Chapter 2

"What about Wilbur then?" I had asked.

Chuckling lightly, Ruby had replied, "Wilbur doesn't really understand these things. Besides, he's my assistant. Even if he does know, it doesn't matter."

For a moment, I almost thought she had really changed.

But when I watched her leave the house and saw Wilbur, who had clearly been waiting outside for a long time, smiling as he took the suitcase from her hand, I finally understood something.

It wasn't that she had suddenly started trusting me. It was just that, compared to that agreement, there was someone more important waiting for her.

I had submitted the divorce application a month ago. So, the waiting period was up.

After checking the documents, the female courthouse staff asked me, "Where's your wife? Why didn't she come?"

I showed her the Instagram post Wilbur had published not long ago and replied, "She's with her new family."

The staff member's expression stiffened slightly. When she looked at me again, there was a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

"We have protocols, sir. We need to mediate between both parties first and confirm that the relationship has truly broken down before issuing a divorce certificate. Could you contact her and ask her to come in for mediation?"

Not wanting to make things difficult for her, I gave Ruby a call.

But the phone barely rang once before the call was declined. I tried again, and the same thing happened.

A few minutes later, Ruby finally sent a message. "Francis, if you don't delete your comment and apologize to Wilbur, I won't answer your calls. Stop calling me. I won't pick up."

I knew exactly what this meant. Ruby was going to give me the cold shoulder again.

It had happened many times before. Whenever Wilbur accused me of something, Ruby never bothered to verify it first. She would just demand that I apologize right away.

And if I refused, she would deliberately give me the silent treatment.

The worst time was when, during one of those standoffs, I suddenly had a severe heart attack from overworking late at night. I was rushed into the emergency room. When the doctor called her to sign the treatment consent form, she told them that they could just let me die if I didn't apologize.

I told the staff member everything truthfully and asked, "At this point, there's probably no need for mediation anymore, right?"

She sighed helplessly and nodded. Then, she took the divorce agreement from me and went to process the paperwork.

I sat on a bench in the courthouse for half an hour.

Unexpectedly, Ruby called me.

"I heard you didn't go to work. Where are you?" she asked frostily.

I didn't answer. From her tone, it was clear she didn't really care where I was.

When I stayed silent, she spoke again in an icy voice. "According to company policy, being absent without notice means a two-day pay deduction. Do you accept it?"

Before I could say anything, Wilbur's gentle voice came from beside her. "That's not necessary, Ruby. Francis might have something urgent to deal with."

Ruby snorted coldly and said, "What could be so urgent? Playing on his phone during work hours or scrolling through Instagram? He never offered a single apology. And now, he skips work after being reprimanded a little!"

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that.

Ruby and I had founded the company together. In the beginning, I worked on projects until the early hours of the morning every day to secure hundreds of key contracts—big and small—for our company.

Well, I never expected her to go out of her way to thank me for my contribution. But never had I imagined that she would dock my pay and bonuses just because I was a minute or two late to work.

She said she had to observe and implement the company policy strictly.

Ironically, Wilbur could scroll on his phone in front of her all day and post on Instagram during work hours. Sometimes, he would suddenly not show up to work for a day or two. Ruby never deducted a single cent from his pay. She even took it upon herself to make excuses for him.

Once, he had gone off to fool around somewhere and failed to show up for a deal that was worth tens of millions of dollars. Not only did Ruby not punish him, but she even comforted him afterward and pushed the blame onto me.

Astonishingly, she had complained that there was something wrong with my proposal.