She was stuck in a pickle on how to process it all.

In the midst of this, Holden's phone rang, and it was Shawn calling.

Holden picked up, catching the urgency in Shawn's tone. “Mr. Fredrick, Miss Adele has disappeared from the church."

“What? How did she disappear?" Holden anxiously stood up. “Search for her, pronto!"

“We've turned the place upside down, but we couldn't find her," Shawn replied.

Holden was equally jittery. He calmed his nerves and replied, "I'm on my way."

Originally, he hadn't planned to bring Adele to the church, but if he didn't, Sadie would have sensed something fishy. So, he had put Adele in the lounge with someone watching her.

He had planned to celebrate her birthday with her once he ironed out the kinks with Sadie and Zayden. After all, Sadie had deliberately chosen their wedding day to overlap with Adele's birthday.

Holden turned to Ariana, explaining, "I need to leave now. Adele is missing, and I have to find her."

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Ariana got anxious, too. “What are you still doing here? Go and find her!"

Attempting to get up, her head began to spin, and she plopped back on the bed.

"You stay here and rest. I'll handle this on my own," Holden said as he gently helped her back onto the bed. After that, he rushed out of the room, leaving only Ariana and Sonia there.

Ariana and Sonia remained silent for a while.

Sonia looked at Ariana, not sure where to start. Adele was without a doubt a cute child, and Ariana had taken a shine to her. But, in the grand scheme of things, Adele was Holden and Sadie's child.

Ariana seemed to catch the drift but kept her gaze low in silence.

After a while, Sonia sighed and said, "Aria, have you mulled it over?

If he's truly Theodore, it's been half a decade, and a lot has changed. He has a child with another woman now. What are you going to do about all this?"

Ariana wrestled with the tumult of her emotions, endeavoring to bottle up the torrent within her in front of her friend, Sonia.

However, in due course, the floodgates of sentiment burst open, and her tears rolled down her face uncontrollably.

Sonia's heart twinged witnessing her friend's torment. Theodore's unexpected survival was perhaps what they had hoped for, but the current situation was more convoluted than anyone could have anticipated.