Chapter 2
When I arrived at the restaurant, Charles wasn't there yet.
The waiter smiled as he showed me to my seat, mentioning that Charles was a regular here.
I'd seen the restaurant's luxurious floor-to-ceiling windows in Gianna's Instagram posts, but Charles had never brought me here before.
Way past lunchtime, Charles still hadn't shown up. The waiter kept shooting me looks, so I just pretended to be interested in the view outside.
Suddenly, I saw Charles outside the big windows, wearing a black trench coat.
He stopped, looked like he got a call, and quickly rushed toward the parking lot.
When I tried calling him, his line was busy.
After what felt like forever, Charles finally called me back.
"Gianna's part in the project hit a snag, so I'm going to help her out. Hope you understand, Lucy," Charles said.
I wasn't surprised at all that he bailed on me. I'd gotten used to waiting for him, over and over.
Lately, Gianna had been popping up a lot more than usual.
"Alright, go ahead. But make sure you save me a little time. I've got something I want to say face-to-face," I said.
He scoffed. "Seriously, what could you possibly want? It's always the same with you. I've told you before that Gianna is only my junior, nothing more. Stop being so paranoid and trying to test me."
I didn't bother arguing, and he hung up on me right away.
On the other hand, the food at the restaurant was surprisingly good. It really put my cooking to shame.
No wonder Charles never liked my food.
Ever since he started working at the research institute, he had been even busier than when he was doing his Ph.D. I worried he wasn't eating right, so I'd get up early every morning to pack him a homemade lunch before heading to work.
Sometimes we only saw each other once or twice a week, so bringing him food was my excuse to see him.
But Charles told me not to bother anymore, saying my food just didn't suit his taste.
I was hurt for a while, but then I just put my energy elsewhere and found other ways to show I cared.
Back in school, he was always cold and hard to approach, but I was like a moth to a flame, chasing after him.
In the end, I ended up marrying him, just like I'd always dreamed.
One time, Charles casually mentioned he liked tomato soup, so I tried making it myself. I burned my hands more times than I could count, but no matter what I did, I never managed to make it the way he liked.
Later, I finally met Gianna, the junior Charles kept bringing up all the time.
She was a southern girl, and she really knew her way around soups, especially when it came to tomato soup.
After that, I gave up on making soup for good.
When I got home, I packed my bags and hit up an agent about renting a place.
I didn't expect Charles to show up out of the blue.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw the suitcase, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Lucy, what game are you playing now?" he snapped.
After a moment, I figured I might as well just come clean with him.
We didn't have any kids, so if we got divorced, it could be a clean break.
But before I could get a word out, Charles's phone started ringing. He gave me a sharp look, ready to ignore the call.
But when he saw the name flashing on the screen, his expression changed for a moment.
"Gianna, what's wrong? Don't cry. I'll be right there," he said, his voice softening.
Then he seemed to realize something, shooting me a conflicted glance. "Lucy, I don't want to fight with you. We'll talk when I get back, okay? Gianna needs me right now. Someone cut the power outside her house, and she's all alone."
I started to re-evaluate Charles.
Back in school, he was the star student everyone looked up to, and after graduation, he became a top researcher.
I couldn't help but wonder if he really did not see what was happening. Why would Gianna turn to her married senior instead of calling the police or asking security for help when she was in trouble?
Suddenly, I felt completely drained. I interrupted his explanation, not even bothering to argue, and just told him to go.
"Just go. Don't waste any more time. It's getting late," I said.
Charles paused, giving me a deep, conflicted look. "I'll be back soon. Wait for me."
I didn't wait.
After double-checking every detail of the divorce papers, I locked the doors and slept soundly till sunrise.
I actually got a good night's sleep, and felt totally refreshed heading to work.
There were a few cigarette butts outside the door. It looked like Charles tried coming back, but was locked out.
Charles blew up my phone with messages, but I ignored every single one. I just sent him the divorce papers by email.
He called right away, but I didn't pick up. A little while later, I got a friend request from Gianna.
[Lucy, please don't be upset with Charles because of me. He just worries about me since I'm not well, and he doesn't want me to be alone,] Gianna messaged.
I was speechless.
[Charles was already worn out from looking after me yesterday. Could you please stop making him worry?] she added.
[Actually, I should thank you. Charles said you used to be a lot like me. No wonder that when I first joined the institute, he went out of his way to look after me,] she continued.
Her words were getting more pointed.
Back then, messages like these would've made me completely lose my mind. I'd go straight to Charles, break down in tears, and confront him in a mess of drama.
But now, I just swiped the messages away and ignored her friend request.
When I got to the office, I asked someone in HR who it was that took me to the hospital the other day. I wanted to thank them face-to-face.
The HR person just smiled mysteriously and told me not to worry about it, to just focus on my work.