Chapter 1176:

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Jessie offered a faint smile. “I’m fine. Being kept isolated gave me enough time to process everything and accept it.”

Gracie watched her for a moment, studying her expression. Only after confirming that Jessie genuinely seemed okay did she finally relax.

They settled onto the couch and began going over everything that had happened recently.

Then Gracie suddenly recalled something she had heard the previous night. “I remember hearing that Eaton used to have a girlfriend while he was overseas. Was that actually true?”

Jessie nodded. “Yeah, it was. Why are you asking now?”

“When you were being confined, there were rumors that after Eaton’s friend came back from overseas, he started spreading stories questioning Eaton’s sexuality. And his fiancée happens to be Eaton’s ex. Do you still have her contact information?” Gracie asked.

Jessie pulled out her phone and handed over the ex-girlfriend’s number. “I don’t know whether she still uses this number or not.”

Gracie dialed it.

After several rings, someone finally picked up. A sleepy, drawn-out voice answered, “Hello? Who is this?”

It sounded like the woman had only just woken up.

𝗕𝖾 𝘱аr𝘵 𝗈𝖿 𝘰𝘂𝘳 сo𝘮𝗺𝘶ո𝗶ty o𝗻 g𝘢𝘭n𝘰𝘃el𝘀.𝘤о𝗆

“Hi, this is Gracie Sullivan,” she said without hesitation. “Do you have time to talk about Eaton?”

The line went silent for a long moment before the woman replied, “Okay. Give me a few minutes.”

About five minutes later, the woman came back sounding much more alert. “I know who you are. You’re pretty famous in the biomedicine field. What exactly do you want to ask me?”

Gracie didn’t waste time. “Your fiancé has been telling people since returning from overseas that Eaton’s sexual orientation is questionable. I wanted to know whether you ever noticed anything like that when you were dating him.”

“We were never really boyfriend and girlfriend. We were more like friends. There was never anything physical between us, and after graduation we went our separate ways.”

She continued, “Later on, I realized he only dated me to keep his admirers away.”

As the woman continued talking, Gracie gradually learned more about Eaton’s life abroad. Eaton had stood out among all the students and was constantly surrounded by people pursuing him.

But he never showed genuine interest in anyone.

To avoid endless attention from his admirers, he had approached this woman. Throughout the entire relationship, they had always maintained clear boundaries.

Once they graduated, they drifted apart.

The conversation went on for more than an hour before the phone was taken away. “Why are you calling my fiancée? Since she’s too polite to say it outright, I will. I used to think Eaton and she ended things peacefully, but after I came back home, Eaton got drunk and admitted that people around him had started suspecting his sexuality because of his relationship with Theo. That’s why he used my fiancée as a shield. He was taking advantage of her. The person he’s really loved all along was Theo. Seriously, what kind of man treats someone like that?”

The information hit Gracie and Jessie like a bolt of lightning.

They had imagined all kinds of explanations, but not this possibility.

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