During the day, they were unfamiliar superiors and subordinates. At night, only she knew how crazy he was. No one knew about their relationship until that day. . .
Chapter 1 Ex-girlfriend Returns
Raegan Hayes was a little absent-minded at the moment.
All she could think of since this afternoon was the doctor's words. "Congratulations! You are going to be a mom."
Suddenly, Mitchel Dixon pinched her arm. His low voice came the next second. "Come back to earth. What are you thinking about?"
Mitchel was her husband. They had been married secretly for two years. He was her superior at work, the president of the Dixon Group.
Everything had happened so fast. She was newly employed in the company when they unexpectedly got married.
At that time, Mitchel's grandfather fell seriously ill. It was then he proposed a fake marriage just to fulfill his grandfather's dying wish.
They signed a prenup, agreeing to hide their marriage from the public. Their union could be terminated at any time.
It was an unconventional thing to do. However, Raegan only considered herself lucky at that time.
Never in a million years did she think she would ever get married to the man she had a crush on for eight years. She delightfully agreed.
After their marriage, Mitchel was very busy. He spent most of his time working.
Raegan wished she could spend more time with him at home. However, she was rest assured because there hadn't been any rumors or scandals about him with women in the past two years.
Except for his mild indifference, Mitchel was a perfect husband.
Raegan had mixed feelings as she stared at the medical report.
In the end, she decided to tell Mitchel this news.
She also wanted to tell him that she hadn't learned about him for the first time two years ago and that she had been crushing on him for many years before then.
Just then, Mitchel’s phone rang. He went to the balcony and answered the phone.
Raegan checked the time and found that it was already midnight.
She felt a little uneasy. Who would call Mitchel at this hour?
Mitchel spent a few minutes on the balcony. Thereafter, he returned and changed into formal attire. His handsome face which had a clear outline made him look dignified.
He was something to see now.
"Don't wait up for me. Good night," he said finally.
What? He was on his way out? At this hour?
Raegan's grip on the report tightened as she stared at him in disappointment. Unconsciously, she withdrew slightly. After thinking for a while, she blurted out, "It's already so late."
Mitchel's fingers froze on his tie. With a faint smile, he pinched her earlobe and said, "Be good, okay? There's something I have to do. Don't wait up."
With that, he headed for the door.
"Mitchel."
Raegan quickly ran and caught up with him.
Mitchel turned around and looked at her seriously.
"What's the matter?"
There was a tinge of coldness to his voice. An icy cloud hung over them as they stared at each other.
A little distressed, Raegan asked in a low voice, "I would like to visit my grandma tomorrow. Can you accompany me there?"
Her grandmother always wanted to see her. As a result, Raegan wanted to take Mitchel there to assure her grandma they were happy.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?" Without agreeing or declining, Mitchel left in a hurry.
Several thoughts were threading Raegan's mind. She couldn't sleep a wink.
After tossing and turning for a long time, she went to the kitchen and made herself a warm glass of milk.
A few notifications from some online blogs came into her phone.
However, she wasn't interested in them. She was about to swipe them away when one of them caught her attention. The familiar name made her click on it.
The news read, "Famous designer, Lauren Murray was spotted at the airport with her mysterious boyfriend earlier today."
Lauren was wearing a bucket hat. The man's figure was vague, but the outline of his body was enough to show that he was dashing.
Raegan zoomed in on the picture. The next second, her heart dropped.
Mitchel was the man in the picture!
So, he canceled the afternoon meeting just to go pick up his ex-girlfriend from the airport?
This realization settled like a boulder in Raegan's gut, rendering her flustered.
Her hands trembled. Subconsciously, she dialed Mitchel's number.
The dial tone brought her back to her senses. Just as she was about to hang up, the line connected, and a voice came from the other end.
"Hello!"
It was a particularly gentle woman's voice.
Raegan froze for a second and then threw the phone away.
