Chapter 7
I said, “These scars, they’re from when your little lover pushed me into the rose bushes.”
“This one, from when I accidentally cut myself while cooking. I was in so much pain, but you just laughed at me, saying I was a country bumpkin who didn’t know how to use fancy kitchen tools.”
“And this one, I got it when I was rushing to bring you some documents. I fell because I was in such a hurry.” I looked up at Bradley, barely holding back the urge to slap him again. “Do you remember what happened that day?” I asked.
Bradley avoided my gaze, not daring to meet my eyes. But I knew he remembered. He remembered everything.
That day, Bradley told me he had forgotten an important document at home, one that involved a project worth billions and that I
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had to bring it to him within half an hour.
It was pouring rain that day and traffic was severe. I had no choice but to hold the document tightly to my chest and run all the way to his office.
I fell several times along the way. When I finally arrived, Veronica blocked me at the door and mocked me, “Does a big company like this let just any beggar walk in? Stop embarrassing yourself and get out of here. This isn’t a place you belong.”
I anxiously called Bradley. When he came down and saw my bedraggled state, he only said one thing, “Yasmine, how could you be so useless? You’ve even ruined the
document.”
I later found out that it wasn’t any important document. Inside was a real estate contract, the one for the house he was giving to Veronica.
Bradley hurriedly interrupted my memories. “Yasmine, can’t we just let the
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past stay in the past? Why do you insist on holding onto it? Haven’t you ever made mistakes?”
I had to admit, Bradley was a master of sophistry. No matter what issues we had, everything always turned out to be my fault.
If I accepted gifts from him, I was
materialistic and vain. If we split the costs. equally, I was scheming, trying to play the long game.
With Veronica, Bradley always felt like he wasn’t giving her enough. With me, it seemed like everything I did was wrong. Even his infidelity somehow became my fault for being unreasonable.
I looked at him and said seriously, “My biggest mistake was falling in love with you and being with you!”
“Yasmine…” he sighed.
I knew there was no reasoning with Bradley, so I pulled out my phone and
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prepared to call the police. He panicked and tried to grab my phone. “Don’t do this! I have something important to show you. Once you see it, you might forgive me.”
Bradley opened a video on his phone. It was my mother. She was crying, her face. streaked with tears, apologizing to me. “I’m sorry, Yasmine. I was too strict with you when you were growing up.”
“But we did it all for your own good! I know you’ve had some disagreements with Bradley, but that’s just how married life is. You fight and make up. Bradley and I both realize our mistakes. We promise we won’t hurt you again.” In the video, my mother was crying her heart out and outside the video, Bradley was tearing up as well.
“Only after you left did I realize how much you loved me. There aren’t many good women like you left in the world. Yasmine, whether you believe it or not, both your mother and I love you. You have to understand, when you care deeply, you can
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be harsh. We might have hurt you unintentionally. But… we did it all for your
own good.” said Bradley.
For my own good. Those four light, airy words had hung over my life like a nightmare.
No matter what kind of harm they caused me, as long as they waved that banner, they could criticize me from on high. Why?
I slapped Bradley’s phone out of his hand. “It’s useless. I now have the ability to break free from your control. Your pressure, your lectures, they don’t work on me anymore. I won’t believe anything you say again. All I want… is to leave you all behind for good.”
When I was a child, my mother had apologized to me too. But the next time she hit me, it would be worse. Bradley was the
same.
Every time he lowered his head, it was only to prepare for a greater hurt the next time. Bradley stood there, stunned, his eyes filled
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with emotions I couldn’t understand.
It was like a general who had won battles. all his life. He was completely defeated in one defeat and suddenly lost everything.
He sa
said, “Yasmine, whether you believe it or not, I truly love you. I just feel a little… unwilling to accept this. I’m still young. I worked so hard to get where I am, so I wanted to enjoy it a little. Before getting married, I wanted to indulge for a while…”
Bradley said he had planned to settle down after he’d had his fun. After seeing the outside world, he thought he could come back and live happily with me. How laughable.
I looked at him with utter disdain. “Bradley, what makes you think I would wait for you endlessly without complaint?”
He frowned and murmured, “Because… Because you love me.”
