Chapter 17 A Hard Reality Check
Watching the stunt plane soar across the bright blue sky, Curtis felt completely dazed.
He couldn’t believe it. Chloe was really flying that plane.
The plane even performed several aerial maneuvers that even someone like him, a complete outsider, could recognize as extremely difficult.
The crowd below couldn’t stop gasping and cheering in amazement.
“What, are you stunned into silence?” Lena sneered. “It’s ridiculous that you thought Chloe would be jealous of Sonya just because she can fly a plane. You completely underestimated her!”
Curtis‘ face flushed slightly. Her words hit him like a sharp slap, leaving him momentarily stunned and unbearably embarrassed.
After a long moment, Chloe’s plane slowly touched down, and her tall, confident figure climbed out of the
cockpit.
Curtis stepped forward. “You really… can fly a plane.”
“So what if I can? Flying a plane isn’t a big deal,” Chloe replied nonchalantly.
Curtis felt his ears burning.
Before Chloe had boarded the plane, he’d thought she’d been speaking out of jealousy toward Sonya and
assumed that she’d been kidding herself and being foolishly clueless.
But now he realized the truth–she simply didn’t care.
It was like how someone who already had all the wealth and success they could ever want wouldn’t
bother wasting a second on a small fortune.
“When…. did you learn to fly?” Curtis asked, his voice hoarse. He only knew that she’d served in the
military, but he’d had no idea she could actually fly a plane.
Chloe looked at Curtis with a sardonic smile. “Oh, so now you suddenly care about my past?”
When he’d proposed back then, she’d wanted to tell him about her past, but he’d simply said, “Your past
doesn’t matter to me. What I care about is our future.”
She’d thought he genuinely cared about their future together. But later she’d realized he simply didn’t care about her, so he’d never wanted to know her past.
Curtis looked embarrassed. Just then, a few of his friends walked over.
“Curtis, Sonya’s looking for you over at the exhibition hall. Why are you here?”
Luke and the other guys came forward. The moment they saw Chloe, they sneered. “Don’t tell me Chloe’s
Chapter 17 A Hard Reality Check
clinging to you again.”
“No… It’s not that,” Curtis replied awkwardly.
2/3
But his friends refused to believe him. One of them jabbed at Chloe with malice. “Chloe, didn’t you say flying a plane wasn’t a big deal before? Well then, prove it–fly that plane now!”
Another scoffed. “She wouldn’t even know how to handle it! If it weren’t for Sonya’s injury from that fall still not being fully healed, she’d really get a look at the vast gap between her and Sonya today!”
Their cruel laughter rang in Chloe’s ears.
Lena rushed forward angrily. “Curtis, are you even a man? You’re just letting your friends insult your wife
like this?”
Curtis‘ expression froze.
Chloe grabbed Lena’s hand, her expression icy as she glared at Curtis and his friends. “The gap between people isn’t measured by whether they can fly a plane. Who do you think you are? Just because I’m married to Curtis, you think that gives you the right to insult and belittle me?”
The group fell silent.
Chloe didn’t wait to see their reaction and walked off with Lena.
After a long pause, Luke snorted. “Can you believe Chloe actually dares to talk back like that? Curtis, you’d better teach her a lesson and put her in her place! What does she think she is?”
“Enough!” Curtis barked, his face dark with anger. “Chloe is my wife. No matter what, you have no right to
look down on her!”
The memory of Chloe’s flying skills earlier made his face flush with embarrassment.
“What are you talking about? Aren’t you the one who looks down on Chloe the most?” Luke snapped. ” Didn’t you say she had no skills at all? If Sonya hadn’t left you back then, you wouldn’t have married her just to soothe some fleeting frustration!”
Curtis went silent. They were right–those were the words he’d said when venting to his friends after a few
drinks.
But Chloe was far from incapable.
The projects she’d managed at Green Tech had never caused him any trouble. She could tame wild horses, and she could even fly a plane, executing complex maneuvers in the air with flawless skill.
Each of these feats pressed heavily on his mind, making it hard for him to breathe. The woman he’d been married to for three years suddenly felt like a stranger to him.
“Alright, don’t let Chloe come between us,” one of his friends advised. “Curtis, why don’t you head to the main exhibition hall? Sonya has been looking for you.”
Curtis nodded and walked toward the exhibition hall, his mind still spinning, replaying the image of Chloe
Chapter 17 A Hard Reality Check
flying the plane.
3/3
When he passed the AeroQuest Airlines booth, Sonya approached him. “You don’t look so good. What’s
wrong?”
“Nothing. I’ve just been busy with work lately, and I feel a bit stressed,” Curtis replied.
“Sit here and rest for a moment,” Sonya said.
Curtis took a seat and drank some water. Finally, he felt a bit more grounded.
At the center of the AeroQuest Airlines booth, a large digital screen was set up, displaying live footage of the open area behind the exhibition hall.
“There’s a flight demonstration soon, but I haven’t fully recovered from my injury. Otherwise, I would have joined the performance,” Sonya said.
Curtis hesitated. “Is a flight demonstration difficult?”
“Of course it’s difficult. Pulling off a proper aerial display isn’t something any ordinary pilot can manage,”
Sonya said, her tone carrying a hint of pride.
Normally, Curtis would have praised Sonya for her skills, but thinking about Chloe flying the plane earlier and executing those complex aerial maneuvers made any words of praise for Sonya die painfully in his
throat.
Soon, the flight demonstration began.
Curtis spotted the same plane Chloe had flown earlier, now lined up for the flight demonstration.
The camera was too far from the plane to make out who was inside, but Curtis had an inexplicable gut feeling that the person in the cockpit had to be Chloe.
While watching the flight demonstration, Sonya suddenly said, “By the way, when Luke and the others came to see me earlier, they mentioned Chloe. Apparently, she even said that flying a plane isn’t a big deal. She’s so arrogant.”
Curtis pressed his lips together. Hesitating, he said, “What if she wasn’t being arrogant?”
Sonya frowned, her voice laced with sarcasm. “Someone who’s never flown a plane before saying something like that–what else could it be but arrogance? Curtis, are you going to defend her?” “I’m not defending her, but what if she actually can fly a plane?” Curtis said.
Chapter 18 This Marriage is Definitely Over
