I Was Never His First Choice,Until I Left

The day before Kay Henson was to go home and pay her respects at her father's grave, the plane ticket she had booked was suddenly canceled.

She hesitated for a long while before finally asking her husband, Silas Delgado, if she could borrow his private jet.

Silas gave her a long, searching look and said quietly,

"Kay, if there's something you want, you can just tell me. There's no need to lie about it."

Kay opened her mouth to explain, but Silas cut her off.

"That flight of yours is running on schedule. Why would your ticket, of all people's, be the one that got canceled?"

"I know you want to fly back on a private jet to show off, to let those country folks of yours see how well you're living now. But you don't have to go about it like this."

Kay froze for a moment, then hurriedly pulled up the refund text on her phone.

"That's not it. My flight really was canceled."

But Silas only spared the booking on her screen the barest glance.

"Your photo-editing skills keep getting better."

"Besides, even if your booking got canceled, that's your own mistake. Why should I be the one to pay for your slip-up?"

"Do you have any idea how much money and resources one flight on that jet burns through? The Delgados aren't doing well right now. I'm not asking you to help me, but you can't be this wasteful either."

"Your father is already dead. When a person dies, that's the end of it. Whether you go see him or not makes no difference."

"Is all this fuss really worth it for a dead man?"

Silas's words drove into Kay's heart like blades of ice, and she couldn't stop her hands from curling into fists.

"Silas, that's my father. Are you telling me I can't even go home to pay my respects to him?"

Silas's brows knit tight, and he pressed his temple as though his head ached, as if the woman in front of him were nothing but a great nuisance.

"It's not that you can't. It's just that you shouldn't waste my resources and the Delgados' over something this trivial."

Kay's eyes stung, reddening.

She knew the gap between herself and Silas. From the day they'd been together, she had never once asked him for anything.

This was the first time she had ever asked him for a favor, and she'd never imagined he would refuse her in a tone this harsh.

For the first time, she began to doubt the love Silas claimed to have for her.

Silas seemed to realize he'd gone too far, and he pulled her gently into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Kay. Business has been bad lately, and I'm a little on edge"

Something in Kay's chest wavered, and her clenched hand loosened just a little.

"It's all right. I'll figure something out on my own."

That night, Kay called in favor after favor from every friend she had, and only just managed to get a standing-room ticket for a twenty-hour train ride, from Ashford City all the way to Rosedale, a thousand miles away.

Early the next morning, she had barely stepped off the train when a video arrived from an unknown number.

On a luxurious private jet, Silas and Rose Pruitt, the woman he had always carried a torch for, were lounging and joking on a sofa without a care in the world.

An attendant respectfully brought them dessert and drinks.

That single glass of red wine alone would have covered the cost of a round trip to Rosedale on that jet.

In Rose's arms was a snow-white fox dog. Her voice was thick with grief, yet her eyes were full of provocation.

"Silas, thank you for being willing to come with me to bury Snowy."

"Its favorite place in the whole world was the open prairie. It'll be so happy to rest in Monroe City."

"I just feel awful about making you use your private jet~"

Silas soothed her softly.

"It's only a plane. It hardly costs anything. I know how much you can't bear to part with Snowy. I'll give it a grand funeral."

"Don't be sad. From now on, I'll come back with you every year to visit it, all right?"

Rose threw herself happily into Silas's arms.

"Really? Thank you, Silas. I always knew you were the best to me."

Silas paused for the briefest moment, then wrapped his arms around her tightly.

Kay shut off the video with trembling hands. Rosedale was warm with spring blossoms, yet she felt as though she'd been dropped into a blizzard, her whole body trembling faintly.

It's only a plane. It hardly costs anything?

Yet last night Silas had accused her of being wasteful, all because she'd wanted to borrow that same jet just once.

He said he would come back every year to mourn Rose's dog.

But in the two years since Kay's father had passed, Silas had never once come home with her.

Even on the seventh day after her father's death, when she had begged him to come see her father off one last time,

Silas had refused her, his expression cold and remote.

"Kay, I don't understand why you'd cry so hard over a mound of dirt."

