When I Stopped Acting Spoiled, My Arranged Husband Fell Apart - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“What time is it? How did my phone die? Does anyone have a charger?”

Zhuo Zhishu’s voice pulled me back to the present.

After a brief silence, he cried out, “Oh no, my wife messaged me and I missed it. I need to call her.”

My phone vibrated a second later.

I declined the call.

His messages followed immediately.

[Honey, I’m sorry. I just got my phone charging.]

[Why did you hang up on me? Don’t you love me anymore?]

[crying puppy.jpg]

[I’ll go buy your cake right now. Please talk to me?]

My thoughts were a mess. I could only send back a perfunctory reply.

[It’s fine. I’m about to sleep, so I didn’t feel like answering. Have fun.]

A clatter and a mournful howl came from the private room.

“Having dinner with you people is a disaster! My wife is angry. She doesn’t even want me to buy her cake anymore.

“Forget it. I’m going home. We’ll do this another time.”

I hurried into the restroom down the hall. Only after Zhuo Zhishu had rushed downstairs did I leave the restaurant.

To my surprise, I still reached home before he did.

I had just crawled under the covers when he came jogging into the bedroom. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me as usual.

“Honey, I knew you weren’t asleep. I brought the cake back. Don’t be mad at me, okay?

“I really didn’t ignore your call on purpose. This phone is several years old and the battery drains fast. I didn’t notice it had died.”

He seemed like a completely different man from the one in that private room.

In my daze, I slipped into my usual petulance.

“Are you so broke that you can’t have your assistant buy you a new phone?”

“But you bought me this one. If you don’t buy the replacement, I don’t want it. I’ll carry a few more power banks from now on.”

I stared at him. “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

Zhuo Zhishu looked pitiful. “I thought you’d notice.”

For once, I had nothing to say.

By our second year of marriage, I had stopped being the exemplary wife who meticulously managed every detail of his life. These days, even if I gave him a pen that had come free with a handbag purchase, he would be delighted. He carried it in his pocket to every contract signing and showed it off to everyone he met.

—My wife bought this for me.

Feeling somewhat guilty, I agreed. “Fine, fine. I’ll buy you one.”

“I knew my wife was the best! Come have some cake, honey.”

Zhuo Zhishu opened the box, scooped up some frosting, and held the spoon to my lips.

I looked into his gentle eyes, lost in thought.

Could anyone really be that good an actor?

On the anniversary of my mother’s death, Zhuo Zhishu went with me to the cemetery, then came back to my father’s house for dinner.

As I remembered her, my mother had wanted me to grow into a candid, free-spirited woman. But she had died young, and after that my world was confined to the art studio and the piano room.

Only later did I understand. My father simply loved the family business more.

What I wanted didn’t matter. What mattered was the profit I could bring the company.

That was why he was so pleased that I had married into the illustrious Zhuo family. Whenever he saw Zhuo Zhishu, his face lit up.

“Zhizhi, go help your mother in the kitchen. Make something Zhishu likes.”

“Okay.”

I started to rise, but Zhuo Zhishu stopped me.

“I’ll go. Zhizhi got up early today. Let her rest.”

“Oh, no, we couldn’t ask that of you. You spend every day busy with the company. You’re the one who needs to rest.”

My father smiled awkwardly, then shot me a vicious look. “Shen Zhi.”

Zhuo Zhishu squeezed my hand and stood. “It’s fine. I know my own tastes best.”

The instant he entered the kitchen, my father’s expression turned cold.

“Shen Zhi, you’ve truly let this go to your head. It was bad enough that you always made him serve you food and soup. Now you expect him to cook for you?”

“He volunteered.” My face remained blank.

My father scoffed.

“Let me tell you something. No man will ever like you the way you are now.

“Zhuo Zhishu chose you because of the way I raised you. Keep this up, and sooner or later he’ll throw you out. With that temperament of yours, do you really think you can find someone better after a divorce?

“And if your divorce hurts the company, don’t even dream of setting foot in this house again.”

At last, everything that had puzzled me that night made sense.

Zhuo Zhishu had always wanted the old me—the perfect wife, competent and agreeable. He had merely chosen to indulge me first, lifting me into the clouds so he could send me crashing down and frighten me into staying obediently by his side.

His docile, harmless pet cat for the rest of my life.

I was spoiled and impossible now. My father had remarried. If I divorced Zhuo Zhishu, where else could I possibly go?