The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 4

4 /10

The tissue box on the coffee table was empty. Unwashed plates sat on the dining table.

They hadn't hired a housekeeper; she handled everything herself. That had been her choice.-

She hadn't wanted any "other woman" in their little home.

*Other woman.*

Lavinia's movements faltered.

Who was the real other woman here? Garnett had always had a first love he couldn't forget. She had known that before the wedding, yet she had still stubbornly walked right into this marriage.

Because she and Garnett had met a long time ago. When she was fourteen, she and her cousin Saul had been running a late-night food stand and were harassed by thugs. Garnett had been walking home from a tutoring center and stepped in to bail them out.

He was seventeen then, wearing his athletic uniform. Under the warm glow of the streetlights, he looked like the leading man from a classic movie. With a cold expression, he pulled out his phone, and with one call, the local police chief came running.

She had secretly been in love with him ever since. Knowing she wasn't good enough for him, she never dreamed it could actually happen.

Later, by some twist of fate, she saved his grandmother Judith's life. Judith insisted that her grandson marry her.

At the family setup dinner, she sat across from him. He glanced up at her for a second before looking away, stating flatly, "It's you."

Judith took her hand and said, "My grandson grew up without a mother. He's a bit closed off, but he has a good heart. Lavinia, I'm getting old. Will you help me take care of him?"

On the way to their wedding, she kept tripping in her high heels. He stopped and waited for her for a few seconds before helplessly holding out his hand. "Let's go."

It was those two simple words—*Let's go*—that led her to mistakenly believe that if she just treated him with true devotion, one day, he would finally look at her.

For the first year and a half of their marriage, Garnett was distant but relatively polite.

Six months ago, Sigrid returned to the country. They reconnected at a class reunion.

He stopped coming home. He stopped answering texts. He stopped replying to messages. Whenever she called, he would say "I'm busy" and hang up.

Last month, on their second wedding anniversary, he didn't come home until two in the morning. She asked him if he remembered what day it was, and he just replied, "Is that even a thing?"

Lavinia placed the plates in the dishwasher and closed the door. She had already moved her belongings out of the master bedroom a few days ago and was now sleeping in the guest room. She was also secretly apartment hunting; as soon as she found a place, she would move out.