On the eve of our marriage registration, Lu Chen said our love felt like familial affection and he wished to separate and seek a fresh start.

I agreed.

He found a young secretary;

I found a male model with a double-door entrance.

The day after we separated, I discovered him huddled together with his secretary.

He explained, "There was a power outage at the office, she's afraid of the dark, so I brought her home, don’t overthink it."

At a loss for how to explain the presence of the male model, I simply copied his response:

"There was a power outage and water cut at the male model's place, so I took him home for a bath, you shouldn't read too much into it."

Lu Chen's face turned pitch black.

Watching as he and his secretary carried on their affair for half a month, for reasons unknown they fell apart, he called me, wanting to continue with the plan to get the marriage license.

The male model answered the phone:

"Sorry, bro, we just got married and my sister is exhausted and passed out on the bed."

On the way to get our marriage license, I was stood up by Lu Chen.

I called him, he calmly spoke:

"Miao Miao, I feel our relationship, right now it's a bit like familial love, why don't we cool down for a while?"

"Is it because of your little secretary?"

He paused for a moment:

"It has nothing to do with her. I just hope we can treat this marriage more rationally."

"After all, marriage involves two people..."

"I agree."

I interrupted his rambling and hung up the phone.

He has never been one to justify his actions at length, and if he does, there's only one reason. He feels guilty.

Guilty because of that little secretary.

I rested my head on the steering wheel, my heart sinking to a freezing point.

The company had collaborated with a vocational school, and hired a group of interns. Among the modestly dressed kids, that little girl stood out strikingly.

She had a sunny smile, wore a skirt, and was directly assigned to intern with the CEO's secretary.

The other interns were assigned elsewhere.

On the day Lu Chen returned to work, he had spoken highly of that girl.

He boasted freely, "the new girl, Ye Qiao, she's really smart and efficient."

If only the company could hire more girls like her in the future.

I thought he was simply recognizing a good employee.

But gradually, that girl started to appear more and more frequently.

While eating, while sleeping, and even when I was trying on wedding dresses...

"What do you think of this pink one?"

Lu Chen shook his head. "Pink is soft and delicate; it doesn't quite suit you. On the contrary, it fits Ye Qiao better."

I froze and so did Lu Chen. He quickly tried to cover it up: "The first two pieces looked much better than this, you can try them on first..."

Yet, I had already lost interest in trying anything else.

I wanted to leave the bridal shop. Without hand-holding, or chatting, we walked side by side, like two strangers who knew each other well.

His brother's birthday was that night, and since they were all friends, I went along with them.

Halfway through, the smell of alcohol in their room was too strong, so I went out for some fresh air. But when I returned, I overheard their conversation.

"Such monotonous life, I'm beginning to dislike it."

His brother laughed at his discontent,

"You've got a girlfriend who is as beautiful and capable as your sister-in-law, you're truly a man who doesn't know how good he has it.”

“You don’t know how many people envy you.”

Lu Chen downed a gulp of his drink. "You want this blessing?"

I push the door open and Lu Chen immediately becomes a different person, smiling at me, "Why aren't you drinking? Are you not feeling well?"

His gentleness and consideration are still there, but it's as if he's wearing a mask. I instinctively feel uncomfortable.

A birthday party ends in this awkward atmosphere.

As I prepare to leave, the wife of a common friend of Lu Chen and I catches me, and she only tells me one sentence:

"Be careful around Lu Chen."

There seems to be a hidden meaning in her words.

I thank her with a smile.

I guess that men might have a phase when they think, "As long as I get married it will be alright."

The wedding date I scheduled is in a few days. Everything will be settled, and things will be alright.

I console myself, bringing the drunken fool home.

To make him more comfortable, I change his clothes and feed him a hangover cure.

Drunk as he is, he's surprisingly well-behaved. Years in a high-ranking position have not made him bloated and complacent like others. Instead, he has become even more mature and handsome.

Watching the metamorphosis from a young man, after a while, he slowly opens his eyes, full of intoxicated haze.

He suddenly embraces me, his deep voice muttering something: "My little secretary…"

In that instant, I feel as though I'm in an ice cave.

I sat for a night, reminiscing about the many years I've been in love with Lu Chen.

We were childhood friends; our family backgrounds were on par, which set him and me far beyond our peers since we were young.

We both got admitted to the same business school. Our relationship was about studying together, but also competing against each other.

Our names would always end up as the top two on the school ranking list.

However, I always managed to stay on top of him, with a margin of only one or two points.

"Perennial runner-up."

I teased him.

He wasn't offended, only approaching me for a competition as the second round of exams approached.

If I won, he would grant me a wish; if he won, I would become his girlfriend.

Bizarrely enough, that time, I skipped an exercise.

Seeing the rank, he was as elated as a child, holding me tightly in his arms.

