Chapter 49: A Bitter Wife’s Question
I swallowed back every teasing words that almost slipped out, afraid that if I said anything, he might actually toss Lingo out right then and there.
"What’s wrong?" Lando finally lifted his gaze to me. "Did Marissa already leave?"
He even called her by name instead of Ms. Hale! They must be really close!
I lowered my gaze and murmured, "She just left ... and we signed a three-year contract." I hesitated before adding, "Tomorrow she’ll also be coming with me to the Rosélle Beauty photoshoot."
"That’s good." Lando nodded slightly, then turned back to his computer the moment an email popped up on the screen. Without even looking at me, he asked, "But why do you look so gloomy? Is there something about the contract you don’t like? Or ... did Marissa say something harsh to you?"
He went on, "She can be a little sharp sometimes, but she’s not a bad person."
He even knew her personality very well!
I tapped my foot against the floor, my lips pushing into a pout as a sudden rush of heat and anger I couldn’t explain spread through me.
I only meant to ask about their friendship, just casually ... but before I knew it, the words slipped out, weirder than I intended. "Is Marissa your girlfriend?"
The room went silent.
Lando froze, his hands pausing above the keyboard. Slowly, he turned his head, his blue eyes locking onto mine as if he needed to make sure he’d heard me right.
"My what?" he asked.
My cheeks flamed the instant I realized how weird my question sounded. What was I even thinking? If Marissa was his girlfriend, did I really expect him to admit it so easily?
At that moment, I wanted to sink straight through the floor. "I-I didn’t mean it like that," I stammered, my fingers tangling together in my lap. "I just ... you seemed so close to her, and—and you call her by her name, and—"
Lando cut me off. "Haven’t I already told you that I don’t have a girlfriend?" He lifted one eyebrow at me.
"Y-You did?" My voice cracked as my face grew hotter by the second. "I ... I don’t remember."
"Maybe you were too drunk," he said casually. Then, out of nowhere, he added, "Marissa is just a high school friend of mine. You don’t need to be jealous of her."
Reflexively, I pushed back so fast the chair screeched across the floor. "I’m not jealous!" I blurted, hugging my arms around myself like I was clinging to the last shred of my pride. "I just ... wanted to know more about your friendship! That’s all!"
Even though that’s what I said, my behavior and my words a moment ago really did make me look like a bitter wife, the type of woman who got jealous far too easily.
didn’t even know I could be this bitter and jealous!
[You’ve never even had a boyfriend before, so how would you know, Host?] Penny’s voice chimed in slyly.
’Y-you don’t have to rub it in!’ I snapped back in my mind.
"Then, that’s good." Lando kept his eyes on me, and for a second I thought I saw the corner of his lips lift slightly. "Marissa really is just a good friend of mine. Besides, she already has a wife."
My eyes widened. "She’s married?! Since when?!"
I had never heard a single piece of news about her marriage before. But then again, since Marissa wasn’t a celebrity, her life was never really in the media spotlight.
"Around three years ago, I think," Lando replied easily. "Her wife values privacy, so Marissa never announced her wedding publicly, not even to the celebrities she works with. That’s why I hope you can keep it a secret."
I narrowed my eyes, staring at him in disbelief. "If it’s such a secret, then why are you telling me?"
Lando shifted his gaze back to the computer and began typing something on the keyboard, probably a reply to an email. "Because you’re my wife," he said nonchalantly, as if it was no different than talking about the weather. "Marissa once told me spouses should always share their secrets with each other."
I gasped at his words, and for a moment, it felt like my soul had slipped right out of my body.
Why was it that every time I spoke to him, he only grew cuter in my eyes?!
He even took his friend’s advice into consideration!
"S-So you really see me as your wife?" I leaned forward, staring into his eyes while nervously swaying my feet beneath the chair. "Like ... a real wife? Not just on paper? The kind of wife you’d never cheat on?"
Lando’s gaze shifted to me. "Haven’t you been my real wife from the beginning? What do you mean just on paper? That paper is our marriage certificate."
I froze for a moment, then replied awkwardly, "W-Well ... I thought you didn’t take this marriage seriously since it was only an arrangement, not love."
"Is that even important?" Lando said quietly. "Plenty of couples don’t marry out of love at first. I don’t see it as a problem."
I slowly leaned back into the chair, staying quiet for a while as I realized he had probably seen too many marriages built on business deals, just like ours was now.
Most of them were about power. Men married to expand their empires or climb the social ladder. If the bride wasn’t born into wealth, then she had to be a supermodel, one of those flawless women with beauty that could stop a room.
I’d even heard rumors of businessmen prowling through fashion shows, picking out their prey, deciding which woman would look best displayed at their side.
But beauty never lasted forever. Once their youthful charm faded, their husbands would start searching for someone younger.
That’s why there’s a saying: "The man grows older, but his woman’s age stays the same."
It might have sounded dramatic, but the truth was, it happened more often than people wanted to admit, and I had even seen it with my own eyes.
I’d lost count of how many times I’d heard other women say the same thing: that the only way to make a man stay was to stay beautiful.
To me, that advice always felt ridiculous. I had seen women who were breathtakingly beautiful, yet they were still cheated on.
At the end of the day, if a man wanted to cheat, he would do it, no matter how perfect his wife was.
On the other hand, if a man chose to stay loyal, then nothing could pull him away.
"But ... do you think it can grow?" I asked softly, my voice a little heavier now. "Love. Can it really grow?"