The Man She Wouldn’t Touch Is Never Coming Back Chapter 02

“A friend of mine wants to end his marriage.”

Kian lied smoothly, his fingers curling tight around the hospital sheet.

Iris nodded without emotion.”I can take the case. I will represent him free of charge.”

“It won’t be that complicated.” He pulled his lips into a smile that never reached his eyes. “Both sides want the split. You only need to draft the agreement.”

Iris did not question him. She gestured for her assistant to prepare the paperwork.

Once the door closed, the silence thickened, heavy enough to suffocate.

“I was only having dinner with an old friend yesterday,” Iris said out of the blue. “Don’t misread things, and don’t go looking for trouble with him.”

Kian laughed quietly.

He was impulsive and headstrong, but he never made trouble without reason.

If she had told him long ago that her heart belonged to someone else, he would never have chased her for so many years.

A dull, spreading pain pricked his chest. He reined in his emotions and lifted his gaze to her.”Did you come here just to say that?”

“There is something else.” Her tone softened slightly. “Thank you for saving Silas. He lives with a coagulation disorder; any injury can become dangerous.”

“As compensation, you may name whatever you want.”

Kian held her gaze steadily.”Do you love him that deeply? Deep enough to offer your husband compensation for protecting him?”

Iris frowned, unable to catch his meaning.”What did you say?”

The assistant pushed open the door at that moment and handed the finished divorce agreement to Kian.

He took it without a word, flipped to the signature line marked for the wife, and slid it toward her.”Sign.”

“Wrong page.” Her slender fingers hovered above the paper. “This is the wife’s line for the divorce. I’m the lawyer. I sign as the witness.”

She was about to turn the page when her phone rang.

The name “Silas” glared from the screen.

“Turn to the next page,” she told Kian, then answered, her voice melting instantly soft. “What’s wrong?”

Kian didn’t move, the pen tip still pressed to the same spot.

“…Okay. I’m on my way.”

She hung up, scanned the page quickly, and signed her name.

The moment her pen lifted, the fragile hope Kian had clung to plunged into ice.

“My firm has an urgent matter. I have to leave.”

She turned and walked away, her resolve unshakable. She never noticed she had signed in the wrong spot.

Kian watched her leave, then signed his name on the opposing line with trembling fingers.

Once the mandatory waiting period before divorce ended, they would have no more ties to one another.

…

No one visited Kian’s bedside during that week in the hospital.

He learned to change his dressings alone, to bite back cries while shifting his body, to call for nurses when his IV ran low.

Iris only showed up on the day he was discharged.

“I’ve been swamped with work,” she said from the doorway, polished and put-together, carrying a faint freesia fragrance.

It was the same scent he had smelled on Silas that night.

Kian kept his eyes lowered as he packed his belongings, and he did not call out her lie.

To his surprise, she did not drive him straight home. Instead, she brought him to a newly opened shopping complex.

“What would you like to eat?” She stood in the elevator, scrolling her phone with long, graceful fingers, unusually patient. “The dim sum here is excellent.”

From lunch to a movie, she arranged every detail.

She ordered his favorite dishes when he hesitated, warned him to be careful of hot soup, and fetched a blanket to drape over his shoulders when the theater air conditioning grew too cold.

“Is the air too cold?”

“Are the seats comfortable?”

“Does this dish suit your taste?”

The tenderness made Kian feel unmoored.

Eight years, and this was the first time they’d gone on a date like an ordinary couple.

“Don’t you have that aversion of yours? Don’t you hate crowds?” he finally asked in the dim light of the theater.

Iris paused, adjusting her cuff.”I thought you were growing restless, so I made an exception.”

Her voice was gentle, gentler than anything he had ever heard from her.

The dissonance sharpened when she dropped him off at the estate and said she was heading back to the firm to work.

On impulse, Kian hailed a taxi and followed her.

The mall glittered beneath the night sky. He watched Iris meet Silas, and trace the exact same route they had taken that afternoon.

The same restaurant, the same theater auditorium, even the same store where she bought the identical shirt.

“I haven’t been back in years, and I hardly know my way around,” Silas laughed, slinging an arm over her shoulder. “I’m lucky you’re here with me.”

He tilted his head.”But I remember you hated shopping. You used to go out of your way to avoid malls. How do you know which restaurant serves the best dim sum, which theater seats are comfortable, which shirts fit me? Did you study all this for me?”

Iris’s expression stayed calm. The woman who shrank from casual contact with everyone else took the jacket Silas handed her the moment he turned to try on clothes, completely naturally.

“Yes,” she said. “I studied.”

Through the shop window, Kian’s chest constricted. An ice shard drove through him, and every heartbeat tore at his flesh, making even breathing a torment.

He was nothing more than practice, a rehearsal so she could please the one that got away.