Chapter 3

Silas: [You don't know shit! I was afraid that my wife would misunderstand and get angry! My phone was dead! I spent the whole night waiting outside her door, like some stray mutt. You guys have no idea how cold it was!]

I remembered that it was a heavily rainy night.

I thought he was hanging out with Lina that night, but it turned out he spent the whole night outside my door.

And he even ate the food in the trash!

My feelings were extremely mixed.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

So it turned out that in the past three years, I wasn't up against some stone-cold iceberg but a full-blown drama king, practically suffocating himself just to keep up his persona.

Just then, I heard the door open.

Silas had come home.

I freaked out, quickly closed the webpage, and sat upright, pretending nothing was up.

Silas walked in with two big bags.

He'd changed into loungewear, still looking all cool and aloof. But his eyes kept peeking at me.

"Dinner," he said as he dropped the bags on the table. It was from my favorite crawfish spot on the south side, which always costs more than three hours to wait.

"No," I said, wearing a straight face.

Silas's brows were so furrowed that it could've crushed a fly.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "They're already peeled."

I was confused.

I walked over to take a look, and sure enough, both boxes were stuffed with peeled crawfish.

I took a bite, catching Silas's relieved expression.

He quickly put on his usual poker face, sat down, and picked up a finance magazine, pretending to read.

But only I noticed it was upside down.

"Silas," I called out suddenly.

He froze. "What?"

"Did you go pick up Lina that day because she pretended to be injured?" I asked.

Silas suddenly raised his head, his eyes widened. "How did you... Wait, who told you that?"

He stood up in a panic, stammering, "I was just passing by! Yeah, just passing by! She kept pestering me to let her in!"

Watching him sweating on his forehead but still trying to play it cool, I suddenly thought that it wasn't necessary to get dicorce at all.

"Fine," I said, and ate another piece of crawfish without much thought. "So why didn't you just explain?"

Silas's face went bright red, and after a long, awkward pause, he finally said, "Explain? I'm innocent no matter what. Besides, would you even believe me at that time? You've always thought I was forced to get married."

His voice got lower and lower, and by the end, he sounded almost wronged.

"You never even asked if I wanted to marry you, just threw that contract at me," he said.

"I had prepared the engagement ring all ready, but you just brought your dad along," he added.

I was completely shocked.

So it was the real thinking he held about our marriage.

"So, do you love me?" I stared straight into his eyes.

Silas turned his head away, his ears turning bright red. "If I didn't like you, would I let you sleep in my bed? Would I eat your poison... No, your dishes?"

Well, mystery solved.

He's not heartless. He just used all his bad words on me.

Just as the atmosphere eased slightly, Silas's phone rang.

He glanced at the screen, and his face changed instantly.

I leaned over to see the caller ID, Lina.

Silas was about to hit decline, but I stopped him.

"Pick up," I said. "And put it on speaker."

Silas gulped and obediently did as I said.

Lina's voice came through, all soft and whiny. "Silas, my leg hurts really bad... The doctor says I might need another surgery. Can you come to accompany me? I'm really scared..."

I gave Silas a half-smirk, amused and mocking.

Silas glanced at me, took a deep breath, and then yelled into the phone.

"Go ask the doctor! Why are you calling me? Am I a vet or something? Don't call me again. My wife's right here watching. Are you trying to get me in trouble? Get the hell lost!"

With that, he hung up immediately. Blocked her number and deleted her from his contacts.

After he finished, he looked at me nervously, like a pet waiting for praise.

"Honey, are you satisfied?" he asked.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Seeing him all desperate for praise but scared I'd be mad at him, my anger almost disappeared.

But I resisted the urge to rub his head.

I didn't want to let him off that easily.

Men were like kids. The more they get used to it, the more they become bastards.

"Just so-so, I guess," I said, turning back to the crawfish.

Just then, my phone on the coffee table started buzzing.

It was Nova calling.

The moment I picked up, Nova's voice almost shattered my eardrums.