"Your father is already dead. Is he going to come back to life just because I go kowtow at his grave?"

Back then she had thought Silas was simply cold by nature, unable to understand her feelings.

After all, his own father had told her that Silas had been emotionally detached since childhood, that it was just his nature, that it didn't mean he didn't truly care for her.

Otherwise he never would have proposed to her.

She had believed it, and after that she never again brought up asking Silas to visit her father's grave with her.

Now she saw it clearly. He had tenderness in him after all. He had simply given all of it to another woman.

In his heart, even Rose's dog mattered more than her father.

Kay stared at the darkened screen for a few seconds, then dialed Norman Delgado's number.

"You once said that within three years, so long as I still had no child, I would be free to leave whenever I wished."

"I'd like to ask you to let me repay the debt of gratitude another way."

Years ago, Kay's father had saved Norman's life. To repay that debt, Norman had wanted Kay to become the future matriarch of the Delgado family.

She had meant to refuse, but then Silas had suddenly confessed to her, telling her he loved her, begging her to stay.

And Kay, over their time together, had already come to love Silas, so the two of them married as a matter of course.

She had thought they were a match made in heaven, until Rose returned to the country last year. Only then did Kay learn that Silas had been hiding a first love in his heart all along.

At first she had been so confident in what lay between her and Silas. It wasn't until today that she finally saw his true heart for what it was.

If that was how things stood, then she was not the sort who couldn't take a loss.

This man, she didn't want him anymore.

Kay knelt before her father's grave and told him what she had decided.

She looked at the mound of earth Silas had dismissed as nothing but dirt, her fingertips trembling.

It was true that no one grew attached to a pile of dirt. But beneath that dirt slept the person she thought of day and night.

She scattered the last handful of paper offerings before her father's grave.

"Dad, once I get back, I'm going to divorce Silas."

"And then I'll pour everything into finishing the anti-cancer drug you never got to complete, so more patients can be cured."

After paying her respects, she hurried back to Ashford City.

The drug she had been developing was nearly finished. All that remained was the final stage, and then she could put a clean end to her life in Ashford City.

But the moment she returned to the institute, she found that the drug samples and research materials she had left in her lab were gone.

In their place sat a single crisp hundred-dollar bill.

At that same moment, a notification suddenly lit up her phone.

"Prodigy Rose Pruitt develops anti-cancer drug, lifting the nation's medical research to a new height!"

In the video, Rose Pruitt was all smiles.

"Thank you all for believing in me. I went abroad to study precisely so I could develop this drug. I even gave up my own boyfriend for it..."

A trace of sorrow flickered in her eyes before she put on a magnanimous air.

"But I'm glad my sacrifice wasn't wasted. To bring people a drug that truly matters has been my lifelong wish."

Rose's lovely face paired with that resolute gaze instantly drew a flood of praise.

"Ms. Pruitt is amazing. So young, and she's already developed such an incredible drug, and so selfless too. Truly moving."

"Who's this shameless woman who stole Ms. Pruitt's boyfriend? Ms. Pruitt was overseas working hard on this drug, and she used the chance to steal her man. How disgraceful!"

"That scumbag can go choke on his regret now that he's seen how remarkable Ms. Pruitt turned out!"

Kay's face darkened as she watched Rose in the video.

The boyfriend Rose spoke of was her own husband, Silas.

Which made her, of course, the shameless woman the commenters were talking about, the one who'd stolen another woman's man.

If Rose weren't holding the very drug that had vanished from Kay's lab, she might truly have wanted to sink into the ground right then.

Seeing everyone rally behind her, Rose let a smug little smile touch the corner of her mouth.

"Please don't lash out at the wrong person. My boyfriend is a good man. He didn't want this either, but that woman's father once saved his father's life, and his father insisted on repaying the debt. There was nothing he could do."

At that, the crowd's fury instantly

Kay glanced at the empty lab, both fists clenched.

This was her private research lab. Aside from her, the only person who knew the code was her former mentor's protg, now her husband, Silas.

She forced down the grief and rage rising in her chest and pulled up the security footage on the computer.

Soon Silas's figure appeared before her.

