The Unveiled Rose

I didn't answer Steven immediately. Instead, I kept my gaze steady and calm.

He slowly looked up and met my eyes.

After a brief moment of thought, I decided it was better to clear things up now and end this conversation quickly. "Maybe it's because I loved you with all my heart.

"We were together and lived side by side for six years. Even if you didn't love me, your possessiveness made you subconsciously see me as yours.

"You believed I wouldn't leave you. But in the end, we still ended up divorced, so you're probably struggling with the change," I said calmly, with no emotion fluctuating in my tone.

"But that's normal. Even if a vase that's been in the house for years suddenly breaks, people will get upset. How much more so with a person?"

After saying this, I stood up to leave.

When I reached the door, I was surprised to see Zane standing there. I paused and asked, "Aren't you busy with work? Why are you here?"

Zane sighed in relief. "I was worried he might give you trouble."

"Give me trouble?" I chuckled. "His old flame came back, and I voluntarily stepped aside. He got what he wanted. He's with his first love now. He should be thanking me. He shouldn't be giving me trouble, right?" Zane seemed to agree. "True."

He turned around and glanced back at Steven.

Steven couldn't quite understand why, but he felt like Zane was subtly challenging him, even though the latter's face showed no emotion.

Why did he think that? He couldn't figure it out.

He stared at Zane from a distance.

Later, as Zane and Annalise crossed the street, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.

Annalise looked up at him in surprise, and he muttered something that Steven couldn't quite hear. She gave him a strange look but then turned her gaze away.

To Steven, their interaction felt like a sharp needle, cruelly piercing his heart.

As Annalise's ex-husband, he never cared if she was in danger. But Zane always seemed to be looking out for her.

An absurd thought suddenly hit Steven.

It turned out that the woman he had always ignored, dismissed, and even found unattractive was able to find someone who actually liked her after leaving him. The thought gnawed at him. He felt a deep, frustrating pressure in his chest.

Just then, his phone rang, and he answered without thinking. "Hello?"

"Hey, we're all here. Where are you?" Gavin asked.

Steven lied without hesitation, "Traffic's bad. Give me a minute. I'll be there soon."

...

The agreed meeting spot was a private room at a bar. The room was full of laughter and chatter as Steven's friends played and joked around.

But Steven was alone in a corner, drinking one glass after another, as if only this could soothe the discomfort inside him.

Gavin snatched the glass from his hand. "What's going on?"

Steven leaned back into the couch. "I talked to Annalise just now."