After the Love Faded, He Pnicked

After he got down from a plane from a business trip, my husband, who always claimed he did not like sweets, indulged in a “couple’s half-price milk tea” with his newly hired secretary. The secretary even put on a concerned front, apologizing to me and saying she hoped I wouldn’t mind.

My husband shielded her without missing a beat. He even accused me of being petty and overly sensitive.

However, I did not argue or make a scene. Instead, I simply handed the hotel room key cards to the secretary with a friendly smile. “Why would I mind? You two like sharing, right? Here, you can take the couple’s suite, too.”

——

The moment I said those words, my husband, Leo Lombard frowned with a worried expression, then looked at me with an icy gaze and snapped, "Julie Andrew! You have to stop throwing tantrums. You have crossed the line."

However, his secretary, Evelyn Sanders, hurried over. She pretended to be flustered as she tried to return the room card to me. "Miss Julie, this is not like you think! The reason I agreed to split the milk tea with Leo was because I was struggling financially and used to be frugal. This was all my fault and I’m willing to apologize to you. Please don't be angry with Leo."

Despite her words, her hand which was holding the key card, had her knuckles turned white due to the strength she used to hold it. It was obvious she did not have any intention to return the key card.

I stepped back and looked at Evelyn with disgust then said, "You can drop the act. It's quite pointless, you know. I've already known about your relationship."

Hearing my words, Leo's anger flared up. As he crushed the plastic cup in his hand making it give out a loud crinkling sound.

Then I directed my eyes to the straw at the milk tea cup. It was still stained with the lipstick mark, that was left by Evelyn.

The fact that Leo had always claimed that he had germaphobia made these whole things ridiculous. I remembered one time he had reprimanded me harshly just because I used his cup to drink a glass of water.

I would never forget the way he looked at me that day, as if he was looking at trash. He even smashed the cup into pieces right in front of me.

"Julie, can’t you understand basic hygiene? Do you have any idea how many germs are in a person’s mouth?” he had said. He looked coldly at me. “Who gave you permission to use my cup? What if you passed some kind of virus to me?”

He then ordered me to pick up the shattered cup with my bare hands When my hand got pierced and the blood kept flowing out, he did not care. Instead, he claimed that it was a lesson for me.

Yet, just now, he drank his milk tea after Evelyn had taken a sip, on top of that he even used the same straw that had her lipstick marks and drank several mouthfuls without hesitation. He acted so naturally as he should, exactly like the real couple did.

This was so laughable. Apparently, I was a carrier of bacteria, while Evelyn's saliva somehow had antiseptic properties.

I sighed silently. The truth was the difference between love and lack of it was really obvious.

Seeing that I was unfazed and had openly confronted them, Leo scowled. “Julie, you should know that Evelyn and I have an innocent and proper relationship. If you have any complaints about it, just blame me directly. Don’t make things difficult for her.”

“After all, she is a young woman with her reputation to consider. How is she supposed to face others after being falsely accused?”

Hearing his words, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. Now he was concerned about Evelyn’s reputation? Where was this concern before he acted like that before?

In fact, Leo had never openly acknowledged our relationship at work. He said it would “cause problems.” He even insisted that I address him respectfully as “Mr. Lombard,” just like any other employee.

Leo did not care about all these things when it came to Evelyn. Not only did he often give her luxury gifts in front of the entire staff, he even made special arrangements for her. He set up a desk in the CEO's office for her and justified his decision by saying that it would make Evelyn's work easier to do.

I glanced at Leo, my expression cold as I said, “Since you care so much about Evelyn’s reputation, why don’t you marry her and take responsibility for her?”

Leo stunned. His brows were furrowing deeper as he replied in a low voice, "Julie, the reason me and Evelyn went to Lockwood City this time was to discuss about business partnership. I don't have time to deal with your bad temper …."

Before he could finish his word, Evelyn cut in, "Leo, stop arguing. Miss Andrew was the one who wrote the project proposal. I don’t want to upset her over this and jeopardize the partnership. It’d be such a waste if things went wrong because of me.”

