I have decided to get a divorce. Love—this fragile thing—probably really does vanish in complete silence. That day, while I was having lunch with a business partner at an upscale steakhouse, I unexpectedly ran into my wife. She and her young male assistant were sitting in a booth reserved for couples, heads bent close together as they ate. You have to understand, she used to be a strict vegetarian. She wouldn't touch meat under any circumstances. Yet right then, her assistant was using a fork to spear a piece of steak, carefully bringing it right to her lips. She opened her mouth slightly, took the bite, and after chewing, a remarkably radiant smile blossomed across her face. I suddenly remembered how, in the past, whenever I urged her to occasionally eat a little meat for her health, she would always reject the idea with an awful attitude. Maybe... she really doesn't love me anymore. 1 I kept a polite smile on my face, chatting with Mr. Henderson about recent gossip in the city's business circle, acting as if I hadn't seen Madeline and Antoine at all. But their behavior really made it hard to look away. Antoine cut the steak into small pieces and, catching any drips with his other hand, offered a piece to Madeline. He said very gently, "Please have some meat, Princess." Madeline's eyes crinkled into crescents as she smiled. After taking the bite, she chewed it slowly and deliberately. Antoine picked up a napkin and intimately wiped the corner of her mouth. Madeline didn't dodge; her smile only deepened. Then, Antoine picked up a spoon, blew on the hot soup, and fed it to her. Madeline, who had always claimed to be a germaphobe, actually opened her mouth and drank the soup. What kind of intimate relationship allows someone to happily drink soup that someone else just blew on? I smiled like some sort of cuckold-voyeur, completely ignoring their existence, and continued my conversation with Mr. Henderson. After all, I am a mature businessman; I couldn't lose my composure in front of a partner. Furthermore, if a wife gets dirty, you just replace her with a clean one. Getting angry only ruins your own health. When we finished discussing business and were about to leave, I stopped by her table. I smiled and asked, "Miss, what cut of steak is this? My wife loves steak, so I'm asking for her." Madeline's face turned dead pale in an instant. The hand holding her knife gave a violent tremor, and the knife clattered onto the porcelain plate, making a harsh, piercing sound. Her eyes darted around in panic; she didn't dare meet my gaze. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but not a single word came out. Beside her, Antoine immediately frowned. He reached out to shield Madeline behind him, glaring at me fiercely. His tone dripped with impatience and disdain. "Where did this stray dog come from? Can't you see she has a boyfriend? You still have the nerve to hit on her? Be smart and get the hell out of here." Watching him act like a protective guard dog, I couldn't help but chuckle. I nodded, my tone perfectly flat. "You two make a great couple." With that, I straightened up, ignoring the sheer terror written in Madeline's eyes, and turned to walk out of the steakhouse. I hadn't taken many steps before I heard Madeline's frantic footsteps behind me. She grabbed my wrist. Her fingertips were freezing. Her voice trembled, thick with unshed tears. "Honey, it's not what you think. Please, listen to me explain..." I violently threw off her hand with enough force to make her stumble. I turned my face slightly to look at her. There wasn't a trace of warmth in my eyes; my tone was as distant as if speaking to a complete stranger. "Ma'am, I have a wife. Please have some self-respect." Madeline's tears instantly spilled over, her eyes turning bloodshot. She wanted to step forward and say something else. I raised my eyes and shot her an icy glare. The sheer coldness in that look silenced her instantly. Her lips quivered, and she didn't dare say another word. I walked to my car, opened the door, and said my goodbyes to Mr. Henderson before getting in. The moment the car door closed, I took out my phone, opened my chat with Madeline, and tapped out a few words. Then, without a second of hesitation, I blocked her on iMessage, along with her phone number, Instagram, Twitter—every possible method of contact. Blocked with a single tap. The message I sent remained crystal clear on the screen: "Get ready. We are getting a divorce." After sending it, I texted my executive assistant, Chloe: "Reject all calls and messages from Madeline. I don't care what number she uses, ignore them all." 2 Chloe's reply came swiftly: "Understood, Mr. Kreiling." The car drove smoothly, dropping Mr. Henderson off at the airport. Only after watching him go through security did I tell the driver to turn around and head back to the villa in the hills. That was the house Madeline and I bought when we got married. She picked the decor herself—European style, everything exactly the way she liked it. I used to think of this place as home. But now, it just felt a bit sickening. The first thing I did upon arriving was call the property management's locksmith to change the passcode on the front door. I was the only one who knew the new code. Next, I logged into the community's security system and deleted all of Madeline's facial recognition and fingerprint data. She would never be able to enter this neighborhood again, let alone this former home. After doing that, I called a moving company. I watched as the movers went into every room, boxing up everything that belonged to