Chapter 10
There was no need to ask-Zachary had already convinced himself deep down that I must be crazy.
If I hadn’t lost my mind, how could the quiet, obedient me-who’d loved him for eight years without complaint-ever lay a hand on him for some random guy?
It had to be a nightmare…
Just as Zachary thought this, his eyes caught mine holding Gavin’s hand, our fingers intertwined as I gently asked, “Does it hurt? Should we go to the hospital?”
He was stunned.
His eyes, now bloodshot, were full of disbelief, unable to process what he’d just seen.
Still burning with jealousy, Madison pushed herself up from the ground, hatred blazing in her eyes.
She pointed at me, shouting venomously, “You shameless bitch! Zachary’s been devoted to marrying you, and you’ve already been sneaking around with this man behind his back!”
In the past, when Madison stirred up trouble in front of Zachary, twisting facts and calling black white, I’d stayed silent for various reasons.
But now, she was openly slandering Gavin as some homewrecker right in front of me…
I let out a short laugh, calmly kicked off my right heel, and strode over to Jiang Meng with purpose.
Then, in one shocking move that stunned everyone present-I slammed the dirty sole of my heel across Madison’s face.
Her eyes widened, and she tried to step back, but I grabbed her long hair tightly, holding her in place.
Her foul mouth was silenced within moments, the pain making her scream and cry uncontrollably.
As I coldly lectured her, Madison looked tearfully at Zachary, silently pleading for help.
The ironic part? Zachary stood frozen, letting her wail and overact without moving a muscle.
After I shoved her aside like she was nothing, Zachary eagerly grabbed my heel from the floor and knelt to put it back on me. “Lily, don’t be mad. I know you’re not the kind of woman Madison says you are.”
“I finally see it now. All of this-the mess between us-is because Madison’s been stirring trouble.”
“I promise I won’t go easy on her anymore. I’ll fire her as soon as I get back, okay? So please don’t break up with me. I know I was rong.”
Glancing at Madison’s miserable, ashen face, I took off my other heel and, expressionless, tossed it right at Zachary’s face.
“Firing a hundred Madisons won’t change the fact that we’re done.”
I turned to leave, but my skirt caught-Zachary’s trembling hand grabbed me.
After all these years, I’d never seen him so lost, so helpless,
“Don’t go… please just tell me what did I do wrong that made you leave me like this? Are you really with that guy now?”
“Lily, I can’t believe you’d be so cruel to me…”
Chapter 10
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I looked at him with pure contempt. “Let go.”
He shook his head stubbornly, voice hoarse and desperate. “Lily, look at me. Unless you look me in the eyes and say you don’t love me anymore-that you love Gavin-I won’t believe you want to be apart from me.”
Just as he wished, I finally met those bloodshot, desperate eyes.
I spoke slowly and clearly, “Zachary, I don’t love you anymore. No matter who I love in the future, it won’t be you. Got it?”
His knees gave out, and Zachary fell before me with no dignity left.
He forced a broken smile-more pitiful than tears-on his stiff lips. “It’s okay, Lily. As long as I love you, that’s enough. You don’t have to love me. Just don’t leave me. I’ll do anything-no matter what it takes.”
I replied calmly, steady as water, “I don’t need your worthless love. If you ever bother me again, I’ll call the cops.”
Hearing that, Zachary blinked.
The bitter tears he’d been holding back finally spilled over. “Lily, please don’t do this to me. I know I messed up-I hurt you and took you for granted. Can’t you just give me one last chance? I swear I’ll change. I’ll prove it to you…”
Cutting him off, I said simply, “Zachary, it’s too late.”
Ignoring his hollow, lifeless stare, I got into Gavin’s car and left.
Inside, I apologized for dragging Gavin into my mess and getting him hurt.
He just smiled casually. “Next time you need a shield like that, come to me first.”
After dropping me off safely at my apartment, Gavin said, “Lily, if Zachary ever bothers you again, call me anytime. Anytime!”
I nodded and smiled, agreeing to dinner next weekend.
A month later, on a quiet night, my phone rang from an unknown landline.
It was Zachary.
He sounded sick and weak, coughing nonstop. “Lily, don’t hang up. Just one question-did you ever love me?”
I didn’t even lift my eyelids. “No.”
I hung up, put down my phone, and went back to watching TV.
Two days later, I found out from a classmates’ chat that Zachary’s company had been deliberately set on fire. He was still in the hospital, fighting for his life.
Ironically, the fire was started by Madison.
Angry at being fired, she lost control, locked the company doors with her barely conscious body inside, trying to take Zachary
down with her.
Reading the police report, I realized too late that Zachary had called my number when he was near death…
“What a terrible coincidence,” I muttered outside the movie theater.
Gavin, buying tickets nearby, heard me. “Lily, what did you say? I didn’t catch that.”
“Nothing.”
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06
I closed the chat and glanced at Gavin’s phone. “Got the tickets? What time’s the show?”
“All set. Starts in half an hour-just enough time to grab your favorite coffee.”
Excited, Gavin led me downstairs to the mall.
On the way, he picked up snacks and little things for me, carrying so many bags it looked less like a movie night and more like big grocery run.
After the movie, in the parking lot, Gavin asked me to open his trunk.
I opened it and wasn’t surprised to see flowers and balloons he’d prepared for a while.
He looked nervous as he asked, “Lily, will you be my girlfriend?”
Without hesitation, I smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “Of course.”
Life is long and full of twists and turns-along the way, there’s always someone new to meet.
