Forgive My Ex-husband

Every time she thought Emily was out of the picture, the woman always popped up again, like some persistent weed that wouldn't die in spite of the elements. And the actress never seemed to run out of schemes, too; each one was always different from the last.

"Melinda?" Leo snapped his fingers in front of her face. "What's wrong? Where have you drifted off to?"

"Oh everything's fine," she quickly replied. "I just remembered something." She was never one to voice out her struggles and her burdens. And in light of everything that happened to her in the past five years, it wasn't easy for her to share her secrets.

Lucky for her, Leo was not the type who pried. He kindly accepted her vague reason and left it at that, then took the reins of the conversation and began a new topic. Soon they were in avid discussion again. The party was dwindling, and a lot of the other guests had already left. At this point, Melinda and Leo were talking about stories of the ancient scholars, and what was meant to be a little chat turned into an animated intellectual discourse. Both of them were intelligent, after all, and matters regarding history had a special place in the hearts of such people.

Meanwhile, from the other side of the room, Yulia could only stare and seethe with envy. She didn't know what to do. Since she couldn't catch the gorgeous man's attention, the least she wanted was to wrench him away from Melinda's clutches.

She had been keeping a close eye on the two, looking for the perfect opportunity, the perfect timing, when they might slip and act as though they were secret lovers. She would pounce on them then, and publicly accuse them of adultery. 'Let's see what that bitch is going to do then!'

"Yulia, won't you come with me to meet some new friends?" So rapt was her attention at her sister-in-law and Leo that Emily's sudden appearance at her side startled her.

When Yulia turned, she saw that Emily and Queena had both risen from their seats. The auction was now over, and the host was saying the closing remarks on the podium.

Since Emily organized the event, she would no doubt be up there later as well. And since she had especially invited Queena as an esteemed guest, and indicated so in the program, the older woman would be saying a few words, too.

The actress was looking at her expectantly, and Yulia pulled herself together. "Sure. Why not?" Emily was sure to have a wide social circle, and it wouldn't hurt to establish new connections.

As they moved from the tables to approach Emily's acquaintances, Yulia turned to cast a last glance at Leo and Melinda. The man was patting her sister-in-law gently on the head, smiling down at her sweetly. The scene made Yulia's blood boil, and she wasn't able to stop her expression from morphing into that of absolute fury.

Her gaze remained glued to the couple across the room, and in her distraction she bumped into Queena rather forcefully as the older woman tried to walk past her. "Yulia, what the hell are you doing?" the madam hissed, and Yulia snapped back from her daze. Just her luck to incur the woman's wrath as well in the same night.

She knew that if Queena was provoked, she could make her life utterly miserable. She paled as she tried to think of a way out. Her eyes darted back to where Melinda was.

"I'm so sorry, Aunt Queena. It's just that I was shocked to see Melinda being so intimate with that gentleman over there..." She drifted off on purpose, and turned her head to the object of her statement. Naturally, the other women turned towards the same direction.

"I'm to blame as well, Aunt Queena," Emily interjected. "I think Yulia tripped on some of the cable wires on the floor. I should have made sure nothing was in the way of the guests."

Yulia shot the actress a grateful look, but Queena's eyes were still trained on her daughter-in-law. Melinda had had to adapt dramatically in order to survive in the Gu household, and so she developed a keen sixth sense when it came to threats against her.

At the moment, she could sense a stare that was shooting daggers at her nape.

She turned to find the three women glaring at her. 'What now?' she thought. But since she knew she had done nothing in particular to antagonize them, she resumed her conversation without dwelling on the matter.

Those women were always mad at her for something or other anyway.

"Don't cover up for her, Emily," Queena was saying at that moment.

"I'm all seeing the same thing right now. Aunt Queena, that Melinda has gone too far. You can't just stand by and watch her flirt with another man. She is going to make a cuckold of your son! What will people think of our family? It will be a huge scandal!" Yulia stated in an angry voice.

She was not above playing dirty, after all. She was determined to bring Melinda down, and she would enlist all the help she could get from anyone she could convince.

As much as Queena disliked her daughter-in-law, though, she wasn't particularly fond of her husband's bastard either.

Seeing the older woman take time to contemplate, Yulia gave Emily a pointed look. The women's minds were in sync again, as the case usually was when it came to plotting against Melinda.

"Aunt Queena, shall we go over there and take a look at the situation?" Emily suggested, lacing her voice with some hesitation to hide her bubbling anticipation at the trouble that was unfolding. Her acting skills were really very useful.

"Aunt Queena, please go and look into it," Yulia prodded. She was running out of patience. She wanted Melinda to be put to her place, which was anywhere but the spotlight.

This seemed to persuade Queena at last, and the three women strode over as one.

The spirited discussion stopped as the women loomed over Melinda and Leo's table. They weren't stupid; they both immediately recognized the cruel intent in those three pairs of eyes.

Leo rose from his seat and greeted them politely, "Hello, Madam Gu, Miss Bai, Miss Gu."

Melinda rose as well, but only greeted one person. "Mom."

Queena sneered at them. "We are at a public event. We should be careful with our rendezvous, don't you agree?"

People were starting to throw curious glances at them, and despite her words, it was the women's approach that caused the scene, not Melinda and Leo's animated conversation.

It didn't occur to her, of course, blinded as she was by her prejudices. All she could think of at that moment was how easily her hard-earned reputation was crumbling because of some lowborn woman who married into the family. Her fury grew.

Before anyone else could say anything, Leo had stepped forward towards the women. "I'm very sorry for my carelessness. It's all my fault. I will bear the responsibility."

