After a night of sweating profusely, the man got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom.
Tap, tap, tap—
Watching his steady steps and his perfectly toned physique, devoid of any excess fat, Du Ruoxin’s gaze lingered.
He was her husband, the man she had loved for seven years.
She recalled the moment they registered their marriage. Timidly, she hadn't dared to look at him, lowering her head and softly asking, "Do you know I orchestrated this..."
"I know."
Du Ruoxin raised her head in surprise, but the man was backlit, his expression unreadable.
She continued more cautiously, "If you really don't want to marry me, we can sign divorce papers. I won't..."
Before she could finish, he interrupted, "I will not divorce."
"What did you say?" Du Ruoxin thought she had misheard.
"For me, there is only widowhood, no divorce. After marriage, be Mrs. Rong. Everything I should give you, I will."
So, it meant she shouldn't covet what wasn't meant for her—like love, like his heart?
They had been like this for two and a half years.
For him, she had willingly abandoned her studies and career. For him, she had no friends, no social life, becoming a full-time wife solely for Rong Jingyang.
"Honey."
"Dou Dou is almost two, it's time to consider kindergarten..."
Du Ruoxin wanted to discuss their precious daughter's school with her husband, but her words were blocked by the closed bathroom door.
Her gaze darkened. Her eyelashes drooped, and the interest in her eyes was replaced by disappointment.
He clearly heard her speak, yet he still went into the bathroom?
As if struck by a thought, Du Ruoxin sat up.
Tip-toeing, barefoot, she approached the bathroom.
She pressed her ear tightly against the door, her anxious heart pounding.
Whenever Rong Jingyang showered, she had a habit of eavesdropping. This had been going on for over a year.
"Gag—"
Unsurprisingly, she heard the man retching from inside.
Even with the shower on full blast and the gushing water, she heard it.
Du Ruoxin felt as if her chest was being hammered.
"Mr. Rong, do you find me that disgusting?"
"Every time after sleeping with me, you rush to the bathroom to vomit in disgust?"
Du Ruoxin thought to herself, her eyes turning red without her realizing it.
It was as if, in an instant, all the unpleasantness in her two-plus years of marriage with Rong Jingyang flooded her mind.
The night they registered their marriage, he left her alone in the room for another woman.
When their child was born, she was in the hospital, giving birth with agonizing pain, while he was having a candlelight dinner with that woman.
While she was in confinement, he was chasing that woman around the world, enjoying their time together.
When the child was sick, he only made a phone call, never returning to see them...
"Rong Jingyang, in your world, have I always been nothing but invisible air?"
For over two years, she couldn't warm him, couldn't enter his heart.
No matter how willingly Du Ruoxin supported this household, no matter how wholeheartedly she loved him, Rong Jingyang remained like an outsider, never participating in anything related to her or their child.
"Sigh—"
How ridiculous.
Could a marriage of absence be called a home?
It was supposed to be a life for two, yet she always walked alone.
Rong Jingyang didn't love her. The moment Du Ruoxin married him, he had made it clear that he liked someone else.
Marrying her was merely a transaction for mutual benefit.
"Heh..."
Thinking of this, Du Ruoxin's lips trembled into a cold sneer.
Every time Rong Jingyang vomited, it felt like a searing hot iron branding her heart.
It hurt terribly.
Du Ruoxin, clutching her deeply wounded heart, stumbled out of the room.
She wanted to escape his presence, but ultimately, she couldn't bear to go too far.
Rong Jingyang was the man she had pursued for four to five years, using all her tricks and schemes. She...
She was unwilling!
Without gaining his heart, without gaining his love, she was unwilling.
She didn't want to let go.
Du Ruoxin, wearing a long nightgown, walked barefoot into the cold night.
The wind howled around her ears, chilling the passion in her heart.
What good was unwillingness, what good was not wanting to let go?
Her "contractual marriage" with Rong Jingyang had only six months left. She hadn't warmed his heart in two and a half years. Could she do it in six months?
Du Ruoxin felt dejected.
Head bowed low, she sat on the swing, hugging her legs, curled up, looking like someone abandoned by the entire world.
That night, despite the biting cold wind, she stubbornly refused to go back inside, dozing off on the swing.
Rong Jingyang didn't look for her.
He was always like this. Whether she was there or not, no matter what she did, he treated her like she was invisible.
"Achoo—"
As the first ray of sunlight pierced the horizon and spread across the land, Du Ruoxin was awakened by the cold.
She sneezed several times in a row, her body trembling from the chill.
Returning to the bedroom, Rong Jingyang was already gone.
Du Ruoxin's lips twisted into a look of distress. With a sigh of disappointment, she reached for the bedsheet.
It was cold, clearly indicating he had left a long time ago.
"Sigh—"
In this kind of marriage, her husband sleeping with her was just a routine. It happened only a few times a month, and after that...
The thought made Du Ruoxin furious. She let out a roar, ran over, and yanked off the bedsheet, throwing it on the floor and stomping on it in a fit of rage.
"Rong Jingyang, you heartless, cold-blooded animal!"
"I'll stomp you to death!"
"Stomp you to death!"
"Stomp you to death!"
"Why is your heart so cold!"
"What must I do for you to be happ..."
Her voice, filled with resentment and anger, abruptly stopped with a creak as the door opened.
Someone appeared at the doorway.
Du Ruoxin looked up and froze on the spot.
Rong... Jingyang? He hadn't left yet? And, how much of what she just said had he heard?