You're Just My Ex-Husband,My Lord-Chapter 24- Is he out of his mind?

She agreed so readily that Dave was a little taken aback.

"You..."

"This is our daughter’s first and last trip with both of us. Let’s make it a memory for her, because there won’t be another chance for us to travel together again," Laurent said, before lowering her head and walking past him to leave.

Their daughter, who was just over three years old, was about to experience her first family trip.

Laurent didn’t want to travel with Dave, but thinking about how this might be the last time their daughter would be with both parents together, and seeing her expectant little eyes, she reluctantly chose to compromise.

She was compromising for their daughter, not for him.

No matter whether their daughter ended up with her or with him, after the divorce, they would no longer have any connection. So, she chose to treat this as their daughter’s final memory. No pop-up ads, and she loved this website—definitely giving it a good review.

Dave stood there, fuming, staring at her retreating figure. Why did he feel that her words were so biting?

What did she mean by "the last family trip"? What did she mean by "we won’t have another chance to travel together again"?

Even if they divorced, as the child’s parents, weren’t they still able to take their daughter on trips?

It felt to him as if she was implying that after the divorce, she planned to sever all ties with him.

Her heart was truly cold!

Dave had booked a week-long trip to Disneyland in Japan, seemingly going all out to give their daughter the best experience. Laurent couldn’t help but sneer when she looked at the itinerary he sent her. It was a massive candy-coated trap, designed to win their daughter’s favor.

Before the trip even began, their daughter, Emma Washington, was already bubbling with excitement, her heart and mind filled with pink bubbles of anticipation. As for Laurent, she couldn’t care less about the trip.

Logically speaking, a week-long family trip like this would usually help strengthen a couple’s bond, but for Laurent, after the series of recent events, she no longer had any intention of salvaging the marriage.

She just wanted to end it as quickly as possible and be free. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Laurent had taken a week off from her job. She had only been back to work for a few days before requesting leave, and she felt guilty about it. The only thing she could do was make up for it by working extra once they returned.

On the day of departure, the driver from Burg Eltz came to pick up Dave and take them to the airport.

Perhaps because it was her first trip with her father, their daughter, Emma Washington, clung to Dave the entire time. Dave indulged her, letting her cling to him whenever she wanted, letting her hold his hand when she desired.

Laurent, on the other hand, was content with the peace and quiet, walking silently beside them. She would only respond when their daughter spoke to her or if they interacted playfully.

Once they reached Dave’s side, Laurent ignored him completely. She didn’t bother responding when he spoke to her, and she certainly wouldn’t initiate a conversation with him.

Her cold demeanor dampened Dave’s mood, which had been quite good up until then. While waiting in the VIP lounge, with their daughter engrossed in an animated show on her tablet, Dave suddenly snatched the headphones from Laurent’s ears, putting one of them in his own ear.

He was curious. After all, she had been ignoring him throughout the journey with her headphones on. He wanted to know what she had been listening to.

However, the content coming from the headphones made his expression deepen slightly. His sharp, probing gaze turned toward her, and he spoke in a low voice.

"Listening to Japanese?"

Laurent didn’t respond, nor did she look at him. She simply took the headphone from his hand and placed it back in her ear, silently.

Ironically, she had majored in Japanese during university, and she had been a top student. Her parents had hoped that after graduation, she would go abroad to study.

She had once dreamed of a life after studying abroad. Perhaps she could become an outstanding translator, or enter a foreign company and become a successful career woman, or even work in academia as a teacher.

But, as life often does, things didn’t go as planned. In her senior year of college, she met Dave, fell in love, and abandoned all her dreams and ambitions. She married him right after graduation, becoming a housewife, dedicating herself to supporting her husband and raising children.

Yet, even though her choice had betrayed everyone’s expectations, she had never regretted it at the time. She believed that without a career, one day she would have a family, love, and children.

But now, five years later, she realized that all she had gained was a child, and her family was on the verge of falling apart. Love? Well, that had never been part of the equation.

After being disheartened by her recent job search, she had decided to return to her professional knowledge. She approached it with the same devotion and seriousness she had when she passed the Level 8 language exam. Every day, during her commute on the subway, she wore headphones to listen to Japanese and practice her listening skills.

Every morning, she would also practice speaking on the balcony for half an hour before starting her day. She had once been excellent at it, but foreign language skills relied on constant use and practice. Having abandoned it for five years, her speaking skills were now so embarrassing she could hardly bear it.

She didn’t plan to stay in her current job as a store clerk for long. It was just a temporary solution to make ends meet.

She would find her value again, pull herself together, and strive to become someone he would regret not cherishing when they crossed paths in the future.

And in recent times, with a new direction to focus on, she had grown increasingly indifferent about this marriage, and she felt no fear toward the idea of divorce.

For this trip to Japan, she had downloaded a lot of Japanese listening materials onto her phone, planning to get through these few days in peace with Dave by keeping herself busy.

If she didn’t occupy herself with something, she feared that the next few days would be filled with constant arguments, and with their daughter around, she didn’t want to argue with him in front of her.

She kept her head down, continuing to listen to the Japanese audio, which infuriated Dave. He grabbed the headphones off her ears again, and in a low voice, accused her,

"So, are you planning to keep this cold face on for the next few days?"

Laurent wasn’t upset. She calmly lifted her face to look at him.

"Is that a problem?"

Dave gritted his teeth,

"We’re supposed to be on a trip with our daughter, but you’re acting like this. How do you think she feels?"

It would’ve been better if he hadn’t said anything, but when he did, Laurent found it incredibly amusing.

"After all these years, I’ve never seen you care about how our daughter feels. Now, you have the nerve to ask me to care about her feelings?"

Dave was left speechless by her sharp and biting words, unable to come up with a single retort. All he could do was glare at her fiercely with his piercing gaze.

Laurent had originally been sitting quite far away from him, but after he moved closer to confront her and she tilted her face up to meet his with defiance, the distance between them had shrunk dramatically.

To be fair, Dave thought Laurent was quite beautiful. Her delicate and refined features had a unique charm, the kind that grew more captivating the longer one looked. Most striking were her eyes—bright and lively, almost as if they could speak.

But right now, all he could see in those enchanting eyes was unabashed mockery and disdain.

Irritated beyond reason, he lowered his head and captured her lips in a forceful kiss, intending it as nothing more than a punishment. Yet the softness and taste of her lips were unexpectedly enticing, and before he knew it, he had deepened the kiss.

Laurent never imagined he would do something like this in such a public setting. After all, the lounge wasn’t empty—besides their family of three, there were several business travelers nearby. Furious and flustered, she shoved him away with all her strength, grabbed her belongings, and quickly got up to sit next to her daughter.

What’s wrong with him? Is he out of his mind?