When Love Came Too Late

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When popular actress Ruby's secret Instagram account was exposed, hundreds of love letters made her the number one trending topic on social media overnight.

She wrote: The man I love became someone else's husband.

Her fans all felt sorry for her:

You're so devoted!

These love letters are so touching! I'm crying!

I was lying in bed scrolling through my phone when I casually commented:

"How can someone make falling for another woman's husband sound so innocent?"

One minute later, Frederick's call came through:

"Ruby didn't do anything wrong. Saying that will cause her trouble."

I froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

So in a relationship between three people, the extra one had always been methe wife.

The man Ruby couldn't have in her posts was my husband of nearly three years, Frederick.

I opened my mouth, wanting to explain I'd only commented casually.

But the words that came out were: "How did you even see it?"

Silence on the other end for a few seconds.

I suddenly understood.

With tens of thousands of comments on the trending topic, Frederickcurrently on a business trip abroadhad spotted my account among all those comments at a glance.

Not because I was important to him, but because he'd been following Ruby's every move.

He'd even scrolled through every single comment.

"Serena, delete the comment first."

Frederick's tone softened slightly from before.

"I'll handle things with Ruby. You don't need to worry about it."

I bit my lip.

"Sorry. I didn't know those love letters were written to you. I'll delete it."

He paused.

As if he wanted to say something more, but in the end just hummed in acknowledgment.

The call ended.

I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at the screen for a few seconds.

Frederick had always been gentle and courteous with me. This was the first time he'd confronted me like this.

I set my phone face-down on the nightstand and lay back down with my face mask on.

Fifteen minutes later, I went to the bathroom to wash my face.

The person in the mirror looked normal, except her eyes were a bit red.

I leaned in for a closer look. Probably some mask serum had gotten in my eyes.

After washing up, I reopened that trending topic.

All the posts were titled "Letters to Mr. F."

Documenting Ruby's years-long obsession with a man.

I found my comment, clicked on it, and deleted it.

When I exited, the number one trending topic had already changed.

"Who Is the Man in Ruby's Love Letters?"

I scrolled past it and closed the app.

My phone stayed quiet. It didn't ring again.

I turned off the light and lay back in bed.

In the darkness, I suddenly remembered something.

The prenuptial agreement between Frederick and me had a three-year term.

Only two months remained.

Three years ago, the Ashford family faced a crisis.

Stock prices plummeted. Partners withdrew funding one after another.

At that time, as the only daughter of the Hayes family, I proposed a marriage alliance.

Some said I was taking advantage of their misfortune.

Some said the Hayes family was bottom-fishing.

What no one knew was that I liked Frederick.

Since college. For seven years.

To avoid putting pressure on Frederick, I drafted an agreement myself: a marriage term of three years.

During those three years, we would cooperate to handle family matters and attend public events together.

After three years, if either party proposed divorce, the other must agree unconditionally.

This marriage held no benefits for me.

I wanted nothingjust a chance to be with him for three years.

Later I heard that he apparently had a girlfriend he was deeply in love with at the time.

His parents forcibly separated them and made him marry me to save the company.

Over these three years, Frederick had been very good to me.

Genuinely good.

Considerate, gentle, fulfilling his duties as a husband.

He would bring me late-night snacks when returning home from business dinners.

He would bring me gifts when returning from business trips.

He never brushed off any holiday or anniversary.

When I was sick, he would stay by my bedside.

Even in our intimate life, he was attentive.

I thought he was slowly falling for me.

Now I understood. He was just fulfilling contractual obligations.

As for feelings

Those weren't in the contract.

I turned over, burying my face in the pillow.

Before long, the pillow was wet in one spot.

The next evening, Frederick returned from his business trip.

I sat in the living room waiting for him. Before he could raise his arms to hug me, I pushed the agreement across.

"What's this?"

He was clearly startled, sitting down beside me.

"The prenuptial agreement."

"We have two months left until the three-year term expires. But if you're in a hurry, we can end the contract early."

He frowned. "Serena, what do you mean?"

I looked up at him calmly.

