My Wife Wants a Divorce by Red Little Fruit

As she walked, she thought about what excuse she could use to take her parents away.

After all, Clarice and her parents had only been here for a short time, and there were still many uneaten dishes. If there was not something urgent, her parents would not leave. So, she must find a reasonable excuse.

However, it was not easy to find such an excuse.

As Clarice was getting more and more fretful, Mrs. Madden suddenly asked, "Clarice, what's wrong with you? Why is your face so pale now?"

"Well..." When Clarice looked up and was about to answer that she was okay, she suddenly thought of something, an expression of satisfaction flashing across her face.

Wasn't her pale face a very good excuse?

At the thought of it, Clarice raised her lips with gratification. Afraid of being discovered, she quickly restrained her emotion and put on an anguished expression. She covered her heart, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Seeing it, the Maddens got stunned and stood up.

"Clarice, what's the matter with you?" Mrs. Madden hurriedly walked around the dining table and stepped toward Clarice.

Although Brandon didn't speak, he appeared very worried.

When finding that they became anxious, Clarice knew that her plan was going to work out.

But that was half the battle, and she must perturb her parents further.

So, Clarice pretended to be more uncomfortable and yelled in pain. And she gradually squatted down and was about to faint, as if a serious disease had broken out at this second. Clarice really frightened the Maddens.

"Clarice, what's wrong with you?" Mrs. Madden almost cried.

Brandon even carried Clarice in his arms and asked in anxiety, "Clarice, tell us what has happened. Don't terrify us."

"Dad..." Staring at Brandon with wide eyes, Clarice covered her heart and gasped violently. Her mouth trembled, and she replied weakly, "I... I'm very uncomfortable... I..." Suddenly, Clarice stopped speaking.

She "fainted" in Brandon's arms at this moment.

Brandon shook her, but she didn't respond.

This scared Brandon out of his wits. "Clarice!" he yelled.

"Honey, hurry up. Let's take Clarice to the hospital." Mrs. Madden reminded him. She was so worried that her eyes turned red.

Mrs. Madden's words helped Brandon regain some composure, and he nodded repeatedly. "Yes, the hospital, go to the hospital. Go. Let's go quickly."

Then they trotted to the door.

In the corridor, Julien was still leaning against the wall next to his room and smoking a cigarette.

He had almost finished smoking the cigarette, but he didn't extinguish it and return to his room for a long time. Instead, he kept staring at a certain room opposite, as if he had been waiting for something. Clarice replied to his message. She said that she would soon take the Maddens away.

Julien wanted to know how long it took her to do it.

He blew a cloud of smoke and put the cigarette on the ashtray on the dustbin. He tapped the cigarette lightly, and the ash fell off into the ashtray.

Later, he heard the sound of footsteps from the room opposite.

He originally planned to take another puff of the cigarette. But when he heard the sound, he changed his mind all of a sudden. He directly pressed the cigarette against the ashtray and extinguished it. The moment he extinguished it and threw it into the ashtray, the door of the room opposite opened, and a couple familiar to Julien walked out in a hurry with a person in the man's arms.

Julien recognized at a glance that the couple were the Maddens.

Julien knew the person in Brandon's arms was Clarice, though he couldn't see her face.

As the Maddens wore anxious expressions and Clarice was in Brandon's arms, it seemed that a disease had suddenly "attacked" Clarice.

Of course, Julien knew that Clarice must have figured out a method, which was faking faint. This was her excuse to take the Maddens to leave here.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that she fell ill right after he asked her to take her parents away?

When Julien looked in the direction in which the three of them left, a cold smile appeared on his face.

The Maddens were worried about Clarice, and they didn't notice Julien and went straight to the stairs after they came out.

It was good. Otherwise, Sydney would go out if the Maddens saw Julien and quarreled with him.

Julien took one last look at the staircase where the three of them disappeared, withdrew his eyes, and turned back to his room.

When Sydney heard the sound of footsteps behind her, she looked back and smiled. "Honey!"

The coldness on Julien's face faded away, replaced by tenderness.

Sydney tapped his chair. "You have been out for a long time."

"Before I came back, I watched a play," Julien replied after sitting down.

"Watched a play?" Sydney was confused at first and then became interested. When she was about to ask him what play he had watched, she smelled cigarette smoke from him. Yes, cigarette smoke.

Unlike ordinary cigarette, which was particularly strong and unpleasant, this kind of cigarette had a faint fragrance.

This was because this kind of cigarette was specially made. If Sydney hadn't smelled it before, she would have considered it the fragrance of perfume like most people.

But she had happened to smell this kind of cigarette smell just from Julien before, so she knew at once that he had smoked cigarettes.

She also learned that he was not a chain smoker though he smoked sometimes, and she hardly saw him smoke. As time passed, she almost forgot that he smoked. The smell of cigarettes from him reminded her again that he didn't quit smoking.

She immediately got angry. Staring at him, Sydney asked in a serious tone, "You smoked, did you?"

Hearing her question, Julien had a sinking feeling, as she seemed to be dissatisfied with his smoking.

He subconsciously wanted to say that he didn't smoke, but then he realized that there was no point in lying, as the smell on his body couldn't deceive anyone. Moreover, the remaining cigarettes were still in his pocket. If he wanted to lie, she would immediately take out the remaining cigarettes from his pocket. The atmosphere might become tenser then.

So, it was better to admit from the beginning that he had smoked.

Thinking about it, Julien coughed lightly and replied in a guilty voice, "Yes."

"I knew it." Sydney frowned her eyebrows, and she looked angrier.

Julien sneaked a glance at her. "You don't like me smoking, do you?"

"Of course not." She pursed her red lips and glared at him. "Who likes her lover smoking? Don't you know that smoking is harmful?"

"I know." He nodded.

Her eyes widened, and she raised her voice. "Why did you smoke since you know it?"

He touched his nose but didn't answer.

He knew clearly that he would make things worse if he replied now.

She looked at him coldly. "I know you smoked in the past. But since we didn't get back together at that time, I didn't care about you no matter how much you smoked. After all, you were nobody to me. But it is different now. We are together. I must take care of your health, so I don't allow you to smoke in any case. I didn't see you smoke for a long time and thought you had already given up smoking. But I didn't expect that I would be wrong."