Chapter 2
When I didn't answer, Mia figured I was scared.
Her smug smile deepened as she tightened her grip on Henry's arm, like she was staking her claim.
She sneered, "What's wrong? Lost your nerve? Where's that boldness you had just now, flirting with my husband?
"Henry absolutely despises women like you, who think they can sleep their way to the top.
"Take a good look in the mirror. Do you measure up?"
Whispers started to spread around us.
"So she's the homewrecker? She looks so innocent."
"These kids these days will do anything to get ahead."
"Now this is going to be good. We've got the real wife catching the mistress, right here in the company cafeteria."
I ignored all the whispers.
I didn't bother looking at Mia, who acted all high and mighty.
I kept my eyes locked on one person: my husband, Henry.
I stared at him.
He was holding his lunchbox, his arm frozen in midair.
His face shifted between ashen and pale, like a palette that had been knocked over.
His lips trembled, and he kept looking away, not daring to meet my eyes.
The air seemed to freeze.
Time itself felt infinitely slowed.
I was really curious.
I was dying to know what Henry would say next.
Henry's Adam's apple bobbed.
He finally spoke.
His voice was rough, with a barely perceptible note of panic. "Mia, that's enough."
Those three words hit me like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.
I felt my heart sink, inch by inch.
That was enough?
Mia had pointed her finger at me, calling me a shameless homewrecker in front of the whole company.
But Henry only said that?
Mia seemed satisfied with his answer.
She leaned her head on Henry's shoulder, swaying against him coquettishly. "Henry, I wasn't doing anything.
"I just can't stand shameless women like that throwing themselves at you.
"You're my man. It's my job to protect you."
Her voice turned sweet and cloying, a complete contrast to the sharp, venomous tone from moments before.
Henry's face looked even more uncomfortable.
He tried awkwardly to push Mia away, but she wouldn't budge.
He lowered his voice, almost begging. "Let go for now; everyone's watching. Let's talk at home."
At home?
Which home?
The one we shared, or the one he shared with Mia?
My nails dug deep into my palm, but I didn't feel a thing.
I simply looked at Henry.
At the man I had loved for five years, and been married to for three. At how weak, how wretched he was before another woman.
The whispers in the cafeteria grew louder.
"So it's true, huh? Mr. Cole didn't deny it."
"I heard Mia's family is pretty well-connected."
"Poor new girl, she's doomed. She pissed off the manager's wife on her very first day."
Henry finally pulled free from Mia's grip.
He stood up and picked up his tray, the one with the rib I'd just given him.
Without looking at me, he hurriedly said to Mia, "I'm heading back to the office."
With that, he turned and left without another word, his steps hurried, his back rigid, as though the hounds of hell were at his heels.
Mia immediately followed after Henry, and as she left, she shot me a smug, triumphant look over her shoulder.
From start to finish, Henry didn't say a single word in my defense.
No clarification.
No explanation.
Not even a comforting look.
He just walked away, leaving me standing there, alone, enduring all the stares and snickers from everyone.
I became the company's laughingstock.
I became the shameless homewrecker who tried to seduce her manager, only to get caught red-handed by the real wife.
In the cafeteria, the rib I'd placed on Henry's tray still sat alone on the table until someone knocked it to the floor.
It lay covered in dust and grease, just like my pathetic, one-sided concern.
I got to my feet slowly.
I picked up my tray and tossed the rest of my food.
My hands didn't shake at all.
My expression didn't change at all.
I could feel those stares burning into my back, following me like shadows.