What are you doing?” Before Myra could react, and just when Lyla was about to kneel on the ground, a cheerless voice came through. While Myra froze, Lyla was smiling when nobody could see her. After that, the two of them turned around to cast their glances in the direction of the voice, only to see Sean marching toward them with a grim look on his face while holding onto his phone. With the silent cafeteria as a backdrop, the ceiling lights that shone on him seemed to make him glow. However, it didn’t soften his gaze as he stared at Myra with a steely look.
“Sean, I’m alright. Didn’t I tell you I’m having a drink with Myra? I can solve this on my own, so don’t—” Lyla began explaining herself in a flurry of panic. When she turned to look at Myra, she inadvertently showed him the angry slap mark on her left cheek. Then, as if realizing what she had done, she tried to turn away to hide that mark, but Sean held her head in place by pinching on her chin.
“Sean, I’m fine, really…” Although Lyla’s eyes were red on the rim, she was consoling Sean with a gentle voice.
On the other hand, his pupils shrunk in anger when he laid eyes on the slap mark and the water that drenched Lyla’s face. He snapped his head back to stare at Myra, who was biting on her lip, with piercing eyes that nailed her to the spot. “Apologize!” His gaze was chilly and aloof when he glared at her while gritting his teeth.
Meanwhile, Myra was watching as he held Lyla in his arms, tucking her as close as possible, as if afraid Myra might harm her. Myra could feel her own body stiffen while she bit her lip. Nonetheless, she met his steely gaze stubbornly. “Why should I apologize?”
She realized Lyla was lying when she said she would reveal to her the truth regarding her baby. All Lyla wanted was to lure her out. While recalling Lyla’s previous actions, the pieces began quickly falling into place in her mind. Having grasped Lyla’s true intentions, she wanted to laugh, but she couldn’t. At least not at that moment. It’s all because I was foolish enough to trust her that I ended up falling into her trap!
“Sean, I’m fine, so don’t do this to Myra.” With reddened eyes, Lyla began shedding tears. “All I wanted was to tell her to stop treating you like that. She might have lashed out at me, but I’m fine…”
“Apologize to Lyla!” Sean averted his gaze from Lyla’s face. The veins on his forehead were popping when he glared at Myra, while a storm seemed to be brewing behind his intense gaze.
Myra was still biting down hard on her lips, so much so that she nearly drew blood. Whenever she had a conflict with someone, Sean would always request that she apologize to the other party, as if she were, by default, the vicious and despicable one who was at fault in every situation. While she used to feel aggrieved, she now felt humiliated. Therefore, she merely clenched her fists on her sides.
“Sean, don’t be angry…” Although still wearing an aggrieved look, Lyla was tugging on his sleeve benignly. “I’m fine. There must be some sort of misunderstanding. I was intending to question Myra about the incident, as I didn’t want you to feel sad over this. Please don’t treat her like this. We can still talk things through…”
As if suddenly noticing something, Lyla sprang into action, trying to pick up the photos on the table, but Sean already noticed them before she could. He snatched them away from her with a morose look on his face. Following her movement, he noticed that there were still a lot more photos on the table or even scattered on the floor. Those were all photos of Myra being intimate with another man.
Some depicted her in his arms, while some depicted her kissing him. There were also ones in which they were flirting while the man reached out to caress her. Sean stared at the photos in disbelief before he was quickly overwhelmed by shame and anger. Prior to that, he was merely having doubts, but with those photos, his doubts were proven to be true. Since he never was as intimate with Myra, he couldn’t possibly be the man in the photos. All of a sudden, he threw the photos onto Myra’s face. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
While her face hurt from being hit by the photos, her heart was aching even more. When she took a closer look at the photos, she noticed most of them were taken when she was with Tony. She didn’t even know when Lyla sent a detective after her to take those photos, but it sure proved how much effort Lyla put into her plot.
“Sean, Myra must have her own reasons, so why don’t you wait until I talk things through with her?” Although Lyla said so, she seemed to fear Myra, as her body trembled while she added in a hushed voice, “I have nothing that she might target, so you don’t have to worry…”
Have nothing that she might target… Her words reminded Sean of their unborn child. Throughout the past two years, he had been wondering why Lyla would leave him. He didn’t believe she would make the decision out of money. Plus, he came to know by accident a few days ago that she had had a conversation with his mother back then…
The scales were tipping without him noticing it. He knew for certain that he had yet to get over Lyla. He had always had a great impression of her. After he knew that his mother had spoken to her before her departure, he immediately began searching for clues like a madman. And now that he’d witnessed her being humiliated by Myra for his sake… Although Sean still had a grim expression on him, he was patient toward Lyla. All of a sudden, he took off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders.
Lyla was startled by his kindness. Soon, tears began welling up in her eyes. “Sean…”
Although Sean’s movements were stiff, his expression cold, Myra noticed the worry and love he had for her, which made her feel jealous. Throughout their two-year marriage, he never was considerate toward her. Even a casual greeting was too much to ask of him, say less of such acts of kindness.
“Myra Stark, you’d better stop finding fault with her, or else I won’t go easy on you the next time!” Sean took a hot towel from a waiter that he covered on Lyla’s face delicately. Lyla shuddered, for the sudden warmth on her face seemed to sting a little. Seeing that, Sean pulled her into his arms. While Lyla was in his arms, she smiled when neither him nor Myra were looking.
She was pleased when she noticed that Myra was spacing out while staring at Sean. However, she lowered her gaze to tug on his sleeve once again. “Sean, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding, so don’t be angry. Let’s talk things through calmly, please?”
