Chapter 3

“It’s just a coincidence. She’s just some regular office worker.”

Justin explained calmly.

“But sharing a name with someone on your project is a kind of honor for her.”

“It is quite an honor.” Sophie smiled faintly. “The Alyssa on our project is very capable.”

She was so capable that it made Sophie dislike her. As the project’s core lead, Alyssa had neither welcomed Sophie nor allowed her near the core work.

Sure enough, anyone named Alyssa was irritating.

Alyssa looked straight at Sophie. “What project are you leading, Miss Lane?”

Before Sophie could answer, Justin spoke first, reproach in his tone.

“You wouldn’t understand, so don’t ask. It’s a national-level classified project. It can’t be discussed publicly.”

“If it’s classified, how is it that you all seem to know about it?” Alyssa asked coolly.

Sophie paused, the look in her eyes shifting as she studied Alyssa.

She turned to Justin. “Mrs. Scott is quite interesting.”

Justin frowned and embarrassed Alyssa again.

“I told you that you wouldn’t understand. Why keep asking?”

A sharp sting rose in Alyssa’s nose.

Justin did not look at her. His gaze remained fixed on Sophie.

Sophie’s lips curved in quiet triumph, but in the next second, she forced a reluctant smile and changed the subject. “Justin, back then I thought your marriage was… a joke.”

The last word carried a trace of bitterness.

Justin’s expression stiffened again.

They looked at each other in silence.

The air around them noticeably grew heavier.

“It wasn’t a joke,” Justin said.

Silence followed once more.

Sophie spoke ambiguously. “I regret it a little.”

Alyssa clearly felt the hand at her side, Justin’s hand brushing hers, tremble faintly.

“Mrs. Scott, please don’t misunderstand. What I meant was, Justin called me back then, but I couldn’t return in time to attend your wedding. I regret that. I thought he was joking with me.”

While speaking, Sophie kept her eyes on Justin.

She did not spare Alyssa, dressed in cheap clothes and never bothering to dress up, a single glance.

Alyssa suddenly recalled the details from her wedding with Justin that had once felt strange, though she had never found a reason for them.

Their wedding had been low-key, attended only by Justin’s close friends and the Scott family.

Even so, Justin had laughed and clinked glasses with his friends, drinking late into the night before stumbling back to the room.

He had been heavily drunk. As soon as he pushed the door open, he collapsed onto the floor, a bottle in one hand and his phone clutched tightly in the other.

His eyes were slightly red, his emotions hard to read.

His fingers tightened and loosened around the phone.

When she walked over, she had clearly seen tears in his eyes.

Justin had flung the phone far away and pulled her into his arms. “I’m happy. I’m happy. I’m married…”

But that had been a bitter smile.

Now she realized that on the day of his wedding, Justin had called Sophie, using his marriage to test and provoke her.

The very reason Alyssa had existed as his wife in the beginning had been just that.

Now it was Alyssa who wanted to laugh.

Her throat felt dry and faintly bitter.

They entered Judy’s hospital room.

Judy first cried to her parents and brother, recounting everything.

When she noticed Sophie, her expression instantly lit up. “Sophie!”

“Judy, it’s been so long.” Sophie bent down and gently pinched her cheek.

Judy beamed. She often threw tantrums even at her own brother. This was the first time Alyssa had seen her so docile and clingy.

But she still did not forget to order Alyssa around.

“Alyssa! Peel me an apple.”

“I can do that. Let me.”

Sophie smiled, picking up an apple and a fruit knife from the table. Just as her hand wrapped around the apple, her wrist was grasped.

Justin had stopped her.

“Sophie, don’t indulge her. Your hands aren’t meant for this.”

“Exactly!” Judy chimed in.

“Sophie, your hands are meant for experiments and data records. How can you do this kind of rough work? Let Alyssa do it. She does it all the time.”

Sophie looked at Justin. “Is that appropriate?”

Justin pushed the entire fruit platter in front of Alyssa. “It’s fine. Alyssa has no achievements in academics, but she’s quite good at cutting fruit. She can even carve it into flowers.”

Alyssa had not known how to do it before.

Justin simply did not like eating fruit, yet it was something his body needed.

She had tried every way to coax him.

Justin once said, “I really don’t want it unless you can turn it into a flower.”

She had taken that to heart and searched for tutorials, learning how to carve and arrange fruit.

And the things she had learned for love were, in Justin’s eyes, so beneath notice.

Alyssa picked up an apple from the table, wiped it clean, did not peel it, and took a bite herself.

The crisp sweetness slid down her throat, barely masking the bitterness in her heart.

“My hands are full. Let Miss Lane do it.”

Justin stared at Alyssa, his brows tightly knit.

He did not know what had gotten into her these past two days. She had suddenly grown thorns and stopped being obedient.

Alyssa chewed the apple loudly under everyone’s disapproving gaze.

“The victim’s family is still waiting for compensation. Mom and Dad said your money is all with me. Aside from the six hundred dollars a month, I don’t recall you giving me anything else. You should handle it yourself.”

Her voice was cool.

Justin’s brow twitched.

The smile on Sophie’s lips stiffened. “Since Judy is fine, I’ll head back first.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Justin said at once.

