Chapter 199 Speaking Ill of Others Behind Their Backs Is Wrong
"What? You want a divorce?" Mr. Turner couldn't believe it at all. "You insisted on marrying him before, so why do you regret it now? Did he do something to hurt you? Zoey, don't worry, Dad will always have your back."
Even without the company, he couldn't let his daughter suffer any grievance.
Zoey sighed and thought for a moment before saying, "Dad, Mom, actually he didn't do anything to hurt me. If I have to say there's something wrong, it's that he doesn't love me. But not loving someone isn't wrong."
Mr. and Mrs. Turner couldn't help but exchange glances.
They had been discussing this issue all along, because in their view, their daughter had been fooling herself from the start. But seeing how happy she looked, they couldn't bear to burst her bubble.
So, was their daughter finally seeing clearly now?
But Mrs. Turner still asked, "Zoey, Charles really doesn't pay much attention to you, but didn't you seem pretty happy before? So now... did something happen to make you think he's no good?"
Zoey said, "His ex-girlfriend came back. They still have feelings for each other."
Then she showed them the photos on her phone.
When Mrs. Turner saw them, she said indignantly, "Charles is really going too far. So what if she's his ex-girlfriend? She already has a child, and he's still running around doing everything for her!"
"Right, you must divorce him!" Mr. Turner also said.
Just then, the housekeeper came in. "Mr. and Mrs. Turner, Mr. Gonzaga is here."
At the mention of Charles, Mr. Turner's confidence weakened a bit.
But this was just a professional habit. Soon he straightened his back, gathered his courage, and said loudly, "Tell him not to come in. Tell him to go find his ex-girlfriend."
The housekeeper walked to the door and shouted outside, "Mr. Turner says you should go find your ex-girlfriend!"
Everyone fell silent.
Charles called Zoey, but she didn't answer.
After letting the phone ring for a while, Mrs. Turner answered it. She was still fairly reasonable. "Charles, Zoey is at home, but she's in a bad mood right now and doesn't really want to see you. May I ask what you need?"
Charles said, "I want to see her. Mom, could you please open the door?"
Mr. Turner looked at Zoey. "Zoey, why don't we let him come in and talk? We can clear things up."
Zoey huffed, "I don't want to see him. You two talk to him, and while you're at it, have him sign the divorce papers."
Then she went upstairs and locked the door.
Charles came in with gifts and was respectful to his in-laws.
But Mr. Turner kept a stern face, and Mrs. Turner didn't look pleased either.
Mr. Turner told him, "Zoey has been really hurt. She even wants a divorce."
Charles explained, "I went to see my ex-girlfriend today because she ran into some trouble."
"What kind of trouble requires you to go in person? You could have sent someone to help, or you could have asked me to go," Mr. Turner said.
Mrs. Turner nudged her husband and rolled her eyes.
Mr. Turner went on, "Charles, you know Zoey is sheltered. We've spoiled her since she was little. Whatever she wanted, we never denied her. So when she insisted on marrying you, even though we knew you didn't love her, we still let her marry you. She's been married to you for so long—even if she were a puppy, you'd feel bad if she got hurt, right? But we haven't seen any sign that you care about her."
"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I..."
"In the future, can you stop seeing your ex-girlfriend?" Mrs. Turner asked.
Charles didn't answer right away. He seemed to be hesitating and struggling. Thinking of Janice's frail body and that poor girl, he felt he should help her somehow.
Mr. Turner cut in, "If Zoey had an ex-boyfriend and kept seeing him over and over, you'd be jealous too."
Mrs. Turner concurred, "That's right. Zoey even said she wants a divorce. She wants to leave with nothing."
Charles looked upstairs. "I want to talk to Zoey face to face."
Mr. Turner refused. "Zoey doesn't want to see you. She only wants a divorce."
Charles thought it wouldn't come to that.
Zoey had always liked him so much. How could she bear to divorce him?
He went upstairs and knocked on the door, but Zoey just wouldn't open it. With his in-laws following behind him the whole time, he found it pointless and stopped knocking.
"Zoey, I'm going home now. There's nothing between Janice and me. When you've thought things through, come back home, okay? I'll be waiting for you at home."
After Charles left, Zoey lay on her bed and started looking through photos they'd taken together.
Since getting married, she'd often insisted on taking selfies with him. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to. She loved using beauty filters, and he'd say that with those filters, who could tell who these two people were?
But she still enjoyed taking them, and her phone album was full of their selfies.
There were also some she'd secretly taken—with him sleeping, eating or even watching TV in the living room.
Zoey looked at them for a while, then steeled herself and deleted them all.
Finally, she took out the day's prenatal checkup report.
After looking at it through tears for a while, she decided that even if she got divorced, she would have the baby. Worst case, she'd go abroad too, so Charles would never see the child. After all, he could have more children with Janice.
...
At Sunflower School in the military compound, Sally didn't rush to leave after school but went to wait for Nick.
Nick had joined the school soccer team and had to train every day after school.
Sally sat by the field reading while waiting. Before long, someone walked up to her.
"Ms. Scarlett." Sally greeted her politely.
Scarlett was her homeroom teacher this semester. There was an unspoken rule at the school that whoever was Sally's homeroom teacher was responsible for both siblings, which was why Scarlett had asked Matilda to take charge of Sally and Nick.
"Sally, are you doing well in your new family?" Scarlett asked.
Sally nodded. "I'm doing pretty well."
She wasn't lying. Her face showed genuine happiness.
"Is Ms. Spencer good to you?" Scarlett asked, unwilling to let it go.
"Pretty good. Ms. Spencer wakes us up, makes us breakfast, and dinner is really tasty too." Sally occasionally got to use a phone and knew that for someone as young as Matilda to get up and make breakfast was really not easy.
She'd even bought special tools for making breakfast.
Scarlett asked, "What about the taste of the food?"
Sally nodded again. "It's good. My brother and I aren't picky. We eat whatever there is."
Scarlett said, "But I heard... Ms. Spencer is pretty lazy, rarely goes out, and just wears pajamas at home and eats instant noodles."
Sally looked at Scarlett in confusion. "Who said that? It's wrong to talk badly about people behind their backs. Ms. Spencer isn't like that."
Scarlett fell silent.