Chapter 5
Edward Quan ·
But his mother understood what he wanted.
Not long afterward, Kinh Phù broke up with her boyfriend.
Their engagement followed.
Apparently, she had objected at first too.
Then her mother told her with a smile:
“But Hành Tuấn likes you so much.”
“He’s watched you grow up and helped you with everything.”
“He’ll be terribly sad if you refuse.”
Kinh Phù understood at once.
“So he’s secretly liked me all along.”
“No wonder he’s always telling me what to do.”
When they first began dating, she was awkward.
But she took his hand first and pulled him along to do all sorts of things.
Gradually, she became more talkative.
The engagement and wedding went smoothly.
After they married, his wife always smiled at him with curved eyes.
Whenever he came home, that soft, warm body would willingly lean into his.
She was a little afraid of him.
But she liked him too.
Calling him darling, she helped loosen his tie.
If he lowered his head a little, she rose on tiptoe to kiss him.
If he opened his arms, she obediently settled against his chest, smiling contentedly in his embrace.
She listened to him.
Those beautiful eyes held only him.
Again and again, she found things to talk about.
Whenever he frowned, she cautiously took his hand.
She was the one who kept speaking, breaking the silence in his world.
He thought he was a dull man.
But Kinh Phù was adorable.
…
Only, at some point, the love disappeared from her eyes.
There was suspicion instead.
Resentment.
And an indifference that suggested she could leave at any moment.
She withdrew from him.
Rejected him.
No longer needed him.
It seemed…
He had done something wrong.
Or perhaps, from the beginning, he had always been doing something wrong.
09
The next morning, I went downstairs in slippers for breakfast.
Fortunately, it was the weekend. I could sleep until I woke naturally.
But as soon as I sat down, someone took the chair opposite.
I looked up in surprise.
It was the last person I expected.
Hành Tuấn stared at me with deep, dark eyes.
Faint shadows lay beneath them.
His first words were:
“Why did you throw away the frame?”
I sipped my milk.
“I didn’t like looking at it. I felt like throwing it away.”
He watched silently.
After a long time, he took the frame from the inside pocket of his suit and placed it on the table.
The glass still bore the crack from when I’d thrown it.
“I picked it up.”
His voice was perfectly level.
I stood in disbelief.
“We’re getting divorced. Whether you picked it up means nothing now.”
“Have you signed?”
He leaned back and looked up at me.
“No.”
“Why?”
I held my anger in check.
“I’ve had the lawyer go over the terms again and again.”
“I’ve left you everything you’re entitled to. I’m not taking anything extra.”
“I’ve even worked out how to separate the groups’ joint projects without causing too much disruption.”
“What else are you dissatisfied with?”
Silence settled between us.
Then my phone vibrated.
I looked down.
A message from Trình Lan.
“Kinh Phù, there’s a new project on Monday I need you involved in. Could we discuss it beforehand?”
I did not hide the screen from Hành Tuấn.
I typed in front of him.
“Sure. Pick a time.”
His gaze left my phone.
His jaw tightened briefly.
“It’s still because of him, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“This has nothing to do with Trình Lan!”
“What is wrong with you?”
I took a hard breath.
I didn’t want to keep arguing in the hotel restaurant and ruin its relaxed atmosphere.
I pulled him out onto the open-air terrace.
“If you want to talk, let’s make things clear.”
“Ask yourself honestly. Do you really feel nothing for Giản Trúc?”
“Nothing,” he said seriously.
“Then why did you deliberately move away from me when she appeared at the company?”
He lowered his eyes, apparently remembering.
“I thought you didn’t want people to know we were married.”
“?”
“Because you didn’t call me darling when you saw me.”
My eyes widened.
“Are you actually out of your mind?”
“I was at work. You wanted me to call you darling?”
He paused.
“Why couldn’t you?”
I ground my teeth.
“And another thing.”
“You left me at the reception to rescue Giản Trúc.”
“All of Hải Thành society saw.”
“Since when have you been so approachable and helpful?”
His lips moved.
In the end, he said only:
“The person making trouble for her worked for the Lương Group.”
What kind of excuse was that?
Helplessly, I leaned against the railing.
“Hành Tuấn.”
“I don’t want to live the way we did anymore.”
“I obeyed you. My life revolved around you.”
“What about you?”
“What am I to you?”
He stepped toward me.
“My wife.”
“Then why did you let go of my hand at the reception?”
I asked calmly.
“Did it ever occur to you that I could be hurt too?”
He reached to touch my face.
I turned away.
His hand hung in the air, then slowly fell.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I was momentarily stunned.
For the first time in all those years, I had heard those words from him.
“At the time, I thought…”
He stopped, struggling to find the words.
“You wanted to leave me for Trình Lan.”
“…”
“So that’s the real reason?”
“But what does that have to do with it?”
I understood his thinking less and less.
An odd idea struck me.
I tilted my head and looked at him.
But I did not ask.
I would no longer imagine affection that wasn’t there.
His throat was dry.
“It was just…”
The words seemed painfully difficult.
“I wanted you to feel what I felt…”
He said the last word very softly.
