. He's been waiting for you all these years."

After that, Yara kept talking, but Wren could barely hear a single word. She stared numbly at the thin sheet of paper in her hands as her mind slowly went blank. Time had yellowed the page slightly, yet it had been preserved with great care, and every line of handwriting remained painfully clear.

Adrian had written:

If you really have to leave, then I'll wait for you at Winslow Group. As long as I remain there, I'll keep waiting for you.

In the living room, Yara watched Wren's face turn deathly pale, and the humiliation from that slap finally eased a little. Even so, she still was not satisfied. She already had far crueler words prepared, waiting to drive the knife in deeper.

"I heard you were the one who pursued Adrian first. He rejected you at the beginning, didn't he? And then, exactly three years ago today, he suddenly agreed to date you. Do you know why?"

Wren said nothing.

Yara did not seem to care whether she answered or not. "Because three years ago today," she said slowly, "was my wedding day."

She had married her first love.

Back then, her father had wanted her to marry someone respectable and from a well-matched family, but she had already reconnected with that former delinquent behind her family's back. His sweet words, reckless promises, and thrill-filled nights had completely swept her off her feet.

In the end, she secretly registered their marriage without telling anyone because she truly believed she was marrying the love of her life. It was only after the wedding that she realized she had stepped straight into a nightmare.

The man was lazy, useless, and hopelessly unfaithful. She had caught him cheating with young models more than once, and he spent his days drinking, gambling, and sleeping around without restraint.

He had never truly loved her. All he had ever wanted was her money. Yara wanted a divorce, but he refused to let her go. Unwilling to turn the marriage into a public scandal or endure an ugly court battle, she remained trapped in that miserable relationship for years.

Then, six months ago, Adrian was sent overseas on a business trip. Her father asked him to step in and help resolve the situation. Somehow, Adrian managed to persuade the man to sign the divorce papers and finally pulled her out of that living hell.

By the time Yara saw Adrian again, years had already passed. The awkward, quiet boy who once hid behind thick black-framed glasses had transformed into a refined and mature man with devastatingly handsome features. His face was flawless, and his calm gaze carried a depth that was impossible to read.

The moment she looked at him, she fell completely. She wanted him, so she returned to Seaport. After spending two months wrapping up everything overseas, she officially joined Winslow Capital.

At first, she thought winning Adrian back would be easy. After all, he had once written her a love letter. But when she returned, she discovered that Adrian was already in a serious relationship. He and his girlfriend had been together for three years.

Yara thought time might have truly changed him and that he had genuinely fallen in love with Wren. That was why, in the beginning, she chose to use her status and influence to slowly drive a wedge between them instead of doing anything reckless.

Everything changed after last weekend, when she found that letter. Only then did she finally understand the truth. Adrian had joined Winslow Capital because of her, and the fact that he was still there now meant he had never stopped waiting for her. He still loved her. From beginning to end, the only person Adrian had ever truly loved was Yara Winslow. That realization made Wren understand that she had been the outsider all along.

The day she discovered the letter, she immediately called Adrian. Just as she had expected, he walked out of the movie halfway through and rushed over to see her. But when she threw herself into his arms and tearfully told him how touched she was, Adrian gently pulled away from her embrace. He turned her down as tactfully as he could.

"These past few years, Wren has been the one standing beside me. I can't betray her like that."

But Yara could see the truth clearly. He was wavering, torn between guilt and desire. His heart still belonged to her. He simply did not know how to face Wren anymore.

Originally, Yara had planned to confront Wren about everything in person, but Adrian stopped her before she could mention the letter. Quietly, he said, "She won't be able to handle it. Don't tell her. No matter what happened, I'm the one who failed her. She's already planning to resign after New Year's. Once she leaves Winslow, I'll end things with her properly. Just let her leave in peace. Please."

Yara did not want to upset him, so she kept quiet even though she knew it was their third anniversary. There was no way she would allow Adrian to spend that day with Wren. That was why she orchestrated the entire situation. She asked a friend to help her put on an act, then told Adrian that her father had arranged a blind date for her with a man who appeared respectable on the surface but was secretly a complete scumbag.

Then she texted Adrian and asked him to go with her. When Adrian told her he was spending the evening celebrating his anniversary with Wren, Yara immediately escalated the situation. She called him in tears, claiming that the man her father had arranged for the blind date had been touching her inappropriately. In the end, Adrian still went to her. That only made one thing clearer than ever. He loved her.

Tonight, Yara's friends had deliberately gotten Adrian drunk because the plan from the very beginning was for her to take him back to her place once he was too intoxicated to think clearly.

But even drunk out of his mind, Adrian insisted on coming home. "I need to apologize to Wren."

In reality, they had arrived home only about five minutes before Wren. Yara had barely helped Adrian onto the sofa when she heard the front door unlock. In that split second, she acted on impulse and leaned down to kiss him.

Originally, she had not planned to bring up the letter that night. But Wren had slapped her, and no one had ever dared to do that before. No one.

"Three years ago today," Yara repeated slowly, "was my wedding day."

Wren suddenly remembered the night she and Adrian first got together. Back then, she had been the one pursuing him. She confessed her feelings to him, and he turned her down with polite, unsettling calmness.

"Sorry," he had said. "I'm not looking for a relationship right now."

Then, exactly three years ago today, Adrian suddenly called her out of nowhere and asked her to meet him at a bar. By the time she arrived, he was already drunk.

That entire night, he drank as though he was trying to drown himself from the inside out.

The moment he saw her, he pulled her straight into his arms. His voice had been roughened by alcohol, low and hoarse against her ear. "Wren," he said, "let's be together."

At the time, she genuinely thought he was just drunk. She assumed he would forget everything by morning. She had even coaxed him into repeating it a second time while secretly recording the confession on her phone.

But the next day, Adrian remembered everything. He personally drove her to work, bought her breakfast, and stayed by her side the entire day.

Later, she once asked why he had gotten so drunk that night. Adrian told her he had argued with his mother. Only now did Wren finally understand the truth. The grief in his eyes that night and the heartbreak had actually been caused by Yara getting married.

As long as I remain there, I'll keep waiting for you.

Adrian had joined Winslow right after graduation and had stayed with the company ever since. If he had really been waiting for Yara all these years, then what had Wren ever meant to him?