The Lies Behind Her Marriage novel Chapter 210

High School Days.

The house was quiet long past midnight.

Noelle padded softly down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. She had tried to sleep, but her mind refused to settle. The unfamiliar room, the thoughts about Benson, and the awkward dinner with her rival’s family kept her awake.

She stepped into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Noelle nearly choked.

She turned around and found Silas walking in.

“You move around like a ghost,” she muttered. “Are you trying to scare people?”

Silas shrugged. “If someone is sneaking around our kitchen at midnight, I’m entitled to investigate.”

Noelle pretended not to hear Silas’s sarcasm and took another sip of water.

“Relax. I’m only committing the terrible crime of drinking water,” she said in the end.

Silas stepped further into the kitchen. He also drank a glass of water.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Noelle had brought her phone. She checked if her son had replied to any of her messages, but all she read were her desperate pleas.

Noelle: [Ben, please. Mommy loves you so much. Can I see you?]

Noelle: [Don’t you love Mommy anymore?]

Noelle: [Ben, I didn’t want to leave your dad, but sometimes adults just can’t get along when they are married. Gwen is not your mom. I am.]

Noelle: [Benson, please reply.]

Her messages appeared to have been seen, but her son chose not to answer any of her texts.

That alone made her heart ache.

She could not help but feel a bit of rage. She texted Brian:

[Brian, please. For the sake of all my sacrifices for our marriage, can you talk to Benson and let me have custody of our son? Stop taking him to Gwen.]

“Texting your scumbag husband?” Silas asked, his eyes narrowing at her.

Silas was wearing a tank top. As he crossed his arms against his chest, his muscles tensed, especially his biceps. He said flatly, “Stop being a fool, Noelle.”

“Excuse me?” Noelle stared at him in disbelief. “You came all the way down here just to insult me?”

“You should know when something isn’t worth holding on to,” Silas scolded.

“I was trying to check on my son,” Noelle replied. “I can’t just… give up on him that easily. He is just a kid. He doesn’t know—he doesn’t understand. He is being manipulated.”

“Six years of raising him,” Silas said coolly. “And he’s already taken after his father.”

“Yet here you are, still hoping you can get his custody?” Silas pointed out. “You really do have a talent for choosing ungrateful men.”

“Silas, what is wrong with you? Why are you even bitter?” Noelle asked. “Our rivalry ended years ago. High school was a long time ago.”

Silas let out a quiet, humorless laugh. “You think that’s what I’m bitter about?”

Noelle frowned.

“Then what?” she asked.

Silas looked at her for a long moment before saying, “You really never figured it out.”

Noelle’s brows knit together. “Figured what out?”

When the teacher announced they had scored the same, Silas said, “I think there is seriously something wrong with the questions.”

Silas was the top student during their first year, but things started to change. The level of competition heightened in their second year. Silas began attempting to sabotage her academic achievements.

During one of her robotics presentations, he kept throwing questions that made her forehead sweat and her heart race.

“What happens if the robot’s sensor gives the wrong distance reading?”

“If the sensor fails, does the robot stop or keep moving?”

Clearly, he wanted her to fail, but what Silas did not know was how thoroughly Noelle had prepared for her presentation. She answered his questions in detail, and in the end, even their teacher praised her performance.

Noelle won that presentation, and from then on, her performance in academic competitions took a noticeable leap. She and Silas were always racing against each other. There were no more ties—sometimes Noelle won, and sometimes Silas did.

By the end of their second year of high school, Noelle had taken the top honors while Silas ranked second. As she stepped forward to accept her medal, she glanced toward him. Silas was leaning back in his chair, watching her with the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth.

Noelle frowned and quickly looked away. Knowing Silas Vander, she assumed he was already thinking of ways to make things harder for her in their third year.

***

When morning came, Noelle was barely awake at breakfast.

She wasn’t really herself.

“Didn’t sleep much?” Silas asked, taking the seat next to her.

Noelle yawned and answered without thinking, “I dreamed about you.”

It took a second, but when she realized what she had said, she took it back. “I mean, our high school days! I dreamed about high school.”

An amused look flashed on Silas's face. He said, "Is that so? You know, you might actually do better this year."

Noelle, "???"