‘What are you doing?
Why did you reject him?!’
The System’s voice cracked, and the entity itself seemed to turn manic.
Hazel Sinclair turned off her phone and stuffed it in her pocket.
She then used chopsticks to transfer the cooked noodles into a bowl, washed the pot, and cracked two eggs into it.
‘Hurry and add him back!
Now!’
The System was frantic, screaming nonstop in her head.
Hazel Sinclair flipped the eggs and drizzled some soy sauce over them.
Once they were fried, she placed the eggs on the noodles, and a fragrant bowl of egg noodles was ready.
“So noisy,” Hazel Sinclair snapped.
“Can you give it a rest?”
After she finished eating, Hazel Sinclair sat down in front of her computer, one hand on the mouse and the other moving across the keyboard.
‘As someone who’s always been broke, she could never pass up an opportunity to make money, no matter how rich she might become.’
A few days ago, Hazel Sinclair had accepted a video editing gig.
Finishing this job would net her 200 dollars.
‘If that Leon Sterling knew how to edit videos, he could earn a decent amount each month too.’
After finishing and saving the edit, Hazel Sinclair reviewed it from start to finish, tweaking a few details that weren’t quite right.
[Hazel Sinclair: Hey, let me know what you think of the edit.]
Six minutes later, they replied.
[Aaa: High-quality work.
Not bad.]
[Aaa: Transfer: 250]
[Aaa: The extra 50 is for you to get some boba.]
‘What a great client, giving fifty for boba.’ Hazel Sinclair immediately accepted the money and replied with a sticker.
[WavingCat_ThanksBoss.jpg]
Hazel Sinclair closed her laptop, flopped onto the sofa, and started watching videos of handsome guys.
‘Work, you know, is all about a healthy work-life balance.’
DING DING DING—
She was in the middle of watching a handsome guy dance when her WhatsApp started buzzing nonstop.
After several consecutive notifications, Hazel Sinclair opened the app, suppressing her irritation.
She glanced at the sender’s name: Simon Sinclair.
‘Well now, the Sinclair family’s long-lost true scion who was recently found.’
He had sent several photos.
Judging by the angle, they were taken surreptitiously.
She tapped to open them and saw Leon Sterling squatting by the kitchen sink in Simon’s home, fixing a drainpipe.
His skin was bronzed from his time in the sun delivering food.
With a wrench in hand, he looked surprisingly handsome in his yellow work vest.
His chiseled profile was undeniably handsome.
[Simon Sinclair: For a paltry thousand or so, the great Chairman Sterling actually stooped so low as to fix a drainpipe.
Hazel Sinclair, now you get a taste of what my life used to be like.]
[Simon Sinclair: What goes around, comes around.]
‘Is he trying to mock me?’ she thought after reading Simon Sinclair’s messages.
Hazel ignored the taunt and went back to admiring the photos, until she noticed half of another woman’s face in one of them.
With a single glance, Hazel knew exactly who it was.
It was Serena Sinclair.
When Leon Sterling was at the height of his power and married into the Sinclair family, she was the woman he had asked for by name.
‘This guy is really something else,’ she thought, ‘tangled up with three different women.’
‘The wife who cuckolded him, the heroine who soothes and heals him, and the unattainable first love of his youth.’
Hazel said nothing.
She simply opened her contacts, found Leon Sterling’s number, and called him directly.
It rang for half a minute before he hung up on her.
Hazel called again.
He hung up again.
She tried three more times in a row, with the same result: he hung up every time.
‘Holy crap!
He’s cheating on me!’
Hazel Sinclair shot up from the sofa, changed her clothes, and stormed out the door.
Once outside her apartment complex, she unlocked a shared e-bike, hopped on, and twisted the throttle, speeding away.
‘That damn man.
How dare he cheat on me.
How dare he not answer my calls.’
Five calls, and he didn’t answer a single one.
A dozen or so minutes later, she arrived at Simon Sinclair’s residential complex.
She parked the e-bike and glanced at the fare.
It was actually 5 dollars.
Hazel hurriedly found a coupon to use, paid the fare, then slipped into the complex behind another resident.
Following her memory, Hazel made her way to the base of Building 6.
Her timing was pure coincidence.
Leon Sterling and Serena Sinclair were just walking out.
The two were chatting, and though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, the corner of the usually poker-faced and expressionless Leon Sterling’s mouth quirked up into a slight smile.
The curve was so subtle that anyone who didn’t know him well would have missed it entirely.
Hazel, who had received nothing but a cold shoulder and the silent treatment from him for the past seven days, was instantly furious at the sight.
‘What a double standard.
A smile for the girl he never got over, and the silent treatment for me.’
“Leon Sterling!” Hazel shouted at him.
Her voice successfully cut off their conversation.
Both of them turned to look at her, and Leon looked at her with surprise.
‘What is Hazel Sinclair doing here?’
“Miss Sinclair, what are you doing here?” Serena Sinclair asked, crossing her arms with a smile.
“Are you here to find Simon and have him beg Uncle and Aunt on your behalf?”
“But even if Simon were to plead for you, Uncle wouldn’t let you back into the Sinclair Family.
You made such an ugly scene last time,” Serena said, her voice dripping with mockery as she looked at Hazel with contempt.
“Who said I want to go back to the Sinclair Family!” Hazel roared back at her.
“I should be asking you something!
Don’t you know I’m Leon Sterling’s wife?
What do you think you’re doing, laughing and chatting with him, standing so close?”
As she spoke, Hazel mimicked Serena, crossing her arms and lifting her chin, her tone sharp and biting.
“Don’t tell me you want to be the other woman.”
“Hazel Sinclair!” Leon Sterling, who was standing beside them, frowned and rebuked her.
“You’ve gone too far.”
Seeing Leon defend Serena, Hazel’s expression turned grim.
“I’ve gone too far?”
“Isn’t what I saw the truth?
And I called you five times!
Why didn’t you answer?!”
Hazel wasn’t just attacking Serena; now she directed her questioning at Leon.
“I could understand if you were busy, but couldn’t you have called me back or sent a message when you were done?”
“But did you?”
“No, you didn’t.
On my way over here, I didn’t get a single message or call from you.”
Hazel pointed a finger at him, her words turning nasty.
“You couldn’t forget her back when we got married, and now you’re still hoping for something to happen between you two, aren’t you?”
“Leon Sterling, if you dare cheat on me, I’ll kill you!”
After saying her piece, her big, round eyes swept over the two of them.
Then, with a heavy-sounding HUFF, she turned and walked away.
Leon watched her leave, his brows tightly furrowed.
He pulled out his phone to check it and discovered that all of Hazel Sinclair’s calls had indeed been disconnected.
Her number was still in his blacklist.
At this, Leon’s expression turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
“Did you just touch my phone?” Leon looked up at Serena, his voice cold.
Caught red-handed, Serena didn’t panic in the slightest.
“I thought it was a spam call,” she said lightly, “so I hung up for you.”
“Don’t you hate her more than anyone?
Why don’t you just divorce her?” Serena asked, changing the subject.
After leaving the complex, Hazel got back on a shared e-bike and slowly rode home.
‘Damn that Leon Sterling.
He made me waste over 10 dollars for nothing.’
“Show me the Dislike Value,” Hazel said to the System.
[Dislike Value: 0]
Hazel: “…”
‘His tolerance is really something else.
Don’t tell me I actually have to cheat on him for real?’