I had already stepped out of the ward door.Hearing the commotion, I was genuinely startled and turned to look.Chloe Hayes was a scorching hot tech new blood.She had started from scratch, gained fame young, and by twenty-five or twenty-six, she was a renowned female CEO.Everyone respectfully called her “Little CEO Hayes.”
Along with her fame came her reputation for being strict, cold, hard to get along with, and keeping people at arm’s length.Now, she was sprawled on the floor, completely losing her composure, frantically crawling towards me—I suddenly walked back, knelt in front of her, and asked, “Do you really only recognize me?”“Who am I?”Chloe reached out and grabbed my arm without any hesitation. She was clearly terrified I’d run off again.Chloe answered without missing a beat: “You’re Declan Davies, you live next door to me. Your dad is Mr. Davies, your mom is a high school teacher, and you’re severely allergic to peanuts and seafood. Just a tiny bit and your whole body swells up.”That… that was all perfectly accurate.My mouth twitched. “You… you think you’re twenty, right?”
“Then think about it, when we were twenty, we were sophomores in college. Look at your face now, do you look like a college student?”Chloe touched her face, then looked at me.For some reason, her face actually turned red.Me: “…”“I, I heard the doctor call you.”Chloe, dragging her broken leg, sat on the floor. Her expression was very serious, but her gaze started to drift back and forth. “I know I’m not twenty. The moment I saw you, I knew. I must have hit my head and forgotten these past few years.”She squeezed my arm, and finally said, “You… you’re my husband now.”I didn’t say anything.At that moment, I felt exhausted.After all, before coming here, I had already spent a grueling day waiting at City Hall, witnessing countless couples marry, and countless others part in bitterness.There, I had told myself that when Chloe and I finally separated, I wouldn’t be consumed by such love, hate, and anger.
At the very end, I wanted to maintain my composure.I was a man who valued his dignity.But I never expected this stupid Chloe, who apparently didn’t value her life, to recklessly swerve at high speed and crash into a barrier with that pretty boy.So I stood up then—Because Chloe was clutching my arm, refusing to let go.I had no choice but to pull her up with me.With one leg in a cast, Chloe had to stand on one foot.She watched the secretary and lawyer warily, like an injured animal separated from its pack.
To get away, I pulled the secretary over and told her, “You are Chloe Hayes, thirty years old.”“You are currently the founder and CEO of Longview Tech. This is your secretary and company legal counsel. You can trust them.”Chloe looked at them, frowning.I smiled at her. “Even if you don’t remember, congratulations. Chloe, at thirty, you’ve truly made it big.”But she just stared at me blankly.She said, “How many years have we been married?”I was very patient. “Five years.”Chloe mentally calculated the time, her eyes starting to drift again. “We ended up together right after college graduation, so… do we have any children?”
I paused.“Yes,” I said calmly. “But at four months, we couldn’t keep the baby.”Chloe took a step back.Those words seemed to stab her like a needle. She instinctively released my arm, and her body began to tremble.But she herself didn’t know where this sudden reaction came from.She stood there blankly, shaking violently.A sudden pain assaulted her, tearing at her heart, even making her lose control.“I…”She clutched her head again, pain wracking her as she said, “Declan, our… I…”
I watched with cold eyes, unaffected.Until Chloe, still clutching her head, collapsed again.With my hands in my pockets, I watched her tremble as she fell back onto the hospital bed, her features contorted, her head clutched in her hands, tears streaming down her face.Doctors and nurses rushed to her side, everyone else caught off guard.In the midst of the chaos, I told the secretary, “Please reschedule. Book an appointment at City Hall. We’ll finalize the paperwork next Wednesday.”The secretary looked at me in a panic.She hesitated, unsure what to say.But I had already turned and left.