He led Rose in, throwing open the door to Kay's lab as if he owned the place.

"Rose, come on in."

"Kay has been doing her research here. That new drug of hers is almost ready to go public. Even the National Research Institute has been watching her progress."

"All you have to do is release the drug first, before she does, and you're guaranteed to become an overnight sensation."

A greedy light glittered in Rose's eyes.

"Silas, are you really willing to hand it over to me? Kay won't be upset if she finds out, will she?"

"And what if she loses it and just exposes me on the spot?"

Silas soothed her gently.

"Don't worry. I know her computer password. I'll give you all her original files too."

"Without the research data, no one will believe her even if she tells the truth."

"Besides, she owes you this."

"If she hadn't guilt-tripped me back then, holding that life-saving debt over my head, I never would have broken up with you, and you'd never have gone abroad."

"It's just one drug. What right does she have to hold it against you?"

Rose giggled and kissed Silas on the cheek.

"Silas, you're the best to me."

Silas looked at Rose's blushing face, and for a moment his eyes seemed to lose focus.

But he quickly slipped back into that doting look, turning to help Rose search for Kay's new drug.

Kay watched, wide-eyed, as Rose bounced around her lab like she owned it.

She not only moved Kay's drug samples wherever she pleased, she also switched off Kay's incubator.

The cells Kay had poured her heart into cultivating all died off.

And Silas acted as if he saw none of it, indulging Rose's every reckless move.

Before long, Silas handed Kay's new drug to Rose.

Rose took it, eyes shining with excitement, then her gaze slid sideways and she pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, setting it down where the drug had been.

"Consider this Kay's payment for the drug. After all, we can't let her come away with nothing for her trouble."

Silas smiled and patted her head.

"That's my Rose, always so kind-hearted."

Kay stared coldly at the two of them walking off arm in arm, chilled to the very core.

More than nine hundred days and nights. More than a thousand trials.

She had poured untold energy into developing this drug, and they thought a measly hundred dollars could buy it out from under her.

Endless fury churned in Kay's eyes as she forced herself to copy the security footage onto a USB drive.

She closed her eyes, and every moment she had shared with Silas flashed through her mind.

She had believed the two of them were of one heart. He had never once mentioned Rose in front of her, and he had never refused his father's efforts to bring the two of them together.

Even now that Kay knew about Silas and Rose, all she wanted was to leave.

But Silas had no right to use her life's work to curry favor with Rose, and even less right to gamble with a drug the whole nation was waiting for.

This drug still had one final stage left. One set of data was unstable, and clinical trials hadn't even begun.

Rushing it to market like this, weren't they afraid of what might go wrong?

Her research wasn't something they could steal so easily.

Kay hadn't yet left the lab when the director of the research institute came rushing in and cornered her inside.

Anger blazed in Bruno Finch's eyes as he jabbed a finger at the news story on his phone, his voice cold.

"Kay, hasn't this drug been under your charge all along? So why has it suddenly gone public? And the researcher is someone else entirely!"

"You'd better give me an explanation today!"

Kay opened her phone.

"Director Finch, it was my failure. I didn't safeguard the drug and the related files."

"I only discovered today that someone broke into the lab and stole my drug and all of my research data."

Bruno's brow knit tight.

"Is that so? What proof do you have?"

Kay handed him her phone, pointing at the security footage on the screen.

"I installed a high-definition camera in my lab. Anyone who so much as sets foot inside gets recorded."

"The footage clearly shows those two stealing my drug, start to finish."

Something dark and unreadable flickered in Bruno's eyes. He gave a light cough.

"Understood. I'll handle this as quickly as I can."

"Leave this video with me for now. And don't keep any evidence on your end."

Kay's brow furrowed.

"Why?"

Bruno looked at her long and hard, his expression complicated.

"Kay, I'm doing this for your own good."

With that, he turned and walked out with his people, not once looking back.

Kay didn't understand the meaning behind that look, but Bruno had always been good to her, so she followed his advice. Besides, she still had a backup of the video herself.

She went straight back to the Delgado home to discuss the divorce with Silas.

What she didn't expect was that Rose Pruitt would be there too.

