Chapter 9

"You know very well that our marriage isn't like the ones that normal people have."

"Marriage is marriage."

Xiao's gaze sharpened as Jun Shang acted as though he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Are you joking?"

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"This is a contract. A contract that was bound to come to an end."

It was as if she had dropped a bomb. Jun Shang continued to lean on the desk as he watched her.

When did it happen? Was it last winter? Towards the end of the year, he saw his wife look down through the hotel window. The excitement that came with the end of the year was in the air. A crowd of people were watching the stage with their champagne glasses raised as they watched the count down.

His eyes had gone to her by chance, and he was able to notice that she was looking in the opposite direction from the other people. Wearing a blue dress with the falling snow as the backdrop, his wife looked even more beautiful than usual. It had been three months since the last time Jun Shang and Xiao had been intimate.

He was always busy, but wife was often busy as well. She said that it was because she had just published an illustration book and had an exhibit to set up, so she wasn't in great condition. It didn't matter. He had to curb his intense desire for her anyway.

However, his eyes kept being drawn back to his wife. It was probably because he hadn't been satisfied lately. He kept feeling as if his wife's dress was revealing too much, so his eyes kept going to it. Was that just her way of telling him that tonight would be a good night? Suddenly, he saw her reflection in the black glass.

His wife was crying. No, she was laughing. He saw her eyes were sparkling with tears and her tender, trembling lips.

"Happy New Year!"

The booming voice of the spokesperson rang from behind Jun Shang. His wife was still looking out the window. She noticed the people that were beginning to approach her and quickly wiped her tears away. She smiled gracefully at the clients that came up to her.

Jun Shang's curiosity was piqued. That was obvious.

Why did Yun Xiao make an expression like that?

Jun Shang made his way to the window his wife had been looking out of. The snow was still falling outside. He saw the hotel's main entrance and saw a few drivers that had come to pick up their VIP guests.

Among them, he saw one man quickly turn around. He was a tall man in a black tuxedo. Jun Shang only caught a quick glance of the man, but he was definitely familiar.

Lee TaeKyung.

Jun Shang knew the man's name. This was because he had privately ordered an investigation on this man, and the resulting documents had been placed on top of his desk the next day. When he saw the name, Jun Shang remembered the odd surge of cold emotions that flooded his gut.

Why did you cry? Why did you laugh? Was it all for that man? Just what was going on between the two? Did he really want to know?

Jun Shang recalled these annoying questions now as he stood in his study.

"The contract won't be broken until I say so."

Jun Shang voice was ice cold.

"The people involved in the contract is just the two of us anyway."

His wife's eyes hardened even more. Her rage settled, and it looked like she was calculating something in her head as she looked at him. Jun Shang got up from the desk and walked towards her. Her fragrance tickled his nose.

Xiao was surprised at his approach and flinched as she tried to back up. Jun Shang's hand held her elbow.

Her mysterious brown eyes were looking up at him. An urge. Yeah, let's call it an urge. Sometimes, Jun Shang remembered her expression as she looked at that bastard. Her true face underneath her mask that had been reflected in that window. Her teary eyes looking at him with fondness, her lips as it widened into a trembling smile.

And whenever he recalled her expression, something began to move inside of him. Like a black shadow, a terrifying monster, a violent rage.

He looked down at his wife's eyes and spoke in a low voice.

"I don't plan on breaking up with you."

As Xiao tried to take her arm out of his grasp, his hand tightened. Alarmed, she tried to take a step back. Jun Shang reflexively stepped forward and lowered his head. His wife's breaths quickened in surprise.

"Let go."

Xiao growled as she glared fiercely at Jun Shang.

The tension and rising heat between the two filled the room. The elbow in Jun Shang's hand was slender. His hand only touched her silk blouse, but a shudder went through him like a wild lightning strike.

"I said let go!"

His wife tried to shake him off with more vigor. But it was too late.

Jun Shang's lips covered Xiao's, and his body enveloped her defiant body. She cried out, but he didn't care. His hands wrapped around her hips and lifted her up.