TDATD

XXll

☆ ★ ✮ ★𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊☆ ★ ✮ ★

She held the bouquet and headed to the office on the second floor immediately. As always, she didn’t knock. Judith slammed the door open and walked in.

‘Was it you?’

Derrick, who was concentrating on the state affairs, was displeased and frowned at her abrupt disturbance.

“What’s this suddenly all about?’

‘This bouquet. It’s what you ordered.’

Derrick spotted the bouquet she held, and his face instantly made a look that suggested that something had gone wrong. But it soon reverted back to its usual appearance, and he sluggishly got up. Judith crossed her arms as she stared at him approaching her.

‘‘I guess you want to have an affair, and also take care of your image, too, no?’

Derrick, who stood in front of her before she knew it, frowned even more as he heard her mocking words.

‘What?’

Judith had thought that the reason he ordered a bouquet to be delivered to the mansion was because he wanted to appear as a faithful husband to others. He wanted to appear as if he were a passionate husband who would, with difficulty, make a reservation at Merson Flower Shop, whose prices increase these days due to its increasing popularity, and give a bouquet to his wife personally.

However, as soon as she saw his face and eyebrows crumple, those thoughts began to waver. Ho — Derrick easily saw through her thoughts and burst into a small uncontrollable laughter. Finally, he took away the bouquet that Judith held in her hand, as if he was stealing it from her.

‘I’m not planning to give this to you.’

Derrick held the bouquet to his chest and walked away towards the side of the table. Soon, he opened the drawer and pulled out something from it. It was none other than a necklace, which lit up from a streak of light entering the study. A diamond necklace that looked as though it would emit brilliant light even if it was in a dark place.

‘It’s a gift that I’ll give to the person I love.’

Derrick said, placing the necklace inside the bouquet. Judith soon realized who ‘the person I love’ was as soon as he brought it up. It was, at best, two days ago when he and Silvia Wirell argued over a problem between them. So, the person he was referring to right now would certainly be her, Silvia Wirell.

‘There’s no way I’ll give something like a gift to you.’

Derrick’s mouth was only filled with biting words, as if he were a person determined to provoke her insides. Although she was well aware about his intentions, Judith couldn’t act composed as usual this time. Right now, she was in a situation where she was going out of her mind, ashamed from her delusions in thinking that the bouquet was for her.

The incident of that day was a memory that only made her nervous and bitter whenever she would recall it. Judith shook her head in order to brush aside the unpleasant memory. She even took her eyes off from the garden of flowers she was staring at.

And it was at that moment when she turned at the corner of the hallway. Absorbed in erasing the memory, she didn’t even notice who was approaching from the other side.

“Kyaa!”

The moment they bumped into each other, Judith fortunately managed to hold onto the edge of the wall and avoided falling, while the other person― thud― tumbled downwards. Judith, whose blurry vision immediately cleared, saw the person who toppled and reached out her hand to them as she was startled out of her own wits.