"No. I informed Claude."

Yvonne chuckled. Then, she teased, "Stephen, how could you? Ms. Ford came all the way to Northerna because of you. How could you stab her in the back?"

"Claude surely won't want her staying in Northerna. If I hadn't informed him, I might have offended him," Stephen calmly replied.

"Were you hoping that I had made her stay?"

Yvonne was surprised. She pretended to stay calm and said, "I can't control her. It's not up to me. Furthermore, I'm busy. I don't have the time to care about her."

"Is that so?" Stephen asked vaguely. He hadn't really been expecting an answer.

Instead, he brought up something else. "Will you still be busy next month?"

"I'm not sure …" Yvonne hugged her pillow and rolled around in bed.

"Do you need me for something?"

Stephen was silent for a while. "No, nothing. I was just asking."

"Oh." Yvonne didn't give it much thought, but she could somehow sense disappointment in his tone.

Before she could ask, Stephen gave her an excuse to