Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 37: Pepper Fantasy

Ray POV

"Sir, I... I just want to put her in her place. So she wouldn’t underestimate you," Jane Jiang murmured as she lowered her head like a little girl who had just been scolded by an adult.

She was cute and popular with the men in the office. But just like how I saw the rest of them, I felt absolutely nothing for her.

She was a competent secretary and also a very loyal employee of mine, though firing her over her comment to Claudia was not a smart move unless she did it twice.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t care less about her affection toward me. When I helped her parents, I did it out of necessity and an old sentiment between my grandfather and her family, not because I liked their daughter.

"I do not need your assistance with that, Jane. What happens between Claudia and me is not your problem. I gave Claudia that contract because I want to, and if you think that I’ll let her go after a month or two, then..." I couldn’t help but scoff thinking of that ridiculous idea. In my mind, there was no way this decade of grudge would disappear after a month or two. In fact, it was more possible to bind her by my side until one of us died. "... then you’re sorely mistaken. I’ll keep her by my side for a decade or more."

Jane Jiang raised her head, staring at me with eyes glistening with tears. She had never shown this kind of expression before, even when I went on many dates. It made me wonder if she really thought there was something else besides hatred between Claudia and me.

"Sir, you... you are not in love with her, are you?"

"What makes you think so?"

"Y-you are acting really strange, Sir. You are doing too much for her!" Jane said. "I-I just don’t want you to be taken advantage of."

My gaze cooled down, and Jane took a step back instinctively.

"Just do your job as my secretary. Don’t be so fussy about my private life."

I entered the backseat of my car, and Troy, my driver, closed the door for me.

Troy drove the car out of the basement parking lot, and silence filled the car.

Troy kept checking on me through the rearview mirror, so I asked, "Spit it out, Troy."

"Sir, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Jane crying like that. Is it really okay to let her meet Miss Reed in that condition? She’s still young and emotional after all..."

"I’ll fire her if she makes another mistake. As for her cries... she can cry all she wants. If shedding all her tears will help her work more efficiently, then so be it."

Troy gulped audibly and said nothing after that—not that I wanted to talk with him in the first place.

Honestly, my mind had been preoccupied with two things since last night: Claudia’s tears from last night and the pepper of kisses this morning.

I disliked how everything she did was like an earthquake that shook the tightly sealed box in my heart, making me feel extremely uncomfortable and causing me to do illogical things that made me feel like a clown.

I refused to believe that her love for me was genuine back then, even if she said it with her god-forsaken tears that made my hands involuntarily tremble.

Claudia was just like the rest of them, liking me because of my appearance and wealth. But she was unfortunate, because I happened to accept her as my girlfriend instead of ignoring her.

I knew she was lying, but I couldn’t shake this tremor inside my heart. It forced my mind to imagine that Claudia had genuinely fallen in love with me, an irredeemable monster who hurt her.

That imagination lingered all night, filling my dream with a fantasy where Claudia and I were resting in a house by the beach, sitting by the window and staring at the riptide.

She rested her head on my chest as I wrapped her in my embrace. Then I peppered her with kisses—from the corner of her eyes, her ruddy apple cheeks, the cute dimple at the corner of her lips, and of course, her sweet-as-sugar lips.

As sappy as it sounded, that was the first dream I had about her that didn’t include her insulting me with hurtful words, just like the rest of them.

I usually woke up with sweat all over my body, dampening the bedsheet and pillow because none of my dreams were good before this.

But not today.

When I woke up in the morning, there was no damp bedsheet or pillow—only a tall tent under my blanket.

Yes, a thirty-four-year-old man like me had a teenage-level erection in the morning. It was so hard and persisted for a full hour after I woke up, to the point that I had to take a cold shower just to calm down.

It had been a long time since I had morning wood. Not because I was physically ill, the last physical assessment I had proved that I was in top shape.

But I was never mentally "right." I had no attraction for women or men. They were like walking and talking statues to me no matter how attractive they were in other people’s eyes.

That dream gave me a better mood in the morning, so I asked her to fix my tie, because part of that long dream also included her fixing my tie in the beginning.

Then I peppered her with kisses, just like I had in my dream. And I had to admit... the real Claudia tasted far sweeter than the illusion my mind had created.

The warmth of her body seeped through every point where our skin touched, melting into the cold, lifeless parts of my heart with each lingering kiss.

The soft whimper that escaped her whenever my lips brushed against her skin was intoxicating to my ears, more beautiful than any opera or orchestra I had ever listened to.