A tone of triumph echoed in his voice: "Finally, I can hold you in my arms openly, girlfriend."

He told me he'd always liked me but felt that he was always a bit inferior. He wanted to confess, but he didn't have the courage to.

He always wanted to get close to me; he studied so hard because he wanted to stand with me at the same height.

I felt a bit helpless, and just let him hold me.

From that day, he studied even harder, keeping an eye on me in his spare time.

In his words,

He didn't want to let his hard-won wife to be abducted.

And just like that, we graduated and started a business together.

Without relying on our families, we created our own careers.

Our friends said that we are a power couple.

Although our wedding was just around the corner, his heart seemed to drift away.

Even though he was physically beside me, his heart seemed to be moving towards someone else.

In order to not clash with the wedding,

I worked overnight to complete the project proposal, and worked well with the team to secure it.

To celebrate, I arranged a buffet meal to help my subordinates relax.

For this, we even had a celebratory champagne.

Waiting for the right moment to toast the champagne.

After having a bit of red wine, an excellent subordinate named Leyan rushed over and said, “Sister Miao, you should take a look at that newcomer, I don't even want to say it.”

Dumbfounded, I followed the direction he pointed, and saw the figures of Lu Chen and Ye Qiao.

At this moment, nobody knew what Ye Qiao had said, but a broad smile was plastered on Lu Chen's face.

The two were sharing a plate and even their wine was poured into the same glass. Nobody knew who was drinking from whom.

The atmosphere was flirtatious.

"I heard there's going to be champagne later. I've only just interned for a few days, never opened one before."

Lu Chen was taken aback, "How about we give it a try today and have your sister Miao teach you?"

"That would be great! Thank you, Mr. Lu. You and Sister Miao are so kind."

Her sweet tone and praises sent Lu Chen flitting to cloud nine.

Forget about the occasion, he just straightaway took Ye Qiao and strutted over.

Suppressing my urge to question, just when I was about to open the champagne, I was called to halt.

Lu Chen's voice didn’t leave room for dispute: "You've opened champagne so many times before. Let's give the newbie a chance this time."

"How about letting Qiao Qiao do it for you?"

With that single sentence, all eyes were on him.

Stunned, puzzled, perplexed...

I felt unprecedented embarrassment. Even my smile was about to freeze on my face.

Seeing me not moving, Ye Qiao's voice unknowingly filled with frustration, "Mr. Lu, is it that I can't open the champagne?"

Lu Chen had never heard her speak in such a tone before, even her speaking tone carried a hint of command: “Allow her to begin immediately.”

All eyes were on us, and I couldn't just ignore Lu Chen's reputation.

I cleared out a space, and the champagne glass in my hand gradually loosened as the person supporting Ye Qiao began to falter.

With the clear liquid trickling down and filling the glass...

"Ah..."

Just before the end, Ye Qiao suddenly felt weak and her body began to lean forward.

Lu Chen noticed her situation immediately and came over to support her. It was at this moment that the champagne tower collapsed.

Almost subconsciously, Lu Chen protected Ye Qiao within his arms.

Then, there was a gasp of surprise and I realized the exposed parts of my arm were aching.

I looked down to see cuts caused by shards of shattered glass.

Thankfully, I was wearing a long dress today. Had I worn a short dress, my legs might not have been spared.

lu Chen noticed my condition and was just about to come over when he was pulled back.

Ye Qiao whimpered and cried:

"Mr. Lu, my foot hurts so much. I think I might have sprained it.

"Do you think I've broken it?"

I stood still, watching Lu Chen bend over to pick her up, turning his head to me, he said:

"You should also go to the hospital to get bandaged, so as not to leave a scar."

In the past, even if I slightly cut my finger, he would become incredibly anxious.

While disinfecting my finger, he would admonish me:

"Don't touch any water recently, it’s not good for a girl to have scars."

"If you need to peel something, I, your free labor, am here. When will you ever need to do it?"

I thought getting married, receiving the certificate, everything would go back to the beginning.

But now I’ve realized, I was wrong.

Le Yan accompanied me to the hospital to disinfect my wound.

When I arrived home in the evening, I wanted to talk to Lu Chen.

After all, when a relationship encounters a problem, constantly avoiding isn’t the solution. It requires both parties to face and resolve it.

When it was 11 at night, yet there was still no one.

I called him, but Ye Qiao answered.

"Dear Miao Miao, Mr. Lu is currently unavailable, he just went to take a bath."

The sound of running water echoed from the phone.

Ye Qiao added another sentence: "Sister Shen Miao, please don't misunderstand. It's because President Lu took me home and accidentally hurt his foot, so he went to take a bath."

I didn't hang up the phone:

"Okay, wait for him to finish bathing and hand him the phone."

About half an hour later, the sound of water stopped.

Ye Qiao quickly took the phone over, her voice somewhat wronged: "President Lu, I'm sorry, while you were bathing, I answered Sister Shen Miao's call."

