Chapter 5

Benedict Cole said I was the one he loved now. Loved me? I didn't buy it. When you got right down to it, my marriage to Benedict Cole had been arranged after both our families weighed the pros and cons. Before my mom retired, she and Benedict Cole's father had worked for the same company. Benedict Cole's father had offended his immediate superior and spent years being suppressed. When my mom was a vice president at the parent company, he was still only a junior manager at one of its branches. Under normal circumstances, he never would have had a chance of getting close to her. Then, by chance, my mom went to inspect the branch he was responsible for hosting. They were alumni of the same school and came from the same hometown, so my mom treated him especially well. Benedict Cole's father seized the opportunity and latched on to my mom's support. It was fair to say that he had climbed, step by step, all the way to branch project manager with my mom's backing alone. Benedict Cole didn't love me, but thanks to my mom's influence and his father's warnings, he put on an excellent front after we married. He had left no room for suspicion before the wedding, either. Back then, Benedict Cole's father had even bought a house in our residential complex to curry favor with my mom. Benedict Cole's mother occasionally brought him over to visit, so Benedict Cole and I had known each other for years. He had been a poor student who was always getting into trouble. Benedict Cole's mother had been embarrassed by him, so after bringing him over once or twice, she stopped. We barely saw each other after that. Then, the year I graduated from college, my mom told me that Benedict Cole's parents had taken a liking to me and wanted to set me up with him. She asked whether I was willing. Of course I wasn't. Unlike Benedict Cole, that academic loser, I had been a top student. I had attended some of the best middle and high schools in the province, ranked among the top five students in the province on the National College Entrance Examination, collected scholarship after scholarship, and earned a guaranteed spot in graduate school. Besides, although I came from a single-parent family, my mom was an executive at a multinational corporation. I was a top student and a local of South City. My maternal grandfather owned a factory and doted on me. After the National College Entrance Examination, he had given me a house. After I graduated from college, he gave me two more. My circumstances weren't flawless, but they weren't bad, either. If I was going to find a partner, I naturally had to find a man who was worthy of me. Benedict Cole's family wasn't as wealthy as ours, but he had potential. That might have been acceptable. Still, the academic loser had needed to pay his way into even the worst junior college. He was that stupid. How could I possibly have liked him? Ah, the arrogance of youth. I was soon proven wrong. During my first year of graduate school, Benedict Cole got my WhatsApp from Benedict Cole's mother and launched an all-out campaign to win me over. I had never been in a relationship. Before college, I believed dating would ruin my future. Men would only distract me from my studies, so I kept my ears shut to the world and focused on my books. To me, men were nothing but a burden. In college, I didn't have time for romance, either. I took part in all kinds of competitions, earned one certification after another, spent my days running between the laboratory and my tutoring jobs, and barely had a spare minute. How could I have had the energy to look for a man? I had no experience with love, and Benedict Cole was far too good at flirting. He had an absurd amount of experience. He knew every trick in the book, dazzling me until I was completely helpless. My heart raced like a startled deer. No matter how often I reminded myself to stay clearheaded, he still managed to sweep me off my feet. The worst part was that he didn't just pursue me. He also won over my mom, treating her like his own mother and showering her with filial devotion. He pursued me for three years. It took me one year to develop feelings for him and another two to fall in love. I was twenty-four when I graduated from graduate school. After graduation, I married him. I thought I had married for love. Only later did I realize that he didn't love me at all. He had gone to such lengths to win me over because his parents wanted him to marry me. His father had taken a liking to me because he needed my mom's help to get promoted. His mother had chosen me because I was an only child and owned several properties in my name. My mom had agreed to the marriage after considering many factors. First, she felt that since she had personally promoted Benedict Cole's father, my future in-laws would treat me exceptionally well. I wouldn't suffer after marrying into their family. Second, although Benedict Cole had been rebellious and troublesome in school, he had changed quite a bit after graduation. His family had pooled their money to help him start a business. The company was small, but he had ambition and drive. At least, that's how it had seemed back then. Third, I had fallen in love with Benedict Cole. That had been the most important reason of all.