Chapter 209 Will Not Forgive
Zoey didn't wake up until nine o'clock.
When she got up and saw Charles sitting on the sofa, her eyes immediately swept past him. She couldn't be bothered to look at him.
She went to have a simple breakfast—just putting bread in the toaster, then spreading a layer of blueberry jam on it.
Charles walked over to Zoey and said, "Let me spread the jam for you?"
Zoey didn't even respond. She spread it herself and ate it herself.
Seeing that she refused to acknowledge him, Charles decided to swallow his pride and apologize, though still in a tone like coaxing a child: "Zoey, I've already decided not to meet with Janice anymore. Can you please stop being mad at me?"
Zoey still ignored him.
Just then, Phoebe and the others called from outside: "Zoey, want to go to the market?"
Zoey immediately responded loudly: "Yes, coming right away!"
Then she shouted upstairs: "Matilda, I'm going grocery shopping. Wait for me at home."
Matilda asked from upstairs: "Can you carry everything?"
"Rose will help me carry stuff."
Zoey walked out cheerfully.
Ever since her morning sickness period ended, she often bounced around when walking, not looking like a pregnant woman at all.
It has to be said, being pregnant when you're young is really great.
Seeing Zoey leave, Charles quickly followed her out.
But when he got outside, he saw a group of women protecting Zoey.
The women also saw Charles and couldn't help asking Zoey: "Zoey, is this your husband?"
Zoey nodded: "But he'll be my ex-husband soon!"
Charles fell silent.
He took two steps forward and said to Zoey: "Zoey, stop this. How about I go grocery shopping with you, and we can have a good talk?"
"I have nothing to talk about with you." Zoey hid behind Rose.
Looking at Charles, the women felt he didn't seem like a jerk. Charles wasn't wearing a suit today—he was dressed casually, looking both young and somewhat approachable.
Charles even smiled politely at them, and that smile was like a quality idol on TV smiling at fans.
Phoebe felt a bit awkward and said to Zoey: "Zoey, is there some misunderstanding between you two?"
Zoey immediately started crying, looking pitiful. "There's no misunderstanding. The night before I left home, he went on a date with his old flame. I stayed alone in an empty room until dawn, crying all night. What exactly he was doing, nobody knows."
Hearing Zoey's words, Phoebe's heart immediately hardened. She questioned Charles: "Did you go see your old flame or not?"
"I..." Women really know how to ask questions, picking the trickiest ones. If they had asked whether he went on a date with his old flame, he could have denied it.
"I did go see my old flame, but it's not what you think. Zoey, Janice was hurt, I just went to check on her."
"Then why does she need you to check on her? Don't you have a wife?" Zoey stopped crying now and questioned him loudly.
The women also joined in criticizing him: "Yeah, an old flame is forbidden territory. No matter how much you like her, since you already have a wife, you should just keep it quietly in your heart and cut off all thoughts."
"Your old flame got hurt, why did she specifically call you? Doesn't she know you're married? Calling you out for a whole night even though you're married—clearly she has bad intentions. Who knows what you two were doing?"
The women criticized him one after another.
Finally, Zoey pulled Phoebe's hand. "Phoebe, let's go buy groceries. I really don't want to see him."
Charles fell silent.
He just felt his heart bleeding as he watched Zoey being protected by several women like an endangered species.
In the past, Charles would have already gone back home.
There was a pile of things at the company waiting for him to make decisions.
But seeing how Zoey didn't even look back, he knew he couldn't leave.
This time she came, she wouldn't even give him a glance. If he left like this, next time he came, she might not even see him.
If she ran off abroad like Janice did back then, he'd never have a wife again.
With such a bad reputation and being old, who would want to marry him? Unless they were after his money.
……
With the women's comfort, Zoey felt much better. When they got to the market, she even bought several fried duck feet to munch on.
Today she bought a lot of groceries again, but since she was pregnant after all, she paid for it and had Matilda cook.
Occasionally they'd eat some relatively fresh pre-made meals from hotels, or just eat out. She always insisted on paying and wouldn't take advantage of Matilda.
The women saw she was pregnant and couldn't bear to let her carry so many groceries, so they all competed to carry them for her.
After paying today, she checked her Facebook feed.
She actually saw that Charles, who never posted on Facebook, had posted something—a picture of their wedding photos.
Zoey gritted her teeth.
To coax her home, this scumbag would even do something like this!
Rose, standing nearby, couldn't help asking: "Zoey, is this a Facebook post from your husband? Oh my god, your wedding photos look so perfect together. I've been to so many weddings and never seen such beautiful wedding photos."
Phoebe asked: "He posted this picture hoping you'd forgive him, right? Zoey, he seems to really care about you."
Zoey said: "Care my ass. You know why he posted wedding photos? Because he doesn't have any other photos of us together!"
"No way? You've been married this long and he doesn't have photos of you two together?"
"He doesn't like taking photos when we go out. I always had to bug him to take selfies with my own phone. A while ago I deleted all our photos together, so naturally he doesn't have any." The more Zoey thought about it, the more she felt this marriage was just her own wishful thinking.
That dog of a man never loved her at all!
Rose said: "Did he used to post on Facebook showing off your relationship?"
"No, he never posted on Facebook before, and he never took me to his business dinners."
Mary said: "Could his Facebook post be set so only you can see it? Where others can't see it?"
Zoey said: "That's actually possible!"
Even if it wasn't visible only to her, the number of people who could see it was probably limited—maybe just those familiar people could see it.
So she pretended she hadn't seen this Facebook post.
……
The next day when Zoey went grocery shopping, Charles followed along too.
"Zoey, your husband followed us." Mary said.
Zoey glanced behind her and saw Charles carrying a shopping basket.
Seeing him like this was really unusual.
Zoey said: "Does he think I'll forgive him just because he followed along to buy groceries once? In his dreams!"
The women also advised Zoey not to forgive him so quickly. Men need to be taught a lesson, otherwise they'll get too full of themselves.