She suddenly felt sick in her stomach. Covering her mouth, she ran into the bathroom and threw up in the toilet bowl.
The next morning, Raegan went to work on time.
Mitchel had tried to get her to stop working after they got married. Stubbornly, she insisted on making her own money.
Mitchel didn't kick against her decision, but he asked her to work as his assistant, helping him with the daily chores.
The head assistant, Matteo Jenkins was left to take care of the major affairs Mitchel had.
Matteo was the only Dixon Group employee who knew about their marriage.
Since inception, only male assistants were hired for the president's office. Reagan was the first and only female. Her employment broke the protocol. As a result, other workers couldn't help but wonder if she was involved with Mitchel.
It took a while before they realized that Mitchel never gave Raegan special treatment. Strangely, this made them despise her even more.
After all, no one would last long in anything while taking advantage of their looks.
At this time, one of Raegan's colleagues handed her a document and ordered her to take it to Mitchel's office.
Mitchel didn't return home last night. Raegan was so worried that she didn't sleep at all.
All she kept thinking about was the woman who answered his phone when she called. What was her relationship with Mitchel?
Raegan already knew the answer to that, but she was still in denial.
It was difficult for her to come to terms with that fact.
Raegan tried to remain calm now. She reasoned that no matter what happened, she deserved a result that would be rewarding for all the years she spent loving Mitchel. This couldn't be all for nothing, right?
She pressed the elevator button calmly and went up to the president's office. Before she walked out of the elevator, she smoothed her hair to make sure she looked good.
She had arrived at the office, only to see that the door was ajar. A man's voice came. She halted instantly.
"Come on, man! Do you have any feelings for Raegan or not?"
The voice belonged to Luis Stevens, a childhood friend of Mitchel's.
"What do you mean exactly?" Mitchel asked in a cold voice.
"You know exactly what I mean!" Luis clicked his tongue impatiently and added, "I think Raegan is a good girl. Isn't she your type?"
"Do you want me to hand her over to you?" Mitchel asked carelessly.
"You know what, forget it!"
The scornful laughter of Luis sounded particularly harsh in Raegan's ears.
They were talking about her as if she were an object.
Raegan took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the document.
Soon, Luis's voice was heard again.
"By the way, I saw the gossip news about Lauren's mysterious boyfriend this morning. That was you, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, well, well! That woman still has you wrapped around her little finger. You always want to please her."
Luis sighed and continued to tease Mitchel. "As the old saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Tell me, did you two..."
Their conversation was like a thunder exploding over Raegan's head.
Her face turned pale and her body was as cold as ice.
The woman was indeed Lauren!
Absence made the heart grow fonder!
Every word drove a knife into her heart.
Several whispering voices filled her head at this time. She suddenly felt light-headed. Her vision became blurry.
She held the wall and took a step backward. Suddenly, the door was opened from inside.
"Raegan?"
Chapter 2 One-sided Love
Luis was the one who opened the door. It appeared he was on his way out.
Raegan balled her hands, turned to him, and nodded. "Hey, Mr. Stevens!"
Without waiting for him to respond to her greeting, she walked past him and entered the office with the document.
Mitchel was seated behind a large luxurious desk. In an expensive suit and matching tie, he looked particularly handsome.
Raegan noticed it wasn't the same suit he had on when he left home last night. How did he get changed?
With her eyes lowered, she swallowed that question and said instead, "Mr. Dixon, this is from the Marketing Department. Please sign it."
Mitchel was expressionless as he signed the document at a glance.
Raegan walked out the door as soon as he handed the document back to her. Luis was still standing at the threshold.
It wasn't until she went out of sight that Luis turned to Mitchel and said in a hushed tone, "Do you think she heard us?"
Mitchel's appealing eyes were expressionless at the moment. Obviously, he wasn't paying attention to what Luis was saying.
To Mitchel, Raegan had always been docile and never felt jealous of anyone.
