"Olivia, be careful not to be fooled!" warned Freddie.
Olivia responded coldly, "I don't have money or a house, and I'm supporting a seriously ill uncle. What's there to be fooled about?"
Freddie continued in an admonishing tone, "You're a woman, and you look pretty good. As a man, I know how men think. Men's intentions toward women aren't just about money. You should understand what I mean."
"Are you saying he took advantage of me?" asked Olivia.
"It's good that you know it," answered Freddie. "Olivia, if you want to take revenge on me, that's fine, but don't joke around about your body!"
"I'm not joking!" exclaimed Olivia, no longer wanting to continue arguing with him. "Freddie, if I was tricked, then so be it, but at least he paid for the operation! If it weren't for him, my uncle might not have survived!"
Freddie obviously had not expected this. He frowned. "You sold your body to earn money for your uncle's surgery?" he asked incredulously. "Olivia, why didn't you ask me for the money? Would you rather sell yourself than go to your husband?"
"It's not like I didn't look for help from you!" said a frustrated Olivia, taking a deep breath. "When I asked you for seventy-five thousand, you refused to give it to me and accused me of being insatiable!"
"The seventy-five thousand… I thought you wanted compensation for the divorce… " Freddie said in a deep voice, finally calming down. "I'll give you the money now so you can return it to that man and cut off all ties with him."
Olivia laughed ironically. "You'll give me money because you don't want me to sell myself, but not for my uncle? For Janet's father, your future father-in-law?"
Freddie said, "Believe what you want. Give me your card number, and I'll transfer the money."
"No need," said Olivia coldly.
"Olivia, can you not be so stubborn? I'm just trying to help you, you know!"
"I don't need your charity, Director Chen," Olivia answered sarcastically, "and I don't have a bank card either. During our four years of marriage, I had to ask your mom even for five or ten dollars for food, so why would I need a bank card?"
Freddie gritted his teeth as his anger rose again. "Okay," he said, "as you wish. Don't come crying and begging when you discover you've been deceived!"
He was so angry that the veins in his head and neck were popping out as he hung up the phone bitterly.
Janet watched him for a while, then took a glass of lemonade and said, "My cousin is poorly educated, so she can't see through people's evil intentions. Don't get too upset; drink some lemonade first and calm down. I'll talk to her tomorrow."
After having a glass of cool lemonade, Freddie's anger finally subsided a little.
In his mind, Olivia had always been a submissive shadow who would never oppose him. She had been diligent in household chores and had also been respectful and compliant with his mother.
But he had never expected that the usually meek Olivia would suddenly turn into another person who would yell at him and even berate him.
Suddenly, he felt a chilled touch on his temples. It was Janet's slightly cold fingers, massaging him gently.
Freddie, feeling comfortable now, closed his eyes and leaned against her. "Janet," he said, "you know me better than anyone else."
Janet smiled and said softly, "The reason you married Olivia was because of Grandpa. You two don't have any real emotional connection. He forced you to stay together, and I understand that you've been tired these past four years."
Freddie held her hand tenderly. "Actually," he said, "it's not easy for your cousin. I know my mother's temper. I haven't been home much these last few years, so Olivia must have suffered quite a bit because of my mother's anger. But through all those years, she still fulfilled her roles as a wife and a daughter-in-law."
Janet pressed a little harder with her fingers and said nothing.
"She doesn't have a diploma, and it'll be hard to find herself a good job after the divorce," he said. "My mom said Olivia shouldn't take anything with her, but she was by my side all these years, and we still have some kind of bond. I'm going to give her eighty thousand. What do you think?"
Janet's smile became perfidious, but her tone was still gentle, so Freddie didn't notice the disingenuous expression at all. Janet said, "She's my cousin, and she has raised me since I was little. From my point of view, of course, I want to give her more. But if you give the money yourself, your Mom will probably be angry when she finds out. Why don't you give me the money, and I'll deliver it to her secretly?"
Freddie thought about it and nodded. "You're always so considerate," he said. "How about this? I'll give you a hundred and fifty thousand, and you hand it over to her tomorrow."
"Okay," Janet said, turning and sitting on Freddie's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Surrounded by her warmth and fragrance, Freddie couldn't bear to wait any longer, and he carried her to the bed.
Soon, the bedroom was infused with their love.
* * * * * * * * * *
At the hotel, Mr. Sniper hadn't appeared that night.
Olivia was lying on the bed by herself, curled up into a small ball and wrapped in a blanket. Even so, she barely felt a sense of security.
This room was unfamiliar to her, and she felt lost.
She had slept on this bed twice, in the dark.
Unable to sleep now, she picked up her phone, wanting to send Mr. Sniper a text to ask if he would come tonight, but she felt she would seem too eager and unreserved, so in the end, she put the phone down.
The room was a large suite. Opposite the sizeable bed was a row of liquor cabinets. All types of wine bottles were neatly arranged inside, and there were also temperature regulators installed, ensuring that each set of bottles was stored at the right temperature.
Mr. Sniper was a wine lover.
Olivia got up and opened the wardrobe next to the wine racks.
She had expected to see suits and shirts, but she was surprised instead to see a wide variety of women's clothes. At the bottom of the wardrobe was a row of high-heeled shoes.
Her phone beeped as a text message came in.
[Did you see the wardrobe? All the items have been selected according to your size.—The Sniper.]
Olivia held her cell phone and hesitated for a moment before making a call.
It was already three in the morning, but still, Mr. Sniper answered her call quickly. "Olivia?"
"It's me," she answered as his magnetic voice echoed in her ears. She was a little nervous, and her voice trembled slightly. "I saw the wardrobe. Thank you."
Mr. Sniper seemed to be in a good mood. She could hear his smile as he asked, "Do you like it?"
"… I like it."
"I'm glad you do."
What woman has never imagined having a whole wardrobe filled with new clothes just for her?
But for Olivia, such an idea had only ever been wishful thinking.
Before she had gotten married, she had been busy doing all kinds of part-time jobs. At the time, Janet had been studying at a business school abroad, and the tuition had been tens of thousands of dollars a year. There was no way Olivia could have afforded to buy clothes for herself.
Later, when she had married Freddie, she had no job and no other financial resources. Every time she had wanted to buy food, she'd had to ask her mother-in-law for money, and her mother-in-law had acted as if she had been guarding against thieves, afraid that she would be giving money to Olivia's family members.
Although Freddie was the CEO of a company, Olivia's life as his wife was worse than that of the servants at home.
Suddenly, the door opened.
In the dark, Olivia was startled and asked sharply, "Who is it?"
"Who do you think?" Mr. Sniper said softly. He stepped forward and took hold of her, trapping her between his arms. He asked, "Aren't you going to sleep? It's already late."
Olivia bit her lip. She had not yet gotten used to being in such close contact with him.
Fortunately, the darkness was hiding her discomfort. "I wasn't waiting for you," she said.
"If you weren't waiting for me, why did you call me as soon as you received my message?" he teased.
Mr. Sniper chuckled, but he didn't wait for her to answer.
He got up and opened the wardrobe. "Olivia," he said, "come here."
She reached out from under the blanket and took his hand. She whispered, "It's already so late. Shall we rest now?"
"I just want you to pick some clothes," he said. "What are you thinking about?"
Feeling a little awkward, Olivia contradicted him quickly. "Nothing," she said, "I'm not thinking about anything."
He kept her wrapped in the blanket as he carried her over to the wardrobe and then stood her in front of it, where he said, "A woman should have at least one dress."