My Wife Wants a Divorce by Red Little Fruit

'Poor girl?

'What is he saying?'

Just as Sydney wanted to ask Stephen what this meant, Julien put a protective arm around her shoulders to calm her.

Sydney looked up at him.

Meeting her gaze, Julien said nothing but gave her a hint with the eyes: Leave it to me.

He had already observed that Sydney was annoyed at these words and wanted to confront Stephen.

He stopped her lest she should suffer.

Sydney had no advantage in the argument with Stephen, a tough old bird.

Julien, therefore, would deal with Stephen himself.

After realizing what Julien meant, Sydney felt warm and calmed down.

Sensing her emotional changes, Julien drew her aside and stood between her and Stephen.

Without Sydney standing between them, Stephen felt more pressure than ever to face Julien.

He even regretted entering the elevator.

But he had no option but to stick it out.

Julien stood in front of Stephen, looking down at him, "What do you mean Sydney is a poor girl, Mr. Dayton?"

Stephen felt like a worm being watched, and a tide of humiliation came over him.

But Stephen, a good disguiser, controlled his emotions quickly and pretended to be sympathetic, "Alas! Mr. Flint, you know, the Raines family is not Sydney's birth family. I don't know why her natural parents abandoned her. But she was lucky enough to be spotted by Harry. What would have happened to her if Harry hadn't adopted her? She might be dead or be sent to an orphanage and then grow up there. Then she would get married and have children like ordinary women."

Sydney almost laughed in her exasperation.

'Is he saying this to remind me of who I really am?

Exactly, Stephen was trying to remind her that she was an orphan. Hadn't Harry spotted her, she would never have made such a good living or inherited the Skylight Corporation, let alone met Julien, a man of high class. He, in fact, wanted her to feel inferior in front of Julien.

Indeed, Julien was the eldest son of the third generation of the Flint family, a noble family.

Sydney, in contrast, was an orphan abandoned by her biological parents. Accidentally, the Raines family adopted her; otherwise, she would grow up in an orphanage, as Stephen said. With any luck, she would be adopted by an ordinary family and lead an ordinary life. No matter what, she would never be part of the upper class, let alone meet and fall in love with Julien.

In a word, their birth could not be more different.

She was supposed to feel inferior. After all, Julien was too good for her in every aspect.

Contrary to Stephen's expectations, Sydney did not feel inferior.

Why should she feel inferior?

Julien was the one who wanted to get back together, not her!

She should be proud of her charm that captivated such a big shot as Julien. Without any doubt, she was excellent in his eyes. And there must be something special about her that attracted him, or why would Julien fall in love with her?

Would a romantic story about a rich young man falling in love with an ordinary girl happen in real life?

Of course not!

Elite education was essential for the rich young men. Consequently, their knowledge and cultivation made it impossible for them to fall in love with an ordinary girl.

But there were some exceptions. A case in point was the romantic story about Julien's father and Velma.

To Sydney's certain knowledge, though, such exceptions were highly unlikely to occur, especially for Julien.

The fact that Julien fell in love with her implied that she was excellent and had some attractive qualities. In this case, she didn't have to feel inferior for her birth.

Her natural parents did abandon her. So what? There was a man deeply attracted to her. Not everyone could be as lucky as she was.

Shouldn't she be proud of her good luck?

Since Sydney could twig what Stephen meant, how could a clever man like Julien not?

At that moment, Julien even wanted to throttle Stephen!

But he was more concerned with Sydney's feelings.

He could deal with Stephen whenever he wanted. But he couldn't allow any grievance to simmer inside her.

He made efforts to tame his anger and turned to look at Sydney.

Sensing her emotions veering from anger to delight, he realized she had made her peace.

He didn't avert his eyes from her, though he was relieved.

After reading Julien's mind, Sydney looked up and smiled at him, "I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm actually happy."

Although she didn't say it explicitly, Julien knew why she was happy, which reassured him.

He stroked her hair gently, jerked his head around, and looked at Stephen threateningly, "Seems like your plan fell through."

Stephen's heart did a complete somersault when he heard that. "What do you mean, Mr. Flint?" Stephen asked stiffly.

'Act dumb?'

Julien's eyes were burning with irritation.

"You deliberately emphasize the birth differences between Leaf and me. You want to humiliate her and tell her she's not good enough for me, don't you? You're even trying to drive a wedge between us! Unfortunately, your plan failed."

As Julien pronounced these words, Stephen changed color.

Stephen knew they could see his point because his implication was clear.

But unexpectedly, Julien relentlessly exposed his trick.

'Aren't Julien embarrassed?

'I've made it clear that Sydney is an orphan rejected by his natural parents. If the Raines family hadn't adopted her, she'd probably be dead or living a normal life. Sydney's not a fine match for him at all!' Stephen was convinced that his words would disgrace Sydney and embarrass Julien. After all, the woman Julien loved was an orphan, which would demean him.

A man with a high sense of self-esteem would definitely feel disgraced when someone said his girlfriend was an orphan. And detestation would ensue. He would think it was his girlfriend's birth that made him embarrassed. Consequently, the feelings for her just went away.

Stephen thought Julien, a young man of high status, had a higher sense of esteem than average. Therefore, everything would go as he planned: they would break up, and marriage would be out of the question.

But Julien said he had failed, which surprised him.