Chapter 11

Zoey accepted the money without any qualms and went to the kitchen to make herself some dinner.

As she was preparing her food, she texted Laurence under the guise of calmness, “Are you coming home for dinner tonight?”

After getting married, she and Laurence had been living together. Zoey only received a reply when the water in the pot started boiling.

“Maybe.”

Maybe it was her pregnancy hormones, but Zoey felt exceptionally lonely tonight as she sat at the dinner table alone. She was used to not being loved, but this time was different. She looked at the clock. It was quite late. The food was cold now. Zoey reheated the food and waited for another hour, but Laurence was still not home.

Mulling carefully over her choice of words, she typed out, “I made dinner. Are you coming home?”

Distracted, she stared at these few words, then deleted them again. Their housekeeper was getting ready to clean up for the day.

Zoey said to her, “Please throw these out.”

The housekeeper pitied her. Even she could see that Zoey’s husband did not love her at all.

“Yes, Miss Jenner.”

Laurence was the one who paid them, so they listened to him more. Even though he didn’t appear upset when the housekeeper called Zoey Mrs. Scott once, he had explicitly instructed them to refer to her as Miss Jenner instead. The form of address was respectful, yet distant.

…

It was almost 10 pm, but Zoey was still watching TV in the living room. She recognized one of the guests in the reality show that was playing. It was a celebrity who had been pictured in the headlines with Laurence not too long ago. They had been photographed coming out of a hotel. In the photos, the chilly woman on TV had been all smiles as she was hanging on to Laurence’s arm.

Zoey had always known that many women liked Laurence. They were all brave enough to confess their love to him. She was the only one who couldn’t. The only reason why Laurence chose her to be his wife in this materialistic marriage was that she was easy, smart, and most importantly, did not love him. Zoey turned off the TV. The living room became eerily quiet. In the end, she couldn’t stop herself from texting Laurence again.

“Are you coming home?”

She waited for a while, but her phone never rang. Laurence did not reply to her message. Zoey stared at the moon outside the window. She didn’t know why she had suddenly become so greedy.

Rubbing her stomach gently, she said softly to her child, “Do you like Daddy? Mommy likes him very much.”

Suddenly, a sound came from the driveway. The headlights of the car illuminated the front yard. Laurence was home. Hurriedly, Zoey wiped the tears off her face. Laurence was surprised to see Zoey still in the living room when he entered.

“Why are you not sleeping?”

Zoey clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palm to keep her mind clear.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Try having some milk before bed,” he said.

Zoey lowered her head.

“I will.”

Laurence smelled faintly of smoke. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell. She had seen him smoke before, despite him being known to his teachers as a good student. The way he leaned against the wall and grinned as the smoke blurred out his handsome features couldn’t stop her from falling for him. Having a crush was suffering.

…

When Zoey finished her milk and went upstairs, Laurence had just finished his shower. He came out of the bathroom without a shirt.