Chapter 2

At 10 PM on Sunday, the door was pushed open. Emmett had returned home.

He looked exhausted as he pushed his luggage to a corner.

As he was changing into house slippers, he took out a small box from his coat pocket and gave it to me. "I bought this for you as I was going past the duty-free shops."

I took the box and glanced at its contents. It was a citrus-scented bottle of perfume from a well-known brand.

"Thank you."

I placed it on the shoe cupboard and did not open it.

Emmett took off his coat and frowned. "Why don't you open it and take a whiff? It took me a long time to pick it out for you."

"I'm allergic to citrus."

Emmett was taken aback. "Really? I must have forgotten about that. I'll buy you another scent next time."

Next time? He was always talking about ‘next time’.

Emmett sat down on the sofa and started massaging his temples. "I'm so tired. This business trip has been excruciating."

I poured him a glass of warm water and placed it in front of him. "How was the meeting for the merger in Baylen?"

Emmett paused while drinking the glass of water, suddenly looking guilty as he avoided my eyes.

"It went pretty well, but the clients were a little too difficult to handle. I spent two days entertaining them with drinks."

I looked at the faint lipstick stain on his collar. It was barely visible, but I could tell it was peach-colored.

Cherry had been sporting that lipstick color very recently on her social media accounts.

"Yup, it must have been really difficult for you."

I started to help him unpack his luggage. I pulled the zipper open and found it messily stuffed with dirty laundry from the last few days.

At the very bottom of the luggage was an empty orange Hermes box. I took the box out and placed it on the floor.

"Did you get this from the duty-free shops too?"

Emmett came over, and the expression on his face changed when he saw the box. "Oh, that! A client asked me to get it for him. I sent the bag over to him without the box because it was too big."

"Which client was this?"

"You don't know him. You wouldn't know him even if I told you his name." Emmett took the box from me and threw it into the bin. "That's enough. You can stop helping me unpack. I'll do it myself."

He sounded impatient, so I got up and brushed the dust off my hands. "All right. I'll leave you to it."

That was when Emmett's phone started ringing.

The screen lit up, and I saw Cherry's name.

He was in the living room, but his phone was on the nightstand in the bedroom. I walked over to pick up the phone.

"Someone is calling you, Emmett."

He walked over to me quickly to snatch the phone from my hand to decline the call. "It's a random sales call."

"The salesman calling you is also named Cherry?"

Emmett took a deep breath and tried his best not to lose his temper. "Do you need to be so sarcastic, Naomi? Cherry is studying in another country all on her own, and she needs my help because she's facing a little trouble.

"What's wrong with that? Cherry and I are childhood buddies. Can you just stop getting jealous over every little thing?"

Buddies.

I looked at the indignant expression on his face. "Is it necessary to fly 5,000 miles just to help your buddy fix her heater?"

Emmett was taken aback. "Were you looking through my phone?"

"I don't have so much free time on my hands. She was the one who thanked you through her social media posts."

Emmett's face fell. "She was just joking on her social media. Do you really need to take it so seriously? You were never someone to make a fuss over nothing, Naomi."

Making a fuss over nothing?

I laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just overreacting." I took my pajamas out of the wardrobe. "Have an early night. You need to wake up early for work tomorrow."

Unlike before, I did not continue arguing with him, nor did I ask for an explanation.

My calmness surprised him. He stood frozen and watched me go into the bathroom.

"Naomi," he called me from outside the door, "I promise I won't leave for any business trips around your birthday next month. I'll stay home and spend the day with you., all right?"

I turned on the shower and let the warm water run through my hands. "Sure."

I would not be here by the time next month arrived, anyway.

After I was done showering, Emmett had fallen asleep.

His phone was placed right by his pillow, but the screen was still lit up. A text remained on it.

Cherry: [Emmett, I've gotten the bag. I love it so much! But if Naomi finds out you spent so much money to get me that bag, she's going to be mad.]

Emmett: [She doesn't know anything about it. Besides, it's fine even if she does. Naomi is good-natured. She'll be fine after I coax her a bit.]

I would be fine after he coaxed me? I had no idea I was worth so little in his eyes. I picked up his phone and clicked into his transaction history.

He had transferred more than $50,000 to Cherry over the past year.

Meanwhile, when I wanted a new computer last month, he had said, "Your computer is still working. Try to make do for now. The company funds are a little tight right now."

I put the phone back and went to the living room, turning on my laptop to continue working on my job’s handover documents.

Three days was a short time. I had to wipe away all traces of me.

It was 2 AM when I finally completed the documents.

I closed my laptop and looked at the darkness outside the window.

We were going to Emmett's mother's house for a meal tomorrow, and it would be the last time I joined him.

"You’d better pray that everything goes well tomorrow, Emmett."