At that moment, Rose was directing the household servants to haul things out, load after load.

Kay glanced over without much thought and saw her own personal clothing.

And the seven-leaf flower her father had left behind, the one she had nursed so carefully for so long before it finally took root and lived.

The servant carrying the flowerpot tossed it carelessly onto the ground. Kay had no time to think. She lunged to catch it.

Just as her hands were about to reach the pot, a shove slammed into her back. Her body pitched sideways, and she crashed hard to the floor, flowerpot and all.

The crisp shatter struck straight at Kay's heart. Never mind her bruised arm, she scrambled to pick the herb back out of the broken shards of porcelain.

Blood mixed with soil clung to her face, her clothes. She was a wretched mess.

"Hahahahaha!"

Laughter like tinkling silver bells rang out behind her. Rose was cradling a white puppy not even a month old, doubled over with laughter.

"Kay, sweetie, I know you came from the countryside, but you've married into the Delgado family now. How can you still not shake off that hick streak?"

"Every other lady of standing keeps flowers and pretty plants at home, and here you are treating a pile of weeds like some treasure. Aren't you afraid people will laugh at Silas?"

Kay carefully checked the leaves of the seven-leaf flower, then slowly raised her head to look at Rose.

"A thief isn't afraid of being laughed at. So what do I have to fear?"

At that, a flash of humiliation crossed Rose's eyes. Then she turned toward Silas, who had appeared at some point without her noticing.

"Silas, is Kay blaming me?"

"How can she call me a thief?"

"I already gave her money. Why would she describe me with such ugly words?"

The moment Silas saw Rose's tears, his heart went out to her. He pulled her into his arms to soothe her.

"She spoke out of turn. How could you possibly be a thief?"

"I'll make her apologize to you, all right?"

Then he shot Kay a displeased glance.

"What you just said was way out of line. Apologize to Rose!"

The words landed, and Kay stared at Silas in disbelief.

He was making her apologize?

Making her, the wronged first wife, apologize to the mistress who had stolen from her.

By what right!

Even though she had long given up on Silas, seeing him take Rose's side without the slightest reason still left an unavoidable ache in her chest.

She forced back the tears about to fall and said in a cold voice,

"Was I wrong?"

"She forced her way into someone else's space and took what didn't belong to her. If that isn't stealing, then what is!"

"And on top of that she nearly destroyed my herb. This was my father's"

Before she could finish, Silas cut her off, his voice cold.

"Kay, I told you to apologize!"

Kay froze where she stood, stunned by his shout. Then she lifted her head, stubborn, and looked him dead in the eye.

"She doesn't deserve one!"

Silas hadn't expected her to dig in like this today, defying him over and over.

She'd always been the gentlest woman he knew. No matter how unreasonable his demands, she'd agree in that soft voice of hers.

Why not this time?

Seeing it, Rose gave a wounded little tug at Silas's sleeve.

"Silas, just let it go. Don't let me come between you and Kay."

"She's never liked me anyway. I'm used to it. It's only a couple of harsh words. I really don't mind."

Rose's tenderness moved Silas beyond words, and it deepened his contempt for the stubborn woman in front of him.

He shot Kay a scathing glare.

"Kay, look at how considerate and kind Rose is. Why can't you learn something from her?"

"Ashford City isn't your backwater. The future mistress of the Delgado house cannot be this ignorant of how things are done!"

"Have you ever seen a lady of any standing cradling a pot of dead weeds like it's some treasure? You're not embarrassed, but I sure as hell am!"

The pain in Kay's chest had gone numb.

She almost doubted whether the man in front of her was the same husband who had shared her bed night after night.

She stroked the leaves of the seven-leaf flower, again and again. Only that could quiet the blood roaring through her.

After a long silence, she said softly,

"Dead weeds?"

"This 'dead weed' is what saved your father's life."

"The anti-cancer drug launched this morning has it as an ingredient. Didn't Rose claim to be the drug's researcher? How is it she can't even recognize the raw material?"

Rose faltered for a heartbeat, then looked to Silas as if begging for rescue.

"Silas..."

