CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 4: WHAT A HUGE “SURPRISE”

Holly’s body went completely rigid.

She felt a chill rise from her feet, shooting straight to the top of her head, freezing all the blood and nerves in her body.

Zion Pence... what did he just say?

Holly slowly lifted her head, looking at the face she had loved for seven years, just inches away.

This face she knew so well now bore a smile as if it were perfectly natural, with a gaze full of blatant scrutiny, as though he was giving her an "aesthetic makeover."

Disappointment.

Endless disappointment.

No more old-fashioned professional attire?

Wear pretty dresses?

So he’d find it more pleasing?

Every word he spoke turned into a poisoned dagger, stabbing mercilessly into her chest.

Holly parted her lips, but it was as if something was blocking her chest, and she couldn’t make a sound.

All she could do was silently scream in her heart!

Do I inherently like wearing the "old-fashioned" professional clothes you speak of?

Do I not like wearing pretty dresses?

Zion Pence... have you forgotten!

In the past five years, countless times I’ve accompanied you in high heels and professional attire until midnight, and back then you said: "Holly is amazing, dressed like a queen, no one dares to belittle you!"

And now....

You’re using a dismissive tone, with a condescending attitude, complaining over and over that I dress conservatively, that I’m not pretty enough, and demanding I wear dresses to please you!

This is simply the cruelest and most absurd joke in the world!

Zion Pence, do you even have a heart!

Holly looked at his insincere smile, feeling utterly repulsed!

Ordinarily, Zion Pence would notice something was wrong with Holly’s emotions, but now his mind was filled with the scene from the bridal shop moments ago.

He tilted Holly’s chin, leaning in, "Holly, I want you..."

Holly felt cold all over, his breath on her face like a venomous snake slithering inside her body.

She abruptly turned her head away, throwing the flowers back into his arms, causing him to stagger in surprise.

"I’m going to the bathroom."

Zion Pence was bewildered by her reaction, any man would find it unpleasant to be interrupted at such a moment, but quickly, he masked it with a tolerant smile.

He rubbed Holly’s shoulder, "Okay, I’ll wait for you in the bedroom."

Holly practically fled into the bathroom. After locking the door, she supported herself on the sink, gasping for breath.

She turned on the faucet, letting the water wash over her hands, rubbing the skin vigorously, but she couldn’t wash away the sensation of Zion Pence’s touch on her.

His breath, his touch, his deceit...

The mirror reflected her pallid face, her lips had a deep bite mark, when did she bite herself?

What should she do?

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Holly noticed something black protruding from underneath the mirror cabinet.

A feeling of dread surged in her heart.

She instinctively held her breath, trembling, and slowly opened the mirror cabinet door.

Behind the door was a crumpled black silk stocking.

A tear at the top of the thigh, with undeniable lusty implications!

Holly’s mind went blank with a loud "buzz"!

These stockings weren’t hers!

She never wore this style!

But this bridal apartment, besides her, there was only one person with a key!

Holly gripped the black stocking tightly, gasping for air, her chest heaving violently, her heart being crazily torn apart by something.

Zion Pence! He brought Mia Chapelle here!

"Holly, you’ll be the only mistress of this house in the future!" The scene from three years ago vividly played in her mind when Zion Pence knelt and placed the key in her palm.

But now those so-called promises of everlasting love had turned into the most venomous curse in the world!

Zion Pence, he betrayed their love and trampled on her dignity.

He brought another woman to their bridal home!

Came to this place she had painstakingly arranged, watched it piece by piece being decorated!

Where did they do it?

Was it on that wool rug in the living room she had personally picked? Zion had once held her there and said they would watch movies together for a lifetime.

Or on the marble countertop in the kitchen? The place where he had once clumsily cooked her a bowl of birthday egg noodles.

Or maybe... on the marital bed they had chosen together?

The bed where countless times she had imagined they would embrace, sleep together, and nurture new life.

Her stomach churned, and Holly could no longer hold back the nausea in her heart, retching over the sink.

But aside from stomach acid, nothing came out....

Bitterness burned her throat.

So dirty!

This room is so dirty!

The air is filthy!

Everything they touched is filthy!

Everything is filthy!

Holly’s reflexes kicked in, and she threw the black stocking away as if burned.

Her body recoiled uncontrollably until her back hit the door hard.

The scene of him and Mia Chapelle’s tryst in the car...

The lust-laden, painfully conspicuous black stocking....

Countless scenes flashed before her eyes, switching rapidly.

Holly’s eyes were empty, like a well dried for a millennium, surrounded tightly by endless nausea and humiliation.

When her gaze focused on the scissors lying on the tiles, she stumbled towards the mirror cabinet, rummaging through a pile of objects to find them.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the scissors, picked up that nauseating black stocking again, her hands shaking violently.

The scissors came down hard, producing a piercing ripping sound.

One cut after another, Holly didn’t stop her hands.

It was as if by doing so, she could erase everything they had left in this house.

Tears blurred her vision, bitterness mixing with despair and pain.

As if venting, she flung the scissors and the black stocking forcefully away.

A sharp pain shot through her fingertip.

Her left index finger had a gash, blood dripping incessantly onto the beige tiles.

The pain and blood sharpened her senses, but the bone-chilling cold remained indelible.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

Zion Pence’s deliberately gentle voice penetrated the door, with a hint of impatience and lust urging, "Baby, are you done? Don’t make me wait too long...."

This voice was like a bucket of boiling oil poured on Holly’s heart.

These words, this scene, in days she knew nothing about, had already happened thousands and thousands of times.

She had been so foolishly in the dark!

In an instant, all the pain, despair, and anger ignited at once.

This was her fiancé...

This was the man she loved for seven years...

This was what she thought was "one of a kind"...

What should she do?

Her seven years of youth, her best years, who would compensate her?

Who would save her...

Holly’s eyes fixed on the scissors on the tiles not far away; she slowly moved, bending down to pick the scissors back up.

The cold metal handle provided some inexplicable comfort.

She stood up, step by step, heading towards the door mired in deceit and lies.

Through the door, Holly could imagine his insincere smile.

The tip of the scissors was already resting against the door, at the position of Zion Pence’s heart outside.

The knuckles gripping the scissors gradually turned white, a crazy thought screaming wildly in her mind.

Use these scissors, thrust them into Zion Pence’s heart!

See what color his heart really is.

Is it red, or has it been corroded by lies and betrayal, turning as black as sludge!

The air was terrifyingly quiet, with only her rapid and suppressed breathing, and the man’s knocking on the door again resounding outside.

For a long time, Holly slowly grasped the doorknob...