Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

Every time she thought Emily was out of the picture, the woman always popped up again, like some persistent weed that wouldn’t die in spite of the elements. And the actress never seemed to run out of schemes, too; each one was always different from the last.

"Melinda?" Leo snapped his fingers in front of her face. "What’s wrong? Where have you drifted off to?"

"Oh everything’s fine," she quickly replied. "I just remembered something." She was never one to voice out her struggles and her burdens. And in light of everything that happened to her in the past five years, it wasn’t easy for her to share her secrets.

Lucky for her, Leo was not the type who pried. He kindly accepted her vague reason and left it at that, then took the reins of the conversation and began a new topic. Soon they were in avid discussion again.

The party was dwindling, and a lot of the other guests had already left. At this point, Melinda and Leo were talking about stories of the ancient scholars, and what was meant to be a little chat turned into an animated intellectual discourse. Both of them were intelligent, after all, and matters regarding history had a special place in the hearts of such people.

Meanwhile, from the other side of the room, Yulia could only stare and seethe with envy. She didn’t know what to do. Since she couldn’t catch the gorgeous man’s attention, the least she wanted was to wrench him away from Melinda’s clutches.

She had been keeping a close eye on the two, looking for the perfect opportunity, the perfect timing, when they might slip and act as though they were secret lovers. She would pounce on them then, and publicly accuse them of adultery. 'Let’s see what that bitch is going to do then!'

"Yulia, won’t you come with me to meet some new friends?" So rapt was her attention at her sister-in-law and Leo that Emily’s sudden appearance at her side startled her.

When Yulia turned, she saw that Emily and Queena had both risen from their seats. The auction was now over, and the host was saying the closing remarks on the podium.

Since Emily organized the event, she would no doubt be up there later as well. And since she had especially invited Queena as an esteemed guest, and indicated so in the program, the older woman would be saying a few words, too.

The actress was looking at her expectantly, and Yulia pulled herself together. "Sure. Why not?" Emily was sure to have a wide social circle, and it wouldn’t hurt to establish new connections.

As they moved from the tables to approach Emily’s acquaintances, Yulia turned to cast a last glance at Leo and Melinda. The man was patting her sister-in-law gently on the head, smiling down at her sweetly.

The scene made Yulia’s blood boil, and she wasn’t able to stop her expression from morphing into that of absolute fury.

Her gaze remained glued to the couple across the room, and in her distraction she bumped into Queena rather forcefully as the older woman tried to walk past her.

"Yulia, what the hell are you doing?" the madam hissed, and Yulia snapped back from her daze. Just her luck to incur the woman’s wrath as well in the same night.

She knew that if Queena was provoked, she could make her life utterly miserable. She paled as she tried to think of a way out. Her eyes darted back to where Melinda was.

"I’m so sorry, Aunt Queena. It’s just that I was shocked to see Melinda being so intimate with that gentleman over there..." She drifted off on purpose, and turned her head to the object of her statement.

Naturally, the other women turned towards the same direction.

"I’m to blame as well, Aunt Queena," Emily interjected. "I think Yulia tripped on some of the cable wires on the floor. I should have made sure nothing was in the way of the guests."

Yulia shot the actress a grateful look, but Queena’s eyes were still trained on her daughter-in-law. Melinda had had to adapt dramatically in order to survive in the Gu household, and so she developed a keen sixth sense when it came to threats against her.

stare that was

to find the three women glaring at her. 'What now?' she thought. But since she knew she had done nothing in particular to antagonize them, she resumed her conversation without dwelling on

were always mad at her for something

Emily," Queena was saying at

the same thing right now. Aunt Queena, that Melinda has gone too far. You can’t just stand by and watch her flirt with another man. She is going to make a cuckold

was determined to bring Melinda down, and she would enlist all the

as Queena disliked her daughter-in-law, though, she

older woman take time to contemplate, Yulia gave Emily a pointed look. The women’s minds

and take a look at the situation?" Emily suggested, lacing her voice with some hesitation to hide her bubbling anticipation at the

it," Yulia prodded. She was running out of patience. She wanted Melinda to be put

last, and the three women strode over as

and Leo’s table. They weren’t stupid; they both immediately recognized the cruel intent in

seat and greeted them politely, "Hello, Madam

but

a public event. We should be careful with our

despite her words, it was the women’s

at that moment was how easily her hard-earned reputation was crumbling because of some lowborn woman who married into the family.

had stepped forward towards the women. "I’m very sorry for my carelessness. It’s

branch of some sort. Queena and Leo both knew that if she acknowledged his apology, they could leave the matter be and not stir the issue

very close with each other. I’m a little envious that she managed to maintain very good relationships with quite a

there had in fact been rumors of a romance between Melinda and Kent, and Emily made sure to squeeze that little reference into

shooting Melinda an arrogant glance. "Melinda

she was involved with multiple

then. He always looked dashing, and boyishly debonair, but now he took on a cold and intimidating facade, something that certainly made many a man back

even when we were younger. She is one of the most popular students in the campus; naturally, she has

in satisfaction. "You must calm down, Mr. Liu, or onlookers might automatically assume that I bullied

his mouth lifted in a sardonic smile. 'So this is how you want to play it. How foolish,

to remind you of lessons taught at school. 'A fool’s voice is

flushed with embarrassment at the reprimand, but

one can force anyone to do something against their will. But I find that I need to give some reminders of my own. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that Melinda is married to Mr.

of the fact, I can’t help but wonder why you yourself do not

from her face.

at the back of Leo’s head. She hadn’t expected him to defend her to such extent, even provoking her

far as publicly declaring her identity as Jonas's wife, and in her periphery she could see the eavesdropping bystanders