The Unveiled Rose

Milton replied that he was home at the moment.

Zane then informed him that there would be people sending toys over and told him to sign for the delivery.

After he finished his instruction, he walked over to me and asked, "What did you want to buy at the mall? Let's go pick it out now."

Only then did I head over to the snacks section and fill an entire small shopping cart with snacks that I liked, after which I proceeded to check the items out. I had bought a lot, enough to fill two full shopping bags.

After I paid for the snacks, Zane picked up the bags and moved to leave the mall, with me following after him. When I used to visit the mall with Steven, we would always go on shopping sprees. We would always end up with more than what Zane and I had right now, never less.

However, Steven was never afraid of tiring me and would always walk casually ahead while I followed after him, carrying all the bags. The bags had been very heavy, but the idea of asking Steven for help didn't seem to have ever occurred to me.

Before today, I had always assumed that there was nothing wrong with his behavior, but now...

Even if Zane and I were neither a couple nor husband and wife, we would politely share each other's burdens.

I walked up to him and said, "Give me one of the bags, Zane. I'm really strong. I can carry it."

Zane had no intention of handing a shopping bag to me.

"Just rest," he said. "The hard labor should be left to men."

No matter how hard I tried to get him to relent, he refused to budge. In the end, I had no choice but to watch him carry the bags into the office.

Once I was seated on the couch, looking at the enormous pile of snacks in front of me, I finally realized that back then, Steven hadn't been careless or lacked awareness. He had known that I was struggling with the shopping bags and had deliberately pretended not to see anything.

Perhaps while our marriage had still persisted, he only held dislike toward me.

I shook my head, chuckling softly.

Since Steven was that annoyed at me, shouldn't he have kept his distance from me? What did he mean in pressing closer to tell me he loved me now?

I didn't understand his actions, nor could I be bothered to.

I pulled out a bag of snacks and was just about to open it when I suddenly thought of something.

Looking toward Zane, I asked, "I'm finished with my work for today. May I eat some snacks and watch a video?"

Zane replied formally, "You may."

I continued asking, "Will I bother you?"

"You won't," Zane replied, explaining slowly, "I at least have that much focus."

Once I was sure that I wouldn't interrupt him, I sighed in relief. I sent Sasha a message, telling her that I had brought her snacks. Then, I tore open a bag of chips, put on a popular drama series, and started watching in concentration. Zane was working, but when he heard the sounds from my direction, he kept glancing my way.

I hurriedly lowered the volume.

Zane got up and walked over to sit next to me, asking, "I haven't watched TV in a long time. Would you mind letting me watch along for a while?"

In response, I quickly shifted over on the couch to make space for him. "Not at all. Feel free."

"Alright."

As we watched, I explained, "I read comments on the Internet saying that this series is really good."

"It certainly is," he replied.

Seeing how focused I was, he wanted nothing more than to keep his eyes glued to me instead. But when he heard the door open with a click, he hurriedly turned back toward the screen.

Sasha called out excitedly, "I'm here for you, my snacks!"

I pointed at the unopened shopping bag to the side, saying, "That's yours."

However, she didn't pick up the bag. Instead, she sat beside me and hugged me, exclaiming, "While you're watching the series, I want to tell you about some of the outrageous things that have happened to me over the past few days!"

I suddenly perked up in interest. "Oh?"

"Remember how I stopped contacting those useless friends of mine who only knew how to fool around a while back?" asked Sasha, getting straight to the point. "Well, the piece of scum who was looking for a scapegoat suddenly rushed over to my house and..." She paused dramatically.

"He told my father that he wanted to marry me!"