He Bought His Secretary a House, and Lost His Wife Chapter 2

Alex came downstairs to find me.

He slung an arm around my shoulder and took the thermos of soup.

“Honey, your cooking is the best…”

He didn’t finish.

His gaze froze on my phone screen.

The words caught in his throat. After a moment, he managed to croak out:

“Lu, you’ve misunderstood.”

“That was a company event. I gave flowers to all the employees.”

I hadn’t even said anything, and he was already making excuses.

He was clearly feeling guilty.

I knew this secretary of his. In a way, we had a history.

A few years ago, before I became a full-time homemaker, I was the HR manager at the company.

She was a fresh college grad, very sweet, always smiling.

Her resume was too thin; I hadn’t planned on keeping it.

But Alex happened to come looking for me that day, saw her, and told me to give young people more chances.

He said she reminded him of me when I was younger.

Her name was Lucy.

Even her name was similar to mine.

Alex had those charming eyes that always seemed to hold a deep affection, no matter who he was looking at.

Back then, the way he looked at Lucy and the way he looked at me – there was no difference.

I was still lost in thought when a warm embrace enveloped me.

Alex always hugged me when he wanted to comfort me.

He whispered in my ear:

“Honey, there’s really nothing between her and me.”

“If you don’t trust me, don’t you trust our fifteen years together?”

Fifteen years.

From a twenty-year-old girl.

To thirty-five, with wrinkles forming at the corners of my eyes.

After my parents died unexpectedly, I dropped out of college and started the business with Alex.

I taught myself accounting, HR, IT…

For our work.

I studied so hard I got severe conjunctivitis.

All our business partners praised me, called me an iron lady in the workplace.

But now, I didn’t have the courage to question our relationship.

“Alex, can you honestly say you haven’t wronged me?” I asked him.

Alex clumsily opened the thermos and started gulping down the chicken soup.

Then he coughed, choking on it.

“Cough… Honey, I really didn’t cheat. Believe me.”

His way of showing affection was always a bit awkward.

In that moment, I didn’t want to dig deeper.

He repeatedly promised it wouldn’t happen again.

He even called Lucy down to apologize to me in person.

Lucy was thinner than when I’d last seen her a few years ago, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

She looked less like an office worker and more like a student.

She apologized sincerely:

“Luna, I was just joking around with someone else and accidentally sent it to you. Please don’t misunderstand.”

She was so earnest.

It made me look like I was the one being unreasonable.

Standing on the street, I felt utterly alone.

Suddenly, I didn’t love him anymore.

Our marriage felt like a beautiful silk brocade.

In that instant, it was suddenly crawling with maggots.

For all these years, my life had revolved around another person.

I didn’t know where I could go if I left him.

I said to him gravely, “Alex, I’ll trust you this one time.”