Silas clenched both fists, glaring hard at Kay.

"Enough!"

"Kay, quit throwing out nonsense. I'll ask you one last time. Are you going to apologize or not!"

Kay met his fury with a steady gaze and said, low and firm,

"I will not apologize to a thief!"

The next instant, the seven-leaf flower she'd been cradling so carefully was snatched out of her hands.

Before she could react, Silas hurled it to the floor and brought his leather shoe down on it, hard.

Grinding it under his heel, his face dark, he said,

"Kay, a scrap of dead weed, and you dare use it to bring up my father. Haven't you had enough of guilt-tripping us all these years?"

"Rose is a thief? Then what about you and your father?"

"You gratitude-mongering shrew, thinking that because you saved my father's life you can do whatever you please. This is the Delgado house, not your backwater. You don't get to run wild here!"

Kay stared at the foot bearing down, a roar filling her skull.

She couldn't even make out his words anymore. On instinct she dropped to her knees beside him and shoved at his shoe.

"No!"

"Silas, let go, this is the medicine my father left me, you can't just destroy it!"

"Let go!"

The corner of Rose's mouth curved up. She stepped slowly to Silas's side and drove her stiletto heel down onto Kay's hand.

Kay screamed at the pain, but still she wouldn't let go of the trouser leg she was clutching.

Silas, though, seemed to have lost his mind, and refused to stop.

Kay watched, wide-eyed and helpless, as the only thing her father had left her turned to a smear of green pulp beneath his shoe.

Her strength gave out and she crumpled to the floor, sinking into a grief with no bottom.

Silas finally clawed back a sliver of reason. He looked at the sorrow on her face and let out a faint scoff.

"Drop the act. It was just a weed. Behave yourself from now on and I'll buy you ten thousand of them."

Kay said nothing, only staring in anguish at the ruined seven-leaf flower.

Her father had been a master at cultivating the seven-leaf flower, and this was the last one he'd raised before he died. A lifetime of his devotion lived in it.

She'd meant to bring it to his grave when she returned to Rosedale, to show him the work he couldn't stop worrying about even at the end.

Now all of it was gone.

It was her fault. She'd misjudged a man, and in doing so ruined herself, and failed even to protect the last trace of her father's life's work.

Her silence enraged Silas again. If there was one thing the man couldn't stand, it was being ignored.

He crouched down, gripping her chin hard, and said in a cold voice,

"Kay, don't tell me you think a little security footage makes you untouchable."

Under her shocked gaze, Silas tossed his phone down in front of her.

The video playing on it was the original footage she had handed over to Director Finch.

Silas's lips curled in a sneer, and he said, one word at a time,

"You thought this would give you a hold over me? Keep dreaming. The researcher behind this drug can only ever be Rose."

The words had barely left his mouth when a message from the institute arrived on Kay's phone.

"Researcher Kay: Owing to the plagiarism of Ms. Rose Pruitt's drug research materials, you are hereby dismissed. The laboratory previously assigned to you has been reclaimed per regulation."

"Effective today, Kay's access to the Ashford City Research Institute is revoked."

The last thread of attachment Kay had to Ashford City snapped clean through.

Silas held Rose close, glancing down at Kay from above.

"Kay, I never wanted to treat you this way. But you're too stubborn. A woman with a temperament like yours will never make a good Mrs. Delgado."

"You should take a hard look at yourself. From now on, stop going after Rose."

Kay watched in silence as Silas and Rose walked away, the light in her eyes slowly dimming.

She didn't go back to her room. Instead, she carried the herb, now nothing but a crushed pulp, to the old Delgado estate.

Norman, having heard what his son had done, went red in the face with rage, his cane cracking hard against the floor.

"That worthless boy. How could he treat you like this!"

"Kay, don't you worry. I'll set this right for you. When he comes back, I'll make him get down on his knees and apologize to you."

"And that woman. I knew all along she wasn't one to sit quietly. That's why I sent her abroad before you and Silas married. I never imagined she'd have the nerve, the reach, to come back!"

"Don't worry. I'll have her sent away this instant!"

Kay shook her head.

"Uncle Norman, there's no need for that."

