Chapter 3 Tangible Proof

Felly frowned. She did not understand his accusations. Between the two of them, he was the one who cheated, right?

“My side piece? What are you talking about, Archer?”

“Don’t play dumb,” he replied, clenching his jaw. “No matter what happened, you are still my wife, Felly. You need to uphold your husband’s reputation in front of everyone!”

To be honest, Archer never forgot his responsibility as a husband in giving her a living. Archer also loved Kimberly and was a good father.

The only problem was that Felly never had her emotional satisfaction with him. Felly felt like she was unloved and unwanted. All because Archer had another woman in his heart.

“You still don’t know what you did wrong?” Archer asked, pulling Felly out of her thoughts.

“I am always wrong in your eyes.” Felly took a deep breath. “I don’t even know what I did now.”

Archer fell silent. His gaze darkened. He finally threw two pieces of printed pictures at the table next to them. Felly took those pictures with a frown. There were pictures of herself with Ryan carrying Kimberly.

It took her a glance to remember the time and place of the picture. Looking at the semi-formal floral clothes she wore, the picture must have been taken yesterday in the Blossom Boutique—the boutique she owned.

The question was, why did he have the pictures? Did he hire someone to follow her? If that was the case, how long had this been going on? All this time, he never cared about Felly, right?

The man who was with her was Ryan. He was the CEO of a company in the fashion industry. His company and Blossom Boutique were in a business contract. Yesterday, Ryan came to her boutique to discuss some matters. When Ryan was there, Kimberly tripped and fell in front of him, and he immediately picked her up to soothe her.

“Although you never treated me well throughout our marriage, I never had any intentions to ruin your reputation,” Felly said with a flat expression.

“Unfortunately, I trust tangible proof more than your words.”

“I never wish for you to trust me.”

Archer’s jaw clenched. His fists curled up. “Can you stop with the comebacks, Felly?”

Archer hated Felly’s nature to argue and always come up with a reply to whatever he said. A clear distinction from Bella who was gentle and obedient. Bella never dare to argue or oppose him.

“There’s no reason for me to obey the words of a man who never saw me as his wife.”

Archer stayed silent for a while. His gaze darkened even more with a clouded expression.

“What did you say? Never saw you as a wife?” Archer asked with an icy tone. “Stop acting like I’m the bad guy in our relationship, Felly, when you are the one at fault! You took away Bella’s future without any remorse!” Archer cursed heartlessly.

Did it hurt?

Of course.

At this point, Felly was already used to Archer’s words to blame her every time they saw each other. Felly did not know anymore which one of his words would hurt her. She felt like her heart was already immune to those words, and maybe would soon be numb if no one came to help her.

Felly smiled bitterly. Who would come to help her? The only man who ever made her fall in love was the man who kept hurting her now.

“If you’re done lashing out at me, go see Kimmy. She has been asking about you from two weeks ago,” Felly said wearily.

Her energy was always drained every time they argued.

Felly put down the pictures of herself with Ryan at the table. She finally left Archer who was still glaring at her.

Felly went upstairs. She could feel Archer’s glare following her. It almost felt like his gaze was piercing her back.

Upon entering her room, she sat in bed. She leaned against the headboard as she hugged her knees. Yes, her room. His room was on the third floor. They never slept together. Except when Kimberly asked them to sleep with her, or when they stayed at their parents’ place, or … when Archer asked for his right as a husband.

Aside from those three reasons, they always slept in their own rooms.

A ding from her phone interrupted her thoughts. She reached for her phone from her bedside table lazily. Ryan’s name was on the screen.

Seeing Ryan’s name reminded Felly of Archer’s accusation a few minutes ago. Usually, Archer did not care where or with whom Felly went. But today, he looked angry about the pictures. This was really strange.

Felly thought to herself, was it possible that Bella put the idea of Felly cheating in his head while he spent a month with her abroad?

No one would know.

Felly took a deep breath. She could not think clearly when it came to Bella.

Felly did not want to think of her husband’s mistress. Instead, she opened Ryan’s message. Ryan sent a picture of a pony doll.

[“I promised Kimmy to gift her a pony doll. Please tell her I’ve bought it for her.”]

Felly thought for a moment. She had heard Ryan promising Kimberly a pony doll to stop her crying when she tripped this afternoon. Upon hearing her dream doll, Kimberly immediately stopped crying and smiled cheerfully.

[“Thank you, Ryan. I’ll tell her later.”] Felly replied to Ryan’s message.

Their collaboration had been going on for more than a year, which made them more comfortable with each other. They were the same age. Ryan once expressed his disapproval when she called him “Mr. Ryan.” The humble and delightful man insisted she called him by his first name when it was just the two of them.

Felly put her phone back. When she was about to turn off the lights, she was reminded that Kimberly also asked for the same doll from Archer a week ago during their video call. Felly was curious, would Archer grant what his daughter wanted?

If not, then Felly could not imagine how disappointed and sad Kimberly would be when she found out.

***