My gold-digging sister-in-law suddenly seemed like a different person. Watching her and my brother act out the drama of a domineering CEO’s marriage before love every day, I was grateful that at least my husband was a normal person. One day, my sister-in-law suddenly asked me curiously why I would marry someone I didn’t love. I was confused. It turns out my husband had always thought he had forcefully taken me as his wife? My sister-in-law, Lily Evans, was known to everyone as a manipulative social climber. A few days ago, she had just married my brother Ethan. But it was Emma, Lily’s sister, who had been Ethan’s long-time crush. My parents were a bit unhappy about the marriage, but I thought it was Ethan’s own decision. Unexpectedly, after the wedding, Lily seemed to have become a different person, and her reputation gradually improved. Today, Ethan brought Lily back to our family home for the first time. She behaved very appropriately, and my parents finally felt a little relieved. Lucas had left on a business trip the day before yesterday, so he didn’t come with me this time. After dinner, Lily casually offered to drive me home. My parents frantically signaled to me with their eyes, hoping I would agree so that I could judge her character more. I agreed indifferently. In the car, there was silence all the way. I was used to such situations, but she seemed to be having a hard time with it. When she failed to start a conversation for the third time, I sighed. “You don’t need to try to make small talk with me. I won’t interfere with Ethan’s marriage.” Lily smiled awkwardly, “I’m sorry, it’s my first time being alone with you, and I’m a bit nervous.” I turned my head to look out the window, “It’s okay, many people don’t like to be alone with me.” Due to being kidnapped as a child, I suffer from emotional deficiency. For example, right now, I understand that we should be chatting about something, but I don’t actually feel awkward. “I don’t dislike it!” Lily firmly refuted, “On the contrary, I really like you. It’s just…” “This question might be a bit intrusive.” Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, “I don’t understand, why did you marry someone you don’t love?” “What?” I heard every word clearly, but I didn’t understand what she meant. “I think you’re a very independent person, I don’t believe you would accept an arranged marriage.” I was unusually stunned, “Lucas and I fell in love naturally, what arranged marriage?” Lily also realized something was wrong, “Did I misunderstand?” I nodded. Who spread such rumors? As we got out of the car, Lily seemed to want to say something but hesitated. I unbuckled my seatbelt, “You don’t need to take today’s conversation to heart. I don’t participate much in social interactions, so it’s normal for outsiders to misunderstand.” “Sister…” Lily called out to me, as if finally making up her mind, “It’s not outsiders who think you don’t love Lucas, it’s Lucas himself…” My hand paused as I was opening the door. “I really like you, and I know you won’t tell others.” Lily looked at me sincerely with her big eyes, “Actually, this is all from a book. I accidentally traveled through time and came here.”
As I connected a video call with Lucas, I was still thinking about Lily’s words. She said that everyone thought I didn’t care about marriage. Lucas loved me, and my parents and Ethan thought Lucas was a reliable person, so when Lucas proposed an arranged marriage, my family agreed. She also said that she thought the same when she was reading the book. My eyebrows furrowed uncontrollably. I may have some degree of emotional deficiency, but I’m not completely ignorant of human relationships and social norms. Lucas and I met in college, confirmed our relationship in the second semester of our sophomore year, got married after graduating, and have been happily married for eight years now. How could Lucas possibly not know that I love him? “Aria, is something wrong?” Lucas’s gentle voice came through the speaker, interrupting my thoughts. I focused my eyes on Lucas’s handsome face on the screen, “Sorry, I was lost in thought about something else.” Lucas slightly pursed his lips, “It’s okay, if Aria has other things to do, you can go ahead, I don’t mind.” In the past, I only thought this was his little habit, but now I sensed something off about it. “Honey.” I called out to him, and Lucas immediately smiled with his eyes narrowed. I glanced at my expressionless face reflected in the camera. It seems that it might indeed be possible? “I love you.” My emotionless words floated in the empty room. In the video, Lucas was stunned for a moment. I looked at his slightly widened eyes, feeling it was a bit cute. But after a few seconds, the image shook, and with a “click”, it went black. After a few minutes, a landline number called my phone. Lucas’s voice was slightly hoarse, “Aria, did something happen at home today?” “Nothing.” Since he might not know, I might as well tell him now. There was silence on the other end for a while, then a forced laugh, “I know, it’s okay.” What kind of nonsensical answer is this? Before I could ask, Lucas suddenly said, “It’s getting late, you should rest early.” Then he hung up the phone. This was the first time he had ever hung up on me, and I was confused. I called back, but it was rejected. Lying in bed, I was genuinely puzzled. Could it be that Lucas actually thought his marriage to me was something he had forcefully obtained?