Her strict obedience was all Mitchel demanded from her in exchange for treating her well.
In the elevator.
Raegan held her breath just to hold back her tears. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
She had thought two years would be enough for Mitchel to realize how much she loved him and reciprocate her love.
Now, it turned out that was just a pipe dream.
She realized she would always play second fiddle to Lauren, Mitchel's true love.
Reagan wiped her tears when the elevator halted. Save for her pale face, she looked normal when the doors opened.
She dragged herself to the break room, intending to make herself a cup of tea.
Several employees were chatting inside.
"Guys, have you heard? Lauren Murray is back."
"And who is that?"
"Oh, my! You don't know her? Lauren is the heiress of the Murray Group as well as a world-class designer. Most importantly, she's the only girlfriend Mr. Dixon has ever shown off in public. She's his first love!"
"Why is her return such a big deal? Isn't it rumored that there is something between Mr. Dixon and Raegan?"
"Raegan? She's nothing to Mr. Dixon. Mr. Dixon never admitted that he was dating her. And that is no surprise to me. After all, look at her. She's not even that beautiful. Yet, she behaves as if she's already Mrs. Dixon. What a fool!"
Standing at the door, Raegan smiled with self-mockery as she listened to them. It turned out everyone else saw the truth except her.
The love was one-sided.
"Ha-ha, have you finally woken up from your wild dream, Raegan?"
A voice of mockery suddenly came from behind. Raegan turned around to see Tessa Lloyd, Mitchel's cousin, who had always despised her.
Tessa must have also heard the employees gossiping.
The last thing Raegan wanted to do now was argue with Tessa in the company. She turned to leave, but Tessa blocked her way.
With a cup of coffee in her hand, Tessa uttered sarcastically, "Lauren is back now. Do you think Mitchel will still give you any attention?"
Raegan said nothing to that.
Seconds later, Tessa continued the ridicule. "Maybe it’s time for you to seek out another man, you pathetic fool."
Raegan clenched her fists and said coldly, "Ms. Lloyd, if you are interested in that kind of thing, feel free to pursue it yourself."
"You..."
Raegan's retort made Tessa's face change.
The next second, Tessa raised her hand and emptied the cup of coffee on Raegan.
Raegan didn't think for a second that Tessa would do something so crazy. She held up her arms just to block the liquid from her face. In no time, the coffee drenched her clothes.
Raegan frowned. "What did you do that for? Are you out of your mind?"
It was lunch break and many employees were free to watch the drama. Tessa was even more complacent when she saw growing onlookers.
She put on a mean-girl look as she said, "What makes you so smug every day, huh? Do you seriously think that others don't know you are just an orphan? The nerve of..."
Tessa was silenced by Raegan’s shove.
Her jaw dropped to the floor. She had never expected that Raegan, who was so quiet and timid, would shove her.
Tessa stuttered, "You... You pushed me? How dare you!"
Raegan eyed her and replied, "Yes, I did! It seems you need to be taught simple politeness."
Indeed, she lost her parents when she was a child. But that didn't mean she would allow someone to walk over her for it.
Wrinkles appeared on Tessa's face as she frowned in anger. As Mitchel's cousin, she was used to being fawned over and respected. This was the first time she had been treated like this.
Tessa charged at Raegan like a raging bull, poised to retaliate.
This time, Raegan was fully prepared for what was coming. She grabbed Tessa's wrist so that the latter couldn't move another inch.
Tessa was shorter than Raegan. As a result, she struggled like an octopus that had one of its tentacles stuck in a fishing trap.
Tessa cursed angrily, "How dare you put your hands on me? Who do you think you are?"
These harsh words attracted more people to the break room.
"That's enough!"
Out of the blue, a baritone came from behind. Mitchel had left his office and ran into this hullabaloo.
The entire room fell silent.
"Mitchel?" Tessa's blood ran cold at the sight of Mitchel. She had always been scared of him. Her mother also warned her against provoking him.
