Chapter 3

I didn't put my phone down until the sun had set.

Zachary was right. If I had accepted his invitation to start a business with him overseas back then, I would have already been quite successful by now, if not thriving.

But yet, for the past ten years, I turned down countless offers from big companies, taking the lowest pay while doing the most work in this small company, all for the sake of keeping Irene company. It had been a complete waste of my youth.

And now, I was finally tired of it all. I wanted to just live for myself.

After reaching home, I hurriedly packed up my bags and belongings.

Actually, aside from a few personal items, I didn't own anything else in the house. In fact, I felt like I was a guest in my own home.

Irene had locked up all of the valuables in the house—from the safe containing her fine jewelry to her wardrobe full of formal wear. She was so guarded against me, it was as if I were a thief.

I caught sight of a game console tucked away at the very bottom of the desk drawer.

It was something that both Irene and I had bought in the early days of our company. We'd made quite a lot of money back then, and in a moment of excitement, I decided to buy this game console for myself as a reward.

However, after only playing it a few times, Irene said that I was wasting my time and, in turn, doing a terrible job at the company. If she said that I wasn't allowed to play it, I didn't even dare to ask permission for it anymore.

In my eyes, her orders were absolute and not to be contested. But now, I wasn't going to be treating her words like the gospel anymore.

I retrieved the game console and turned it on. The screen lit up, to my surprise. It was still functioning very well.

After playing for a couple of rounds, controlling my character to run around in the game and battle a few "villains", I realized that I never felt any of the excitement I used to feel for this same game I played in the past anymore.

It was just like my relationship with Irene. There was no going back to how things used to be in the past.

I put the slightly dusty game console back inside the desk drawer where I'd found it. When I looked up at my phone screen again, I realized that it was already past midnight.

I had been so used to working overtime until this late at the office for so many years that I wasn't even feeling sleepy yet. However, I had to catch a flight tomorrow, so I decided that I had to get some rest.

After washing up, I lay in bed and scrolled for a while on my phone. I happened to see Cody's latest Instagram stories just then.

He had posted a photo of Irene sleeping peacefully next to him in his hospital bed. His caption read, "I just told my boss I wasn't feeling well, and she immediately came to look after me. Are y'all jealous of me yet?"

I snorted coldly.

He sure wasn't wasting a single opportunity to flaunt his close relationship with Irene. And from the looks of things, I figured that she would be staying the night at the hospital tonight and not come back anymore.

I put my phone on the bedside table and finally closed my eyes to go to sleep.

I fell into a deep sleep in almost no time. However, around 3:00 am or so, I was suddenly rudely awakened by the sound of the front door slamming open.

One second later, Irene's voice was heard throughout the house.

"Sebastian! I'm ravenous! Make me some supper!"

In the past, I would always stay up late and wait for her to get home every night, no matter how late it was. I would always have some sort of supper waiting for her, along with a warm cup of hot cocoa, waiting on her hand and foot until she finally went to bed.

But today, I just got out of bed and locked my bedroom door to stop Irene from disturbing me.

I thought that it was a little strange, however. Every time Cody got "ill" and had to be hospitalized, she would always stay at the hospital for the entirety of the night without ever coming back.

The first time she didn't return home, I'd gotten so worried about her because I thought she'd been involved in a car accident.

After getting the local police to help locate her, they found her at Cody's house instead, taking care of him because he had a fever, cooking and cleaning for him. Back then, I'd even gotten an earful from Irene for being over-controlling of her life and suffocating her.

When I snapped back to my senses, I heard her pounding against the locked door, exclaiming in confusion, "Why did you lock the door? Didn't you hear what I said? I'm starving!

"Don't tell me that you went to bed without waiting for me! You were never like this in the past. What the hell is wrong with you, Sebastian Hart?"