I had planned to book a flight to find Lucas, but unexpectedly, he came back early the next morning. I was groggily going downstairs when I bumped into him coming up. Lucas gently rubbed my forehead where we had collided, “Did it hurt? Did I wake you up?” I shook my head slightly, removing his hand before answering the latter question, “I heard a noise and guessed you were back.” Lucas smiled, carrying me back to bed, “Want to sleep a bit more? I’ll go take a shower and change clothes.” I nodded, thinking this was a simple thing that just required a verbal response, so I wasn’t in a hurry. Half-asleep, I heard the bedroom door open and close, but didn’t feel him come to bed. I opened my eyes, and Lucas was standing bent over by the bed, looking at me tenderly. The corners of his mouth were curved up just right, but unfortunately, I couldn’t ignore those melancholic eyes, “The company still has some business, I have to go.” “Have you been very busy lately?” Lucas nodded, “I’ll be staying at the apartment for the next few days, so I won’t be coming back home.” I was instantly wide awake. The apartment was closer to the company, and sometimes when he was too busy, he would rest there. But I hadn’t heard of any project being so busy lately.
As if to prove that he was really busy lately, Lucas hadn’t let me see him in person. The development of the situation was beyond my expectations. It seemed that this issue couldn’t be resolved just by talking. I made an appointment with Lily and briefly explained my predicament. She said I should take the initiative. I pondered over it for a night after returning home, and came up with an idea. Lucas had mentioned a while ago that a junior from my Ph.D. program had recently joined his company, Xun Yao. I scrolled through my contact list. Ryan, that was him. After chatting briefly, Ryan agreed to help me get a job at Xun Yao. I specifically instructed him not to reveal too much of my information, saying I would discuss the details with the boss in person. Ryan was a bit confused, but I didn’t want to expose that I was going to resolve marital issues. Fortunately, Ryan was familiar with my personality and didn’t ask further.
On the day of the interview, I arrived at Xun Yao early and contacted Ryan. Ryan led me to an office, “Senior, please wait for a moment. The CEO will be here in about half an hour.” Ryan held a high position and wasn’t in a hurry to get back to work. He sat down next to me, “Senior, why did you suddenly decide to look for a job?” “I need to take care of some things recently.” Ryan had a boyish charm, and now he smiled, still looking youthful, “Back then, when you didn’t continue academic research or enter the industry, Professor Gao was so upset. He kept talking about you afterwards.” Professor Gao was my advisor. He had hoped I would stay in his team after graduation, but I refused. “I was too tired at that time. I didn’t like such a dull life.” I took a sip of tea, “Professor Gao probably wasn’t really that regretful about me, he just felt it was convenient to have me do work for him.” “Senior, you’re still so straightforward. But,” Ryan laughed, then suddenly changed the subject, “I heard from Professor Gao that it was because your husband wanted you to stay at home.” “Could it be that he regrets it now and wants you to go out and earn money?” Ryan smiled mischievously. I raised an eyebrow slightly, “Professor Gao said that?” The old man wouldn’t be that idle. Ryan’s hand holding the teacup paused, his smile fading as he awkwardly scratched his head, “No, I made that up.” “I was just curious. Back then, which of our classmates wasn’t curious about your love life?” Ryan put his hands together, almost pleading, “I finally get to see you again, let me pry a little.” The corners of my mouth curved slightly. Among our classmates back then, Ryan was the most favored. One reason was his face, and the other