"I don't care about your business with Ruby. But I don't want to stay in this position."

"Before proposing the alliance, I didn't know you had a girlfriend. I'm sorry, but I have no interest in being the one who gets in the way of true love."

Frederick's expression froze slightly.

He reached out to put his arm around me, his tone softer than before.

"She and I ended completely long ago. Those love letters were written by her. They have nothing to do with me."

I moved back slightly. His arm froze in midair.

"Don't overthink it," he said, finally placing his hand on my shoulder and patting it reassuringly.

"The three years aren't up yet. You're still Mrs. Ashford."

I nodded. "Okay."

He looked at me for a few seconds, stood up, and said he was going to shower.

That evening, we ate dinner together.

After the meal, we sat together in the media room watching an old movie.

During the end credits, we became intimate.

Afterward, he carried me to bathe as usual.

He let me fall asleep on his arm.

I almost doubted again that he liked me.

I woke in the middle of the night to find the spot beside me empty.

I instinctively looked toward the balcony.

The curtains weren't fully drawnthere was a gap.

Through it I could see a figure on the balcony, back turned to me, phone raised.

I got out of bed quietly and walked to the door.

"...I've already handled the trending topic."

His voice drifted in from the balcony, kept very low.

"I don't want this to affect the cooperation between the Ashford and Hayes families."

Silence for a few seconds.

"Ruby, what we had is in the past."

I stood behind the curtain, my fingers clenched tight.

He listened for a while longer, then said, "Get some sleep."

The call ended.

I thought he would come back, but he made another call.

"Mr. Johnson, the company needs a global brand ambassador for the new season. Contact Ruby's agent. Accept whatever conditions they ask for."

I heard the sound of a lighter.

A flash of flamehe lit a cigarette.

Smoke drifted into the night.

His profile was briefly lit by the cigarette's glow, then darkened again.

When we first got married, he occasionally smelled of smoke.

I would cough a few times. After that, I never saw him smoke again.

I stood behind the curtain watching him smoke one cigarette after another.

My feet felt cold. I realized I was standing barefoot on the floor.

I tiptoed back to bed, lay down, and closed my eyes.

On the weekend, Frederick had a gathering with friends.

I hit traffic and arrived later than planned.

The moment before I pushed open the private room door, voices from inside filtered through.

"Frederick, if the Hayes family hadn't taken advantage of the situation back then, you would have married Ruby by now, right?"

"You two were doing so well together, forcibly torn apart."

"Exactly." Another voice chimed in. "Serena's move was pretty calculated. I heard that when your family had problems, she was the first to jump out proposing a marriage alliance. Who knows if her family was behind it all?"

"I've wanted to say this for a whileyou and Ruby were such a perfect match back then. She still can't forget you, writing all those love letters. So devoted."

"Serena's just been taking advantage these three years, when you get down to it."

Laughter, voices agreeing.

Then I heard Frederick's voice.

His tone flat, almost cold.

"It's all in the past."

My hand stopped on the door handle.

He didn't deny it.

Didn't say Serena wasn't that kind of person.

Didn't say she wasn't scheming.

Didn't say she was his wife.

He didn't even tell them to stop.

One dismissive "it's all in the past."

Drowning three years of marriage and my dignity in their mockery.

My nails dug into my palm. It hurt a little.

I had looked into Ruby. When the Ashford family was in crisis, she had quickly latched onto a new benefactor.

Even I could easily find this out. I didn't believe Frederick couldn't.

Unless he trusted her completely.

I suddenly recalled three years ago.

When the Ashford family was in crisis, my family opposed the marriage alliance.

They said the Ashford family's problems were too deepthe Hayes family didn't need to get involved.

I was the one who sold all the properties under my name and mortgaged my shares in Hayes Corporation.

I scraped together that money and transferred it to Frederick's finance department under the guise of working capital.

I never told anyone about this.

Including him.

I thought that was love.

Turns out in others' mouths, it was called taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

The laughter inside continued.

I released the handle and stepped back.

Before tears could fall, I left the club.