Love is Far Away: Protect My Own Sincere Heart

Scarlett mocked me for being a coward 111 times.

I found two opera tickets in her branded backpack.

She looked at me impatiently.

"I was going to give you a birthday surprise. Since you've discovered it, see you on Saturday."

It was Saturday and I was wearing a new suit. I was waiting at the entrance of the theater for a long time, but Scarlett did not come.

I checked my phone and saw her childhood sweetheart's post on Instagram.

[We didn't go to the opera, but I'd like to give my little kitten a big kiss for watching a movie with me on this stormy night.]

If it were in the past, I would definitely go to Scarlett in despair and ask her why she did this to me.

But this time, I really didn't care.

——

The onceinacentury thunderstorm paralyzed the traffic of the whole city.

The theater closed. I didn't bring an umbrella or drive. I could only brace myself against the wind and rain and walk down the road in a mess.

At this time, my cell phone rang. It was Scarlett.

She asked me coldly,

"Why aren't you at home? Did you hang out with your friends again?"

My silence irritated her more.

"Say something, Ethan."

"Scarlett, I'm at the entrance of the theater."

Hearing this, she finally remembered that she was supposed to have a date with me today.

She was silent for a few seconds. Knowing that I didn't drive, she said impatiently,

"Got it. Wait a minute. I'll pick you up now."

I wanted to refuse, but the taxi app showed that there were more than 200 people ahead of me waiting for a cab. In addition, I tried to hail, so I couldn't get a taxi.

As such, I could only wait for Scarlett to come.

An hour and a half passed.

In the storm, I checked the dialog box with my wife for the last time before my phone ran out of battery.

Not only did Scarlett not come, but she also did not leave any messages.

In the end, a kindhearted truck driver drove me to a nearby hotel.

After checking into the hotel and charging my phone, I clicked on Mateo's Instagram.

Half an hour ago, he posted again.

[Silly kitten, you're really my best friend. You rushed over to save me as soon as you found out that my house was out of power.]

The attached photo showed his mother and Scarlett chatting happily.

I blacklisted Mateo.

After thinking for a while, I blacklisted Scarlett too.

We'd been married for six years. No matter how many times we quarreled or gave each other the silent treatment, I never blocked Scarlett.

But this time, I was really disappointed in her.

The next day was Monday. I left the hotel for work.

As soon as I arrived at my desk, the manager looked at me strangely.

"Ethan, the HR department has just informed me that you are on sick leave today."

Scarlett was the vice president of the company. She wanted me to take a day off, so the HR department naturally did what she said.

I smiled and said that I wasn't sick.

During the lunch break, when I was making coffee in the break room, Scarlett appeared unexpectedly.

She worked at the top floor of the company all year round and never came to me.

Now she came to me for the first time, but her expression was very cold and contemptuous.

"You had fun out there all night? Ethan, you know about my temper. If it happens again..."

I interrupted her and said perfunctorily,

"Don't worry, there won't be a next time."

I was going to divorce her soon.

At that time, we would go our separate ways.

How could there be a next time?

She was a little stunned to see the determined look on my face.

To her surprise, I didn't even ask her where she had been last night.

After the coffee was made, Scarlett frowned and took it. After taking a sip, she felt that it tasted bad, so she dumped it.

"Wait for me in the parking lot after work today. Let's have dinner together."

I knew that this was her only compensation for breaking her promise yesterday.

I happened to have something to tell her, so I agreed.

When I returned to my desk, I saw a massage pillow on my desk. My colleagues bought it together to wish me a happy birthday.

I put a hand on my forehead to hide the tears in my eyes. I walked over and punched each of them jokingly.

I worked hard until I got off work. Then, I went to the parking lot as Scarlett told me to.

Just as I was waving at her, she started the engine and drove past me.

In the car, she didn't even look at me.

I just called and she said she had a business dinner to attend and asked me to go to the restaurant.

Upon arrival, I summoned the waiter and ordered my favorite tomahawk steaks.

Scarlett was always busy. Every time I dated her, I had to wait for at least two hours until she came.

I didn't have stomach problems, but after getting to know her, my stomach ached very often.

The tomahawk steaks in this restaurant were very delicious.

I finished two plates alone. I was so satisfied that even if Scarlett stood me up again, I did not have any emotional fluctuations.

At midnight, Scarlett finally returned home.

She found that the lights in the porch and living room were not on.

We had been married for six years. Whenever she went out for social activities and came home late, I would always prepare the hangover pills and her favorite midnight snack and wait for her to come back.

However, she did not think that I did this out of love for her.

She often stayed out all night.

When I was worried that something might have happened to her, she scolded me for being a worrywart and not like a real man.

"Ethan, are you feeling unwell?"

After entering the room, Scarlett stretched out her hand with rare concern, trying to measure my temperature.

I dodged her with great difficulty and furrowed my eyebrows.

"I'm fine. It's late. Go take a shower."

The smell of cigarettes and alcohol on her body made me sick.

