Chapter 51
“Used to treat common colds and the flu.” Hayden read a line of words on the box, brows knitting together in a frown.
It was just ordinary flu medicine, so why had Nicole looked so shifty yesterday?
Though Hayden found it strange, he paid it no mind and figured he must’ve just been suspicious for no reason. He thus put the medication back in the drawer.
When he turned around, he saw Nicole standing in the doorway of her bathroom. She’d finished showering and was now watching his every move.
Hayden cleared his throat awkwardly, having been exposed. “I was just checking to see what kind of
medicine you were taking. Didn’t you see they were iron supplements? Why is it flu medication?”
“I have a bit of a cold.” Nicole walked over while drying her hair. “Is there a problem with that? If you want to check what other medication I’m taking, I can get them for you.”
“There’s no need. It’s not like I’m suspecting you of anything.”
Hayden went over and took Nicole’s towel from her, wanting to dry her hair for her.
Nicole tugged the towel from him but failed to release it from his grip. In the end, she was forced to stay put by the dressing table while he dried her hair.
Hayden used just the right amount of pressure, just like he’d done every time he’d dried her hair
throughout their seven years of marriage.
Nicole watched Hayden through the mirror.
Hayden’s cold features had now softened with tenderness. He gazed at her as if she were the most precious thing to him in the world.
Nicole closed her eyes, not wanting to look at how careful of an act he was putting up anymore.
After Hayden finished drying her hair, he leaned in and inhaled the scent of her hair. It smelled like
jasmine.
“You smell nice,” he remarked.
Nicole ignored him and took the towel from his hands.
Hayden smiled, suddenly recalling there being something downstairs that he wanted to give her. “I have something for you,” he said.
He quickly went downstairs and retrieved the raspberry mousse cake he’d bought earlier today. He then gave it to Nicole.
“The store changed their mousse cake sales from Wednesday to Saturday, but I had them specially save
Chapter 51
a piece for me.”
Nicole looked down, not moving to accept the cake from him.
Hayden placed it in her hands. “What’s wrong? No appetite today?”
Nicole shook her head. “You don’t need to buy this for me anymore.”
Hayden paused, thinking he’d heard her wrongly. “What did you say?”
Nicole looked up to meet his gaze. “I said, I don’t want to eat this mousse cake anymore. So you don’t need to buy it for me any longer.”
It was impossible to tell what was running through her mind as she repeated herself.
Hayden’s gaze darkened. “What’s with the sudden change?”
“I’ve grown tired of it, of its flavor.” In truth, Nicole had grown tired of Hayden, too.
She looked away, turning her back to him before carelessly placing the cake on the dressing table corner.
It nearly fell to the ground.
In the few seconds that it teetered on the edge, Hayden’s heart reacted similarly.
He sank deep in his own thoughts as he watched her frail figure leave.
Nicole pointedly ignored him and went outside. She then received a message on her phone informing her that a ticket had been successfully booked under her name. Eugene had bought her a ferry ticket that was
dated the day after tomorrow.
Nicole’s fingers were trembling as her heart quickened with excitement.
She was finally going to leave this place!
She didn’t need to pack any luggage or leave anything behind. All she had left with her was the farewell letter she’d written and left in Hayden’s study.
Nicole had written a new one yesterday and planned to have Taylor pass it to Hayden once she left. It
would serve as a clean end to the seven years of marriage she had with Hayden.
As for Matthew… Nicole would just pretend that she had never given birth to him in the first place.
From that moment on, Nicole was her own person, and likewise for Matthew. Their mother–son relationship had come to an end.
Nicole jolted awake the next day from her phone’s ringtone blaring in her ear.
Hayden had already left the house. He was calling to ask her to drop off an important document he’d forgotten in his study while he was at work.
A
Chapter 52