Norman looked at her, startled.

"You called me... Uncle Norman?"

Kay said softly,

"I know you've always felt indebted to my father for saving your life. But when he was gravely ill, you arranged a top medical team for him. That debt is already repaid."

"When I agreed to marry Silas, it was mostly because he loved me, and I loved him too."

"Now that I know where his heart truly lies, I no longer want to keep him bound to me. Uncle Norman, please, give the two of us our freedom."

At that, Norman's face filled with sorrow.

"Kay, my good girl, is there really no room left to turn this around? I'm that worthless boy's father. I can feel it. He truly does care for you."

Kay smiled faintly.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't want to love him now."

"I only want to carry out my father's last wish. To go back to Rosedale and make a drug that can truly help people."

"Ashford City is a fine place. But it isn't right for me."

Once, she had truly loved Ashford City. She had truly loved Silas, too.

Back then she could feel, clear as day, how much Silas loved her.

But for reasons she couldn't name, ever since Rose returned, it was as if he'd become another person overnight.

Could a first love really cut this deep?

Kay couldn't make sense of it, and she no longer wanted to dig for the reasons behind it.

If they weren't right for each other, then they would simply part.

Norman let out a sigh.

"Since you've made up your mind, rest assured. I'll help you get what you want."

"As for your drug being stolen, Kay, trust me. I will get you justice."

Kay looked at Norman and gave a small nod.

She rose, meeting his eyes with resolve.

"Uncle Norman, I'd like to leave tomorrow. I'm sorry to trouble you."

Norman hesitated a long moment, opening his mouth as if to say something.

In the end he only sighed, helpless.

"All right. Ten o'clock tomorrow morning, I'll arrange a private jet to take you back to Rosedale."

Kay nodded, then left the old estate without a trace of longing.

Back home, she packed only her own everyday clothes.

The other clothes, jewelry, and gifts of every kind that Silas had given her, she left every single one untouched, right where it was.

Kay had thought she would spend her last night in Ashford City alone.

But somewhere between sleep and waking, she suddenly fell into a warm embrace.

She flinched, trembling, and came fully awake in an instant.

Feeling the movement of the woman in his arms, Silas's lips curved.

"Still awake? Were you waiting up for me?"

Kay said nothing.

If he hadn't come back, she would have been fast asleep by now.

Silas didn't notice the impatience on her face. He murmured softly,

"I know you were wronged this afternoon. I honestly hadn't meant to lay a hand on you today, but your attitude really set me off. I lost my temper in the moment, and that's why I couldn't hold back from crushing that herb."

"It was my fault. Tomorrow I'll buy you a hundred of those little plants to make it up to you, all right?"

Kay still said nothing.

Silas could buy a thousand, ten thousand seven-leaf flowers, and never buy back the one her father had cultivated with his own hands.

Some wounds, once dealt, could never be undone.

Silas looked down at the small figure in his arms, and something in him softened. He bent to kiss her.

"My wife, you're always so good."

"Rose just started at the Ashford City Research Institute. Work's been busy lately, so I want her to stay at the house where it's easier to look after her."

"She's the delicate sort, and she asked for your room by name. Said the light is good. Let her have it, won't you?"

Kay tilted her head aside, dodging Silas's touch, her voice flat.

"Fine."

Silas didn't catch her answer at first, and kept prattling on to persuade her.

"It's just a room. Don't be so petty..."

"What did you say?"

While he was still dazed, Kay rolled over and slipped out of his arms.

With her back to Silas, she said flatly:

"When I said fine, I meant I agree to let her stay in my room."

She was leaving tomorrow anyway. He could give the room to whoever he pleased.

She'd expected the answer would satisfy him, but instead Silas suddenly wrenched her back around, his face dark as he stared at her:

"Why?"

Kay looked at him, not understanding:

"What?"

His voice went cold:

"You hate Rose so much you'd send her to the ends of the earth. Why give in so easily this time?"

"Are you scheming something? Planning to hurt her once she moves in?"

Once, an accusation like this, flung at her without a shred of proof, would have hurt so much she couldn't breathe.