Madeline—clothes, bags, makeup, plush toys. Those things she treated like treasures were now nothing but garbage in my eyes. I stood in the living room, watching the workers carry box after box out the door. The rooms that were once filled with her things gradually became empty. Yet, my heart felt inexplicably light, as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders. When a person goes bad, they become garbage. If I kept her in my heart, holding onto everything about her, then I would just become a trash can. And I, Julian Kreiling, have never been the type of man to live his life guarding a pile of trash. The best choice is to throw it away immediately and make a clean break. By the time the packing was done, it was late into the night. The villa was dead silent. I brewed a cup of tea and sat in the wicker chair on the balcony. I didn't feel an ounce of sadness, only the liberating relief of letting go. Early the next morning, I drove to the Kreiling Group headquarters. Today was the annual corporate assembly. The heads of all subsidiaries and top executives had to attend. It concerned the planning for the entire year, so there was no room for error. I wore a custom black suit paired with a navy blue tie, walking with a steady pace toward the grand auditorium in the corporate tower. Just as I reached the entrance, a figure suddenly blocked my path. It was Antoine. He was wearing an ill-fitting casual blazer, his hair slicked back with too much pomade. With an arrogant look on his face, he pointed a finger right at my nose and yelled at the top of his lungs, "What are you doing here? I already told you Madeline has a boyfriend. You failed at hitting on her, and now you have the guts to stalk her here? Do you really think I don't exist? Are you treating me like a joke?" His voice was loud, drawing sideways glances from quite a few employees nearby. Everyone stopped walking, looking over curiously and whispering among themselves. Looking at Antoine acting like a jumping clown, a faint smile touched the corners of my lips. My tone was casual. "Actually, I work here." In front of outsiders, I rarely do anything undignified, and I certainly wasn't willing to waste emotional energy on someone like Antoine. Antoine looked as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He sneered, looking me up and down, the contempt in his eyes practically overflowing. "You? Fit to work at Kreiling Group? Do you even know what this place is? This is the most powerful corporation in the city. They don't just let any random stray dog walk in!" A few veteran employees nearby couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to step forward to intervene. I gently shook my head, signaling them to step back. I really wanted to see what other absurd things this arrogant, ignorant kid would say. I kept smiling, my tone unhurried. "First, I really do work at Kreiling Group. Second, the Madeline you claim has a boyfriend... is actually my wife." Antoine froze, clearly not expecting me to say that. He stood stunned for a few seconds, then, as if hearing something hilarious, let out a disdainful sneer, his voice growing even louder. 3 "Oh, so you're CEO Madeline's little toyboy husband?" "I heard from CEO Madeline a long time ago. You're just a kept man who married into her family. You don't even have your own last name; you took her last name?" Antoine laughed mockingly. "You're a grown man, yet you can't even carry on your own family line, so you had to marry into a woman's family. You really are a piece of work!" This was the first time I had ever heard such a rumor. After all, I'm very well-known in the city's business circles. Nobody could possibly invent a rumor this absurd and surreal about me. I smiled and shook my head. "Then you heard wrong. My last name is Kreiling. Julian Kreiling. Chairman of the Kreiling Group." Upon hearing this, Antoine fell silent for a moment. Then he suddenly burst into uproarious laughter, bending over backward, laughing so hard tears almost came to his eyes. "Are you trying to kill me with laughter?" "Stop bragging that your name is Julian Kreiling. Why don't you just say your name is Superman? Flying around saving the world—how badass would that be! Chairman of the Kreiling Group? I think you've gone crazy dreaming about being the Chairman!" Antoine was laughing so hard he was slapping his own thigh. His laughter was incredibly grating. The surrounding employees all frowned, looking at him as if he were a complete idiot. I shook my head, amused, and pointed to the people around us. "You can ask anyone else here." Antoine's laughter stopped abruptly. He turned to look at the surrounding employees, a provocative look in his eyes, seemingly thinking everyone would agree with him. But the next second, a cold, authoritative female voice cut through the silence. "I can prove it." A woman walked over, dressed in an impeccably tailored white business suit. She was tall, with refined features, and carried an aura of absolute competence. It was my Executive Assistant, Chloe. She walked up to stand beside me, looking at Antoine with icy eyes, her tone unwavering. "I am Chloe, Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Kreiling Group. I can prove that he is indeed the Chairman of the Kreiling Group, Julian Kreiling." Chloe's words struck Antoine's ears like a thunderbolt. The smile on his face froze instantly. The contempt and arrogance in his eyes vanished without a trace, replaced by shock and sheer disbelief. He opened his mouth to say something, but found his throat blocked, unable to utter a single syllable. It took