She sat next to me and checked her phone with a cold face.

There was no missed call.

It was really strange.

I liked to spoil her mood when she was drinking with clients. I told her not to drink too much and that she must remember to get a designated driver.

She cleared her throat and said,

"Dinner tonight was very important, so I had to be there. I will definitely have dinner with you tomorrow. Are you happy now?"

The corners of my mouth twitched unwillingly.

"There's no need for that, Scarlett. Just do your work."

I expressed my understanding from the bottom of my heart, but what I got in return was her sneer and ridicule.

"You think you're a great man just because I showed you some respect, don't you? I've been really busy lately. Think about it. Can we live a happy life with your low salary?"

I got an email alert on my phone and couldn't wait to open it, saying with a poker face,

"Yes, you are indeed very busy, but you even got time to watch movies with your childhood friend."

Hearing this, she glared at me with an angry face.

She said that she and Mateo were childhood sweethearts and she treated him as her good brother. Since he was in trouble, she should go and help him.

"Ethan, it's fine if you don't improve yourself. But you got me wrong. You really disappoint me."

Before tonight, she always used that excuse to force me to kneel and apologize. She wished she could cut my heart open to prove that I loved her.

But to her surprise, after listening to her accusation, I didn't say a word, clutching a phone in my hand.

She didn't know that I was reading the divorce agreement sent by my lawyer.

Sensing that she was approaching, I quickly turned off the phone screen.

"Ethan, who are you chatting with at this hour?"

"No one. I'm sleepy. Let's talk about it later."

There was a loud bang. She was angry at me for being perfunctory and locked herself in the guest room.

This was a clear signal that she was giving me the silent treatment.

If it were a year ago, I would have knelt at the door and begged her not to be angry. It was all my fault.

However, tonight, I didn't apologize to her to dissipate her anger. I printed a divorce agreement.

Then, I signed my name and put it in the bedside drawer.

I turned off the lights. Though I had insomnia, I had a good night's sleep.

The next day, Scarlett made a landline call and summoned me to the top floor.

"Long time no see, Ethan."

Mateo sat in the boss's chair and smiled hideously at me.

"Scarlett and I see each other every day. Speaking of which, every time I asked her to take you to the party with us, she always rejected it, saying that you were stupid and boring."

Mateo was a wellknown streamer. He came from a welloff family and was a handsome and snappy dresser.

Every time I saw him, I kept my head down. I was annoyed with myself for not being as attractive and fashionably dressed as him.

However, today, he did not see any sense of inferiority in my eyes.

Not only that, but I also smiled at him.

"I'm a homebody. You don't have to worry about me. Your happiness is what is most important."

Hearing this, Scarlett stood in front of the floortoceiling window and looked back at me.

The dark circles under her eyes showed that she didn't sleep well last night.

"Ethan, Mateo is hungry. Give him the lunch you made for me."

We'd been married for so many years, and my cooking skills were not bad. Every day, I would create a new cuisine and prepare a healthy lunch for Scarlett.

Last Friday, I heard her complain to her assistant that the food I made was so bad that even dogs were unwilling to eat it. She said, "I really regret marrying such a useless man."

Thinking of this, I said in a flat tone,

"I didn't prepare lunch today."

Scarlett looked at me in disbelief and asked a very stupid and naive question.

"Why not? Ethan, you know I only eat what you cook at noon."

Mateo said in a weird tone,

"Scarlett, you must have made Ethan unhappy. Otherwise, how could he bear to let you starve?"

She looked embarrassed. She asked me what I wanted to eat and her assistant would order takeout.

"No need. Just order what Mateo likes to eat. I'll just grab a bite at a restaurant near the company."

Seeing that I turned to leave, she quickly picked up her Hermes bag and insisted on going with me.

In the end, I had no choice but to eat with her and Mateo.

During the meal, she kept chatting with Mateo.

They grew up together and talked about a lot of things that I didn't understand.

I tried my best to chime in with a smile.

However, every time I spoke, there was an impatient look in her eyes.

At first, she thought that I was too dumb to be part of the conversation.

Later, I went silent, and she accused me of being rude and deliberately ignoring her good friend.

Since everything I did was wrong, I remained silent and busied myself with delicious food.

After I was full, I went to the restroom. When I returned, Mateo already left.

"Ethan, you didn't wear glasses today. You look as handsome and young as a college student."

After I paid the bill, Scarlett blushed slightly and looked at me.

I pointed at her smudged lipstick and told her to fix it.

The funny thing was that when I went to the bathroom, she just finished fixing her lipstick.

After I reminded her, panic glinted in her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong. Just now, Mateo told me jokingly that there was something at the corner of my mouth, so I was like this."

She frowned and became more and more nervous as she spoke.

"Oh," I responded, walking forward.

Scarlett stood frozen for a while and caught up with me in high heels.

When I was almost downstairs, I said without looking back,

"I'm heading in, and you go back to the office after a few minutes."

Except for her assistant, no one in the company knew that I was her husband.

