Chapter 11: Thorns
855 Words
Millie was the new public relations assistant in Abed's company. Just graduated from university, she still had a touch of childishness on her face, but her eyes were like knives coated with sugar, sweet yet sharp. The first time she came to their home to deliver documents, she was wearing a super - short pencil skirt. When entering the door, she "accidentally" sprained her ankle and fell straight into Abed's arms.
"Oops, I'm so sorry, Mr. Abed!" As she looked up, her eyelashes fluttered, and the coquettish tone in her voice was as sweet as honey. "I just can't get used to wearing high - heels."
Abed held her by the waist, his brows slightly furrowed, but he didn't push her away immediately. "Be more careful next time."
Lissie stood at the kitchen door, still holding the freshly washed strawberries in her hand. Watching that scene, her heart felt as if it was blocked by something, aching dully.
Since that day, Millie became a shadow that lingered in their lives.
She would send Abed ambiguous messages late at night: "Mr. Abed, thank you for sending me home today. I seem to have a little crush on you～" When Lissie saw the message by accident, Abed snatched the phone away and said impatiently, "She's just a kid. Don't think too much."
She would "happen" to show up at the gym where Abed often went, wearing a tight - fitting sportswear, pretending to meet by chance. "Mr. Abed is here to work out too? What a coincidence." Then she would deliberately slow down on the treadmill and look back at him and smile from time to time.
What Lissie couldn't bear the most was Millie's deliberate provocation towards her.
At a family gathering, Lissie was wearing the lotus - pink dress that Abed gave her as a birthday gift last year. Millie, however, wore an almost identical style, but the color was brighter and the hem was shorter. She walked up to Lissie and pretended to be surprised. "Sister Lissie, we're wearing the same style! But this dress was just bought for me by Mr. Abed yesterday. He said this color suits young girls better. He really has a good taste～"
Lissie's fingertips dug into her palm, and a small piece of her fingernail broke, oozing blood, but she didn't feel the pain. She looked at Abed, hoping he would say something, but he just held a wine glass and chatted and laughed with relatives as if he didn't hear Millie's words.
That night, Lissie had her first big fight with Abed.
"Do you just let her bully me like this?" Her voice was tinged with sobs, and tears streamed down her face.
"She's just a kid. Are you really going to take her jokes seriously?" Abed sat on the sofa, impatiently pulling at his tie. "Lissie, can't you be more mature? Don't act like a complaining woman and embarrass me in front of relatives."
"A complaining woman?" Lissie couldn't believe her ears. "Abed, look at what you've become! There are so many women around you. You smile at them and treat them well. Do you still remember how you treated me back then?"
"Back then was back then, and now is now!" Abed suddenly stood up, his voice raised. "I'm the boss of a listed company now. It's normal to have a few people around for socializing. Can't you stop dwelling on these trivial things? Can't you just be like other bosses' wives, stay quietly and not cause me trouble?"
"Stay quietly?" Lissie laughed, but her tears flowed even more fiercely. "So in your eyes, I should turn a blind eye to your infidelity and greet the women around you with a smile? Abed, what do you take me for?"
"I'm not having an affair!" Abed roared. "I'm just socializing! You're my wife, lawfully wedded. That will never change!"
"But I don't want this kind of wife status!" Lissie's voice was hoarse. "I want the person who said he would light me up back then, not this stranger who's full of money - grubbing and driven by desires!"
Abed was stunned, and then his eyes turned cold. He looked at her as if she were a stranger making trouble out of nothing. "That's enough. I don't want to argue with you. If you really can't stand it, calm down by yourself."
He slammed the door and left, leaving Lissie alone in the empty living room. Facing the silence of the room, she cried until dawn.
Since that day, an invisible wall seemed to have risen between them. He no longer explained the reason for coming home late, and she no longer asked. He took Millie to various public events, and when the media photographed their "intimate interactions," she just silently closed the web page when she saw it. Millie began to come and go freely, cooking in her kitchen with her utensils and trying on her clothes in her bedroom. When Lissie caught her, she just turned around and left, not even bothering to say a word.
Her heart had already grown cold after repeated disappointments.
- Writer
