Chapter 4

I let out a cold laugh.

“Adrian, this isn’t some random property you can rent out whenever you feel like it.”

I looked around the townhouse.

“This is supposed to be our home after the wedding.”

“We’re not even married yet, and you already moved another woman in.”

I stared at him.

“Do you even still want to get married?”

Adrian’s face changed.

His voice softened immediately.

“Of course I do.”

“Serena, you’re making this bigger than it is.”

“When we get married, Lila can move out.”

Meow.

I looked down.

A tabby cat rubbed against Lila’s leg.

She immediately picked it up.

“Come here, baby.”

Then her eyes turned red as she looked at Adrian.

“Adrian, we found him together when he was still a stray.”

She hugged the cat closer.

“He finally has a home now.”

Her voice trembled.

“If I have to leave when you get married…”

She lowered her eyes.

“I guess neither of us will have anywhere to go.”

One woman.

One cat.

Both looking like they were about to be thrown onto the street.

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

He looked at them for a moment, then turned to me.

“Serena…”

“Would it really be right to throw them out like this?”

I stared at him.

He hesitated, then said,

“What if we postpone the wedding for a little while?”

My expression froze.

“Just until Lila finishes the trainee program and saves enough money to rent somewhere nearby.”

“Then we can get married.”

For a second, I thought I had heard him wrong.

He had already rented our future home to another woman for fifty dollars a month.

Now he wanted to postpone our wedding so she and her stray cat could keep living here.

Then I remembered something.

Three months ago, I had called Adrian late at night after finishing work.

I heard running water in the background.

He told me he was taking a shower.

Then I heard a cat meow.

I asked him when he got a cat.

Before we got engaged, I once wanted a dog.

Adrian told me he was allergic to pet hair, so I gave up the idea.

That night, he told me I must have imagined the sound and quickly ended the call.

Now the cat was standing right in front of me.

Which meant it had already been here three months ago.

And so had Lila.

So Adrian wasn’t allergic to pets.

He was only allergic when the pet belonged to me.

My stomach turned.

Looking at him suddenly made me sick.