I didn't say anything, just looked at Lila Wei.
Her palm-sized face was even thinner, her eyes not as bright and clear as when I first met her. Her shoulders were slightly slumped, and her white cashmere coat couldn't hide her thinness.
Before I entered the coffee shop, I had carefully applied a bright red lipstick. I had been in a good mood these past few days and had been sleeping well, so my complexion was radiant and my spirits were high.
It was as if Lila Wei and I had switched roles. She had become the卑微 (bēi wēi - humble/lowly) woman pining for love, and I had become the detached observer whose heart remained unmoved.
"Lila Wei, why did you tell Hugh Pei that I was the one who asked my mother-in-law to see you?" I finally spoke after a long silence.
"Sis Zoe…" Lila Wei was taken aback, a guilty look flashing in her eyes as she avoided my gaze.
I knew it. Beneath her pitiful appearance, she was full of little tricks.
Hugh Pei's initial conviction that I had tattled to his mother must have come from Lila Wei.
My mother-in-law wouldn't have called Hugh Pei to explain everything after meeting Lila Wei. Her goal was to make Lila Wei back off and disappear quietly, not to stir up trouble.
"After you threw the blame on me, you disappeared and faked a suicide attempt to maximize the effect of your lie, right? I made you so desperate that you wanted to die, so Hugh Pei would definitely hate me even more." I sighed. "But you're still too naive. Hugh Pei likes you, but he's not an idiot. He just had to ask his mom to find out the truth."
"You didn't really think he would get angry with his own mother and refuse to contact her for you, did you?"
My words made Lila Wei's face turn red and then white. I must have hit the mark.
I tattled, my mother-in-law confronted her, she tried to commit suicide. No matter how you looked at it, my mother-in-law and I were the villains. If Hugh Pei truly liked her, he would definitely have ignored both of us during that time.
Unfortunately for her, she was really naive.
Lila Wei bit her lip so hard it was about to bleed, a hint of jealousy and resentment in her eyes. She seemed to want to avoid this topic and was fixated on one question. "Sis Zoe, I was forced to do all of this. If you two get a divorce, all of this will calm down."
"Xicheng told me that Hugh Pei married you for personal gain. He never liked you. This kind of marriage is a form of torture, isn't it?"
Lucas Lu, she called him so intimately. It seemed she was already very familiar with Hugh Pei's best friends.
A pure lotus like her was a unique existence among those playboys. The fact that Hugh Pei was attracted to her alone was proof of her charm.
In my previous life, Evan Yu had also fallen in love with Lila Wei for the same reason.
"That's right, I did sue for divorce," I said calmly and coldly, looking at Lila Wei. "But I withdrew the lawsuit."
"Why?!" Lila Wei shot up from her seat.
"You should ask your good friend Liu Yue about that," I said with a sarcastic smile.
Without a second thought, Lila Wei dialed Liu Yue's number. I listened with interest.
After the call connected, she asked, "Yueyue, what did you say to Sis Zoe?"
"That is… Hugh Pei's legal wife."
Lila Wei glanced at me as she explained.
Yes, legal wife, a tool in a loveless marriage.
I could faintly hear Liu Yue shouting the words "old woman."
As Lila Wei listened, her expression grew even more unpleasant.
Finally, she couldn't help but reprimand Liu Yue, "What do you know?! You've ruined me! If it weren't for you, things wouldn't be so complicated now!"
Watching her hang up, I elegantly took a sip of my coffee and asked, "Do you understand the reason now?"
Lila Wei's face was ashen. "I apologize to you on her behalf. But Sis Zoe, you don't need to withdraw the lawsuit because of someone irrelevant. This concerns your happiness for the rest of your life. You've already wasted so many years on a man who doesn't love you. Are you going to continue to waste them?"
"Do you think I can get a divorce just by suing?" Why did I feel like Lila Wei was still almost foolishly naive in some ways?
"What else?" she asked, puzzled.
"You're a top student, how can you ask such a stupid question?" I said with some disdain. "Haven't you ever wondered why I chose to sue for divorce? It's because Hugh Pei wouldn't agree to a divorce!"
Lila Wei's body trembled, but she quickly found a reasonable explanation. "Right, of course. I know he has a lot of assets, and dividing them would be very troublesome."
I was speechless for a moment. She thought Hugh Pei was refusing to divorce because of the division of assets?
In my previous life, he had also sued for divorce, but I had dragged it out and refused. Later, he was willing to give me so many shares just to get me to sign the divorce papers.
Lila Wei had never seen the Hugh Pei from my previous life who had been crazy for her, so of course she wouldn't understand.
"Think whatever you want. Now your family disagrees, and my in-laws disagree. You and Hugh Pei can do whatever you want. But I can tell you clearly that I can't file for divorce again for six months after withdrawing the lawsuit. You might as well try to find a way to get Hugh Pei to agree to an amicable divorce with me." I didn't want to say any more. I got up to pay and leave.
Back in the car, I looked at Lila Wei, who was still in a daze in the coffee shop. After some thought, I decided to call Evan Yu.
"Dr. Yu, Lila Wei is at 'Encounter' coffee shop. Would you like to come and take her home?" I asked.
The other end was silent for three seconds, then said, "What does that have to do with me?"
Three question marks popped up over my head. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity for the second male lead to make his move?
If it weren't for creating an opportunity for him and Lila Wei to be alone, I would have just called Eva Liu.
Last time, Evan Yu had even confided in me that there was a woman he liked but it wasn't appropriate to pursue her. Wasn't he talking about Lila Wei?
"Evan Yu, I'm saying Lila Wei is alone at the coffee shop. Her parents have grounded her for the past few days, and I don't know how she got out. She's in a really bad mood. Are you sure you don't want to come and keep her company?" I explained carefully.
"Call me when you're in a bad mood sometime. I'm hanging up," Evan Yu replied coldly and hung up.
I was speechless. Did this guy not understand women at all?
No wonder he was the second male lead. He deserved it!
Since he didn't want the opportunity, I wouldn't meddle. I just drove home.
I only hoped that there wouldn't be any more drama in the next few days, so I could have a peaceful New Year, then go abroad to build my career and come back as a successful woman.
Perhaps God heard my prayers. Until New Year's Eve, I lived a very peaceful and beautiful life. Until Hugh Pei appeared at my doorstep.
Every New Year's Eve in the past, I had to remind him to go to C-City with me to celebrate with his parents, and then come back the next day to have dinner with my parents.
This year, I wasn't planning to go, but he came uninvited.
"What are you doing here?" I walked over and asked.
"My parents asked us to come back for New Year's Eve dinner." The corners of Hugh Pei's eyes and the tip of his nose were slightly red from the cold, which gave his usually aggressive, handsome face a hint of vulnerability.