Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

Every time she thought Emily was out of the picture, the woman always popped up again, like some persistent weed that wouldn’t die in spite of the elements. And the actress never seemed to run out of schemes, too; each one was always different from the last.

"Melinda?" Leo snapped his fingers in front of her face. "What’s wrong? Where have you drifted off to?"

"Oh everything’s fine," she quickly replied. "I just remembered something." She was never one to voice out her struggles and her burdens. And in light of everything that happened to her in the past five years, it wasn’t easy for her to share her secrets.

Lucky for her, Leo was not the type who pried. He kindly accepted her vague reason and left it at that, then took the reins of the conversation and began a new topic. Soon they were in avid discussion again.

The party was dwindling, and a lot of the other guests had already left. At this point, Melinda and Leo were talking about stories of the ancient scholars, and what was meant to be a little chat turned into an animated intellectual discourse. Both of them were intelligent, after all, and matters regarding history had a special place in the hearts of such people.

Meanwhile, from the other side of the room, Yulia could only stare and seethe with envy. She didn’t know what to do. Since she couldn’t catch the gorgeous man’s attention, the least she wanted was to wrench him away from Melinda’s clutches.

She had been keeping a close eye on the two, looking for the perfect opportunity, the perfect timing, when they might slip and act as though they were secret lovers. She would pounce on them then, and publicly accuse them of adultery. 'Let’s see what that bitch is going to do then!'

"Yulia, won’t you come with me to meet some new friends?" So rapt was her attention at her sister-in-law and Leo that Emily’s sudden appearance at her side startled her.

When Yulia turned, she saw that Emily and Queena had both risen from their seats. The auction was now over, and the host was saying the closing remarks on the podium.

Since Emily organized the event, she would no doubt be up there later as well. And since she had especially invited Queena as an esteemed guest, and indicated so in the program, the older woman would be saying a few words, too.

The actress was looking at her expectantly, and Yulia pulled herself together. "Sure. Why not?" Emily was sure to have a wide social circle, and it wouldn’t hurt to establish new connections.

As they moved from the tables to approach Emily’s acquaintances, Yulia turned to cast a last glance at Leo and Melinda. The man was patting her sister-in-law gently on the head, smiling down at her sweetly.

The scene made Yulia’s blood boil, and she wasn’t able to stop her expression from morphing into that of absolute fury.

Her gaze remained glued to the couple across the room, and in her distraction she bumped into Queena rather forcefully as the older woman tried to walk past her.

"Yulia, what the hell are you doing?" the madam hissed, and Yulia snapped back from her daze. Just her luck to incur the woman’s wrath as well in the same night.

She knew that if Queena was provoked, she could make her life utterly miserable. She paled as she tried to think of a way out. Her eyes darted back to where Melinda was.

"I’m so sorry, Aunt Queena. It’s just that I was shocked to see Melinda being so intimate with that gentleman over there..." She drifted off on purpose, and turned her head to the object of her statement.

Naturally, the other women turned towards the same direction.

"I’m to blame as well, Aunt Queena," Emily interjected. "I think Yulia tripped on some of the cable wires on the floor. I should have made sure nothing was in the way of the guests."

Yulia shot the actress a grateful look, but Queena’s eyes were still trained on her daughter-in-law. Melinda had had to adapt dramatically in order to survive in the Gu household, and so she developed a keen sixth sense when it came to threats against her.

stare that was shooting daggers at her

turned to find the three women glaring at her. 'What now?' she thought. But since she knew

women were always mad at her for something or

Emily," Queena was saying at that

right now. Aunt Queena, that Melinda has gone too far. You can’t just stand by and watch her flirt with another man. She is going to make a cuckold of your son! What will people think of our family? It will

was not above playing dirty, after all. She was determined to bring Melinda down, and she would enlist all the help she could get from anyone she

much as Queena disliked her daughter-in-law, though, she wasn’t

The women’s minds were in sync again, as the case usually was when it came to plotting against

go over there and take a look at the situation?" Emily suggested, lacing her voice with some hesitation to hide her bubbling anticipation at the trouble that was

of patience. She wanted Melinda to be put to her place, which was anywhere but the

persuade Queena at last, and the three women strode

Melinda and Leo’s table. They weren’t stupid; they both immediately recognized

from his seat and greeted them politely, "Hello, Madam Gu, Miss Bai, Miss

well, but only greeted one person.

event.

were starting to throw curious glances at them, and despite her words, it was the women’s approach that caused the scene, not Melinda and

as she was by her prejudices. All she could think of at that moment was how easily her hard-earned reputation was

"I’m very sorry for my carelessness. It’s all my fault. I will bear

an olive branch of some sort. Queena and Leo both knew that if she acknowledged his apology, they could leave the matter be and not stir the issue

I can see that you and Miss Mo are very close with each other. I’m a little envious that she managed to maintain very good relationships with

fact been rumors of a romance between Melinda and Kent, and Emily made sure to squeeze that little reference into

an arrogant glance. "Melinda

Melinda being adulterous, but she was involved with multiple men as well. All five of them could hear the words that weren’t

and boyishly debonair, but now he took on a cold and intimidating facade, something that certainly made many a man back down from a fight

is highly intelligent and very well-spoken even when we were younger. She is one of the most popular students in the campus; naturally, she has many

down, Mr. Liu, or onlookers might automatically assume that

of his mouth lifted in a sardonic smile. 'So this is how you want to play it. How foolish, for a mere

Miss Bai. I just somehow felt that I needed to remind you of lessons taught at school.

flushed with embarrassment at the reprimand, but

against their will. But I find that I need to give some reminders of my own. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that Melinda is married to Mr. Gu; you should call her Mrs. Gu, otherwise anyone within earshot might get the wrong idea when they hear you

are of the fact, I can’t help but wonder why you

with sarcasm, and Emily’s mask slipped from her

she now stared in shock at the back of Leo’s

her identity as Jonas's wife, and in her periphery she could see the eavesdropping bystanders whispering