Sweet Subterfuge

Chapter 29

Travis licked his lips and spoke, his voice hoarse. “Please send me the address. I will be there shortly.”

Larissa’s assistant switched off the camera and sent over the restaurant’s address.

When they heard that Travis was coming over to pick Larissa up, the group started gossiping again.

“Looks like the two of them are still together!”

“Ms. Seymour really is patient! Her husband had an affair, and she still hasn’t divorced him!”

“What else can she do? Society puts more pressure on women than men. It’s harder to find a partner when you’re a divorced woman.”

“They have no children anyway. Based on Ms. Seymour’s looks and financial status alone, even if she was divorced, plenty of people would be lining up to pursue her, regardless!”

“Alright, alright,” Larissa’s assistant interrupted. “Regarding Ms. Seymour and her husband’s private matters, let’s all forget what we heard today. Don’t you all start spreading rumors about this outside of this room.”

At that time, Travis was still working overtime in his office.

Since the incident in the fancy restaurant, Amber had resigned from her position to recuperate at home. Travis also moved into her rental house to take care of her. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

When the two of them lived in separate houses, their relationship was very harmonious. They’d had very few arguments too. Yet, after spending more and more time together, conflicts naturally arose.

Travis and Larissa were both very busy with work, so the two of them had decided to split the burden of doing household chores between them. Sometimes, when Travis‘ team had a project to launch, he would be so busy that he could only return home after three or four in the morning. Larissa would then voluntarily help him out with his part of the chores.

Amber, on the other hand, was a woman unfamiliar with the realities of society. Moreover, she’d grown up in a household where she’d never had to experience hardships. She grew up living in comfort and luxury, which resulted in her hardly

knowing how to do any, if not all, household chores.

The first time Travis visited Amber’s house, he had almost run away in fright as soon as he saw the mess.

Her living room couch was piled with clothes, including those she had worn, those she hadn’t worn yet, underwear, jackets, coats, and overcoats–all of them were mixed together in a big heap.

On the coffee table, apart from the fashion magazines she adored, there were also discarded takeout containers,

The mess in her bedroom was even more frightful.

Her double bed was piled up even more messily than her couch. All kinds of cosmetics and beauty products lay haphazardly on her dressing table. Various bottles had been overturned and spilled over, but Amber had not bothered to place. them back upright.

Travis had spent an entire day trying to clean her house up to a livable state.

Yet, not even two days later, it had returned to its original, frightful state.

Travis had tried talking to her about it multiple times. He’d advised her to clean her house at least once every two days to maintain its cleanliness.

Amber had promised to try, but she had never once followed through on her promises.

Just recently, his company launched an important project. Travis could barely get six hours of sleep in three days. When he returned home and saw the house filled with trash, the anger he had been trying to suppress finally erupted.

He’d had a big fight with Amber that night. In the end, it only stopped when Amber cried till she couldn’t breathe and yelled about the pain in her stomach. He had held and kissed and comforted her until she finally calmed down.

Despite that, Amber seemed to have no intention of changing.

Travis thought about the child she was carrying and tried to tolerate her for its sake.

And yet, Amber’s temper had only gotten worse, reaching its peak when she’d had her miscarriage. At that point, everyone had to comply with her every need to satisfy her. Not only that, if anyone did not meet her expectations even in the slightest, she would not just curse and yell at them but would also smash everything she could get her hands on.

Travis was already exhausted from dealing with his work. Now, he had to endure her

temper too when he visited her at the hospital. As time passed, he even started to harbor some resentment toward her. Eventually, he had his parents move from their house in his hometown just to take care of her.

Amber’s uncle held a high–ranking position at Microworks Corporation.

Coincidentally, the largest shareholder in the company he worked for happened to be Microworks Corporation as well.

As soon as his mother heard about Amber’s family background, she was undoubtedly pleased. From the moment she met Amber, she had been trying to suck. up to her, speaking to her in a low and gentle tone–completely at odds with how she had treated Larissa.

His mother also took care of Amber voluntarily. Everything she did for Amber was meticulous. She even personally attended to all the details despite being constantly hit and scolded by Amber. Amber’s lack of respect toward his mother was greeted with no complaints whatsoever.

Sometimes, Travis would look at his mother and think of her as a pathetic suck–up. Then, remembering that she was only doing all of this for him, he found that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsh about her.