But when she remembered that Raegan humiliated her, she put on a pitiful expression and sobbed. "Mitchel, she bullied me."
The sunlight from outside fell on Mitchel's handsome face.
Raegan felt so grieved all of a sudden, and lowered her head to look at her clothes which were soaked with coffee.
Their gaze met in the air. With a deep frown, Mitchel looked at Raegan and said, "Raegan, have you forgotten the rules of the company?"
His ruthlessness made Raegan's breathing cease. She couldn't believe her ears.
No one dared to make a sound at this moment.
Raegan just stood straight there with her slender figure.
When she got employed here, Mitchel had told her that the Dixon Group wasn't a place for her to mess around and that he would not tolerate her making any mistakes.
Raegan could understand why he took this stand.
However, at this moment, she was desperate to know whether Mitchel had heard those hard words Tessa scolded her or he was just pretending not to have heard because he agreed to those words.
Was she truly insignificant to him?
Scared to death by Mitchel's rage, the crowd soon dispersed. A few employees were bold enough to peep from a distance, unwilling to miss the good show.
Mitchel's cold eyes made Raegan shiver from head to toe.
Raegan pinched her palm to suppress her emotions as she looked at Tessa.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Lloyd. As an employee of the Dixon Group, it was wrong of me to have offended you."
Eyeing Raegan, Tessa raised her chin complacently. "Humph! Don't think you'll be let off the hook just by making a simple apology. I don't buy..."
"The offence has nothing to do with the company. Personally, I refuse to apologize to you. Now, if you'd excuse me," Raegan chimed in.
She then walked past Mitchel without sparing him another look.
"You..."
Tessa's face turned blue after hearing what Raegan said.
Never in her years of being alive had she been so humiliated. She was always the bully, not the victim!
The humiliation was so much that scolding Raegan wouldn't appease her anger.
Pointing in Raegan's direction, Tessa shouted, "Mitchel, did you hear what that woman just said? She humiliated me, yet she's still so arrogant. Call her back. I have to teach her some manners!"
Mitchel, staring at Raegan's thin back, had an ambiguous expression at this moment.
"Enough!" he said coldly, raising his hand.
As someone who lived and breathed drama and cruelty, Tessa didn't think Mitchel was partial to Raegan just now. She assumed that Mitchel didn't care about Raegan at all.
Tessa gritted her teeth and said viciously, "Next time, I'll get someone to teach her a lesson."
"Tessa!" Mitchel's tone and squint made it a reproof.
Tessa trembled at once.
With a somber face, Mitchel said, "I'll only say it once. Forget about what happened here today. Leave Raegan alone."
The aura he exuded made her tongue go dry. All the vicious ideas she had in store against Raegan disappeared in an instant.
She stammered, "Ok... Okay, got it..."
Mitchel cast a cold glance at her and spoke to Matteo. "Irrelevant people wouldn't be allowed in here from today onwards."
Without catching the drift, Tessa flattered Mitchel. "Nice call. This is a top company. Not everyone gains access in here."
Matteo nodded to Mitchel and then walked over to Tessa. He gestured to the exit. "Ms. Lloyd, this way, please."
It wasn't until this moment that Tessa realized that she was the irrelevant person Mitchel just mentioned. She tried to speak to him, but Matteo blocked her way. The security guards then escorted her out.
They showed her no mercy. Her struggle was useless.
Meanwhile, Raegan got changed when she returned to her office.
Her heart was filled with sadness as she thought of how Mitchel looked at her minutes ago.
Closing hour soon rolled by.
Raegan took her bag and headed for the exit. However, Matteo stopped her.
He said, "Mr. Dixon has something urgent to deal with, so he asked me to drive you home."
Raegan declined the ride without thinking twice.
She was blind before, but now she could see through the situation.
In Mitchel's eyes, she was just a nobody.