But now her heart had gone numb. She couldn't feel a single trace of pain anymore.

She let out a sigh and said quietly:

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to her. I'll move out tomorrow"

Before she could finish, Silas cut her off:

"Kay, do you even believe your own words?"

"I know exactly how you used to go after Rose. Now she's taken your position at the research institute. You must hate her to death!"

"There's no way you wouldn't make things hard for her."

Kay smiled bitterly to herself. So he knew after allthat Rose's spot at the Ashford City Research Institute was one she'd snatched away from her.

Seeing Kay fall silent, Silas assumed he'd guessed right, and pressed on, seething:

"I won't let you get what you want. This time, I will protect Rose no matter what!"

Kay nodded, humoring him:

"Don't worry. I promise I'll never show my face in front of the two of you again. Satisfied?"

Her offhand tone reignited his anger. His face darkened:

"Fine. Then move out tomorrow."

"And clear your things out completely. Rose can't stand having other people's belongings in her room."

Kay's expression stayed blank:

"I'll take only what's mine. The rest you can have the housekeeper deal with."

"Don't worry. I promise I won't appear again after tomorrow."

Silas looked at her eyes, still bright and lovely in the dark of night, and for some reason a strange unease crept over him.

As if something were slipping away from him, beyond his control.

Those eyes had once been full of love for him. Now something he couldn't read had mixed into them.

That unfamiliar look stung his eyes, and he turned his head away on instinct.

After a long moment, he gently stroked Kay's hair:

"Kay, Rose and I grew up together. She lost her parents young. She's been through so much, all alone."

"Marrying you was a betrayal of her. I have to take responsibility for her."

He slowly took Kay's hand:

"Don't worry. Once she's found her footing in Ashford City, I'll stop getting involved in her affairs."

"By then we can live our lives in peace, with nothing between us, just like before."

At the word before, Kay's long-quiet heart sped up for an instant.

Then, the next second, it went still again.

She thought of the day Rose came back to the country, when Silas had left her alone in the pouring rain that night and driven off to the airport to pick Rose up, and hadn't come home until morning.

The next day, the entertainment headlines ran a dreamy shot of the two of them embracing in the rain.

Back then Silas had been just as tender as he was now, telling her Rose was only frightened from spending so long abroad, that he was merely comforting her.

Once Rose settled in Ashford City, he said, he'd keep his distance from her.

And now here he was, using the very same lines on her again.

Not a word of it would Kay ever believe again.

Outside the window, a crash of thunder split the air.

The next second, Rose's soft, tearful voice came from beyond the door:

"Silas, it's thundering outside. I'm so scared."

"Won't you come keep me company"

Without a moment's hesitation, Silas rose to his feet, frowning:

"Kay, Rose is terrified of thunder. I'm going to sit with her."

"You get some sleep early."

With that, he left without another glance at her, without looking back.

Kay's lips curled into a bitter smile.

Silas had probably forgottenRose had just released a photo set shot in a thunderstorm not long ago. She wasn't afraid of thunder at all.

The one afraid of thunder was Kay.

Her father had died on a rainy night torn by lightning, and ever since, she couldn't sleep through a single storm.

The old Silas would have gently gathered Kay into his arms and soothed her in a low voice.

But now he'd probably even forgotten how the Silas of those days had once cared for her so completely.

A tightness pressed on Kay's chest. She got up and went to the kitchen for water.

As she passed the guest room, a soft moan reached her ears:

"What, feeling sorry for your wife?"

"It's just a little thunder. It's not going to scare her to death, is it?"

"Though if she knew you'd abandoned her, trembling with fear, to slip away and fool around with me, I wonder if it wouldn't make her furious enough to die."

Silas's voice came muffled:

"It's what she deserves."

"She did wrong back then. She should be punished."

Kay's brow creased slightly. So he hadn't forgotten.

So this was meant to be her punishment?

Punishment for not clearing out the bedroom overnight, the instant he'd given the order today.

She pressed a hand to her wildly pounding heart and let out a long breath.

Good. She hadn't misjudged him. He was still the same despicable Silas.

Only that way could she leave with her heart untroubled.