When I Stopped Acting Spoiled, My Arranged Husband Fell Apart - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The kitten was staying in the house where Zhuo Zhishu and I had lived when we first married.

When the lights came on, a little orange ball crouched on the cat tree sprang lightly to the floor. It padded over, circled our feet, and meowed.

I crouched and stroked its head.

The kitten didn’t resist at all. Instead, a rumble rose from its chest.

“It isn’t scared of me!” I said in delight. “But why is it making that noise?”

Zhuo Zhishu bent down and scooped the kitten into his arms, looking smug.

“Because it remembers you. I lined its bed with one of your nightgowns, so it knows you’re its mom.

“That sound means it likes you.”

As if it understood, the kitten meowed again.

I adored it at once and reached out. “Let me hold it.”

But Zhuo Zhishu turned away with a huff.

“No. You were going to abandon me, so obviously I get custody of the child. I’m never remarrying.”

I choked on my response.

Zhuo Zhishu scratched the kitten under its chin and spoke in a weak, mournful voice.

“A stepfather could never be as good as your real dad, could he, baby? But Mommy doesn’t want Daddy anymore, so you’ll have to grow up in a single-cat household.

“It’s okay. Daddy is very strong. Daddy will wait alone for the rest of his life. He’ll never fall in love with someone else or find you a stepmother.

“Maybe when Mommy gets married for the third time, the three of us can finally be a family again…”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re insane, Zhuo Zhishu.”

Zhuo Zhishu’s eyes widened. He blinked at me. “Say it again, honey.”

“…”

“Has your brain actually broken?”

I stole the kitten from his arms, hugged it, and kissed it.

“Of course Mommy isn’t abandoning you,” I cooed. “Mommy will take care of you forever. How about Shen Xiaoju? You can have Mommy’s surname.”

“Its name is Shen Xiaoju?”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“Why does it get your surname? I want it too! I’ll be Shen Zhishu! You have to take care of me forever as well!”

“…”

I carried the kitten a little farther away.

“Xiaoju, your dad isn’t very bright. Don’t play with him too much, or it might be contagious.”

“Meow.”

“Oh, you understood Mommy? Our Xiaoju is the smartest kitten in the world. You must have inherited it from me, didn’t you? Kiss, kiss, kiss.”

I buried my face in the kitten again.

Zhuo Zhishu suddenly fell silent.

I walked behind him and saw his fingers flying over his phone screen.

[Emergency emergency emergency! What do I do if my wife only wants the child and not me?]

[I haven’t even driven off the old man, and now my wife has fallen in love with the cat! She’s hugging it and kissing it. She hasn’t treated me like that in ages!]

[If we divorce, what are the odds the judge awards me to the child?]

Lin Xiao: [Bruh.]

I set the kitten down, cupped Zhuo Zhishu’s face in both hands, and turned him toward me.

“I wasn’t planning to marry Fu Xun. I only wanted a divorce because I thought you were cheating.”

“Really? But… But you celebrated with him…”

Zhuo Zhishu looked deeply suspicious.

Apparently, this period hadn’t been easy for him either.

We were both idiots.

I explained patiently, “Really. I wanted him to congratulate me because I had found someone I loved. I love you.”

Zhuo Zhishu’s lashes trembled. The corners of his mouth pulled downward against his will.

“Really?”

“Really. I love you.”

I rose onto my toes and kissed him.

“A kitten purrs when it’s happy, but humans can’t purr. That means we have to say ‘I love you’ often, so the other person knows how we feel.

“Zhuo Zhishu, I love you.”

“I love you too, honey. And I didn’t start loving you when I saw you at that banquet. It began three years earlier, at a restaurant. You had red-rimmed eyes when you ran past and bumped into me.”

Zhuo Zhishu lowered his head and kissed me.

I remembered.

That was the first time I met my stepmother. My father told me he was marrying her and ordered me to call her Mom.

I refused.

My father slapped me.

Ignoring every rule of propriety he had drilled into me, I ran out of the private room and collided with someone in the hall.

So that had been my first act of willfulness.

I smiled. “I understand. You love me.”

Mischief crept into Zhuo Zhishu’s eyes.

“So who do you love more, Xiaoju or me?”

“…”

“Answer me, honey! You really have fallen for someone else, haven’t you? Where is the justice? I went through all that pain to bring this cat into the world for you, and now you’re casting me aside because I’m no longer your favorite…”

Zhuo Zhishu started wailing again.

I silently picked up the kitten and whispered into its ear.

“Xiaoju, your dad’s brain really doesn’t work very well. Mommy had better raise you. We can’t let him turn you into a silly little kitten.”

“Meow.”