The President's Man

An Xin closed her eyes as she thought about everything. Her husband had been cold and distant, and this was only his excuse to get rid of her without any repercussion. However, despite the fact that she had expected this to happen sooner or later, now that it happened, she still felt hurt by his betrayal and cruelty.

He was the one who was at fault; he was the one who cheated on their marriage... but because of a picture, everything would be her fault. 

An Xin wiped her tears away and stood up. She looked at her father-in-law, who was sitting with his arms folded as he cursed at her, and her mother in law, who was standing near her with an angry expression.

She then looked at her husband and her expression changes when she saw his indifferent look. Her sad expression was replaced with a defiant, indignant expression. With her back straight, she asked, "Why should I move out? I didn't do anything wrong! You're the one who cheated!" 

PAP! 

The slap was so strong and it caught her off guard. An Xin lost her balance and she fell down, hitting her cheek against the corner of the small table next to the couch.

"Argh!" she cried out as she held her bleeding cheek. However, instead of caring for her, her husband kicked her stomach while she was down. "Argh!"

"You f*cking dirty woman!" he hissed as he kicked her again.

An Xin clenched her fists to prevent herself from crying out. 

Hurt, both physically and mentally, An Xin glared at her husband angrily as she dared him to do it again. 

"You s.l.u.t! As a woman, not only you can't give me a child, you can't even stay at home! Going out every day, and even now! Going to a hotel with a man!" He glared at her as if he wished for her to die right away. "Why don't you just die!" 

Faced with his accusation, An Xin could only clench her fists tightly. She did not want to fight anymore. She felt tired all of a sudden. After doing her best, this was what they thought of her. And her husband... Everything was broken. Every hope and dreams of fixing their marriage...

An Xin looked at the photo of her and Lu Ziyan where she was smiling brightly. She had forgotten how to smile like that. Holding onto the photo, An Xin slowly stood up. She wouldn't let herself be defeated just like that.

As she held her aching stomach, she glared at him and scoffed, "What do you want?"

He grabbed her chin roughly as he snarled, "You'll leave my house and my family. If you've behaved yourself, I'd have provided you with alimony, but with these photos, even if you were to take it to court, no judges would be on your side." 

Pushing her chin aside, he added, "Don't even think of taking a cent out of this marriage!"

With blood dripping down her cheek, An Xin stared at him. After a while, she laughed wryly. "How did I end up with a worm like you?" 

"What did you say?!" he snapped and slapped her other cheek. 

However, she held her ground this time. Since she had braced herself for the slap, she did not topple over. Instead, she glared at him for a while before she smiled. "It's completely and utterly over. I don't need your money, nor do I need you. You'll regret everything you've done today." 

She then picked up the two sets of divorce papers from the floor and went back to her bedroom. Once she read everything, she signed the two sets of doc.u.ments that had his signatures on. She knew that once she signed this, there would be no turning back. The doc.u.ment stated that she was barren and that she was the one who cheated on this marriage.

Even so, she did not care. In the end, her husband... No. That b*stard just wanted to protect his money. 

An Xin did not cry when she began to pack her stuff. Instead, she remained calm as she quickly decided on what to bring home with her. She did not have much, to begin with. 

Perhaps she had already seen this. Or maybe because a part of her knew that their love was long over. But for the past year, she had not been buying anything, and so, she did not have that many things to take with her. 

She merely packed the important things like her birth certificate and work stuff, as well as a few sets of clothes. Anything that was bought by him, she left it behind. She did not care for that stuff. The only thing she cared for was his love... and that was gone with the slaps earlier. 

With everything packed in a small LV luggage, she walked to the living room with the signed divorce papers. Without saying anything else, she left a set of the signed divorce paper on the coffee table and took the other set with her. 

He did not even bother to send her to her parents' place, so she called a cab for herself. She had a car that he bought for her, but at that moment, she did not even want to look at anything that came from him.

And so, she took out her wedding ring and without even giving it one last look, she threw it into the koi pond by the gate. "Even if no one wants me, I can still live a good life!" she murmured as she watched the ring fell into the bottom of the pond.

However, the moment she got into the cab and drove out of the gated community where they lived in, she broke down. As she hugged herself and cried her eyes out, she felt an immense hatred toward everyone and everything in this world. 

"Miss?" the cab driver asked worriedly when he heard a sobbing sound. He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw her covering her face with her hands. 

"Pl... Please let me... be," she begged. 

The cab driver was worried, but he did not say much. "Alright..." 

He then took a pack of tissue from his glove compartment and gave it to her. "For you."

....

An Xin sighed as she shook the memory out of her face. Without intending to, her hand moved up to touch where she was cut yesterday. Even though she used her makeup to cover it, and even though others couldn't see it, she could.

Just the memory of how miserable she was in that cab made her blush with embarrassment. She placed her hands down. She then looked at her plate of penne carbonara and using her fork, she pushed the pieces of penne around... until she felt a warm touch on her cheek. 

When she looked up, Lu Ziyan was looking at her with a pained expression as he rubbed her right cheek with the back of his hand gently. As he pulled his hand back, he asked in a soft voice, "Did... he hit you?"

"What?"

"You wore blusher today... Even though I only see you every now and then, but I've never seen you wore blusher at work." 

She did not answer him. On one hand, she was surprised to know that he had been paying attention to her. On the other hand, she was embarrassed that someone guessed it so easily. An Xin sighed and shrugged. "It's in the past..."

Underneath the table, Lu Ziyan was clenching his fists tightly, but he did not press the matter further. Instead, he asked, "Are you staying at home now?" 

She wanted to lie to him, but at the same time, she did not want to. So, she sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how to tell them, nor do I want to tell them yet. I just want to take a few days off to have some peace and quiet." 

"Where have you been staying?" 

"A hotel near the office." 

Lu Ziyan thought for a moment before he asked, "Come home with me?" 

"What?" 

He turned red when he realized what he had just said. With a shook of his head, he then rambled, "I mean... If you don't want to go to your parents, and I don't think you'll want to go to your siblings' houses... So, come home with me. Tian Le is at school, so his room is free for a few days. You can stay there until you feel better!"

"Oh, is An Xin looking for a place to stay?" Xiao Lei returned holding a plate with three slices of New York cheesecake. She was hiding near the kitchen while she spied at these two. After a good amount of time, she returned, but not before she took 3 slices of cheesecakes from a waiter. 

When she was walking over, she overheard the last part of their conversation. As she sat down, she said, "Well, you can live with me..." 

"What? We just met! No! I can't!" An Xin shook her head; she was strongly against the idea. Besides, she did not like to impose on others. 

"Oh, no wait. You can't stay with me. I haven't clean the guest room. Stay with Ziyan," Xiao Lei said when she realized where she did wrong earlier. With a smile, she added, "Ziyan won't hurt you. He's like Han Ye. Trustworthy heart that goes with that trustworthy face."

After a while, she grimaced and warned An Xin, "But erm... You better lock your bedroom door. Otherwise, Han Ye might accidentally walk into your room."

"What?"