Chapter 4

It had been five days since Terence had stopped going home. Hailey finally realized he'd run away from home. She picked up her phone and called him for the first time. She stood on the balcony, watching as the sun slowly set and the sky darkened. Her heart sank like the sun did, and impatience surged in her. Terence didn't answer any of her calls. She took a deep breath and decided to call his family. Then, she remembered he was an orphan—his only relative had been his grandmother, and she'd passed away due to an illness a few years ago. As she scrolled through her contacts, she realized she didn't even know who his friends were. She went to his room, hoping to find some clues. But as soon as she opened the door, she was taken aback. She rarely entered Terence's room but vaguely remembered how it was decorated. He had a gentle and demure personality, so his room only had the necessary furniture. Now, however, there were various decorative pieces around. There were also flashy clothes and accessories. She couldn't see any sign of what the room had originally looked like. She was about to ask a maid who had changed the room when she saw Matthew come upstairs with a massive bouquet of roses. "Look at how beautiful these roses are, Hailey. I—" He abruptly stopped talking when he saw the slightly grim look on her face. "What's wrong?" "Where are the things that were originally in this room, Matthew?" Hailey asked. He was briefly taken aback. Then, he said, "I asked the maids to clear them out when I saw how outdated they were. Are you mad at me? I suppose that makes sense. "This is the home you share with Mr. Stone, so you guys are the ones who should decide what goes where. I'm just an outsider, after all. I should leave…" He became choked up toward the end of his sentence, and his eyes reddened. For some reason, Hailey couldn't help feeling a little irritated at the sound of his weeping. Terence had never cried around her. Even when she'd spent three months abroad to help Matthew divorce his psychotic wife, Terence had merely spoken to her over the phone and told her to stay safe. Matthew looked up at Hailey, perhaps wondering why she'd yet to console him. He found her staring at Terence's room, her gaze dazed. He bit his lip, feeling resentful. He was back in the country and standing before her. He wasn't going anywhere. Why was she still thinking about Terence? This made him feel even more wronged. He wept and said, "It's all my fault. I should never have returned, let alone taken over his room. I should get going." He threw the bouquet aside and turned to run off. "Matthew!" Only then did Hailey snap to her senses and run after him. "Let me go! Let me leave this place!" Matthew's eyes were filled with pain and torment. "If not for me returning to the country and troubling you with my problems, he wouldn't have done this…" The more he struggled to break free, the tighter Hailey gripped him. "What does this have to do with you? He's the one who's causing a scene over nothing." "He's only acting like this because you've allowed it, Hailey." Matthew smiled bitterly. "Whenever I couldn't fall asleep because of how much I missed you, I would ask the people in our circle about you. But all I would hear was that you were with him…" His eyes reddened again. Hailey couldn't stop herself from blurting, "Others might not know why I married him, but don't you?" Matthew tearfully looked at her. "Was it really because of me?" Hailey didn't say anything, but her silence was the best answer. Matthew finally stopped crying. That night, they had a candlelight dinner. Hailey rarely drank alcohol, but she downed glass after glass of wine during dinner. She drank until her eyes turned red. Seeing that the time was ripe, Matthew dug out the divorce agreement Terence had given him. "Do you remember the villa you bought me, Hailey? You need to sign an additional agreement for it." She took it from him. She was cautious when it came to signing agreements and was about to flip through it when he stopped her, immediately flipping to the last page. Then, he pressed a hand to his head. "I'm not feeling too well, Hailey. Let's head home once you've signed this." Hailey immediately put down her pen and felt his forehead. "Where does it hurt? I'll take you to the hospital." She was about to put the document away and pull Matthew out of the restaurant, but he stopped her and shook his head, a hint of panic in his eyes. "It's not a big deal. I'll be okay once we head home. Just sign the document." Hailey was worried about him, so she signed the divorce agreement without trying to read it again.