Chapter 2

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

My phone kept vibrating in my pocket.

Weiwei had sent three messages asking whether I’d left yet. She’d already collected the tickets.

I’d promised to take her to a movie tonight.

Since Jiang Yao had agreed to the divorce, there was no point dragging out this meal.

I put down my chopsticks.

“Tell me what you want. If there are no problems, let’s settle it.”

Jiang Yao packed Youyou’s food and put down her chopsticks too.

“The smaller apartment goes to our daughter. We sell the bigger one and split the money equally. I don’t want the car. The million-odd in the account gets split down the middle. If that works for you, we can sign tomorrow.”

I thought it over carefully and found nothing objectionable.

It was even fairer than I’d expected.

“Fine. Nine tomorrow morning, at the marriage registry.”

I stood, then added after a moment’s thought,

“Yaoyao, thank you. All these years… you’ve worked hard.”

She didn’t answer.

As I paid, I glanced back.

She was still sitting at the table, her chopsticks resting motionless on the rim of her bowl.

The light fell from directly overhead, hiding her expression. All I could see were her fingers around her cup and the faint trembling of her shoulders.

I looked away.

And strode out.

This woman had nothing to do with me anymore.

The thought alone filled my chest with relief.

Weiwei had been waiting outside the cinema for quite a while.

“What took you so long?”

She pouted and tapped a fist lightly against my chest.

I pulled her into my arms, resting my chin on the top of her head.

“Weiwei, I’m free.”

She froze for two seconds, then shoved me away, her eyes wide.

“She… she agreed to the divorce?”

I nodded, more excited than I’d ever been.

“She did.”

“That’s wonderful!”

She threw herself at me and wrapped both arms around my neck.

“I knew you could do it! I love you, hubby. You’re finally all mine.”

I felt the warmth of her embrace.

But somehow—

the lonely figure I’d just left behind suddenly pricked at my mind like a tiny thorn.

Only for an instant.

Then it was gone.

Lin Wei took my hand and ran into the cinema, pulling me along.

We’d booked a VIP screening room, with a two-person sofa that offered excellent privacy.

Not long after the film started, she curled up in my arms and began carefully filing my nails.

Her touch was light, her fingertips scented with hand cream. Each time she finished a nail, she held it up to the light from the screen as though inspecting a work of art.

Later, I couldn’t have said which of us gave in to desire first.

In the dim light, her breath brushed my ear, her hair spilling across my chest.

With some film neither of us was watching playing in the background, we came together, almost beyond control.

Afterward, she leaned against my shoulder, her fingers still stroking the edges of my freshly filed nails.

“Hubby, I’ll do your nails every day from now on. I’ll never let you get another hangnail.”

That tiny thorn had vanished completely.

I buried my face in the crook of her neck, closed my eyes, and greedily breathed in her scent.

“I’m going to love my princess the way she deserves.”

Forever.