It was just past September, yet the heat of late summer still lingered. Despite that, as I sat in the study, my whole body was cold, as if I were trapped inside an ice cellar.
I rushed out the door, lost in a haze.
Somewhere deep down, I still refused to believe Aiden betrayed me.
I told myself that everything I found on his computer was fake. Someone was trying to set him up. They wanted to frame him.
I called his phone, but there was no answer.
He told me earlier that he was at dinner with his department. So I searched for him, restaurant by restaurant.
I stubbornly wanted to confront him in person. I needed answers.
When I finally spotted Aiden in a barbecue shop, the table was filled with laughter and conversation.
He sat at the head of the table, smiling slightly. He was the perfect image of a cultured, confident, and effortlessly charming man.
To his right sat a woman in a white dress, her long hair cascading down her back. Her eyes shone brightly, and her expression was shy. She was a delicate beauty—soft yet alluring.
My steps abruptly came to a halt. I found myself hesitating, unable to move forward.
The voices of the younger employees rang out in playful banter.
“Mr. Spencer, we admire you in every way except for how whipped you are for your wife. That, we just can’t relate to!”
“Yeah, Mr. Spencer, you’re always so chill and in control. How could you let your wife, an outsider, meddle in how we do things? What happened to ‘strict teachers make great students’?”
It took me a while to register their words.
Then, it clicked. I finally understood why they were saying that.
Aiden was never naturally good at managing people. His approach was to do everything himself since explaining things to others felt like a waste of time to him.
As a result, he exhausted himself, shouldering all the burdens alone, which made him the busiest and most overworked person in the department. It was so extreme that he even didn’t have time for Chloe.
