Chapter 217

Janet was a stubborn woman. Not only was she angry with Ethan, but she was also displeased that he was speaking to her in that tone. She shook off his hand and smoothed her hair which had been messed up by the cold night breeze. After she put her hair behind her ears, she faced him squarely.

“Mind your words, Ethan. This might be a hotel, but it came with the restaurant downstairs. Kent booked a table in the restaurant and we were just having dinner. I’ve done nothing else with him. Or did you catch me doing anything out of line?”

Ethan suppressed his anger when he realized that he had been too harsh and his wife was getting angrier. He fixed his eyes on her and said softly, “You should have declined his invitation.”

“You and I know this is not just an ordinary invitation. It’s for work. Kent and I have to work together in the future. There’s no way I can decline seeing him always.” Janet lowered her eyes to stare at the ground. The warm gleam in Ethan’s eyes and his soft voice made her feel guilty.

“I get that, but you should have told me in advance. You shouldn’t have hung up the phone without giving me a chance to talk. How do you think that makes me feel?” Ethan queried calmly.

Janet’s anger which was previously dying down was reignited by his last sentence.

‘Humph! See who’s talking about feelings? Yes, I came to have dinner with Kent in a fit of pique. I was wrong for not informing him. But what makes him any different? After all, he hid his past with Charis from me. Why is it a big deal that I’m dining with my client? How dare he criticize me? Oh, please!’ She chewed him out in her mind.

Balls of fury swirled inside Janet as she thought about it. Charis’ affectionate face when she talked about Ethan also flashed through her mind. It made her blood boil.

The next second, she lost her cool. She raised her blazing eyes and looked at Ethan. She then shouted angrily, “Spare me your moral high ground, Ethan. You have no right to guilt-trip me. You kept your words intentionally vague when it came to Charis. I’m your wife, but you didn’t tell me that she confessed her love to you before! Not once did you tell me that she had feelings for you. Why then are you concerned about who I have dinner with? Answer me!”

Many people were moving in and out of the hotel. They stole glances at the couple and whispered to each other. They all thought that it was just a normal lovers’ tiff, so none of them interfered.

Ethan was rendered speechless. After a while, he frowned and said, “Yes, it’s true Charis once professed her love to me. But I didn’t like her, so I refused her immediately. If she still hasn’t moved on, how is that my fault?”

All these could be traced back to high school. As far as Ethan was concerned, Charis’ confession of love was a trivial matter. He felt that it wasn’t supposed to be causing a fight in his marriage.

“It happened years ago. Honestly, I didn’t tell you because I was afraid that you would be angrier if you knew it. Please, let’s not argue over that anymore.” Ethan took off his jacket and put it on Janet.

Janet snorted coldly and lowered her eyes without saying anything. She felt a little powerless.

Being kept in the dark was one of the things she hated the most. She wanted to know everything about him, no matter how small.

But Ethan always had misgivings. He didn’t know how sad she felt whenever he kept such little details away from her. It always made her heart ache inexplicably.

Growing up as the adopted daughter of the Lind family, her opinions were never taken into consideration. They always ignored her and made decisions that were often disadvantageous to her.

This was also the case with her biological parents who had abandoned her without considering how she would survive in this cruel world. All of these made Janet feel so left out and unloved. She badly wanted to feel how it was like to be taken into consideration when decisions were being made.

‘I know next to nothing about my husband, but Charis knows his favorite colors and the kind of things he likes. She was even by his side for many years. Oh, Lord!’

The thought of this caused Janet’s heart to ache again. Her energy seemed to be draining rapidly.

Sensing that she was still sad, Ethan put his arms around her and patted her back gently. He then asked, “Who told you about it?”

Janet suffered a banging headache and her face turned pale at this moment. The terrible memories tormented her greatly. A painful lump went up to her throat when she tried to wade them off. In a fit of pique, she wriggled free, took off his jacket, and threw it on him. She then replied with a pout, “Charis told me herself.”

Ethan caught the black jacket and frowned imperceptibly.

He knew what kind of person Charis was. At this moment, he thought, ‘Jeez! How could she do such a stupid thing?

I guess I wasn’t being too paranoid for keeping her a secret. She would have caused more harm if I made it clear to Janet from the onset!’