Her words sounded considerate as if she were genuinely concerned about my feelings and the company’s welfare. However, I knew exactly what she meant. She was just subtly mocking me, implying that I was too proud of my achievement.

Her provocation succeeded in making Leo's face darken even further. He then cast a sidelong glance at me and said, "Your gut has some gut now. How dare you use the company; cooperation to threaten me?"

"Do you really think there are no other people than you who can handle this project?” he sneered. “Well, since the proposal you made is in my hand, Evelyn can handle the presentation. You don't need to come."

I had seen the real Leo, but still, his harsh words made my heart bleed.

Just a month ago, to help his company secure this opportunity, I drank with the client representative. As a result, I ended up in the hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding.

As soon as I was discharged, I went back to work on the proposal right away. Now, Leo wanted to throw me aside and put Evelyn in my position to eat the fruit of my labor.

I sighed silently. I should have seen this coming. In the past, he always trusted my capabilities and sent me alone on business trips. However, this time, he had insisted on bringing Evelyn along with him. He claimed he did it because the other party was in a remote location, so he became concerned for my safety. In reality, he wanted to build a connection for Evelyn in the business circle.

A hint of smugness flashed on Evelyn's face as she explained with pretend concern, "Miss Andrew, Leo did this for the company's benefit. You’re too emotional right now and it’s not the best state of mind for an important meeting. I'm more than willing to help you with the workload. I won't steal your credit ...."

Before she could finish speaking, I waved my hand dismissively and said calmly, "You don’t need to say anything else. You can take not only this one project, but you're welcome to take all the future projects."

Leo's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What are you talking about, Julie?"

I gave him a mocking smile and said slowly, “I quit.”

Then, I pulled out my phone and started to type. "Leo, I just sent you my resignation letter. I'll have Human Resources process my resignation letter over the next couple of days."

Leo gritted his teeth, his gaze fixed on me as he said, “Julie, are you sure about this?”

I had no desire to waste any more words on him. I turned to leave, but I only walked a few steps, when Evelyn grabbed my sleeve.

Just a few minutes ago, a blogger just posted another update. "My husband’s ex actually tried to seduce him by putting on my wedding dress. He was so disgusted he told her to take it off!"

"That shameless woman messed up my favorite dress, but luckily, my husband promised to take me shopping for a new one. Since he bought me a custom made bracelet worth of fifteen hundred dollars today, I’ll graciously forgive him."

When I looked at the picture of the bracelet and noticed it was exactly the same as the one Jimmy gave me, a chilling suspicion crept over me.

It was becoming impossible to ignore the signs. The person she said was her "husband” was none other than Jimmy, the man I had risked everything to save, the man I was supposed to marry.

That night, Jimmy did not return to our bedroom.

Soft laughter from the guest room next door that penetrated through the walls, drove me into a restless, sleepless state. I did fall asleep until just before dawn, and even then, it was a fitful sleep.

It was not until dawn, that Jimmy walked in and kicked me to wake me up without hesitation.

"Are you planning to sleep all day? Don’t forget you’re a housewife. Or are you waiting for me to serve you breakfast?"

The blow landed right on my injured leg, and I couldn’t stifle a gasp of pain.

Only when he saw me grimace, did he seem to notice something went wrong. Frowning, he pulled back the blanket, his eyes were met with a swollen and red stump.

"Debbie! How did you hurt your leg like this?” he exclaimed.

Before I could respond to his question, he bent down and lifted me into his arms. "Never mind, I'll take you to the hospital now to have it checked out.”

As I curled up in his arms, I caught a glimpse of his worried expression. For a fleeting moment, guilt tugged at my heart.

Maybe I had misunderstood him. After all, a similar dress didn’t necessarily mean anything, and maybe all of this really was just a coincidence.

While I was thinking about it, Jimmy carried me downstairs and placed me in the car. All that time his phone kept vibrating again and again without stopping.

As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I was whisked into the emergency room. Jimmy did not follow me inside. Instead, he chose to stand in the hallway while tapping his cell phone with tender eyes.

While waiting for the examination, I could not stop myself from taking out my phone and opened the blogger's homepage.

