Chapter 15%
The room erupted in laughter.
One girl was doubled over, giggling. “Didn’t you say he was super handsome? Cold, aloof and rich? What went wrong?“%
Lilian took a sip of wine, shrugged and smiled.}
“I practically threw myself at him, but he just sat there like a monk, completely unresponsive. I honestly don’t know how I even put up with it.“A
“What if he confesses to you?” another guy asked, curious.
She scoffed. “Didn’t Justin say he was going to confess today? Yeah, well, I didn’t show up. I wasn’t planning on saying yes anyway. But I didn’t feel like turning him down, either. Too much trouble. So, I ghosted him.”
“At my age, when I get into a relationship, my parents start pushing for marriage. But come on, how could I possibly marry someone like him?”
“I’m not stupid.“}
The words that followed were like a series of knives, each one piercing Justin’s heart deeper than the last.
Lilian said casually, “That idiot Francesca really thinks her cheap tricks can win someone over? She’s only ever been with one guy and he didn’t even like her.”
“She’s unbelievably stupid, doesn’t even know how she died.”
“Justin? He’s like my pet dog. Every time I shed a few tears, he gets so worried.“}
“You guys have no idea about the slap I got from Francesca that day? I made it happen on purpose.“>
“And then Justin went crazy and sent people to teach her a lesson. I heard she was almost beaten to death.”}
Amidst the laughter, someone asked her softly, “He doesn’t actually think you love him, does he?“}
Lilian’s smile was alluring and wicked. “Maybe. He’s pathetically naive. He thinks I grew up in poverty, so I’m innocent and pure?“}
“If I were that innocent, my parents would have sold me off to the countryside ages ago. He wouldn’t even have had the chance to play the savior.”
That sentence was the final straw, completely shattering Justin’s composure.>
His hands were trembling. His knuckles had gone white from clenching his fists so tightly.
He stared at Lilian’s smiling face, his expression cold as steel. Without a word, he turned on his heel and walked out.”
The car door slammed shut with a loud “bang.”
He got into the driver’s seat, his face dark and stormy. He punched the steering wheel, the horn blaring deafeningly.
Anger, humiliation, disbelief, shame, they all flooded his mind at once.
He leaned back against the seat, his throat tight, unable to utter a word.”
So, he had fallen for a liar.
All these years, he thought he had sharp instincts. That he could read people clearly.
He was wrong.
The “simple, quiet, gentle” girl he loved was a complete fabrication.}
He had thought she was a rose in the dust, delicate yet resilient.
However, he hadn’t expected her to be more tainted than anyone else.} He closed his eyes, but her light, mocking words echoed in his ears.
“He actually thinks I’m innocent.”
Justin recalled how he had initially fallen for Lilian.
Five and a half years ago, the stray cat he had been feeding passed away.
He heard that the Jamesons‘ daughter had rescued and buried the cat.
He had been delayed for a few days. When he visited the Jamesons, he saw Lilian squatting in the backyard, smiling as she played with a
cat.
That day, her white dress and smiling eyes, the gentleness she showed the cat, had directly struck his heart.
He had always thought she was very kind.
Still, he hadn’t expected that it was all his own imagination.
Justin clenched his fists, carefully recalling that memory, trying to find clues of Lilian’s deception.}
In that instant, he suddenly thought of me again.
In our second marriage year, I said, “Justin, I want to get a cat.”
“The kind that’s… fluffy and white, like a softball.“}
At that time, he had nodded. “Sure, our yard is big.”
But then I suddenly changed my mind. “Never mind, maybe I’m not suited to have a cat.“@
My tone was low as if I remembered something painful.”
He hadn’t asked much at the time.
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48.3%
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10:00 AM &
Now that he has thought about it, whenever I mention a cat, my eyes hold a strange emotion, like sadness or self–blame.} Justin’s heart clenched as if something had struck him hard in the chest.
Z 5 1
He gritted his teeth and called his assistant, his voice rough and low.
“Keep digging into something.”
“Find out if Francesca … ever owned a cat.“}