In fact, office romances were frowned upon in the company.

However, at the beginning of our relationship, she didn't make it public to spare herself the trouble.

Over time, even when we met in the company, we pretended not to know each other.

That night, Scarlett got off work on time and brought back a branded gift box in which lay a new watch worth tens of thousands of dollars.

While she was waiting for my praise, I took out a divorce agreement.

"Let's get a divorce."

The watch was thrown to the ground. After losing her temper, she didn't even look at the agreement and only said,

"Are you for real this time? You even printed the agreement."

I replied calmly, "I'm serious."

She sneered and said,

"Ethan, you're serious about everything. You've even prepared a divorce agreement. Next time, are you going to hire a few actors to do a mock trial at home?

I said nothing.

No matter how much she said, we would only end up fighting with each other.

After putting the divorce agreement in the study, I went back to my bedroom and began to work.

In less than ten minutes, the roar of the sports car engine came from outside.

After Scarlett left, I contacted a real estate agent.

In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.

Scarlett no longer socialized and drank every few days. Instead, she went home on time after work. I didn't cook anymore, and she made me a lot of my favorite dishes.

Not only that, but she also offered to commute with me.

I didn't refuse her request, but every time I drove to the intersection near the company, I would ask her to get out of the car.

She asked me why.

I looked at her strangely.

"Ms. Watson, do you want people to find out about our relationship?"

She had nothing to say to that.

Neither of us mentioned divorce again.

The divorce agreement was still on the desk in her study.

She pretended that nothing had happened. I didn't remind her, and I couldn't just wait either.

I made a trip home and told my parents about the divorce.

"Ethan, you're finally joining us. Come and sit down. Let me tell you, the grilled steaks here are very delicious."

The Japanese barbecue restaurant was located near the company.

So when I saw Scarlett next door, I was not too surprised.

However, I never expected that Mateo would be here as well.

"Ethan, why are you here?"

Upon seeing me, Scarlett walked over happily.

As she got closer to me, I subconsciously took two steps back.

She paused for a moment, with despondency in her eyes.

"Ethan, come and play Truth or Dare with us."

Mateo put his arm around my shoulder and led me to the dining table.

The dark red charm bracelet on his wrist was not lost on me.

Last year, when Scarlett's career was not going well, I, a man who never believed in superstitions, kowtowed step by step and got it from the church for her.

No wonder I asked her last time why she didn't wear the charm bracelet.

She suddenly flew into a rage, pointing at my nose and roaring,

"I put it in my bag, okay? Ethan, do I have to report everything to you? Who do you think you are? I'm warning you, if you annoy me again, I'll divorce you."

After Mateo sat me down, Scarlett poured me a glass of cola.

Seeing that I didn't take a sip, she looked at me in panic.

"Ethan, don't you like cola the most?"

I didn't answer her. I just summoned the waiter and ordered a glass of iced beer.

I liked cola, but I didn't want the one she gave me.

When she heard people discussing the charm bracelet on Mateo's wrist, her face instantly paled.

She whispered to me,

"Mateo hasn't been unlucky lately, so I let him wear it for a while. Don't think too much, honey."

I glanced at her while forking a grilled steak into my mouth.

"It's not a big deal. Don't be so stingy. If Mateo likes it, give it to him."

I busied myself with delicious food.

I didn't care about other things.

A new round of Truth or Dare began, and Mateo lost.

He chose Dare and would kiss someone present.

After shooting me a smug look, Mateo put his arm around Scarlett's shoulder in public and leaned over her.

"Kiss her!"

"Kiss her!"

Scarlett didn't expect that I would hoot with them.

We became louder and louder.

She looked embarrassed, raising her hand to stop Mateo from kissing her.

Feeling deeply embarrassed, Mateo glared at me. Without saying a word, he walked out of the barbecue restaurant.

Mateo was angry, but Scarlett pretended not to see it. Instead, she grilled steaks for me and put them on my plate as our colleagues watched.

When the party was over, Mateo, who had been smoking at the back door, asked Scarlett to go home with him.

Scarlett was completely torn, looking at me.

"Ethan, his house is not far from here. Why don't we take a walk together?"

My phone call interrupted her arrangement.

Sitting in the taxi, I said to her,

"Walk him back. I've got something to do. Gotta go."

Later, I heard from my colleagues that Scarlett did not go to Mateo's house.

I didn't care about the reason.

On the weekend after the party, I got up early in the morning, put on my suit, and went to my college classmate's wedding ceremony.

Just as I was having a good time, Scarlett called me.

At first, I didn't intend to answer it.

However, she called me again and again. I had no choice but to apologize to my friends and find a relatively quiet place to answer the phone.

"Ethan, why did you blacklist me?"

I was confused. After a long while, I finally remembered that I had indeed blacklisted Scarlett on her birthday.

I clicked my tongue impatiently.

"That's why you kept calling me?"

She was silent on the other end of the line for a moment before saying something I didn't expect.