His Crush Came Back

The day my sister slipped away from her engagement party, she was certain that Roderick Fletcher would never truly fall in love with me.

So, she confidently went abroad, leaving me behind to take her place as Mrs. Fletcher.

I neither cried nor made a fuss, quietly enduring and preserving everyone's dignity while I was still powerless.

Then I tried my best to make Roderick fall in love with me slowly, and I deliberately left him after my sister came back.

01.

On my birthday, Roderick drove me to a campsite deep in the mountains.

Tonight, a rare red moon would grace the sky only once every fourteen years, along with a meteor shower said to grant wishes.

A few ladybugs flew onto my face, startling me and making me clutch Roderick's hand tightly.

He subconsciously shrank back, and after touching my cold hands, he wrapped me in his arms.

In our five years of marriage, Roderick had given me everything I asked for, including houses, cars, and luxury goods.

Everyone said they had never seen a man love his wife as much as he loved me.

They said it so decisively that it gave me a glimmer of hope.

So, at my celebration party, emboldened by alcohol, I leaned on Roderick's shoulder and said, "I want to spend my birthday with you this year. I don't want any parties. I just want you by my side."

Roderick froze, uncharacteristically, and only agreed when the atmosphere grew awkward.

I no longer had time to care whether his tone when he agreed to me that day was embarrassment or helplessness. I was waiting for the night to fall with joy in my heart.

But just as the sun dipped below the horizon, his phone rang.

Deep in the mountains, the weak signal crackled with static, heightening the sense of isolation. Through the noise, a few sobbing words emerged.

"Roderick, I'm so scared. Why is no one here?"

The voice belonged to Norene Knight. Roderick's expression darkened instantly.

The signal abruptly cut off, the static replaced by the sound of birds flapping their wings.

My hands turned cold again.

I reached out to tug at his sleeve, but he shook off my hand and raised his phone high, searching for a signal.

I froze in place, but he just frowned and kept calling back, not even bothering to look up to explain to me.

Sighing, I grabbed my coat and got into the car.

In the distance, faint stars began to appear, but Roderick didn't care. He stepped on the gas and sped off.

At the foot of the mountain, I stubbornly got out of the car and checked into the inn I had booked in advance.

Late at night, I was wrapped in clothes and sitting on the terrace. The cell phone signal was reconnected and my mother's calls kept coming in.

She had never called me before, not even on the night I lay in the hospital, writhing in agony from a miscarriage.

I stared quietly at her name on the screen. The ringtone stopped after a minute, only to be replaced by another call.

I answered, and as expected, her voice came through, a mix of sobs and accusations.

"How could you not tell us the party was canceled? Do you know she waited in the wind for two hours? If Roderick hadn't come in time, her health would've been in serious danger. You know how fragile your sister is!"

I gazed at the Milky Way stretching across the sky and replied mockingly, "If she is in danger, doesn't she still have you as her mother to help her draw my blood and bone marrow? How could she be in danger?"

The woman on the other end was momentarily silenced by my words, then erupted in anger.

"Didn't we provide you with a living? We, the Knight family, may owe you, but we still raised you! Why can't you tolerate your sister? Do you have to make her sick to feel satisfied? Your sister even let you have Roderick! What more do you want from her to make you happy?"

Her voice was so self-righteous, turning all of Norene's selfishness into acts of helplessness.

For so many years, I thought I had grown numb to her favoritism.

But the love and care in her words for Norene made me so jealous I nearly cried.

It seemed like a shooting star passed by outside the window. I quickly closed my eyes and held back my tears.

I turned my phone upside down and made a sincere wish.

In this new chapter of my life, I wished for an abundance of love.

When I opened my eyes, a message from Roderick sat at the top of my screen.

"Happy birthday, Kieran Knight."

I deleted the message and turned off my phone.

In this new chapter of my life, I decided to take back all the love I had given and keep it for myself.

02.

When I asked a friend at the law firm to draft a divorce agreement for me, her eyes widened in disbelief, just as they had when she first learned I was marrying Roderick.