How could Mitchel agree to accompany her to visit her grandmother when he didn't even care about her?
Upon arriving at the hospital, Raegan saw that the nurse was about to feed her grandmother dinner. Raegan took the job over and did it by herself.
All her life, her grandmother had been living in the countryside, enjoying a quiet life. Everything changed last month when her routine medical checkup showed that she was in need of medical care. Raegan insisted on bringing her to the city for better treatment.
Her grandmother wasn't aware of her marriage to Mitchel.
Raegan had planned to surprise her today. But as it turned out, that was no longer necessary.
Raegan waited for her grandmother to fall asleep before she left. She walked out of the hospital and waited for a taxi.
In the distance, a black luxury car pulled into the entrance of the hospital.
Raegan's eyes lit up when she saw it. She recognized that car as Mitchel's.
Did he come to pick her up?
At this moment, she forgot all the pain she had been feeling.
Were her thoughts about him all wrong? Did he care for her, contrary to the gossip?
The door of the driver's side opened and Mitchel got out.
Raegan started walking toward him with her heart brimming with joy.
Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Mitchel had just walked over to the other side and carried a woman out of the car.
Worry and compassion were written all over his handsome face.
This wiped the smile on Raegan's face. Her heart sank.
Chapter 3 Let's Divorce
Mitchel's tall and straight figure got closer and closer to Raegan. And then, without saying a word, he strode past Raegan.
It was hard to tell if Mitchel saw Raegan or just ignored her.
Regardless, Raegan noticed that the woman in his arms was the same one who had been photographed with him yesterday.
She was Lauren.
Raegan's shoes felt like they were made of lead as she walked away.
She lost all awareness of her surroundings. She got into a taxi absentmindedly.
Suddenly, the driver uttered, "Ma'am, where to?"
Raegan was stunned for a moment.
She didn't want to go back to Serenity Villas. It was only a matter of time before that place stopped being her home.
After a while, she replied, "Please take me to Crystal Bay."
She had purchased an apartment at Crystal Bay after getting married to Mitchel.
At the time, she had hopes of bringing her grandmother to the city, so she bought the apartment on mortgage. It wasn't that big, but it had more than enough space for two people.
Mitchel didn't understand why she wanted to buy an apartment. He offered to give her a bigger one, but she declined.
Looking back now, she realized that buying that apartment was the only wise decision she had ever made in the last two years.
When she arrived at the apartment complex, Raegan sat in the park alone, trying to cool herself down.
The memories of the past two years were bittersweet.
Two years had passed in the blink of an eye even though it was more than seven hundred days and nights.
Love could move mountains, they said.
Yet, her love didn't move that stone of a man. She finally realized what a fool she had been. She had been making herself a laughingstock in front of everyone.
It was already late in the night before Raegan finally decided to go into her apartment.
As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, she saw Mitchel standing in front of the door.
His sleeves were rolled up casually, and the top buttons of his shirt were undone, which revealed his long neck and part of his collarbone. He was leaning on the wall by the door, his handsome face straight.
Raegan froze for a moment.
Why was he here? Didn't she see him at the hospital with Lauren? What brought him here?
Their eyes met. With his coat draped over his arm and one of his hands in his pocket, Mitchel squinted at her.
"Why didn't you answer the phone?" he asked, sounding a little grumpy like someone who hadn't slept in a long time.
Raegan took out her phone and saw she had accidentally put it on DND.
There were five missed calls from Mitchel.
This marked the first time in their two-year marriage.
Mitchel blew up her phone because he couldn't find her? Surprising!
Before today, she would have been overjoyed by this. People would've thought she won the lottery.
But now, she just threw her phone back into her bag, folded her arms, and said in a hoarse voice, "I didn't hear it ring."
Mitchel raised his hand to check the time on the watch, and said impatiently, "I've been looking for you for two hours."
