"You know that you will piss me off, don't you?" Jonathan hissed. His grip on her chin tightened, making
her involuntarily wince in pain.
Still, she had chosen to remain silent. No one could threaten or seduce her. Being caught in the current
predicament she was in now was only because of her own choice.
She made a wrong step, so now she had to bear the consequences on her own. Struggling under his
hold, she managed to force out a smile.
Jonathan only saw red at the thought of her mocking him. He had not expected this reaction out of her.
He didn't want to admit that he had lost but her arrogance had preceded her. Even though the pressure
of his grip on her chin tightened even more, he was nowhere near successful in stepping on her pride.
People like her had nerves of steel no matter how much struggle they were in.
There was a sudden inexplicable pain in his chest which caused him to narrow his eyes at her. Now, he
didn't have to wonder anymore on why she was Jacob's first love. It was because she possessed the
qualities worthy of standing by his side. Unfortunately, she didn't cherish that opportunity.
"I was so stupid to listen to Thompson's advice and marry you. Why should I use his ex-girlfriend to
provoke him? You are now his ex, which simply means that he doesn't love you anymore," he said
mockingly.
He was so angry that his finger shook in rage as he pointed it directly to Alice's face. What pissed him
off even more was that she only stood there without any reaction.
For her, his anger was nothing. She had a lot of experiences that were far more terrible than that.
She didn't even flinch at his advances. Instead she just muttered back in a low voice, "Do you honestly
think that you're better than me? We're just the same."
His jaws clenched and his eyes narrowed into slits at her statement.
Comparing him to herself was unacceptable. They were totally different from each other.
"The same? Alice, I think you're thinking too highly of yourself. How are we the same? Am I an
abandoned woman?" he scoffed.
At that moment, all he wanted to do was to be able to say the right words that would crush her spirit.
He wanted to tear off her proud face and break that arrogant expression which seemed to enjoy
mocking him.
However, she didn't back down this time. She could accept being humiliated by him, but she would
definitely not allow him to insult her dignity.
"This abandoned woman you are talking of is now your wife! Just who do you think you are, Jonathan?
In case you didn't know, I only agreed to marry you because you would be useful to me. Why would I
marry a man like you otherwise?"
Her voice was filled with venom when she spat those words at him. She was clearly furious with what
he just said.
The veins on Jonathan's forehead were now angrily bulging out. Just then, everything happened in a
flash as his palm landed heavily on her face. The impact was so strong that it felt like her brains had
been shaken violently inside her head. She blinked a few times, trying to focus on the ringing on her
ears instead of the burning sting on her face.
Of course, it still wasn't enough to shut her up. "Do you think you can change anything by beating me
up? Let me tell you this. You are nowhere as good as Jacob and never in a million years will you be
able to live up to him. In fact, it doesn't even matter if Jacob isn't in love with me anymore. In the end,
you are still nothing compared to him."
This made Jonathan's expression even more deadly. It felt like the devil was starting to possess him
and all he could see in front of him was Jacob.
He shoved Alice hard, causing her to stagger and fall heavily on the sofa before he put his weight on
top of her.
All of a sudden, he slapped her on the face again. This time around, it was twice as heavy as the
previous one that she felt like she was going to go deaf from the loud ringing her ears made. Still not
contented, he started beating her half to death.
"You know, Alice, you should understand that you could never take advantage of me by saying that. It
is only me who could marry you. Your precious Jacob, the man who you think is so nice, what did he do
to you?" he bellowed.
He didn't realize how hard he had been hitting her until he saw blood dripping down the corner of her
mouth. His brows furrowed as he pursed his lips at the ugly sight in front of him.
Although she looked like a ragged doll whose hair was all disheveled and all over her face, she still had
managed to suddenly burst out into laughter. It was shrill, insane and uncontrollable that it caused the
hairs on the back of Jonathan's neck to stand up.
It was too late when he realized that some women couldn't be provoked no matter what. Alice was that
kind of woman.
"That's enough. Why are you still smiling? If your Jacob is such a good man, then go and find him. I'd
like to see what will happen then. Don't worry, I'll purposely let you go since I'm really looking forward to
it," he reasoned out, trying to make his expression as serious as possible.
He didn't realize that he started fidgeting, and Alice only kept on laughing.
