Just like Lyana said she wouldn't, neither of them pulled an all-nighter.
After wiping her eyes, she took out her phone and spent about five minutes constructing an apology email to the client, pushing the delivery a day backward.
Then she turned off her phone.
Given that she had just cried in Ayla's arms, she couldn't bring herself to face her, and scurried out of the office once it was evening.
That night, Ayla had no money for a cab, so she waited until everyone left before proceeding to walk home.
The walk home was usually long, but tonight she took in every bit of the scenery—stopping to smell the aroma from pastry shops, petting cats she saw along the way, and helping elderly people and children cross the road.
Usually, she was too preoccupied with the thought of going home to make dinner to appreciate any of these or be of help to anyone.
By the time she got home, it was nine in the evening.
The moment she stepped inside the house, the dark living room lit up immediately and she came face-to-face with the people she hated most.
"Where have you been?" Silas had changed into his black-and-white streaked pajamas and sat on the most expensive couches in the house with Talia.
He had purchased the couch at an absurdly high price and forbade her from ever sitting on it, saying he didn't want her to damage it.
She hadn't found it ridiculous then, but she found it ridiculous now.
She cleaned every inch of the house, including the white chair, yet was ordered not to sit on it.
Just as she parted her lips to retort, Talia huffed from the side, "Why even ask? I told you she was no wife material. You've only been married two years and she's already showing her true colors?"
Gritting his teeth, Silas got to his feet and pointed an angry finger at her nose, yelling at the top of his voice, "Mother tells me you haven't been home since this afternoon, so you weren't here to make her breakfast or dinner. She had to order takeout! Takeout she didn't even like! How dare you make her do that?"
"You've angered my son so badly, you should be ashamed of yourself! Hurry up and beg him for forgiveness before he loses his temper completely!" Talia screamed shrilly as well, hurriedly getting to her feet.
Ayla paused, eyeing them cautiously.
This was a new scene.
It hadn't happened in her past life, but it was just as she thought it would be.
On her way back, she thought of the fastest way to divorce Silas so she wouldn't meet the same cruel end as in her first life.
However, he was a proud and egocentric man. A man with so much ego didn't like being told what to do, and he held himself in high esteem to view a divorce request as anything other than a bruise to his pride.
If she wanted him to divorce her, she had to become insufferable.
The only obstacle in her way was the fact that he was a woman-beater. If she said anything irritating, he raised his hand on her.
Talia found nothing wrong with and honestly, neither had she… not until she died and woke up this morning.
Hence, she planned to take it slow. The only way to be free of this monster was to be slightly insufferable.
Not in a way that'd aggravate him into violence, but just enough to make him want her gone.
Lowering her eyes respectfully, she apologized softly, "Honey, I'm sorry. I had work at the office, and my co-worker had a breakdown. I was the only one around to help her."
"But I'm very tired right now, and I don't think I can cook without dozing off and risking burning down the kitchen. Can we just order takeout for the night?"
Silas paused.
He was untrusting, yes, but in all their years together, Ayla had never lied to him.
Because she was worried about her friend… could that be why she'd been so unsettled at the company earlier and hit him with the lunchbox?
Nevertheless, regardless of her reasons, she still had to come to the company tomorrow to apologize to him for what she did.
They didn't say it to his face, but he could tell many of his colleagues were elated at the thought of him finally having marital problems like the rest of them.
That's why he left work early to come see her at the office only to see her in the arms of that person on the roof.
Had the studio's security not stopped him, he would've stormed in and beat them both up.
Hearing it was a female colleague, he was secretly thankfully he hadn't gone up and done anything.
He had just parted his lips to agree to the takeout when his mother laughed scornfully beside him.
"Oh, don't you dare pull that card on my naive son. You're just a Bespoke Tailor, how hard can work be that you can't go into the kitchen to cook for your family?"
Ayla's eyes instantly clouded over and she glanced at the woman who hadn't worked a single day in her life.
Feigning shyness, she lowered her eyes and chuckled softly.
"Mother, hasn't it been a lifetime since you did any work? I wouldn't expect you to understand."