After arranging everything for Lauren, he returned home to find an empty house. He looked for Raegan everywhere. When he couldn't find her, he asked Matteo to check the surveillance footage of all the roads that led away from the company.
He later found out that Raegan went to Crystal Bay without telling him.
"Next time, tell me when you are coming here, okay? Let's go home now." After that, Mitchel walked toward the elevator without sparing her another glance.
He meant to go back to Serenity Villas.
Raegan didn't move an inch. She just stared at his broad back and pondered reluctantly.
Would they have a future?
Mitchell turned around, only to see that Raegan hadn't taken a single step. He frowned and asked, "Can't you walk? Do you want me to carry you instead?"
The light in the corridor illuminated his face, making his side profile almost impeccable.
Raegan took a deep breath and said, "Let's divorce."
"What do you mean?"
Mitchel's voice was cold, and his handsome face changed immediately.
"I want to move into my own place. After all, we will be strangers soon."
Raegan forced a smile, but her heart was aching as if someone was tearing it apart bit by bit.
"We will be strangers?"
Mitchel smiled coldly. "Raegan, what do you think our relationship is now?"
His questioning left Raegan stunned for a moment.
Mitchel had made it very clear to her from the very beginning. This facade of their marriage had happened by mutual agreement. There was no love. In the eyes of others, they were nothing more than just a superior and a subordinate.
Mitchel was quite the catch in Ardlens. Many young ladies longed for his love and were even willing to throw themselves at him.
His question just now reminded her of that fact. Was he afraid that she wouldn't let him go that easily? If that was the case, he couldn't be more wrong...
After biting her lower lip to conceal her bitterness, Raegan said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Dixon. I was giving it too much thought. Anyway, please leave me alone from now on. You don't have to come here again."
After saying that, Raegan couldn't help but burst into tears.
How could she not be sad when she was cutting ties with the man she had loved for a decade? It was such a long time.
Regardless of how difficult it was, she knew it was time to let go.
It was high time she stopped being a fool.
Strangely, the light in the corridor began flickering.
The deathly stare Mitchel was giving Raegan right now made the atmosphere seem like the moment before an attack in a horror movie.
Although he understood that Raegan sometimes could throw a tantrum, he felt that she had just crossed the line now.
His eyes shone like blazing torches at this moment. But when he saw the tears in her eyes, the rage inside him extinguished in an instant. He said in a low voice, "If this is about what happened between you and Tessa, I..."
"No, this isn't about her. Mr. Dixon, please leave now."
A lot of things happened between them. And the incident with Tessa didn't come close to any.
Raegan felt exhausted. She passed by Mitchel and was about to open the door.
Yet, Mitchel was displeased with her stubbornness.
He loosened his tie irritably. He then took a step forward and grabbed her wrist.
"Stop this, will you?"
A second later, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his arms.
He instantly realized that she was burning up like someone who had been set on fire.
"You have a fever?"
Raegan felt dizzy. She rested her head on his chest weakly.
This made the whole situation complicated.
Reagan was slow to catch that. When she finally realized that her body was too close to his, she put her hands against his chest and tried to pull back.
Before she could escape, Mitchel pulled her back and held her by the waist. With a cold face, he said in a low voice, "Where do you think you are going?"
The light flickered again. Out of the blue, Mitchel lifted her up.
He then headed for the elevator.
In a daze, Raegan asked softly, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I am doing?" Mitchel remarked. "Taking you to the hospital, of course."
"No way!" Raegan cried out in surprise and seemed to regain more strength.
Mitchel might find out about her condition if they went to the hospital.
Raegan struggled to get out of Mitchel's arms. However, his tight grip made her efforts fruitless.
"Don't be so stubborn. You are sick, so you must see the doctor," Mitchel said firmly.
He walked to the elevator with her in his arms. At this moment, Raegan's heart was thumping so hard that it could jump out of her chest. She flailed in protest.
"Put me down! I don't want to go to the hospital!"
&7&
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