A fit of maniacal laughter jolted through her. After a few minutes, she had finally stopped. "Stop talking,
Jonathan. Are you really stupid or are you just playing dumb? All of us are just pathetic," she drawled.
It was as if his whole body went limp and all his anger had suddenly vanished because of her words.
She was right.
They were all indeed pathetic, and all of them lived under Jacob's shadow.
The worst part is that none of them could do anything about it.
Clenching his fists, he stood up and left her without uttering a single word. It was taking all his self-
restraint just to control his anger, so he decided to take out a cigarette and light it up.
"Give me one. I want to take a puff," she said. Her face looked cold and lifeless as she sat up and
stared blankly at the wall.
It didn't even look like she was blinking. She only silently stared at it as if she were studying it, when in
fact she was actually lost deep in her thoughts.
Jonathan couldn't explain why, but he suddenly felt excited as he observed her crazed figure a while
ago. Everything had started from the moment he knew her.
However, he didn't want to get to the bottom of it just yet. She didn't even look angry. In fact, it was the
exact opposite. Perhaps to a certain extent, both of them were really pathetic after all.
Without saying anything, he handed over a cigarette to her. Her eyebrows slightly raised up, eyeing the
stick on his fingers. Maybe it was because of his sudden gesture, but nevertheless she still took it.
In fact, Alice didn't really smoke. She had only seen others do it for too many times that maybe it would
be enough to make her feel better.
Jonathan took a long drag from his own, not bothering to look at her. He didn't find her sudden interest
in smoking strange. In fact, he couldn't care less at all.
After a while, he heard her break into a coughing fit. Cocking an eyebrow up in surprise, he glanced
sideways to check her out.
She only smiled bitterly at him. Her expression looked like her throat was in pain as she clutched on the
cigarette. His cold eyes only gazed back at her, not bothering to comment on her silly actions.
"Do you think we still have a future?" he deadpanned. Turning away, his gaze travelled to a distance.
It wasn't entirely noticeable, but her mouth opened up a tiny bit in surprise after hearing his question.
He had actually managed to catch her off guard, and all she could do was to imitate him with a long
drag from her own cigarette. Surprisingly, she was able to stop coughing this time. Her lips curled up
into a smirk, thinking of how she was now able to gradually adapt to smoking.
The smoke roughly clawed its way into her throat at first, but then the nicotine's addicting smell made
its way into her nose and mouth that she was unable to stop. She thought that it was a fascinating
feeling. Not long after, she didn't realize that she was already addicted to it.
Her husband didn't see the satisfaction that morphed on her face. He still had his back to her, obviously
waiting for an answer. He wanted to strangle Alice at that moment, but he had already calmed down a
lot now. Smoking allowed him to clear his mind and make a better judgment. Because of that, he knew
that it wouldn't do any good if he would beat her up again.
Besides, both of them shared a common goal after all. There was no point in ripping each other's
heads off just yet.
Ever since he had taken the position of the CEO in Shi Group, he was able to learn on how to get a
view of the overall situation. He wouldn't be as stubborn and as ignorant as before.
"I don't know. Maybe not." Her answer sounded too detached. She didn't care how the man would react
anymore.
It was as if she was talking about something as trivial as the weather. She didn't think it was an
important question anyway. After all, their relationship was just a trade.
"I don't know. It feels like I'm living in a crisis. All my life, I have been living so carefree all the time.
Having to follow rules and taking care of responsibilities are killing me," he said.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he puffed out some smoke, covering his face from Alice. She,
however, didn't feel sad at all. In her eyes, both of them were just pitiful beings.
They had no one who loved them nor cared for them. All of the problems they carried were left for them
to solve on their own. To be honest, she didn't even want Jacob to find out about her current situation.
If he learned about her situation, it would be embarrassing for her regardless of whether he cared or
not.
She used to be a precious princess in his eyes. Now, she was only trampled on and humiliated,
abandoned without hesitation and even treated mercilessly.
Everything was too late. There was no chance for her to change anything. She couldn't even control
her fate. Instead, she could only allow herself to be pushed further and further in the torrent of time.
The thought of someone talking to her about what an ideal life should be was ridiculous to her now.
She would definitely just end up laughing at that person. Even though she was still just on her twenties,
all her dreams were already completely gone.
The life she longed so much to have and hold was slowly slipping further away from her grasp. She
wanted a valuable life, but her youth had been inadvertently squandered by herself.
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