Chapter 22

The roar of an engine echoed from outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

I yanked the curtains open and saw a modified motorcycle parked downstairs.

A man in a black helmet was looking up.

I froze, finding him inexplicably familiar.

Lu Tong grabbed her jacket, ready to head downstairs, her high-heeled boots tapping a crisp rhythm on the floor.

“Who is he?”

I grabbed Lu Tong’s wrist.

“Cheng Yu, you’ve met him.”

Lu Tong shook off my hand, a smile curving her lips in a way that felt unnervingly foreign.

“He called me last Wednesday.”

“My mother’s condition suddenly worsened, and he helped me contact the chief physician at the municipal hospital.”

Last Wednesday.

That was the day I missed Lu Tong’s call.

I moved my lips, “You could have told me later too.”

Lu Tong glanced at me and left without a word.

As the taillights of the car sliced through the night, I kicked over the potted plant that Lu Tong had pampered on the balcony.

Shards of terracotta mixed with damp soil splattered onto the beige plush carpet.

Zhao Cai, startled, darted from the living room into the bedroom.

Zhao Cai was the birthday gift I gave Lu Tong for her twenty-eighth birthday.

How did our relationship deteriorate later on?

Perhaps it was because the company’s business grew, with one social engagement after another, and I started to neglect Lu Tong’s feelings.

Perhaps it was because Lu Tong shared interesting anecdotes from her studio, but I always felt she was talking about trivial matters.

Perhaps she had also been proactive in bed, but I pushed her away because I hadn’t closed a deal, not even wanting to bother with her.

But no matter what.

I was the one supporting this household.

If not to bow down and submit, she should at least understand me and obey me.