Chapter 5: Rhys's Neglect

Chloe's POV

I turned around slowly and looked at Lila's face, twisted and ugly with rage. I forced down the fury and the grief inside me, and even managed to curve my lips into a smile.

"Regret?" I repeated those two words softly, then turned and took two steps toward her. "In this life, I will never regret a single decision I've ever made. And I certainly won't waver — not for even a moment — over a woman who appeared out of nowhere and nurses feelings she can't bring into the light for the man who is nominally her foster brother. Instead of standing here threatening me, you'd do better to turn around and take a good look at yourself, and ask what exactly you are."

"You—! Chloe, don't be so full of yourself!" Lila's face turned ugly in an instant. She dropped the last of her pretense, her eyes nearly spitting fire.

I couldn't be bothered to look at her any longer in that hysterical state. I gave a cold snort, turned, and strode out the coffee shop's front door. To everyone watching, I was a woman who could stand her ground calmly in the face of the other woman's provocation. Only I knew that through that whole exchange, my fingers had been trembling violently.

Back home, the big empty house held nothing but me. The hotel booking records, the taunting look on Lila's face, and the tender look in Rhys's eyes last night — it all wove into a huge net that pressed down on me until I could barely breathe. A vast tangle of conflict and pain spread through my chest. I wasn't willing to accept it — I truly wasn't. Could twenty-five years between us really be no match for the fading of novelty after marriage?

After thinking for a long time, I picked up my phone and dialed Rhys. Even if this was going to be a death sentence, I wanted to hear it from his own mouth, face to face.

The phone rang several times before it was picked up, and Rhys's voice came through, a little cluttered: "Chloe? What is it? I'm out busy right now."

At the sound of his voice, my throat felt like something was stuck in it. I took a deep breath. "Rhys, are you free tonight? There's something very important I want to talk to you about, in person."

"Tonight? There's a very important business banquet on the team's side tonight. I might be late getting back. Can it wait until tomorrow?"

"It's fine." I closed my eyes, hiding the sting behind them, and said softly, "I'll wait for you at home. No matter how late, I'll wait."

After hanging up, I dropped onto the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Whatever happened, life and work had to go on. At eight that evening, I pulled myself together and switched on my streaming setup right on time.

"Good evening, everyone. Welcome to C's emotional advice live stream..."

I smiled at the camera, smoothly using those wise, clear-eyed words to guide the fans on the other side of the screen who had lost their way. But only I knew my heart had already shattered into pieces on the floor.

Half an hour into the stream, a connection request lit up on the screen. Seeing that familiar garbled account name, I assumed she had finally worked up the courage to come clean with her brother and had run into some new confusion, urgently needing more guidance and encouragement. Without thinking much about it, I tapped to accept.

But the very next second after the line connected, the previously dark mic panel suddenly lit up — she had turned on her camera of her own accord.

The camera was deliberately angled low, showing no face, only a slim stretch of collarbone and a long, graceful neck. But the moment I made out the ornament hanging at her throat, my pupils contracted violently and every trace of color drained from my face.

It was the limited-edition necklace Rhys hadn't even released yet.

And beside that glittering diamond pendant, several fresh, glaring red marks stood out plainly in the light.

The fan who had come to me not long ago asking for advice about her feelings for her foster brother... was Lila!

A huge, icy wave of humiliation swallowed me whole in an instant. I sat frozen in my chair, my mind a blank, and I even forgot to press the disconnect button.

"Long time no see, C."

She let out a low, grating chuckle, her tone dripping with condescension and showing off. "I came specially to thank you. If you hadn't been so firm in encouraging me in that stream, telling me that my brother's feelings for me went beyond family, I really wouldn't have had the courage to take that final step."

Her fingertips brushed over the necklace and the red marks, her voice soft, yet every word a poisoned needle driven into my heart:

"Turns out the wise relationship guru was right after all. My brother... really does love me madly, exactly the way you said. He admitted it to me himself, just now."

The comments exploded instantly. The fans who didn't know the truth, taken in by this story of a successful pursuit, typed out their blessings one after another.

"Now that I have my brother, C doesn't need to worry about me anymore. I'll take good care of him."

The woman in front of the camera declared softly, and the screen full of blessings stung like silent slaps across my face. My own face was as pale as paper, my fingers shaking violently where they rested on the disconnect button. I was just about to kick this madwoman out of my stream when another voice I knew came through the mic:

"Lila, are you ready? The organizers are pushing us. Come on out, hurry."

That was Rhys's voice.

"Coming, I'll be right there~" Through the mic, Lila's voice turned instantly into endless coquettishness. After answering Rhys, she quickly lowered her voice and sent one more utterly smug taunt at my stream:

"C, my brother's looking for me. See you next time!"

She hung up without a moment's hesitation. The stream fell into dead silence, and then the comments erupted at a frantic speed. As for me, I sat there as if under a spell, completely limp in my chair, my eardrums ringing.

My husband... the so-called important business banquet tonight was really him being with that woman.

The encouragement I had handed over with my own hands, my husband's betrayal, tens of thousands of witnesses and their mockery. A massive sense of humiliation crashed down like a surging wave and shattered me completely. I could no longer hold up my surface calm and composure, and I didn't even manage to say a sign-off to my fans before I cut the stream.

Then, with a hand shaking so badly I could barely hold the phone, I dialed Rhys.

The phone rang for a long time before it was picked up.

"Rhys!" I didn't even wait for him to speak, my voice cracking with tears and boundless fury as I demanded, "This business work tonight — did you take Lila with you?"

There was a pause on the other end, then Rhys's voice, pitched very low, carrying deep exhaustion and helplessness: "Chloe, this commercial endorsement tonight was something Lila helped arrange in the first place. She's attending as the intermediary and a representative of the partner side. Bringing her to the dinner is normal business procedure. Don't read too much into it."

"Then why didn't you tell me this morning?!" My tears finally broke loose.

"It was a rush getting out the door this morning, and this is a purely work-related trip anyway. I didn't think I needed to bother you with trivial stuff like this." Rhys sighed, his tone softening as he tried to soothe me. "Chloe, I'm really busy tonight, and there are a lot of important partners here. Wait for me at home, okay? I promise I'll come home and explain everything the moment I'm done."

"Rhys, that's not what this is—"

I tried to pour out everything that had happened tonight, but before I could finish, Lila's gentle, attentive voice came from his end: "Rhys, the partner's boss is here. We need to go over."

"Got it." Rhys answered quietly.

Then, back to the phone, he said in an extremely perfunctory tone, "Alright, Chloe, I have to start working now. Whatever it is, we'll talk when I get home."

Before I could get a word in, the cold click of the line going dead came through, and the phone slipped from my hand onto the cold floor. I slowly crouched down and buried my face against my knees, and choked, despairing sobs filled the room.

The wind tonight was bitterly cold, but my heart was a thousand, ten thousand times colder. The love I had prided myself on, the childhood sweetheart I had held on to for twenty-five years — in that moment, it had become nothing but a colossal joke.