The front door was slightly ajar. From the bedroom, I could hear Aldric throwing things around. His voice came out ragged, almost hoarse:
"Get out! Do you have no shame? I'm married now. Can't you leave me alone?!"
"Yamilet! I need to find my wife! Wife, I feel terrible… so terrible…" Vivienne's voice, easy to recognize, carried the soft, melodic tone of a Southern drawl.
"Aldric, you like me."
"I heard it all. I was sitting right next to you, wearing my mask. I heard what you said to Yamilet when you were drunk. You said you liked me, that you really liked me... Why, why couldn't you just admit it in front of me?"
After a moment, Vivienne sniffled before forcing a laugh, trying to mask her emotions.
"I know you love Yamilet Rutherford, but if you could like me just a little bit, just a little bit, give me something to remember you by, that would be enough."
"Tomorrow, you'll still be Mr. Rutherford, still Yamilet' husband. Everything that happened tonight can be blamed on drunkenness. I won't bother you again, alright?"
A long, heavy silence followed.
Then, the sounds of two people kissing.
I sat on the sofa, listening to them, tangled behind the door. It was so touching, I almost wanted to clap.
A few minutes passed.
The bedroom door opened, and Vivienne stepped out, wearing a silk slip dress, her lipstick smudged. She was no longer shy. Even though she tried to hide it, her victorious attitude was clear. Smoke curled from the cigarette between her fingers.
"He's asleep."
I nodded, not even wanting to bother with whether Aldric was truly asleep or just avoiding me.
"You know him, he's a coward. But I didn't expect that tonight, some things would be said because of his drunken state."
"I don't want things to get awkward, and I don't want to pressure him. Whether you believe it or not, in the beginning, I just wanted to have a little place in his heart."
Honestly, someone with as much ambition as Vivienne, I wouldn't believe a single word she said.
At first, she was just a small-time starlet scammed by a ruthless agency.
She has no advanced degree, no wealth, and no connections.
She's just got a pretty face.
Her manager wasn't any better—his main business was running a prostitution ring, while his side hustle was pushing girls into the entertainment industry.
Vivienne was drugged and sent to Aldric's bed. She broke a vase and held a shard of porcelain to Aldric, swearing she'd rather die than be defiled.
In the business world, no one truly gets drunk. If you say the wrong thing and offend someone, the consequences are far worse than the momentary pleasure of alcohol. Aldric stumbled into the room, but the moment he turned on the light, he was sober.
He was shocked by Vivienne's actions but quickly realized what had happened by the flush on her cheeks. He took off his suit jacket and handed it to her, then called me.
"Yamilet, darling! Come save me!"
I thought he'd been kidnapped by the Rutherford family, but when I arrived, I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.
On that cold night, he was in a thin shirt, smoking in the corridor, frozen like a block of ice.
When he saw me, he wanted to hug me but feared he'd freeze me. He waited until the air conditioning warmed him up before daring to curl up in my arms, pitifully saying he almost got tricked.
I asked, half-jokingly, "You really didn't do anything?"
He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Yamilet, the underwear I wear when I go out, you made them, you forgot?"
The newly bought underwear had "Yamilet's Exclusive" embroidered on them in crooked stitching.
How embarrassing.
I pinched his side, "What do you mean I made them? You forced me to!" That night, I took Vivienne to the hospital.
She curled up in the backseat, wrapped in Aldric's oversized suit, silent all the way. After I paid, I heard her mumble a soft "thank you."
At that time, I thought I had done a good deed. But I didn't understand that when a girl falls to rock bottom, she can easily be swept up by the slightest kindness, mistaking it for divine intervention.
Later, she pushed to get closer to Aldric. A girl who had always been meek, she forced her manager to break the contract, paying millions in termination fees.
A year later, Aldric suddenly asked me to promote a newcomer through my entertainment company. The assistant naturally informed me immediately.
Aldric had prepared flowers for me, arranging them in vases with a smile. "Do you remember Vivienne? The girl who was drugged?"
"Last week, when I went to buy you a cake, I happened to see her being harassed by some thugs, so I gave her a hand."
"I later found out she was in debt due to breaking her contract with the agency." I raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at my lips, "You really have no other intentions?" Aldric feigned difficulty. "You figured it out? Well, there might be a little..."
Seeing me about to get angry, he laughed and kissed me. "Yamilet, are you jealous? You must be jealous!"
"Honestly, when I saw that poor girl being bullied, it reminded me of you when we first met."
"When I handed her my business card, I thought, if only someone had helped us back then, you wouldn't have had to suffer so much with me."
I shot him a glance. He blinked innocently, smiling.
"If you don't like her, just fire her, freeze her out—it doesn't matter."
He said it so lightly, and I didn't really care either. But I had no intention of destroying a young girl's career.
After all, Vivienne had already become a blur in my memory. Back then, her makeup was all smeared, and she kept her head down, speaking softly. There were so many little flowers like her in the entertainment industry. She never posed a real threat to me.
At that time, I was so confident.
I was certain our ten years of feelings would never change. I foolishly believed everyone was like that—once they liked someone, made a promise, it was forever.