Back then, she had said, "Are you really determined to marry a playboy like him?"

Now, she said, "He's so good to you, you really want to divorce him?"

I thought it over and, under her complicated gaze, replied seriously, "I just want to prepare a divorce agreement first, just in case."

Five years ago, Roderick not only turned down a socially and economically ideal marriage match but also declared he would give up everything to marry me, leaving everyone utterly stunned.

Because he proposed to me and not to my sister Norene, who was so sparkling and shining in the international cello competition.

I was just the most unpopular second daughter in the Knight family, not liked by my parents or men.

At first, everyone thought I was just a pawn in Roderick's rebellion. After all, he had introduced Norene to the best professor, but Norene decided to go abroad without saying a word, leaving him no room for negotiation.

But less than a month later, Roderick posted his marriage certificate with me and arranged for me to work in his company.

Overnight, those who looked down on me became friendly. Even my mother, who never even glanced at me, softened her expression, braided my hair with her own hands, and sent me off to get married.

At that time, I thought that after being ignored by fate for twenty years, I was finally favored by fate.

Even if the start was not so ideal, I was willing to be brave once, just for myself.

So, I worked day and night, striving relentlessly to stand as his equal. At home, I took care of everything personally, leaving his family with no room for criticism.

The first time Roderick saw his notoriously picky mother, who had once scolded Norene to the point of storming out, warmly holding my hand and refusing to let go, he stared at me in stunned disbelief.

It seemed that from that day on, he realized that I was not as cowardly and useless as the rumors said.

He began to slowly accept me, even to tentatively... fall in love with me.

He transformed from a playboy into a man who stayed home to garden and cook with me. If he wasn't traveling for work, he would always return home before midnight.

Whenever I saw the headlights of his car outside the villa, I would heat up soup for him.

And when he walked through the door, he would take my hand, kiss the ring on my finger, and whisper in my ear, "I'm so tired today, I miss you."

That kind of closeness made it all too easy for me to lose myself in him.

He started to treat me so well that I even thought he really fell in love with me. He almost let down my guard and made me almost open with him.

Until a month ago, when I received an anonymous text message.

"These five years must have been tough on you, but I'm coming back next month, and it's time for things to go back where they belong. Right, Kieran?"

Her tone was so confident and determined that my head was spinning.

Why was it that when she decided to go abroad, she could leave everything behind for me to clean up, yet now she could casually turn my life upside down just as I had finally found some stability?

"I'm very satisfied with my life and have no plans to divorce for the time being. Neither does Roderick."

I mustered all my courage to send the message, but she seemed too disdainful to reply. There was no response after that.

The next moment, I received a bank notification of a two-million dollars deposit from my husband, Roderick.

He wrote in the note, "I'm sorry."

In an instant, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over me, jolting me awake.

Of course, without Roderick's tacit approval, how could Norene have been so bold as to send such a provocative text to me?

Like Roderick, Norene valued ​​face more than anything else. She was so arrogant that she even felt justified in interfering in my marriage.

I turned off my phone and poured the soup in the kitchen down the drain.

Roderick wouldn't be coming home tonight.

Five years. It was time to wake up from the dream.

That was a close call. I almost fell in love with you.

03.

It hadn't even been a week since I consulted a law firm about divorce, and rumors about Norene rekindling her old flame with Roderick upon her return were already spreading like wildfire.

Some said I was useless, just a bumpkin from the countryside who couldn't keep my husband's heart.

Others mocked Norene, saying that after all her years of struggle, she had stooped so low as to come back and fight her sister for a man.

Norene could stay composed, but someone else couldn't hold back and rushed to defend her.

Roger's call came just as I was preparing to chair a meeting to finalize the spokesperson for our company's New Year product line.

His young and irritable voice came from the receiver.

"It's your own fault that you are useless and can't win your husband's heart. Why do you slander Norene? Never thought you, who always pretended to be so virtuous, would jump at the chance to act so shamelessly."

