He Never Noticed Me Until I Loved Someone Else novel Chapter 314

And him? He had felt smugly satisfied, completely convinced she was perfectly content with their marriage.

What on earth had he been thinking?

How could he possibly believe that handing over a bank card and having his assistant send generic gifts on holidays and birthdays made him a good husband?

Stella had never cared about those cold, lifeless gifts. That was exactly why she had meticulously preserved and documented every single one, only to hand them all back the moment she deemed their time was "up."

Jarrod remembered what Julian Jenson and Sebastian had said to him.

They had both accused him of treating Stella poorly, of never actually caring about her.

He had vehemently denied it at the time. He had thought that since Stella herself admitted he fulfilled his duties as a husband, what right did outsiders have to run their mouths?

It wasn't until this very moment that Jarrod truly realized he really hadn't been good enough to her.

Over the years, unless it was absolutely necessary, he never called her. He had actually expected her to be the one to take the initiative, to constantly reach out and show concern for him.

He had even gotten angry when she didn't check up on him. Unable to figure out her feelings, he had resorted to using Chloe to test her...

Looking back on it now, it was completely laughable.

He was the one who had kept his heart locked tight, yet he blamed Stella for not trying to force her way in. He was the one who never showed an ounce of affection, yet he resented her for not being proactive enough.

Those little "tests" were never really about figuring out Stella's feelings. They were just his cowardly, childish way of hiding from his own panic, desperately trying to deceive himself.

Jarrod kept flipping through the pages, the suffocating weight in his chest growing heavier with every entry.

Just how exhausting must this marriage have been for Stella?

The door opened a crack. Stella stood there, wrapped in a light sweater, looking momentarily stunned when she saw him standing in the hallway. "What are you doing here?"

"I..." Jarrod looked at her makeup-free face, the edges of her hair still slightly damp from a recent blow-dry. The words he had rehearsed caught in his throat. "I just wanted to check on you. Does your hand still hurt?"

Stella glanced down at her palm. The faint redness had faded hours ago. She shook her head. "It doesn't hurt. I'm completely fine."

The draft from the hallway blew into the apartment. Stella hesitated for a second before stepping aside. "Come in."

Jarrod followed her inside. The small apartment was impeccably clean and cozy, radiating Stella's personal touch in every corner. Compared to the sprawling, desolate emptiness of The Sterling Residences, this place felt like an actual home.

Stella poured him a glass of warm water and set it on the coffee table. "It's late. Was there something else you needed?"

Jarrod held the warm glass, raising his eyes to look at Stella sitting on the sofa opposite him. His Adam's apple bobbed as he finally forced the words out. "Stella, about everything that's happened... I was wrong."