The moment I saw her latest post, I was devastated.

In the latest update, she posted a screenshot of a chat history with captions that said, "That disgusting woman faked another excuse about her leg just to drag my husband to the hospital. However, he promised me he would ditch her and come straight to me."

Even though the WhatsApp profile picture had been deliberately censored, I recognized it immediately. That man had recently switched his avatar to a cartoon character.

When I teased him about it, calling it childish, he’d snapped at me, "You wouldn't understand. It's called staying young at heart. I'm not like you, who can only spend the rest of your life lying in bed."

So, in order to make him happy, I looked into the internet to find the same picture and changed my WhatsApp avatar to match his, only to be ordered to changed it back immediately.

He told me, "You are just a cripple girl who is stuck at home all the time, how can you have the nerve to act like a young girl? You're embarrassing me! Stop it, will you?

I had blamed myself at the time, but now I understood. He had made me change it because it was a couple’s avatar, and I didn’t deserve to have the same one with him.

I forced myself to finish the examination, but by the time I came out, Jimmy had already vanished.

After he rejected my calls multiple times, it finally sank in. The man I had loved for a decade had betrayed me completely, both in body and in heart.

Leo was like a beam of light that forced its way into my life. He lighted up my entire world.

After spending day and day with him by my side, I could not help but fall in love with him. This was not unusual because people who had been in the cold for a long time would always want to stay close to the warmth.

So, when Leo confessed his love for me, I could not help but cry tears of joy and agreed without any hesitation.

Unfortunately, the deep love between the two young people faded over time to the point we were barely able to stand the sight of each other.

I rubbed my temples and surfed on my phone. I wanted to look at the weather forecast to check when the rain would stop.

Unexpectedly, I stumbled upon Evelyn's Instagram post, which she had uploaded a minute ago.

In the photo, Leo was wearing a pink apron. It was vastly different than his usually cold demeanor. The man was holding a bow filled with steaming millet porridge.

Then Evelyn gave the photo a caption, "If you meet a caring man like this, marry him."

I laughed bitterly. After all these years, I did not know he could cook. Back when Leo had just started his business and we had to live in a cramped rental unit, Leo almost blew up the unit just because he tried to cook stir-fried pork with green pepper.

That night, with soot on his face, he sheepishly apologized while picking the barely edible pieces out for me. “I’m sorry. I wanted to cook something nice for you since you’ve been working so hard to help me find clients. I didn’t mean to make things worse.”

At that time, I was so touched with his sincerity, but afraid he would hurt himself if he tried to cook again, I banned him from the kitchen and took over the meal preparation.

Yet, without my knowledge, he practiced cooking just for Evelyn.

Within minutes, Evelyn's Instagram post became the top trending topic among our colleagues in the company. Many of the commenters offered their best wishes, "May you two be together forever."

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her childish games. She had tried provoking me like this more times than I could count and she always used the same cheap tricks.

Without a care in the world, I clicked on the comment section and typed my own comment, "It's time. I wish you two eternal happiness and many children."

In a second after I posted my comment, Leo blew up my phone with messages. He wrote, "Julie don't be so sarcastic. Evelyn was just joking when she posted it. Take down your comment! She is crying because of it."

Message after message popped up on my phone. I could almost picture him typing angrily the message with a gloomy expression.

Leo had always been a calm and composed man. He rarely revealed his emotions.

“Steady and reliable” was practically synonymous with him. That was what I thought about him until the day I watched him lose control. He beat up some thug who’d been stalking Evelyn.

No matter how much I tried to stop him, he wouldn’t relent until Evelyn called out his name, “Leo.” That single word pulled him back from the edge.

He hurriedly wiped the blood from his hands, then cradled Evelyn’s face as he gently comforted her and told her not to be afraid.

I had never seen that kind of tenderness from him. From the way they looked at each other, their love was loud and clear.

As the rain outside finally subsided, I realized that the young man who once looked at me with such devotion had gone.

I took a long sigh and resolutely blocked Leo on every platform.

