You're Just My Ex-Husband,My Lord-Chapter 12- Disdain

Laurent tilted her head back and smiled at him, her smile cold and faint.

"Fine, then I’ll wait to see what your so-called ’punishment’ is."

Without another word, she turned and left the bedroom, heading downstairs and out.

This time, she didn’t even drive. A short while later, Dave’s phone received a message from her:

"The car is yours. I’m returning it."

Dave stared at the message, almost dropping his phone in frustration.

This was not the outcome he had hoped for. He had wanted to have a proper conversation with her, but everything was only growing colder between them.

In his mind, him making an effort to explain that he hadn’t considered getting back together with Clark was him trying to save their relationship. But she, instead of accepting it, escalated it to the point of questioning whether he loved her or not. How could he not be angry?

Fine, if she insisted on divorcing, he wouldn’t make it easy for her either.

He picked up the phone and made a call, speaking curtly.

"Get in touch with the lawyer she hired. Tell him I’m coming to see him."

Without a lawyer, he wondered how she planned to handle this divorce.

Laurent had abandoned the car and taken a taxi back to Adeline’s place.

Adeline had told her earlier that she could stay at her place for the time being. Adeline’s apartment was a small two-bedroom unit, just enough for the two of them to live in.

This apartment had been bought by Adeline and her ex-husband Grant. When they divorced, Laurent had hired a lawyer for Adeline, fighting to get this apartment for her and ensuring that Grant left with nothing.

Back when Adeline was going through the toughest time, Laurent had helped her, and that’s why Adeline was now offering her full support.

Upon returning to Adeline’s apartment, Laurent realized that her priority now was to find a job, so she dove back into the difficult task of crafting her resume.

For someone like her, who had married right after graduation and later became a stay-at-home mom, creating an attractive and eye-catching resume was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

In the end, she became a little disheartened.

When any company looks at resumes, the first thing the HR department checks is work experience. Those with rich experience are given priority for hiring, but what work experience did she have in the past few years?

Her most abundant experience had been taking care of children, trying to understand Dave’s thoughts, and learning how to transition from passionately loving him to having a heart as cold as ashes.

Two hours later, Laurent found herself face-to-face with Dave again at the gate of her daughter’s kindergarten. She was there to pick her daughter up, and it was obvious that he was too.

His usual black Bentley was parked on the side of the road, and he was leaning against it, talking on the phone.

Dressed in a suit, he looked cold and elegant.

Laurent found it quite ironic. Their daughter had been attending kindergarten for over six months now, and he had never once bothered to pick her up or drop her off before. But today, he was there to send her in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon—clearly, he was trying to make an effort to fight for custody.

With a sneer, Laurent shot him a disdainful glance before walking into the kindergarten and standing there, waiting.

She had always arrived a little earlier when picking up her daughter, so that the little one wouldn’t be left waiting for her. She wanted her daughter to see her as soon as she stepped outside, without having to wait, without confusion, without anxiety.

So, even though it was still not quite time to pick up the children, a few early parents had already gathered at the entrance.

The moment Laurent appeared at the gate, Dave saw her. But what kind of look was she giving him?

Mockery? Disdain?

This woman was truly becoming impossible.

In Dave’s mind, Laurent had always looked at him with admiration, infatuation, eagerness, and sometimes calmness or neutrality. There had never been any negative emotions in her gaze until now.

Being stared at like that, he instantly lost the desire to keep talking on the phone. After hastily ending the call, he dialed her number, wanting to ask who gave her the audacity to look at him that way.

Laurent heard her phone ring and took it out of her bag. Seeing that it was Dave calling, she glanced at his direction and noticed him glaring at her with a dark expression. Finding it quite boring, she hung up the call without hesitation and turned her attention back to waiting for her daughter.

Dave was furious at her actions. He put his phone away, took a step toward her, and headed straight for her.

Originally, he hadn’t wanted to make a scene in front of so many people. After all, his image represented the Washington family, and he didn’t want the public to learn about the divorce drama. But her attitude left him no choice. He had to confront her himself.

Laurent turned around and saw Dave walking toward her. She quickly weighed the pros and cons in her mind, ultimately deciding to turn and walk briskly toward him, intercepting him before he could reach the gate. Gritting her teeth, she asked in a low voice,

"What are you doing?"

Laurent figured that the moment they met, they would likely end up arguing, and if their voices got too loud, the other parents might overhear them talking about the divorce, which would have a big impact on their daughter. Since her daughter’s father had barely been around since she started school, Laurent figured it might be better to keep up the image of him being incredibly busy in the eyes of the teachers and other parents.

That’s why she chose to intercept him first.

Dave stopped in his tracks and looked down at the woman in front of him, her cheeks puffed, eyes full of anger as she glared at him. He then glanced at her clothes, sneered, and raised an eyebrow before asking,

"Are you sure you really want a divorce?"

"Yes!"

Laurent spat the word through clenched teeth. Did he not understand Chinese or something? She’d said it so many times already—if it was about the divorce, he should directly contact her lawyer. She herself had nothing more to say to him.

Dave sized her up, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he remarked,

"A woman like you, who’s been out of touch with society for five years, with no survival skills—aren’t you afraid you’ll starve after the divorce?"

Laurent’s eyes reddened at his ruthless mockery, but he continued to relentlessly jab at her heart.

"And what about your daughter? If you can’t even take care of yourself, how are you going to support her?"

"Do you want my daughter to follow you and live a life of poverty, eating nothing but scraps? Wearing this kind of cheap clothing? Sorry, that’s impossible. If you insist on divorcing me, I won’t let you have custody of our daughter."

He reached out and contemptuously tugged at the clothes she was wearing, then smiled again.

"By the way, let me remind you—there isn’t just any man who can provide you with the kind of lavish and comfortable life I’m giving you right now!"

Laurent felt disgusted by him at that moment.

His words were full of implications: that without him, she, Laurent, wouldn’t be able to survive, that she should stop causing trouble and just obediently stay by his side, living the life he’d given her.

His condescending attitude, and that sense of superiority he derived from the fact that she had once loved him so deeply, made Laurent tremble with anger, and she felt light-headed.

Did he think she was utterly useless?

She had once been an excellent student, and had even been the head of the arts department in the student council, known for being versatile and skilled at handling all kinds of situations.

Had she not married him right after graduation, she might have been a dazzling high-level office worker by now. Would she really be in this desperate situation, struggling to write resumes and desperately searching for a job?

Of course, this was her own choice. She wasn’t complaining or regretting it, but that didn’t mean he had the right to mock her, ridicule her, and look down on her because of her current situation. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

And did he think she was just after the wealth he provided?

What she had always wanted was love.

The school bell rang in the background, signaling the end of the school day and pulling her out of her angry whirlwind.

She looked up at him, calm and fearless,

"You want to fight for custody of our daughter?"