The fire illuminated my features with a warm glow, but my voice was as cold as ice. “Calm down. I opened it earlier and saw something crawling inside. It was probably some cockroaches, so I burned it.”
Seeing my disheveled state, Carl seemed to realize he had overreacted.
He took a deep breath and softened his tone. “Are you okay? I’m sorry. I was just anxious. We’ve kept that album for ten years. Didn’t we agree to show it to everyone after we got married?
“Why did you burn it all of a sudden? If there were cockroaches, you could’ve waited for me to return or sent me a message. I would’ve handled it.”
The man standing before me was no longer the boy who had once vowed to protect me for life.
I couldn’t even bear to look at him.
“You’ve been busy with work, and you’re hardly home. It was just a small matter and not worth bothering you with. Besides, Carl, not a single thing in that album was meant for me. For ten years, you did manage to gather all sorts of rabbit-themed items from around the world. But, you forgot…”
I paused, then let out an indifferent yet resigned laugh. “You forgot what I actually like.”
His eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
I met his gaze and uttered slowly, “I don’t even like rabbits.”
Carl stood frozen next to me, his eyes filled with guilt.
How ironic this moment was.
While Carl had always played the role of the devoted lover, he didn’t even know what the woman he claimed to have loved for a decade truly liked.
On the other hand, he remembered every little detail about the preferences of his secretary, whom he’d only known for a few months.
I turned to leave, but he mistook my action for a tantrum.
Grabbing my arm, he pulled me into his embrace.
His scent surrounded me, but instead of comfort, it made me feel sick.
Holding me tightly, he spoke with concern, “Are you feeling unwell? I’m sorry. I admit I’ve been too busy lately and neglected your feelings. Once I wrap up these projects, I’ll take you out to buy whatever gifts you like, okay? Double the amount, even!”
If I had heard this in the past, I might have lost all reason and forgiven him.
But after being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment that one time, I didn’t want anything to do with him anymore.
I simply couldn’t bring myself to keep pretending that everything was fine when he had forgotten my life-threatening allergy to please another woman.
Once he calmed down, I firmly pried his arms away and said, “You don’t need to apologize. If you feel that guilty, throw me a proper birthday party.”
Throughout our years together, I’d never had a real birthday celebration because Carl was always too busy with his startup business.
Nonetheless, since I was leaving in two days, I wanted to experience it with him just once.