Almost the next second, Lu Chen's anger came through the phone:

"Shen Miao, why are you bullying Qiao Qiao?"

I didn't explain, but directly picked up another phone to play the recording, and let him listen to the whole conversation at the highest volume.

Lu Chen fell silent.

Ye Qiao also fell silent.

I chuckled, "Lu Chen, we've known each other for so many years, do I seem like the unreasonable type?"

"If you want to sleep over there, go ahead, but don't forget to get our marriage certificate tomorrow afternoon."

Afterwards, I just hung up the phone.

Lu Chen is no fool. The extraordinary events of today aren't because his intelligence has decreased, but because he is willingly being fooled.

That night was dreamless.

After a busy morning, I figured it's about time, so I went looking for Lu Chen.

But to my surprise, his secretary informed me that Lu Chen had gone for a meeting in the morning.

I had no choice but to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau alone and wait for him.

When it was time, I called him: "You haven't forgotten about getting our marriage certificate today, have you?"

What responded was a long silence on the other end of the line.

After what felt like eternity, she finally said:

"Miao Miao, I feel like our relationship seems to be more of a kinship now. Maybe we should take some time apart and think things through."

"Is this because of your little secretary?"

He was silent for a while:

"It has nothing to do with her. I just hope we could be more rational about this marriage."

"After all, marriage is about two people..."

"I agree."

All excuses they were, all but excuses.

I didn't return to the company.

Instead, I directly called my best friend and invited her out for a drink.

"My bestie jokingly asked me, 'Is he okay with you coming out?'

'I am scared of his incessant pestering.'

I took a sip of my cocktail, forcing a smile: 'Not anymore.'

I used to love going out for drinks with my bestie. Every time Lu Chen found out, he would incessantly call her.

The moment he knew our whereabouts, he would rush over to confront me.

'If you wanted to drink, I could accompany you. Why do you need to go out with your bestie?'

This caused great resentment in my bestie after several such incidents.

It even almost led to a fight with Lu Chen.

'She is my bestie! What business is it of yours if she and I go out for drinks?', I retorted.

'She is my wife. Mind your own business, bestie. If you want a drink, go find your own man!', he hit back.

Indeed, there was a blend of humor and harmony at that time.

My bestie, the one who most understands my emotions, completely grasped what was going on and was both angered and worried.

'You've spent so many years together. What can't you talk out?', she asked.

'Wait, let me call him.'

I held my bestie's hand and shook my head."

"Do you know what day is today?"

"Today was supposed to be the day he and I got our marriage certificate, but he declined. Do you know why?"

I swallowed my drink in one gulp: "He said love has turned into affection, he couldn't feel the freshness."

"He's just talking nonsense, turned into affection, why didn't he marry himself, men are all jerks..."

My best friend became frustrated, pacing in place, wishing she could meet him and beat him up, Lu Chen.

Finally, she hugged me.

Both of us have grown up together since we were young.

Our relationship is even deeper than that of Lu Chen's.

She is three years older than me, almost treating me like a younger sister and protectively raising me.

I've always been wanton, free-spirited, and exceptional.

I've never been like I am now, like a wounded little puppy.

She pulled me down from the bar, taking me directly to the dance floor.

"Don't worry about that jerk, your sister has arranged the very best for you."

"Regardless of whether they're plump or thin, whoever you fancy, your sister will bring over for you."

"If one doesn't work out, we'll change!"

The explosive music pierced my eardrums, washing over the deep-seated sadness within me.

Indulging recklessly, alcohol started to conquer my lucid consciousness. Halfway through dancing wildly, I suddenly caught a delightful scent.

It smelled like the citrus aroma of autumn.

Not overpowering, but faint.

Without realizing it, I was drawn away from the dance floor and found myself clutching onto a young man's sleeve.

Seeing his obvious surprise, I grabbed his collar without hesitation.

"Shen Miao?"

It seemed like he called my name.

Or perhaps not, he was surprisingly tall, even if I pulled his head down a bit, I would still need to tiptoe to reach him.

I laughed, mischievously and wolfishly, like a lascivious woman.

"Handsome, are you a male model? You have a great physique."

"How about sticking with me? I can pay."

Originally, my mind was all muddled, and the scent from him made me more disoriented, oblivious to my surroundings.

Unconsciously, a ridiculous thought sprang up in my mind.

If he can go after women, why can't I go after a man?

"You smell so good."

I grabbed the man's collar and kissed him right on the lips.

He did not reject me at all. I originally intended to take a bit of advantage, but he kissed me back like a tiger devouring its prey until I could hardly breathe.

I wasn't aware when we got in the car, all I could feel was a terrible discomfort in my stomach.

I pounded on his shoulder forcefully, finally managing to gasp for air.

And then, I threw up.

His clothes and the car were covered in vomit.