Chapter 1112: The Day Her Dreams Shattered
Both of them exchanged glances silently.
Xia Ling’s mind was a blank as she stood in his line of sight as if it was a line of fire. It took her a long time to come back to her senses, and that was when she heard a voice at the back of her head: Xia Ling, what are you afraid of? Walk over, you didn’t do anything wrong, he’s the one who’s let you down.
With that thought, she took a deep breath and walked over with her head up.
She walked by Pei Ziheng.
The doorway wasn’t too wide, and she brushed against her shoulder.
All of a sudden, Pei Ziheng grabbed her. “Xia Ling,” he said solemnly, “you owe me an explanation.”
She shuddered slightly, even though she had no idea what she was really afraid of, or where his anger was coming from. She wanted to say no, to resist, to not give any explanation at all. But his terrifying expression made her give in eventually as she murmured, “He’s just a pa.s.serby. I b.u.mped into him and hurt my ankle, so he sent me back.”
“Pa.s.serby?” Pei Ziheng scoffed. “You’re saying that Skyart’s big boss is a pa.s.serby? Xia Ling, you’re really getting bolder, seducing anyone and everyone!”
Seducing? That word sent a rush of heat to her head.
How could he say this about her?!
Xia Ling looked up at him with fury and her emotions exploded. “Pei Ziheng, what do you treat me as? Your pet?! Why is it that you can get married to some other woman, and I can’t even be sent home because of my injury?! What right do you have to control who I get together with? You’re about to get married! Let me tell you, I’ll never share a husband with w.a.n.g Jingwan. Not now, not ever!”
She was yelling at him.
He stiffened even more now. The person who sent her home wasn’t just any pa.s.serby, it was Li Lei! This name was a sting to Pei Ziheng’s heart. He couldn’t pinpoint the reason, but he knew he was against her being with Li Lei, even if it was just an exchange of glances or a few words! The moment he saw Li Lei send her home, it felt as if his whole world went dark. He had no idea why, but… anyone else would’ve been alright, just not Li Lei! He gripped her arm even harder now as if wanting to break it with sheer force.
Xia Ling bore with the pain and glared at him. “Pei Ziheng, you’re a beast, a monster! How long more can you control me? A month? Two months? Once you get married, I can be with anyone I want to be with, and you can’t do anything about it!” All these were purely words of anger. Even if he got married, how could she get together with another man? She loved him so much, it ran through her veins and was engraved in her bones. If he had another woman, she could only be devastated.
She looked up at him, and in those furious eyes was a hint of a plea.
How she wished that the threat she laid could change his mind about the marriage with w.a.n.g Jingwan so that he could return to her.
But it couldn’t. He hadn’t said a thing.
Pei Ziheng grabbed hold of her and began dragging her into the house. The sudden impact caused her to trip and a sharp pain rang through her injured ankle. She wasn’t sure if it was sprained again, but at that moment, cold sweat was dotting her forehead. “Pei Ziheng, let go!”
Pei Ziheng refused to release her. He dragged her all the way to the bed and tossed her onto it before pinning her down.
“Xia Ling,” He ripped her clothes apart mercilessly and pinched her chin. “I think you’ve forgotten who you belong to! Don’t you even think about being with another man. Not in this lifetime, or the next, or ever!”
The fury in his eyes seemed to burn like the depths of h.e.l.l.
Xia Ling looked at him fearfully. She knew just how scary he could get when angered, and said in a trembling voice, “Pei Ziheng, don’t!”
He didn’t entertain her words at all as he went ahead to a.s.sault her. He was being deliberately rough to hurt her.
Xia Ling’s tears came gus.h.i.+ng. All the memories related to the first time of terror, all of which had engulfed the sweet moments they shared, were now flooding her head. She seemed to have gone back in time to when she was 16. They were in the cramped little rental car at an abandoned garage in Paris. Back then, he had been so mean too…
So indifferent to her pleas…
So all these while, it wasn’t that he had changed, it was simply that she did not know him well enough.
Xia Ling cried until her voice went hoa.r.s.e. She didn’t even know if it was because of the pain anymore, or if she just felt so pathetic and distraught. After the turmoil, she was completely fatigued and fell asleep in his embrace.
When she woke up, it was already late in the morning and the sun was s.h.i.+ning on the bed.
The sheets were messy and the man was no longer there.
She looked at the mess on the bed and was out of sorts for a while. When she was finally ready, she struggled to get out of bed and into the bathroom, where she saw her swollen eyes and ruined makeup in the mirror, and bruises all over her body. Deep inside her, she felt a pulsing pain.
She wrapped her arms around her bare body and slowly slipped to the ground.
Perhaps, this was all a mistake from the very beginning.
Since it started off with a bang, very well then, it should end with this too…
There were no more tears to shed, it felt as if she’d used up several lifetimes of tears recently. Looking at the light streaming through the window panes, she made the biggest decision of her lifetime.
Leave him.
Xia Ling, leave him.
There’s nothing much left in him to love.
Since you’re unable to get his love in its entirety, since… he never truly cared about you, then leaving him is the best choice you can make.
Her expression was calmer than ever before.
She got up, took a thorough shower and began packing her luggage.
There wasn’t much to bring along. She left the jewelry and t.i.tle deeds that he had given her behind, and simply packed a few pieces of clean clothing, as well as her credit card that would give her access to her years of savings as a singer.
She wheeled the luggage to the first floor. Nanny Zhou wasn’t in; she was probably out to get groceries.
She turned back and looked longingly at the house she’d lived in for years. The familiar arrangement of the furniture, the coat that she’d hung for him on the rack… everything made her feel like crying again.
Goodbye, Pei Ziheng.
She said quietly before turning around and pulling the villa door open.
The sunlight was blinding, but she could make out the figure of a man at the door, arm raised as if he was just about to push the door open. Seeing her with a piece of luggage, Pei Ziheng’s expression darkened and he gave her a tight slap on the face.
She had no time to react to it, and fell to the ground on impact, like a kite with a broken string.
She held a hand to her cheek and looked at him in disbelief as if he was the most devious monster in the world. “You hit me?” She asked quietly like it was just for her own ears. It had been so many years… not once had he hit her. But this year, on the day that she’d decided to leave, he had shattered her dreams of the years before once again.