“Jealous.”
My lips curved.
“Oh.”
“So what you wanted was to hurt me.”
After a long time, I gave a mocking laugh.
“Stop acting.”
“Since when were you that childish?”
He went rigid.
“Are you finished?” I asked.
“Then sign the divorce agreement.”
The corners of his eyes reddened.
His voice was no longer steady.
“You don’t need me anymore?”
I looked at him for a long time.
Then I suddenly laughed.
“Now it seems…”
“I wasn’t the one who needed you.”
“You were the one who always needed me.”
He did not argue.
He only watched me stubbornly.
I shook my head.
“Sign it.”
“Let’s end this with some dignity.”
Then I turned and left without hesitation.
10
The following day, I met Trình Lan at a café.
The same one we had frequented in high school.
He ordered me a caramel latte.
Just as he had years ago.
I did not tell him I no longer drank coffee.
I listened seriously as he outlined the new project.
But as he spoke, his gaze grew more intense.
Finally, he asked abruptly:
“Phù.”
“Do we still have a chance?”
I was silent for a moment.
“Back then, you took three million yuan from my family and chose to break up.”
“So there’s no possibility of us being together anymore.”
He fell speechless.
“I’m not trying to mock you,” I said.
“It’s simply a fact.”
“You were very good to me in high school.”
“We’re still friends, aren’t we?”
“Just as I can still work for your company.”
“I don’t see a problem with it.”
He spoke quietly.
“Now I could give them many times three million.”
“We were so happy together then.”
His voice was rough.
“You’re getting divorced, and you came to my company.”
“We…”
I rested my chin on my hand and sighed.
I had always been able to let go as readily as I committed.
In truth, I had chosen the company for three reasons.
First, I hadn’t told my parents what was happening between Hành Tuấn and me.
I could only work elsewhere.
Otherwise, I would have joined my family’s group.
Second, among the well-known companies I applied to, this one had sent an offer first.
Third…
I wanted to see how Hành Tuấn would react.
None of those reasons involved lingering affection for Trình Lan.
When my silence lasted too long, he said:
“Sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
There was really no need to apologize.
I believed that, given another chance, he would still choose the three million.
I smiled at him.
“I’ll do my best on this last project.”
“Afterward, I’ll resign and join my family’s company.”
He froze.
Then nodded.
“All right.”
“I’ll treasure the time we have left.”
As I got up to leave, I saw a familiar figure.
The young woman with the high ponytail was helping behind the coffee counter.
Perhaps my gaze was too obvious.
Giản Trúc looked over and immediately smiled brightly.
“Oh, we’ve met!”
She quickly wiped her hands and came toward us.
“My friend manages this place.”
“I’m just helping out.”
“You were there when I gave that presentation…”
“Nodding off,” I quietly supplied.
Her smile grew brighter.
“Not quite!”
I studied her discreetly.
The heroine the comments had mentioned.
Her smile was radiant.
She wasn’t timid.
She was full of life.
She scratched her cheek.
“I saw you at the reception too.”
“A manager from the Lương Group was bothering me. That’s what caused the trouble.”
“I didn’t expect Mr. Lương to help.”
“Afterward, he said you couldn’t stand watching it and asked him to step in.”
“Thank you!”
I pressed my lips together.
“…It wasn’t me.”
I didn’t know what to say.
In the end, I said nothing.
She didn’t mind.
Smiling, she offered her hand.
“I’m on the new project too.”
“We’ll be working together!”
I paused, then reached out.
Her warm hand clasped mine.
Suddenly, I said:
“If things don’t go well for you at the company, you could come to…”
Beside me, Trình Lan coughed softly.
“…Well, just contact me.”
“All right!” she said cheerfully.
As I left, the comments reappeared after their long silence.
[Help, this plot has gone wrong.]
[My lead couple has completely fallen apart.]
[They never got together in the first place.]
[Oh, now you’re all experts after the fact? Aah! Not only is the main romance gone, but my adorable husband-fearing supporting girl is gone too!]
[Isn’t this good as it is?]
[Yes! I just read the announcement that this world’s original plot has changed. Honestly, I can accept how things are going now.]
Those comments had certainly upset me.
But they hadn’t been entirely useless.
Without them, someone as slow to notice as I was might never have recognized the inequality in our marriage.
That one-sided obedience and surrender should have ended long ago.
When the comments vanished, I saw Hành Tuấn standing by the road.
I didn’t know how long he had waited.
He handed me the divorce agreement himself.
I glanced at it.
“You could have sent your secretary.”
He looked at me.
After a long time, he said quietly:
“I respect your decision.”
“But I’ll start over and court you again.”
I looked up in surprise.
His expression was utterly serious.
“From now on, I’ll be the one who comes to you.”
“I…”
I interrupted.
“Don’t.”
His eyes dimmed.
Looking at the roadside trees, I spoke softly.
“Love is like rotten wood.”
“Once its life is gone, there will be no more spring.”
His gaze followed mine.
But the tree was lush and green.
Full of life.
Love could be rotten wood.
People were not.
The old love had rotted.
I could still grow on my own into a tree that reached the sky.
The End