He seemed to realize that being overly attentive to another woman in front of his wife might look inappropriate.

He glanced awkwardly at Alyssa and quickly handed her his bank card. “You go settle the compensation.”

“My hands are full.”

Alyssa held the apple in one hand and her bag in the other, taking two steps back, her expression distant and cold.

Justin felt Alyssa slipping out of his control, and a trace of anger stirred in his chest.

But this was not the time to show it.

Sophie was still here. She was timid. It might frighten her.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

“Justin, I’ll go with you.”

“Mm.”

The two of them left.

Alyssa also walked out under the impatient stares of the Scott family.

The autumn wind cut sharply.

As if fate were deliberately against her, Alyssa ran into the inseparable pair again at the entrance of her own residential complex.

Sophie turned slightly and looked up at the tall, handsome man before her.

“Justin, you don’t have to walk me upstairs today. Go back. Your wife seemed unhappy tonight. Go comfort her.”

“It’s the same complex. I’ll be back soon.” Justin frowned. “It’s late. I won’t feel at ease unless I walk you to your door.”

“Justin, you’re married. This isn’t appropriate.”

Sophie deliberately took a step back.

She had been back for half a month, and Justin had been driving her everywhere.

Only now did she decide it was inappropriate.

Alyssa felt sick listening.

Sophie added, “Your wife is a good person. At least she takes good care of you. Unlike me, I’ve always been the one you took care of.”

“There’s no comparison. She’s just a housewife. She can’t be compared to you.”

Justin’s tone grew irritated as he thought of Alyssa’s recent defiance. “Don’t mention her. I’ll walk you up.”

“You really don’t need to. It wouldn’t look good if your wife found out.”

Sophie refused again gently. “But there’s something I’m curious about. You’ve been married for four years. Don’t you have children?”

Others had asked Alyssa that question before.

She had wanted to have a child with Justin.

The director of the orphanage once told her that once she was married, with a husband and then a child, she would finally have a real home of her own.

But every time they grew intimate, Justin would pull back at the last moment, saying he had work the next day or that he didn’t like children, refusing again and again.

And because she had been focused on the project, caring for her husband’s daily needs, tending to her in-laws’ household matters, and cleaning up after Judy’s constant troubles, nearly all her time outside of sleep had been consumed.

Alyssa had rarely felt strong physical desire.

Sometimes she imagined being like the couples described in novels—losing herself in her husband’s embrace, becoming one with him—but she had never gone against his wishes.

Having grown up in an orphanage, she believed that as long as the person she loved stayed by her side and did not leave her alone, whether their intimacy went deeper or their bodies were fully intertwined did not matter that much.

Justin said he didn’t want a child, so they had none.

Now she realized it was not the child he didn’t want, but her.

“We don’t have children,” Justin said.

Sophie looked slightly surprised. “Why not?”

Justin frowned. “There’s no reason.”

“Oh.”

Sophie’s tone carried a trace of disappointment.

She gave a faint, bitter smile. “I thought you had taken that joke from back then seriously.”

“What?” Justin looked up.

“You once said you didn’t like children, unless it was a child we had together.”

Sophie gazed at him with smiling eyes.

Justin fell silent.

“Oh dear, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re married now. Go back, or Alyssa will start overthinking. She’s not like me. I have my career. You’re all she has.

“Women are sensitive. It’s easy for them to misunderstand.”

This time, Justin did not insist on walking her upstairs.

Sophie deliberately slowed her steps. When she saw that Justin truly did not follow, the smile on her face vanished instantly.

So, he still cared about his dowdy, unimpressive wife.

…

Justin returned to the hospital room, but Alyssa was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s your sister-in-law?” he asked his sister, who was lounging comfortably in the hospital bed while being fed by their parents.

“She left right after you did. Probably saw how elegant and accomplished Sophie was and felt inferior, so she slunk off.”

Judy’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Now that Sophie is back, why don’t you divorce Alyssa? From what Sophie just said, she clearly still has feelings for you. She wouldn’t mind that you’ve been married before.

“Sophie grew up well provided for. She wouldn’t live like Alyssa, holding onto your money yet living like she’s broke, pinching pennies over everything. You promised you’d pay for me to study abroad.”

“Judy, she’s still your sister-in-law. Saving money is for the sake of this family. Don’t speak about her like that.”

Justin rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking slightly weary. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He didn’t know how to explain that eighty percent of what he earned had gone to Sophie’s research funding.

Now that Sophie had returned to the country and was holding a national-level project in her hands, her future looked bright.

She likely wouldn’t lack research funding anymore.

From now on, what he earned could finally be used for himself and his family.

It was better not to tell them.

Otherwise, his parents might develop opinions about Sophie.

Sophie had always been sensitive and avoided conflict, especially with elders.

“Mom, Dad, you should head back and rest. I’ll hire a caregiver for Judy.”

“No need. We’ll stay. It puts us at ease,” Grace urged. “You should keep in touch with Sophie more. Show her more concern. It will only benefit you.”

“I know.”

Justin returned home.

Alyssa had just finished showering.

She hadn’t had time to put on a robe yet and wore only a thin slip dress. Her damp hair dripped water, leaving dark patches on the fabric that clung to her curves.

Justin found himself staring.

“Alyssa…”