Chapter 4

"I just couldn't stand to see you cry, that's why I kissed your eyes. I promised I wouldn't touch you before we were married, but it's been a year. Who has a relationship as pathetic as mine?"

I stood frozen, letting him hold me.

After a long moment, I asked softly, "Do you love her that much?"

Lewis lifted his head, drunk, and as if realizing I wasn't the person he was expecting, he shoved me away abruptly.

"Who are you? Don't touch me! You're not Natalie! Go away! I want Natalie!"

The push sent me stumbling back, and I crashed into the coffee table.

A wine bottle fell to the floor and shattered. A shard of glass dug into my palm, but I felt no pain.

Slowly, I pulled the glass shard from my palm and carelessly flicked the blood away. I held the divorce papers out in front of him.

"Sign it. Once you do, you can be with Natalie."

His gaze fell on my bleeding hand, and he suddenly grabbed it in a panic, bringing it to his lips to blow on it gently.

"Miranda, how did you get hurt? Does it hurt?"

I snatched my hand back coldly and shoved the pen into his. "Sign it!"

But Lewis suddenly threw the papers aside and wrapped his arms around my waist like a petulant child.

"Miranda, I'm not signing it! I said I wouldn't divorce you. Didn't you already agree to have a child with me?"

The agreement soaked in the spilled wine on the floor, the ink slowly blurring into a dark stain.

This was the second time now.

The first time, he said I was being ridiculous. This time, he was using his drunkenness to play dumb.

Feeling the traitorous tears about to well up, I tilted my head back to force them down and swung my hand, slapping him across the face.

"Lewis! What in the world do you want? I'll get out of the way. I'll let you two be together. All you have to do is sign. Is that so hard?"

But he suddenly grabbed my wrist, a gentle smile forming in his hazy, drunken eyes.

"Miranda, don't be angry. Your hand is injured. You'll hurt yourself if you hit me."

Those words were a dull knife, twisting viciously in my heart.

A year ago, I had been just as broken, yet I chose to forgive him, swayed by his sweet nothings.

I couldn't believe that a year had passed, and I had let myself fall into the exact same situation.

He knew exactly how to manipulate me.

A slap, and then a sweet word. Just like before, I would run right back to him without a second thought.

But not this time.

I raised my other hand and, with all my might, slapped him again.

"Miranda, sis! Lewis is just drunk, how could you hit him?!"

Natalie's sharp voice suddenly came from the doorway. Lewis's eyes instantly lit up, and he stumbled towards her. "Natalie, I knew you couldn't bear to part with me."

Natalie rushed to steady his wavering body, then turned to reprimand me:

"Miranda, this afternoon is the brand's fall product launch. You should know how important this reception is, shouldn't you?"

"Do you two have to get physical when you argue? After a slap like that, how is he supposed to face the executives from the luxury group?"

"If anyone asks, am I supposed to tell them Lewis was hit by his own wife?"

Her self-righteous tone was so infuriating I couldn't help but laugh.

"Natalie, in what capacity are you speaking to the founder of this brand? So what if Lewis doesn't go to this reception today?"

"As a mere assistant, aren't you overstepping your boundaries?"

The color drained from Natalie's face, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"Fine, I'll stay out of it. In the end, when the investors are unhappy, I'm the one who suffers—the poor assistant who has to drink in his place. At worst, I'll just end up drinking until my stomach bleeds again, just like last time."

I sneered.

"When have you ever actually had to drink in his place? Why don't I give you the chance today? You can take all the drinks for both me and Lewis."