Chapter 4

Benjamin suddenly looked panicked. He put on a textbook performance of an innocent and misunderstood man.

"Please don't be angry, Benedict. Nothing happened between Mikaela and me last night. We were just discussing the script. Don't take your anger out on her. If you have a problem, take it up with me… Ah!"

The moment Mikaela appeared with a plate of soft-boiled eggs, Benjamin threw himself backward and fell to the floor. His ankle quickly swelled up.

"Benedict, what did you do to Benjamin?" Mikaela panicked and hurled the plate in her hands at Benedict.

The plate struck his forehead and split the skin. The eggs landed on his head, and the yellow yolk mixed with streaks of blood as it ran down his face. The mixture was hot and sticky, and it blurred his vision.

"I didn't push him," Benedict said softly as a profound sadness suddenly washed over him.

Even if Mikaela had only seen him as merely a substitute in the past five years, he'd assumed she at least knew what kind of person he was. Who would have thought there wasn't even the most basic trust between them?

Looking at Benedict's disheveled face, swollen forehead, reddened eyes, and the blood trickling from his wound, Mikaela froze. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a pang of pity. She instinctively raised a hand, wanting to wipe his face clean.

However, Benjamin suddenly moved beside her. "Mikaela, my leg hurts so much. Could it be broken? Ow..."

His voice choked with pain as he grabbed her arm. "Please don't blame Benedict. He must be hurting, too, which is why he did this. At the end of the day, this is all my fault."

Seeing him grimace in agony while still speaking up for Benedict, Mikaela's heart melted. "You did nothing wrong, Benjamin. How can you ever be wrong for wanting to love? The only one at fault is the person who shouldn't have been here in the first place!"

When she looked at Benedict again, all warmth had vanished from her eyes.

She ordered him coldly, "Get on your knees and apologize to Benjamin. Then we'll consider this matter settled."

Benedict insisted, "I didn't push him..."

Benjamin spoke up. "It's okay, Mikaela. I'm just a little aggrieved. I can put up with it. Ouch… It hurts so much... I think my leg's broken…"

"Is it that serious? I'm taking you to the hospital right now," Mikaela said, carefully helping Benjamin to his feet.

But then, she suddenly lifted her leg and kicked Benedict. "Stay on your knees. You still owe Benjamin an apology. When we come back, I want to hear you apologize to him!"

The pointed heel of her shoe struck Benedict's leg. Caught completely off guard, he fell to his knees, landing on the shattered pieces of the plate scattered across the floor. A sharp, searing pain shot through him. Tears sprang to his eyes from the sheer pain.

Mikaela stopped, a flicker of regret crossing her face. "Why are you crying? Does it hurt that much?"

She was just about to check on Benedict when Benjamin tightened his arms around her.

He said, "I'm so jealous of Benedict's acting skills. He can cry on command! No wonder people say he's gifted. Unlike me, I'm so hopeless at it. My crying scenes are still terrible. Thank goodness I have you, Mikaela."

As he spoke, tears continued streaming down his face.

Mikaela came to a sudden realization. Benjamin had always struggled with crying scenes. If he was crying uncontrollably now, he must truly be in pain and distress.

Meanwhile, Benedict was widely praised for his acting. His tears were probably just another performance to gain sympathy.

She'd almost fallen for his act.

Mikaela fumed, "Stop your schemes, Benedict! I'm warning you. If you hurt Benjamin again, I won't let you get away with it."

After delivering her threat with disgust, she pulled Benjamin closer to her and left with him.

The scene before Benedict was painfully familiar. When they'd first met, she'd held him just as tightly, leading him away from danger and protecting him.

But now, the woman who had once protected him was leaving with another man. All she left behind was the deepest kind of hurt.

Even though he'd already decided to stop loving her, Benedict still felt a sharp ache that almost split his heart in two.

Now that Mikaela, the woman of the house, had made her position clear, the house help followed suit. Every one of them kept their distance, unwilling to get involved.

Benedict limped upstairs and tended to his wounds himself. He cleaned them and applied medication.

Meanwhile, Mikaela and Benjamin were trending online again. She'd booked an entire floor of the hospital and summoned countless specialists, all just to have his leg examined.

When she learned that Benjamin had neither external injuries nor any internal damage, she was delighted. She instructed her assistant to organize a company-wide giveaway on the official Jepsen Group website.

It was practically a cause for nationwide celebration to her.

As Benedict watched netizens flood the comments with messages thanking Benjamin, he sent Mikaela a message.

"Let's get a divorce."

Mikaela, who usually took ages to reply to his messages, responded instantly.