"Julie, do you have the contract for the Summer Group? Bring it to the conference room immediately. You have ten minutes," ordered Leo.

Although Leo had my proposal in his hands, he had no idea that two days ago, the partner had given me the preliminary draft of the contract and appointed me as their point of contact. All that was left was for us to finalize the signing and proceed with the project.

The contract had specifically stated that I was the designated contact person.

Originally, I did not tell him about this because I intended to surprise him with this news on today's meeting. However, he had made me lose my patience and I was not willing to give the fruit of my labor to someone unworthy.

"Julie don't make me repeat myself. Bring the preliminary contract with you here now! I'm willing to forget your stupid resignation stunt from yesterday."

On the other end of the phone, Leo's commanding voice came through again, urging me to do his bidding. He did not even give me time to respond or refuse before he abruptly hung up. The line went dead, filled with a grating beeping sound.

It was obvious he needed me, yet he carried himself as though he were doing me a favor. He sounded like he was throwing crumbs at a stray dog.

I turned my gaze toward the draft contract lying on my desk. It was impossible to give it to him, but there were some other things I would give him.

When I got out of the taxi at the Summer Group building, Leo was already waiting for me in the waiting room.

He looked calmly at me, then looked at his watch before saying coldly and nonchalantly manner, "You're fifteen minutes late."

His confidence was so natural, it seemed he was certain I would go to him.

I was so angry that all I could do was to laugh. I wondered how big my love for him had been in the past that made Leo was so sure I would always at his beck and call, that I was ready to go through fire for him.

Evelyn, who was standing beside him, looking dagger at me. She took a cup of tea in her hand and walked toward me with a feigned smile on her face.

"Miss Andrew, forgive me for troubling you to come here in person," she said sweetly. "This is all my fault for not having enough experience so I wasn't able to impress our partners. I heard the Summer Group's CEO, Mr. Summer, specifically requested you as the contact person!”

"Mr. Summer might be young but he’s famous in the industry for being extremely strict,” she continued, her voice laced with a false humility. “Some even say he doesn’t have much respect for women in business. If you have any tips on negotiating, please share them with me.”

I caught the insinuation behind her words. She was clearly suggesting to Leo that I had used questionable means to secure the deal.

Sure enough, Leo's eyes darkened. He raised to his feet and clutched my wrist firmly.

"Julie, I remember that when you went to Summer Group to fight to get this deal, you did not come home until the next morning. Did you use your body as leverage?"

Slap! The sound of my hand hitting his face echoed sharply. I had put every ounce of strength into that slap.

I could not believe he would stoop so low, not only in his actions but also in his assumptions about me. Just because he had no boundaries didn’t mean I was the same.

If he had cared even a little, he would have known that the reason I stayed out all night was because I had drunk so much at a business dinner with Sumer Group that I ended up in the hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding.

I had secured the deal purely through my abilities, my proposal stood out among countless competitors.

Leo pressed his tongue against his cheek. His entire demeanor was radiating with fury.

"How dare you slap me! What, did I strike a nerve?" Leo sneered. His voice was laced with contempt.

Evelyn stroked his face gently with a worried expression. Then she pretended to defend me, "Leo, just let this be. Don't make a big deal out of this. I believe she was forced to do this."

"She gave herself up to secure the deal. She did it for the sake of you and the company."

I let out a cold laugh. Evelyn’s talent for twisting the truth had grown day by day. After seven years by Leo’s side, all it took was a few words from her to paint me as morally questionable in his mind.

He cast an irritated look my way then he held out his hand expectantly and commanded, “Fine. For Evelyn's sake, I’ll let this slide for now. Hand over the preliminary contract.”

Without changing my expression, I reached into my bag, pulled out a document and threw it onto the table in front of him.

Leo frowned. Clearly, he was annoyed. He picked up the papers and preached to my face, "Julie, if only you had half of Evelyn's maturity, you would have handed over the contract earlier. If you did that, I wouldn't have to …."

His voice trailed off as he read the bold letters on the document. It said, Divorce Agreement. His face contorted in shock.

He asked, "Divorce agreement? Julie, what's the meaning of this?"