His Tight Praise Outed His Affair,I Made Him Beg

Chapter 2

The next day, Julian uncharacteristically offered to take me to his company's social dinner.

He acted like he was doing me a massive favor, saying, "It was wrong of me to buy things for others without your permission. Haven't you always wanted to meet the people from my company? I'm taking you today. Are you happy now?"

He was finally willing to bring me out in public, but I couldn't find an ounce of joy in it.

My mind was entirely consumed with wondering just how many of these company dinners he had brought Mia to instead of me.

But in the end, I didn't refuse.

Since I had already decided to leave, I needed to see exactly what kind of sick game these two were playing.

When we arrived at the venue, everyone was crowded around Mia, chatting and laughing. Not a single person spared a glance for me.

The only empty seat left at the massive table was shoved into the furthest corner.

Looking embarrassed, Julian tried to pull me to the center to squeeze into a seat next to him.

But Mia immediately stopped him.

"Julian, Aria doesn't even drink. If you make her sit in the middle, are you just expecting her to pour drinks and serve everyone?" Mia said sweetly. "You might be okay with making Aria suffer like that, but I can't bear it. Wouldn't it be better to just let her sit quietly on the side and eat in peace?"

Such manipulative words. On the surface, she sounded like she cared about me, but she was secretly trying to paint me as high-maintenance and antisocial.

I looked quietly at Julian, waiting for his choice.

Julian froze in place. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Aria, just sit on the side and wait for me."

My mind flashed back to three years ago.

Back then, when we first got together, he wanted to take me absolutely everywhere. When we ate with his friends, he would constantly pile the best food on my plate.

Someone jokingly teased him, saying he had found a goddess to worship instead of a girlfriend.

Julian had just laughed and replied, "If treating my woman right means worshiping her like a goddess, then I'm willing to worship her for the rest of my life."

But now, everything changed.

In my moment of daze, Mia purposely raised her voice. "Actually, Aria used to be a heavy drinker! Like, a really heavy drinker."

She put on an exaggerated expression and continued, "Back in the day, this girl could drink a whole group of frat boys under the table. She was a total tomboy! I remember that one time, she got so wasted that she actually ripped a guy's shirt right off!"

Her theatrical gestures sent the entire room roaring with laughter.

I couldn't suppress the fury burning in my chest anymore. "Why are you bringing up stupid things from when we were kids?" I demanded coldly.

Mia just rolled her eyes at me and argued, "Since you and Julian still don't have kids, everyone keeps guessing that you ruined your body with your wild partying when you were young. I'm saying this for your own good! Letting them know you have a healthy body proves that your infertility isn't the problem!"

So, the fact that I didn't have a kid had already long become their favorite workplace gossip.

In that moment, the overwhelming humiliation crushed my chest, making it impossible to breathe.

With mocking laughter ringing in my ears, I looked quietly at Julian, praying he would put an end to this circus.

Instead, Mia doubled down on the humiliation.

"Are you trying to say it's Julian who doesn't want kids? Do you even know why? Right after you two got married, Julian said you couldn't handle hardship. He said you were practically a giant baby yourself, and that if you actually had a kid, it would kill him from exhaustion!" she mocked. "I actually taught him all his caretaking skills. Technically speaking, since he takes such great care of you, you should be thanking me."

What an amazing assistant. She even provided Julian hands-on training on how to care for a wife.

As I realized that every ounce of tenderness Julian had ever shown me was experienced by Mia first, my stomach churned violently.

Too utterly disgusted to sit there a second longer, I stood up and walked away.

Julian instinctively tried to chase after me, but Mia called out to him,

"Julian, I'm saying these things for her own good. Otherwise, the second she has free time, she'll just obsess over getting pregnant. If we don't give her a reality check, she'll be hung up on having a baby for the rest of her life."

Hearing her words, I walked even faster.

I knew Julian wouldn't chase me.

Over the years, whenever the topic of children came up, he never once gave me a good look.

And now, I didn't want his child anymore either.

I returned to our apartment in a daze, ready to pack my things before leaving for good.