The Day I Quit Him (Autumn and Mars) novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In the office.

Mars Wright sat in his executive chair, his gaze fixed on the doorway where Autumn Lopez had just left. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even hear Lydia Lopez calling his name.

Autumn’s visit had been brief, all business, and it left him feeling unsettled.

Suddenly, a face popped into his view.

Lydia was annoyed that he was ignoring her.

“Mars, what are you thinking about?”

The man pressed his lips together, finally answering after a long pause, “Nothing.”

Usually, if Lydia said she wasn’t feeling well, Autumn would have been even more worried than he was.

But today, Autumn didn’t seem to care about Lydia’s condition at all.

She barely even looked at him.

In all the time they’d been together, Autumn had never treated him like this.

But Mars didn’t dwell on it. His attention was quickly pulled back to Lydia.

At the villa.

The master bedroom, where Autumn and Mars had spent all their time together, was filled with their memories. Every object held a trace of them.

She had the housekeeper gather up every last thing that belonged to her.

“Ma’am, should I move these things somewhere else?”

“No. Throw them all out.”

Autumn sat in the living room sipping tea. The suitcase by her side held the few things that were hers alone.

As for all those other, tainted things? They belonged in the trash.

Autumn had someone put her suitcase in the car. She planned to leave after finishing her tea.

But then, an unexpected guest arrived.

“Autumnn, what are you doing drinking tea?”

“You’re pregnant now. You shouldn’t be touching things that are bad for the baby.”

Lydia rushed forward, trying to snatch the cup from her hand. But Autumn held it steady, and Lydia’s sudden grab failed.

Just as Lydia was about to try again, Autumn flicked her wrist, splashing the hot tea all over her face.

Before Lydia could erupt, Autumn spread her hands in a gesture of pure innocence. “Oops, sorry, Lydia. My hand slipped. I’m just so weak now that I’m pregnant, I can’t even hold things steady. Maybe I should just get an abortion?”

“No!”

A face full of tea was nothing compared to the baby.

Lydia immediately shot down the idea, trying to soothe her. “Autumn, a baby is a life. You can’t joke about things like that.”

Then, she ordered the staff to bring the nutritional supplements she’d just bought to the dining room, inviting Autumn to come enjoy them.

Autumn looked at her overly attentive act and let out a cold laugh. “Sure, why not?”

The two went to the dining table, where the staff brought out bowl after bowl of supplements.

There was chicken soup, fish soup, and pork trotter soup–all of it incredibly rich and oily,

The sight of it alone made Autumn lose her appetite.

But Lydia looked like she wouldn’t leave until Autumn ate every last bite.

“Autumn, these are full of nutrients that are good for a pregnant woman. You should eat up.

Autumn feigned obedience, lifting a bowl. The next second, she flung the entire contents of the chicken soup onto Lydia.

“Sorry. Hand slipped.”

Lydia, caught completely off guard by the hot liquid, shot to her feet.

“Autumn Lopez, don’t you dare say that wasn’t on purpose! How can a person’s hand slip twice in such a short time?!”

Before Lydia could finish, the fish soup landed on her as well.

Autumn kindly corrected her, “It’s three times.”

Now, only a single bowl of pork trotter soup remained on the table. Lydia backed away warily.

The mix of smells clinging to her was disgusting, and her clothes were soaked and stuck to her skin. Her face was dark with fury.

But Lydia couldn’t lose her temper. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure it. “It’s okay, Autumn. It’s normal for pregnant women to have mood swings. I just came back to get something for Mars. I’ll grab it and go.”

Watching her stride upstairs and into Mars’s study, Autumn felt that familiar sourness rise in her chest again.

After so many years together, after getting married, he had never once let her into his study.

He always used the same line: “The study is just for work, it’s a stressful place, and my Autumn deserves a life full of happiness.” Yet he had tacitly allowed Lydia to invade his territory time and time again.

Autumn remembered waking up in the middle of the night once to an empty bed, the only sound coming from the study.

She had been half–asleep and groggy, pushing the door open without thinking, only to be met with Mars’s furious roar.

*Who told you to come in here?! Get out!”

His shout had shocked her wide awake.

Afterward, Mars explained he had yelled because he was worried that waking her in the middle of the night would give her a headache.

But thinking back now–his fingers flying across the keyboard in a rush right before he shouted, the faint sound of a woman’s voice and his laughter that had just faded from the room.

It all told Autumn one thing: Mars hadn’t just gone rotten recently. He’d been rotten for a long time–she just hadn’t noticed.

Half an hour later, Lydia’s voice rang out again.

“Housekeeper, put all the snacks, coffee, and tea in the house into my car. My sister is pregnant; she can’t be eating all this junk food.”

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