It was an olive branch of some sort. Queena and Leo both knew that if she acknowledged his apology, they could leave the matter be and not stir the issue any further.

It was then that Emily spoke. "Mr. Liu, I can see that you and Miss Mo are very close with each other. I'm a little envious that she managed to maintain very good relationships with quite a lot of outstanding schoolmates. Like you and Kent."

While short-lived, there had in fact been rumors of a romance between Melinda and Kent, and Emily made sure to squeeze that little reference into the scene. Queena peered at her daughter-in-law. "That's very true," Yulia smirked, shooting Melinda an arrogant glance. "Melinda does get along very well with her schoolmates."

It was quite clear what they were implying. Not only was Melinda being adulterous, but she was involved with multiple men as well. All five of them could hear the words that weren't being said. Leo's expression suddenly changed then. He always looked dashing, and boyishly debonair, but now he took on a cold and intimidating facade, something that certainly made many a man back down from a fight with him.

"Melinda is highly intelligent and very well-spoken even when we were younger. She is one of the most popular students in the campus; naturally, she has many friends."

Seeing his vehement and somewhat immediate reaction, Emily smiled to herself in satisfaction. "You must calm down, Mr. Liu, or onlookers might automatically assume that I bullied Miss Mo judging by how anxiously you defend her."

Leo's

gaze narrowed at the actress, and a corner of his mouth lifted in a sardonic smile. 'So this is how you want to play it. How foolish, for a mere girl to play words with two eloquent professionals.'

"I meant no such thing, of course, Miss Bai. I just somehow felt that I needed to remind you of lessons taught at school. 'A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words'-surely you've heard of the saying?" Emily flushed with embarrassment at the reprimand, but she quickly recovered herself.

"Well, people lead different lifestyles, so it isn't surprising to find that we all hold different ideological lessons. No one can force anyone to do something against their will. But I find that I need to give some reminders of my own. Perhaps you've forgotten that Melinda is married to Mr. Gu; you should call her Mrs. Gu, otherwise anyone within earshot might get the wrong idea when they hear you call her Miss Mo. Ah, but seeing as how keenly aware you are of the fact, I can't help but wonder why you yourself do not address her as Mrs. Gu and call her Miss Mo instead."

Leo's tone was oozing with sarcasm, and Emily's mask slipped from her face. She glared at the man, earning herself a smug grin.

Melinda had remained silent the entire time, and she now stared in shock at the back of Leo's head. She hadn't expected him to defend her to such extent, even provoking her own enemies.

He went as far as publicly declaring her identity as Jonas's wife, and in her periphery she could see the eavesdropping bystanders whispering among themselves. That was the end to the speculation of who she was then.

"I apologize," Emily finally said, even as she gritted her teeth. She had never been so cleverly insulted in her life.

"I was just trying to comment on what good friends you are. My mouth seemed to have run off on its own accord. I'm so sorry that Mr. Liu misunderstood what I was trying to say.

It's my fault. I'm such a clumsy talker." Her hand clutched her purse tightly, and in her mind she was fantasizing it was either of Melinda's or Leo's neck she was wringing.

"Ah well," Leo said casually. "I share the blame, then, since I tend to take words at face value. Especially when they are spoken with the intent to badmouth me." He had a cheerful tone as he brushed off the confrontation, but the look he gave Emily was cutting.

Emily could only bite her lip. There was nothing more she could say, at the risk of digging a deeper grave for herself.

Beside her, Yulia glanced at Emily with wide eyes, counting herself lucky for not saying anything offensive to Leo. If she did, she might have been in a far worse predicament than the actress.

Even so, her admiration for him only grew. He looked so hot when he was mad, too.

Melinda couldn't hide her amusement, and chuckled softly to herself, which only drew Queena's attention. She glared at the younger woman.

Emily, whom she greatly favored, had been mocked in her presence, and it was all because of this Melinda. "Melinda, apologize to Emily in behalf of Mr. Liu, this instant!"

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence. She practically yelled her order, and in such an imperative tone.

The other women glanced sideways at Melinda, anticipating her reaction. Leo looked at his friend, too.

"I don't believe I've said anything wrong at all. Even if I did, and if I wanted to, I can apologize to Miss Bai without dragging Melinda into it."

Queena ignored him; she wasn't going to throw herself to a battle of wits with this man. She would only find herself skewered and roasted like Emily. Instead, she screamed, "Melinda!"

The glare she shot Melinda was full of menacing threat. If it had been her past self, Melinda would have immediately given in to their demands, no matter how demeaning.

But times had changed, and so had she.

Not to mention, Queena was essentially demanding something of Leo. If Melinda relented, she would humiliate not only herself, she would also be slapping Leo's earlier arguments to his face.

But more importantly, she admitted to herself that she didn't want to compromise with any of the Gu family right now.

Melinda stepped forward and looked at Emily with cold disdain. There was no point in playing nice, after all, all things considered.

"Miss Bai," she said, and despite herself Emily felt a chill crawl over her body. Melinda's tone was not unlike the one Jonas would use when he was trying to get rid of her. "In the future, please keep in mind tha disaster springs from careless talk."

Then Melinda reached back to her chair and grabbed her purse. "I'm a little tired. I'll be leaving first."

With that, she turned and left, not bothering with further pleasantries. Leo chuckled at her exit, then picked up his coat and followed suit, not bothering with a goodbye either.

The three women stared at her back as she walked away. Queena's fingers were trembling with fury. Her daughter-in-law had just publicly humiliated her! And even worse, Melinda had caused her to act so shamelessly in public.