My secretary beside me looked so uncomfortable she wished she could cover her ears, but I calmly circled the key points for today's meeting and replied into the phone.

"If you're really capable, either have the guts to tell Roderick to stop bothering Norene or persuade Norene to be patient and wait until I'm divorced before clinging to Roderick. That way, no one would think the Knight family raised a mistress.

Too bad you're just a spoiled brat, coddled by our parents. Even after taking over the company, you still rely on Roderick's business to survive.

You don't dare to offend him, so you come here to show off to me."

I took a sip of water and let a wry smile spread across my face.

"A loser."

I hung up the phone, cutting off Roger's impotent rage.

Roger and I hadn't been in touch for years. Even when we met at banquets, he only called me "sister" awkwardly for Roderick's sake.

Roger had grown up with Norene, while I had been left with our grandparents in the countryside. Naturally, he wasn't close to me.

In his eyes, I was still the timid Kieran who didn't even dare to speak loudly, never imagining I would be so unkind to him.

What he didn't know was that I now had full control over the fashion line of the Fletcher family's company.

So, with just one subtle hint during the meeting, I cut off the company's support for the Knight family for the next quarter.

In the spacious office, I finally realized how good it felt to have a say.

That evening, Roderick returned home earlier than me, which was rare.

He had found the divorce agreement I had tucked away in the drawer.

The thin sheet of paper had been torn into several pieces and thrown into the trash.

Roderick stubbed out his cigarette and spoke slowly.

"I heard you cut off the Knight family's contract just because I went to help Norene? She fainted from the cold because of your birthday. I couldn't just leave her to die. You actually... shouldn't be so petty."

Roderick's tone was calm, but he quietly passed judgment on me.

I didn't care how Roger had slandered me, nor did I want to dwell on how Norene had ingratiated herself with Roderick to make him think I was being unreasonable.

I just suddenly got angry. I was angry that Roderick didn't see for five years that I wasn't clinging to him to grow. I was angry at myself for still holding on to a glimmer of hope that he would favor me a little.

But even a little seemed too much for him.

"If you're unhappy with my decisions, you can just fire me. Well, and don't forget the severance pay, or I'll take it to arbitration.

You're the boss. If you want to hand the entire company over to the Knight family, I wouldn't say a word, let alone a small product line that I am in charge of."

I rarely spoke to him with such sharpness. Roderick looked surprised but merely gazed at me quietly before finally chuckling and touching my face.

"What nonsense are you talking about, you jealous girl? Fire my wife for an outsider? Am I crazy?"

He tossed me a lavishly packaged box containing the latest haute couture of the season.

"The Knight family is hosting a banquet tonight to celebrate Norene's return. The invitation was sent to me.

I was just worried you'd feel awkward tonight. Don't overthink it."

04.

The Knight family's invitation letter was placed on the table, with the words "Sincerely invite Mr. Fletcher and Mrs. Fletcher" written on it.

The invitation featured a photo of Norene, looking gentle and serene, hailed by our parents as their "precious jewel."

And yet, as their second daughter, I could only attend the Knight family's banquet through my husband's invitation.

I smirked sarcastically, grabbed the dress, and went into the room.

There were delicate tassels and ribbons on the back of the dress. I was angry and tied them in front of the mirror for a long time.

During this time, Roderick knocked on the door gently. I didn't answer him, and he never asked again.

Once I was dressed, I rubbed my stinging eyes, straightened my back, took a few deep breaths, and flung the door open.

The living room was empty, except for the driver waiting.

"Madam, Mr. Fletcher had an urgent matter and left earlier."

The storm in my heart turned into a joke at that moment.

I must look ridiculous with this forced smile on my face. I brushed past the awkward-looking driver and got into the driver's seat myself.

When I arrived at the banquet hall, Roger was waiting at the entrance as if he had planned it all along, grinning maliciously as he asked for my invitation.

"This is a formal banquet. Without an invitation, I'm afraid I can't let you in."