005

Xena finally left the room after waiting for a while. A strong sense of curiosity had led her to look for Jacob and Max. However, after only a few steps, she saw Jacob and Max in the club’s outdoor area.

Jacob looked furious. His hand had even been raised as though he were about to punch Max, but Max quickly caught his fist.

Xena immediately approached them. “What happened?”

As soon as he heard Xena’s voice, Max turned toward her. Jacob also cleared his throat briefly and looked away as though nothing had happened between them.

“Why did you come out?” Max asked worriedly.

Xena rubbed her temple. “I’m dizzy. Can we go home?”

Without asking anything further, Max immediately approached her and picked her up. “Of course. We’re going home now.”

Xena instinctively wrapped her arms around Max’s neck. She said nothing more. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jacob still standing where he was, his expression difficult to read.

However, before they could actually leave, a woman who had been inside the room also came out. When she saw Xena in Max’s arms, the woman actually looked pleased. As though having Xena by Max’s side was something that relieved her.

“Oh, Xena. Don’t forget about our vacation plans two weeks from now.”

Xena turned toward her.

“You have to come with Max,” the woman continued casually.

Xena simply nodded. “Yes.”

There were no further questions. Max did not say anything either and immediately carried Xena toward the car. Throughout the journey, Xena remained silent. After a while, her curiosity finally prompted her to ask.

“What vacation was she talking about?”

“Celebrating Jacob’s promotion at work.”

Xena fell silent again.

Max kept his eyes on the road ahead. “If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to force yourself.”

Xena looked out the window. Two weeks from now?

So Jacob already had plans to celebrate with the people closest to him, while she might still be regarded as a woman who had lost her memory and did not need to be included in anything.

“I want to go.”

Max glanced at her briefly. “Are you sure?”

“I want to see what the event is like.”

Max did not ask anything else. “All right.”

And the following two weeks passed in a way Xena had never imagined.

At first, Xena felt awkward staying at Max’s house. After all, she remembered everything. She knew that the man living with her now was not her husband. Even whenever she saw herself being treated as Mrs. Gareth by the servants, there was a strange feeling she found difficult to explain.

However, Max never made her feel uncomfortable.

He continued to treat her well without ever forcing any closeness. If Xena needed something, Max would make sure everything was available. Whenever he was at home, he would also occasionally ask how her day had been or whether there was anything bothering her.

Nothing more than that.

And because of that, Xena gradually began to feel comfortable.

Without even realizing it, she also began to enjoy doing little things for Max. Preparing coffee when he was working at home, making sure dinner was ready, or simply asking whether Max had finished working. At first, all of it had felt awkward, but over time, Xena actually found herself enjoying doing those things.

On the other hand, Xena’s life was also beginning to return to normal.

She was able to work as usual again. As a tax accountant at one of the largest companies, her workload was quite demanding and required a high level of concentration. However, after returning to work, Xena felt that she was slowly regaining the routine she had lost because of the accident.

During those two weeks, Jacob never contacted her.

Not once.

Xena briefly thought it might be because her phone was new and Jacob did not have the number. But if that were the problem, couldn’t Jacob have found another way to contact her?

Jacob knew exactly where Xena worked, but he did not do it.

Even Hazel had already gotten her phone number. That meant Jacob simply had no intention of contacting her.

Instead, Xena kept following Hazel’s digital trail. Almost every time she opened social media, she could see the woman with Jacob. They were at restaurants, attending events, having dinner together, and several times they looked so closely, as though the world truly belonged only to the two of them.

There was not a single post showing Jacob looking for her or worrying about his wife’s condition. It was as though Jacob had completely forgotten that he had a wife.

Xena stared at one of their photos for quite some time before finally setting her phone down.

It turned out that all this time, she had been the only fool for loving Jacob.

How could a husband so easily hand his wife over to another man simply because his wife said she had lost her memory?

How could he never once worry about how Xena would live out there? Instead, he was busy enjoying his world with Hazel, as though Xena’s existence had never meant anything at all.

Xena let out a long sigh before turning off her phone screen.

“What am I supposed to do now?” she said as she gazed at the city view from the floor where she worked. She closed her eyes for a moment. “Were the past three years just a joke to you, Jacob?” she asked softly.

She then opened her desk drawer. She kept a small wedding photograph there. In it, she and Jacob were smiling happily. And what she was facing this time felt like a dream.

“If I hadn’t played that prank back then, I might never have known how deep your betrayal went,” Xena said with a bitter smile.

A message came in on Xena’s phone.

[Hazel: You haven’t forgotten that we’re going to RiverSide Lake this Saturday, right?]

Xena stared at the message for a long time before replying briefly.

[Xena: No. I remember.]

[Hazel: Good. Because there’s going to be a glow-in-the-dark dance performance later.]

Xena had no intention of replying. She chose to put her phone back in the drawer and return to work. She spent the rest of the day completely focused on her work.

That night, while Xena was in her room, there was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Max appeared. He stood in the doorway before finally asking, “Do you really want to go on that vacation?”

Xena looked at him in confusion.

“If you don’t want to go, I can cancel it now.”

Xena was silent for a moment before slowly shaking her head. “I’ll go.”

Max looked at her for a moment.

“I want a change of scenery,” Xena replied. “Or ... are you the one who doesn’t want to go?”

The vacation finally arrived.

Ever since they arrived at RiverSide Lake, Xena had become increasingly aware that Jacob and Hazel’s relationship had gone far beyond that of mere friends. Jacob made no effort to hide their intimacy. She had lost count of how many times the man had kissed Hazel in front of her, as though Xena’s presence truly meant nothing.

Every time she saw it, Xena’s heart felt as though it were being shattered all over again.

However, she could not cry, not in front of them. She also could not protest in any way because, in Jacob’s eyes, Xena was still a woman who had lost her memory and believed Max was her husband.

If she suddenly showed jealousy or anger, all the pretense she had built up this whole time would come to an end.

So Xena could only pretend not to see. She tried to smile and act casually whenever Jacob spoke to her, as though the man were not her own husband who was being intimate with another woman right in front of her.

Jacob had truly destroyed three years of their marriage this way.

When night came, they finally went to their respective rooms. Unexpectedly, Xena and Max’s room turned out to be right next to Jacob and Hazel’s.

“Would you like to switch rooms?” Max asked as they stood at the reception desk, about to head to their room.

“Ah, no—”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Gareth. But all the rooms in the hotel are already full, so ... once again, I’m sorry. We can’t switch rooms,” the receptionist said apologetically.

“Why?” Hazel asked sweetly, though her sweetness was clearly forced. “Do you mind being next to our room?” she asked Xena.