The room was quiet and warm as sunlight shone through the window.Laurence stood up slowly as he kept his eyes on Zoey. His watery eyes soon returned to normal, but his expression was unreadable.Zoey was still fast asleep. Laurence's soft kiss on her ear had not woken her up. She slept soundly, as if she was having a good dream.Laurence stared at the hearing aid for a long time. It was an in-ear hearing aid that had to be worn for extended periods to be effective. Yet, it was uncomfortable to wear for a long time.Meanwhile, Zoey was dreaming. It was a confusing dream. First, she dreamt of her happy childhood. Then, she watched herself go through her painful youth. After that, she watched herself willingly enter into her loveless marriage with Laurence. There was only lust and no love in their relationship.Zoey woke up all of a sudden, startled by her dream. She felt dizzy, and her arm was numb as she had been resting her head on it.A gentle breeze blew from the balcony windows as
Laurence’s hands around Zoey’s waist froze. The silence in the room was deafening. Tears welled in his eyes. After a moment of silence, he decided to act as if he hadn’t heard anything. He gently lifted her chin and kissed her on the lips. He tasted pleasant and minty.Laurence kissed her possessively as if he wanted to make her his.Zoey couldn’t avoid his lips as his other hand cradled the back of her head, forcing her into the kiss. The French kiss was very intense.Laurence’s eyes were bloodshot. Zoey guessed that he was in a bad mood. She knew that that incident pained him because it was something he couldn’t get over. She was surprised that Laurence still wanted to continue even after what she had said.By the time he was done with her, Zoey was exhausted. She could no longer keep her eyes open. Her whole body hurt, especially her lower abdomen.Even though she was on the verge of falling asleep, Zoey forced herself to stay awake as she grabbed Laurence’s hand suddenly. She foug
Zoey's alcohol tolerance had improved since she started working with Laurence. There would surely be drinking involved at social events, and she had had too much to drink. When she could no longer suppress the feeling of being sick, she excused herself to the washroom and sprawled over the toilet bowl to make herself vomit. She knew the common ways to do it. The feeling of retching and her stomach turning upside down was extremely unpleasant. Sometimes, when she got drunk, she felt fine after bawling her eyes out in the washroom. Then, she would freshen her makeup in front of the mirror and walk out as if nothing had happened. Laurence didn’t care if she was drunk. He only cared about work matters. A dispensable secretary like her held no weight in his eyes. However, he had indeed taught her a lot in some ways. At least she had gotten to experience things that she couldn't have imagined in the past. Besides the gossip in the circle of the wealthy, the treacherous scheming of the bu
Tristan couldn't tell if the couple was actually divorced or not. They looked divorced, but not really at the same time. Of course, it was a good thing if they were. Zoey had already developed the ability to block out Laurence's words. She had been sitting down for too long earlier and her back hurt. "Mr. Gray, enjoy your night. I'm heading home to get some rest."Laurence said abruptly, "I have to leave too. Let me take you, ex-wife."Zoey thought Laurence was pretty good at acting too. "Never mind, it's too much trouble. My friend is picking me up," she lied. Zoey left at lightning speed as Laurence watched her go with his unfaltering gaze. Tristan asked skeptically, "So you guys really got divorced?" Laurence looked at him and asked, "Why are you so concerned about us?" Tristan paused and said dismissively, "I’ve always been interested in gossip like this." Laurence pressed, "Why haven't you been bringing girls out with you recently?"Tristan was a playboy. He had a taste
Sarah's mind whirled as she wondered what she would say if Laurence asked her more questions. She couldn't give him answers that were too detailed but also not too simple. He wasn't a person who could be brushed off easily. Any loopholes would definitely raise his suspicions.Sarah's smile was stiff, but if it weren't for her skills in lying, her knees would have buckled earlier. However, it didn't matter even if he did find out about her relationship with Zoey. Zoey had always stayed in Southgrove, and nobody knew that she had stayed there for a few months before transferring to Northwell for her studies. "Are you here for a social meeting tonight?", Sarah asked."No." Laurence hadn't been to social meetings in a long time and no longer needed to. He had inexplicably come to this restaurant only because he discovered Zoey was having dinner here. That client of hers was quite a gentleman. He didn't drink or pester her. Tristan stood behind them and looked at the pair of ex-love
That night, Laurence and Zoey didn’t have sex. Zoey was busy with work, and it wasn't just an excuse to turn Laurence down. Laurence came upstairs just as she finished revising a draft, but they didn't have much to say to each other.Zoey snuggled under the blanket to sleep. Even though she was a little afraid of the dark, she switched off the bedside lamp. She shut her eyes, but she didn't feel sleepy. A while later, she felt the mattress sink lower as Laurence got into bed. Holding her breath, Zoey tried to ignore him, which was very difficult.Thinking she was asleep, Laurence put his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her ear like he had the other night. Zoey froze, feeling very unaccustomed to this feeling. She could no longer take it or pretend to be asleep. She opened her eyes and curled up, scooting further away from him. With her back facing him, she bit her lower lip lightly and said, “Three times a week. We just did it yesterday. Can we rest tonight?”He seemed
Zoey wished she could turn him off every day so she wouldn't have to have sex with him. She closed her eyes and said tiredly, “As you wish. Just remember to wear a condom.” Laurence found her words offensive, but he hugged her harder and didn't let go. He couldn't say anything nice to her. He wanted to own her but couldn't treat her like his lover. “I would never forget,” he said.Zoey blinked at hearing the firmness in his tone. It turned out that she could still be affected by his words and feel an ache in her heart even after she had come to terms with herself. She said softly, “It's for both of us. It's a lot of trouble to do another surgery at the hospital.” It wasted his money and harmed her health. It was really unnecessary.The last time she had undergone surgery, Zoey had finally realized that no matter how many times she bore his child, he would never want it. Of course, Zoey had also dashed any thoughts of having another baby. Some types of pain didn't need to be gone thro
The things Laurence said could really be the death of someone. Zoey had been keeping her calm all this time and had never gotten so angry that she saw red, but her hands and feet went cold at that moment. His words made her head spin. Her expression grew colder as she curled up to protect herself. She suppressed her anger because she didn't want to waste time arguing with him. There was no use saying anything. She would just end up getting more furious.Laurence tightened his arms around her waist, unwilling to let go, but he didn't say anything else when he saw she’d closed her eyes. He was well aware that he had a bad temper and was easily jealous, sensitive, dominating, and unreasonable. Above all, he didn't have any empathy. Being unable to control his emotions in front of her annoyed him a lot. Zoey slept peacefully. When she woke up the next morning, she had no choice but to forget what had happened the previous night. She didn't have any time to weep over it either. She washe