Love the Second Time Around

Chapter 22

Chapter 22 No Choice

Evidently, what Dominic meant was if I didn’t value my life, then I should go ahead and reject him.

Needless to say, I still wanted to live, but I was also not willing to cooperate. After all, women do not think with the bottom half of their bodies. What we had was already in the past, so I couldn’t understand why he kept pestering me. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

I could only blame myself for being a fool. Being married was one of the worst decisions that I had ever made. It not only restricted my freedom but also blinded me. For the past few months, I felt like a bird locked up in a cage. If only I loved myself more back then, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up with a b*stard like Julius.

After imagining one hundred and one scenarios of Julius’ death, I suddenly felt a smack at the back of my hand.

Huh? Did Dominic just smack me?

I innocently rubbed the back of my hand while staring at him, scolding, “Are you crazy? Why did you hit me?”

Dominic raised his eyebrows slightly at that, looking all smug but deadly attractive at the same time.

“Hello, earth to Liliana. Clearly, your heart is somewhere else. Do I even matter to you?”

“Of course you do. But you said so yourself that my heart is somewhere else!” I lashed back at him. After I blurted it out, I realized I shouldn’t have said that. I glanced back at him, who was beside me, and I could feel the pressure from his gaze.

“My heart is suffocated by money, so how could I be thinking of anything else?”

I carefully added another sentence to save my previous statement. After seeing disdain on his face, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I quickly picked a black dress and went to the fitting room.

After putting on the dress, I came out of the fitting room, feeling flustered.

Since I wasn’t paying attention while picking clothes, I chose a dress that had a huge side split up to my thighs. What was worse was that it also had a deep V neck. Great, that’s just great—everything is out in public. You know what? I might as well don’t wear any clothes!

However, the lady assistant next to me seemed a little worried that I might not buy the dress. Thus, she continuously threw praises at my figure and complimented how elegant I looked while wearing the dress.

Although I did not say anything, it was quite apparent that I liked what I was hearing. After all, I could see that stupid grin on my face from the mirrors. After a while, I told her my decision. “I-I… this… I want t- this.” For some reason, my tongue decided to fail me, and I lost the ability to articulate.

Immediately after I finished speaking, Dominic’s cold voice came in like a bucket of cold water splashed onto my head.

“It’s better not to wear anything than to wear this. Why don’t I just grab a black robe for you so you can run naked at the party instead?”

With my fingers tightly clutching the dress, my face flushed red at his remarks. If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t. Why do you have to yell out your snide remarks?

At that, I waved my hand in anger. “I change my mind; I won’t be getting this anymore. This is obviously just a long lingerie robe! What’s the point of having so much fabric that covers nothing?”

After saying that, I realized that I might have seemed a bit too out of place. Flustered, I raised my head and discreetly glanced at Dominic. Wait a minute… Is he… laughing?

What the heck? Dominic’s actually laughing at me?

Doesn’t he hate me?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Thus, I blinked a few times and looked at his face again, and it was back to the previous aloof expression.

Seeing that, I was relieved. For a moment, I thought I was seeing things.

In the end, under Dominic’s request, he chose a lavender halterneck dress, which screamed elegance with the right amount of skin showing.

I had to admit that he had great taste. The dress hid my insecurities, which was my flat-chestedness, and at the same time, accentuated my shoulders and slender arms. To be honest, I was delighted with the outfit.

After we finished shopping, I went to the said hotel with Dominic. Calvin didn’t follow, though; probably because wasn’t used to these kinds of events, so I had to wheel Dominic in myself.

When we arrived, the dinner party had not started yet, but the hall was already full of celebrities. While we were waiting, I saw several familiar faces that often appeared on the screens.

What kind of dinner party is this? It was very visually pleasing for a person like me, as I usually would not pay much attention to the fashion community.

In other words, there were many good-looking men at the dinner party.

I was always a firm believer in appreciating all types of beauty. And because of that, I loved all stunning and clever men.

That was also the main reason why I could put up with Julius. His appearance stood out among all the other men, so I chose to be with him.

Although everything went downhill with him eventually, my appreciation for gorgeous human beings had always stayed the same. It stubbornly stuck with me for twenty-seven years.

“Be careful not to flood this place with your dripping saliva. If you like looking around that much, maybe I will hammer your eyeballs on the wall so that you can look at handsome men every day.”

Dominic’s voice had always been invigorating. Hence, that sentence alone woke me up from my fantasies.

At the same time, someone walked over, and I happened to know this person as well. He was a good- looking young man, and I even binge-watched his television series a while ago.

He raised his champagne and said gently, “You’re here, Dom. Is this your girlfriend? She’s very cute and elegant.”

That guy was really good with words. However, Dominic didn’t seem to like other people complimenting me, so he just said plainly, “She’s my caregiver.”

He even gave me a provocative look after saying that. I glared back at him, but he ignored me and waved at another man not far away.

“Yo, James Dalton, since I’m here now, let’s sign the contract right away.”

The man called James Dalton heard Dominic, turned around, and looked at us. His full and thick eyebrows made him even more charming that he already was, and he seemed like a talented young

man.

When I was still lost in my thoughts, he was already in front of us. Just then, Dominic smacked my hand once again, and I yelped in pain.

“Are you daydreaming? Can’t you see that James is greeting you?”

Feeling aggrieved, I touched the place where he smacked and glowered at him. To my horror, I realized that James was waiting in front of me with his hand extended toward me, so I quickly reached out to shake it.

“Hello Mr. Dalton, I’m Liliana. Nice to meet you.”

James smiled at me, then he teased Dominic.

“So this is the fabled mischievous little girlfriend you were talking about.”

Um… What?

Mischievous little girlfriend? So that was how Dominic described me in front of them?

Before I could gloat about it, Dominic denied everything. “It’s not her. She is just my caregiver. We don’t know each other very well either.”

“Oh…” James responded. Instantly, my heart felt like a Titanic that collided with a glacier, sinking into the depths of the ocean.

I turned my head and looked to the other side. Then I heard James mention another person’s name. A name that felt like a knife stabbing through my heart.

James asked, “I heard Camille Madison will be coming back soon. She came back to marry you, right?”