was this mischievous personality that was hard to dislike. Although I only had superficial relationships with everyone, Ryan acted as if we were still close. I was about to answer when the office door was pulled open from the outside. Lucas stood at the door with a serious face, looking at us with an indescribable expression. Ryan quickly stood up and introduced us to each other. I reached out my hand and said calmly, “Good morning, Mr. Ward.” Perhaps thinking my usual toneless voice might seem disrespectful, Ryan kindly explained for me: “Boss, due to a physical condition, my senior’s tone and expressions might be a bit flat. She doesn’t mean any disrespect.” Lucas gave an almost inaudible “Mm” and lightly shook my hand, letting go quickly. I had never been to Xun Yao before, but his assistant Zhang Ke knew me. Now he stood behind Lucas, a flash of shock crossing his face. But with his good professional qualities, he quickly returned to normal. “Miss Hayes, if there’s no problem, we can start the interview now.” I nodded. Zhang Ke turned around, “Mr. Lee, you can go back to work now.” As soon as Ryan left, Lucas calmly spoke, “You can go out too.” Zhang Ke wasn’t surprised, “Then I’ll go back upstairs.” As soon as the door closed, Lucas smiled helplessly, “What made you decide to interview at Xun Yao like this?” I stared straight at him, answering a different question, “You’ve been avoiding me.” Lucas’s body stiffened, and he didn’t speak. I stepped forward, approaching him with slightly furrowed brows, “Why?” Even if he didn’t believe my words, he could have interacted with me as usual. Under Lucas’s complex gaze, I leaned into his embrace, “Don’t avoid me.” I had tried very hard to learn how to discern people’s emotional changes. But in the end, I found that the input-output ratio of this task was so low. I don’t care about most people’s opinions of me. But I can’t not care about Lucas. Lucas let out a light sigh, cupping my face with both hands, and said gently: “How could I bear to avoid you?” I stared at him steadily. Liar. Lucas’s lips tightened slightly, and after a long while, he gently hugged me back to him, “I’m sorry.” I leaned on his shoulder, looking at his beautiful neck. I pressed my hand against his Adam’s apple, and Lucas involuntarily swallowed. My finger slid along with it. “Lucas, I don’t want ‘sorry’.” Apologies don’t have much use for me, as I don’t derive psychological comfort from them. “Okay, it won’t happen again.” For some reason, I heard a hint of bitterness in his tone. “Never mind.” I comforted him, wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my head on his shoulder dependently. Actually, it’s okay if it happens again. After all these years, I didn’t know that due to my emotional deficiency, he had been fumbling through this relationship for eight years. There are some things I can’t change, so I should at least give him a chance to breathe. Suddenly, a cold liquid flowed down my neck. Lucas spoke softly, but still couldn’t control the crying in his voice, “I don’t want to let it go.” I was stunned and quickly raised my head. The man in front of me had red-rimmed eyes, tears filling them to the brim. I stared at him blankly, full of confusion, “Why are you crying?” Lucas turned his face away, not letting me see, “I’m not.” My brain was spinning frantically, “You don’t want to let it go? Okay, then as you wish, it won’t happen again.” Lucas’s pupils dilated, and he suddenly turned to look at me. I gently wiped away the tears on his face. It was the first time I’d seen him cry. It was quite cute, so different from his usual self. “You mean let this matter go?” I nodded matter-of-factly. What else could it be?
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “294896”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #励志Inspiring #重生Reborn #校园School #浪漫Romance #擦边Steamy #惊悚Thriller #魔幻Magic #玄幻Fantsy
Leave a Reply