She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 39

Standing outside her study on the second floor, Hulda froze with her hand raised.

The door was slightly ajar.

She was meticulous about shutting doors behind her, especially for her study.

The fact that it was open meant someone had been inside since she left.

Normally, Herbert and Miles never set foot in her workspace. And Callie would never cross that boundary without her permission.

A bitter, self-deprecating smile touched her lips.

Pushing the door wide open, she saw that the entire room had been overhauled.

All of her belongings—save for the desk lamp—had been carelessly shoved into a pile underneath the desk.

In their place sat a laptop covered in sunflower stickers, surrounded by a chaotic mess of colorful pens, notebooks, and documents scattered across her once-pristine workspace.

A sunflower-shaped throw pillow sat proudly on her desk chair.

As she stepped closer, the first thing that caught her eye was a fountain pen placed dead center on the desk.

It was a luxury brand, the Rolex of writing instruments, and a custom piece at that. A single pen like this cost the equivalent of two months' salary for an average person.

Engraved on the barrel was a delicate sunflower.

Hulda picked it up, only then noticing the notebook lying beneath it. Across the cover, elegant handwriting read: [Sylvie, keep it up today!]

"Mrs. Jewell..." Sylvie's voice echoed from the doorway.

Seeing the pen in Hulda's hand, Sylvie's face drained of color. She lunged forward and snatched it out of her grasp. The sudden violence of the movement knocked Hulda slightly off balance.

He was a busy man. It was perfectly normal for him to forget, especially since she hadn't reminded him.

A gift is just a way to show you care, she told herself. You can't use it to hold someone hostage.

She swallowed the disappointment and forced a smile.

But then Herbert had delivered the final blow. "I despise forced rituals and obligatory gifts. I'll let it slide this time, but don't ever do this again."

From that day forward, they had never celebrated a single milestone.

And she had never, not once, received a single gift from her husband.

She used to believe that was just how he was with everyone.

But she was wrong. He knew exactly how to give a gift. He knew how to buy a wildly expensive, custom-engraved pen with profound symbolic meaning for his student.