him a few seconds to recover, though he remained stubborn, his face full of suspicion. "Do you really think I can't see through this? You all work for the same company; of course you'd cover for him. You're ganging up to trick me, right?" I smiled helplessly, looking at him with a hint of mockery in my tone. "So, even when I tell the truth, you just won't believe it, will you?" "Why should I believe it? I'm not afraid to tell you, even though you're Madeline's husband, my relationship with her is way better than yours!" Antoine sneered, stiffening his neck. "She tells me everything. Including the fact that you're just a kept man—she told me every single detail!" "You're just a freeloader! You don't make your own money, but you spend CEO Madeline's money like water!" "You married into her family and have zero male dignity, so you're always going out to find female escorts to show off your ego!" To make his words sound more convincing, Antoine started fabricating all sorts of rumors about me. He pointed at me, spit flying from his mouth. "And you don't care about CEO Madeline at all. Every time you see her, you force her to do that. Do you have any idea how much she suffers being with you?" The things he was making up were both absurd and disgusting. The surrounding employees showed expressions of utter contempt, looking at him with even more disdain. Antoine didn't notice at all, still lost in his own web of lies, getting more excited as he spoke. "You better get out of here right now. Otherwise, when Madeline gets here, with her status as the CEO of a subsidiary, firing a piece of trash like you at the head office is just a matter of one word from her!" 4 I raised an eyebrow, looking at him with keen interest. "Why would she fire me?" Antoine smiled confidently, a smug look on his face as if victory was already in his grasp. "Because I don't like you, and she treats me well! She listens to whatever I say! So all I have to do is say the word, and she will definitely fire you!" The moment his words fell, the sound of frantic footsteps came from outside the crowd. Madeline pushed her way through the onlookers and walked over quickly. She still had wet tear tracks on her face, and her hair was slightly disheveled. It was obvious she had rushed over in a panic. When she saw me, she immediately walked quickly to my side, grabbing my hand. Her eyes were full of panic and urgency as she said to me, "Honey, please listen to me explain. It's not what he said, and it's not what you saw yesterday. Things are not what you think they are." "Madeline, why are you explaining things to him?" "He's just a kept man; why are you begging him?" When Antoine saw Madeline, he immediately frowned, took a step forward, and grabbed her arm, his tone laced with exasperation. "You should just throw trash like this away. Wouldn't it be better to find a superior man? I'm right here. Look at me—am I not better than him?" Madeline violently yanked her arm out of Antoine's grasp. She turned, glaring at him with a piercing look, and sharply scolded, "Shut your mouth! In this entire city, I have never met a man more outstanding than my husband, Julian Kreiling!" Her voice was loud and carried an unquestionable firmness, leaving Antoine stunned in place, unable to react for a long time. Antoine was completely dumbfounded. He looked at Madeline, his eyes full of confusion and disbelief, his lips trembling. "But you said... you said your husband was garbage, a freeloader who married into your family..." "Shut up! I just... I only imagined those scenarios to relieve pressure because having a husband as outstanding as Julian puts a lot of pressure on me!" Madeline immediately cut him off, scolding him again, a trace of panic on her face as she spoke rapidly. "In reality, I love my husband very much. I even respect him from the bottom of my heart!" She was starting to become incoherent, and I didn't believe a word she was saying anyway. Actually, whether I believed it or not didn't matter. Whether she was under pressure or whatever else, why didn't she talk to me about it? Why talk to a young assistant instead? "Honey, I really know I was wrong. I've just been under too much pressure lately. Because you're so outstanding, and there are so many women around you who want you, I felt insecure." Madeline held my hand, her fingertips trembling slightly, her eyes full of pleading, her voice softening. "That's why I imagined you as a kept man and all that... just to relieve my own stress. I really didn't mean anything else by it." I shook off her hand, smiling faintly. My tone was casual, yet it carried an unquestionable command. "Then fire him. I don't like him." Madeline froze, clearly not expecting me to say that. She quickly shook her head, the pleading in her eyes intensifying. "Honey, no. The reason Antoine said those things is because of the nonsense I told him before. This is all my fault; it has nothing to do with him. Can we please not fire him? I'm begging you." Her words made me feel ridiculous. Even at a point like this, she was still defending this man. It seemed the relationship between them was indeed not simple. I nodded, my tone flat. "Fine." A look of joy instantly appeared on Madeline's face. She hurriedly thanked me. "Thank you, honey. Thank you so much." I didn't look at her. I turned to look at Chloe, who was standing to the side. My tone was ice-cold, devoid of any emotion. "Sell off the subsidiary that Madeline manages. It's fine if we take a loss on the sale, but do it fast. I don't like dirty things."
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