Chapter 117

Jared stepped out of his office, dressed in a crisp white shirt with a watch on his left wrist, probably because tonight’s dinner was important. When he saw me standing in the hallway, he came over to talk to me. For a split second, in a daze, I thought I saw a wedding ring on his left ring finger.

I was momentarily stunned, thinking maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. But when I looked again, there was no mistake. He’d once tossed that diamond wedding ring onto the cabinet in his study, but he’d picked it up and put it back on. A white shirt and a ring on the fourth finger were all it took to conjure the image of a devoted husband.

So what was Jared trying to silently show me with this baffling move? Maybe once he got in the car, he’d just slip the ring off and quietly tuck it into his pocket.

“Why aren’t you heading home yet? I had Warner pick up Yvonne and take her home. When you go back, pick up a gift for her, cheer her up a bit,” Jared told me.

“No. The house is already overflowing with toys,” I shot back, turning on my heel and heading for the elevator.

Jared didn’t say anything more. As I stepped into the elevator, Tracy suddenly walked over to talk to him. The two of them standing side by side just looked so perfectly matched, in a way I couldn’t quite put into words. It suddenly struck me that even though I put a lot of thought into my outfits every day, Tracy, standing next to Jared, had that workplace ambition and hunger that just seemed to fit his whole aura even better. Whatever, there was no point making myself miserable over it. Maybe they looked so right together because they were sharing a bed. I mean, people who slept together were bound to start looking alike.

When I got home, Yvonne was out in the garden feeding her miniature pony. The little pony was sparkling clean, thanks to the maid. As soon as Yvonne saw my car pull in, she immediately called out, “Mom, come keep me company and feed it with me."

I walked over, and Yvonne pointed at the pony’s belly. “Look, I’ve given it so much grass and feed. Its little tummy is all round and chubby.”

I nodded. “Don’t give it too much, okay? You don’t want it to get too stuffed.”

But Yvonne just pouted and said, “If it eats itself to death, we’ll just buy another one.”

“What did you just say?” I thought maybe I’d misheard, but that really was what Yvonne had just muttered.

“Nothing,” Yvonne said, realizing she probably shouldn’t have said that. She looked at me with wide eyes. “Mom, why are you so grumpy lately? You’re kinda scary when you’re like this.”

“Yvonne, do your teachers at school ever teach you how to behave?” I asked, sitting down on the chair next to her and fixing my gaze on her.

“Like what? I already know everything the teachers teach. I’m always the first to finish my homework,” Yvonne said, looking all proud of herself. “The teachers praise me for being smart every day, and I always tell them my dad’s super smart too.”

Sure, Yvonne was gifted when it came to her studies, but having a degree didn’t make one a good person. In my previous life, Yvonne was the very definition of a sophisticated egoist. Maybe it was because she went abroad, tossing aside Clusian traditional virtues and embracing all that foreign talk about individualism, freedom, and equality.

Thinking about that, I couldn’t help but remember the day my mom passed away. Yvonne just stood there, cold and detached, not even a single tear in her eyes. At that moment, I was completely crushed.

“Mom, what are you thinking about now? I’m going to go grab my toy cars from upstairs. Do you want to race with me?” Yvonne suddenly lost interest in feeding the pony and turned to head upstairs.