After laying out her two demands, Hazel Sinclair looked up at him. "Can you accept them?"
"If you can’t, then forget it."
Leon Sterling shook his head, his eyes never leaving Hazel. "Of course I can."
Hearing his agreement, Hazel nodded and glanced at the next conditions on her list.
’Don’t play games for too long. Don’t shirk the housework. All my needs must be met.’
Hazel scratched her cheek as she looked at the three items. ’It seems like Leon has already done all of these.’
He didn’t play video games. He did all the housework. She was the one who shirked her responsibilities.
And as for meeting her needs... as long as she dared to ask, he dared to deliver.
Hazel was a bit stumped. ’How am I supposed to discipline this man?’
"Is that all?" Leon Sterling asked, seeing her silent for a long time.
"That’s it." Hazel turned off her phone screen and looked at him seriously. "For now, just those two. Let’s see you follow them first."
"Okay."
Leon Sterling cleared the table and went to wash the dishes while Hazel continued to lounge on the sofa, scrolling through videos.
She hadn’t updated her videos in days. When she opened her account, she saw many comments under her videos demanding a new post.
After reading the comments, Hazel Sinclair thought for a moment, got up from the sofa, and then walked towards the dressing room.
The apartment had three rooms. They lived in the master bedroom, and Leon had turned one of the other rooms into a walk-in closet, filling it with all of Hazel’s clothes.
Entering the walk-in closet, Hazel Sinclair began to search for a suitable dress for dancing.
After looking through everything, Hazel stood and sighed. ’It seems I don’t have a single suitable dress for dancing.’
Leon Sterling stood at the doorway, leaning against the frame, his gaze fixed on Hazel. "What’s wrong?"
"It seems I don’t have a suitable dress to wear for dancing," Hazel said, looking at him.
Leon glanced at the clothes inside. Three standing racks were completely full. She could wear a different outfit every day for two months without repeating one.
’So many clothes, and she still thinks she has nothing to wear.’
Leon pointed to the dresses on the racks. "With all these clothes, none of them are suitable?"
"Yeah." Hazel nodded vigorously, then walked up to Leon, patted his shoulder, and said, "You better earn money fast. I need to buy clothes."
Leon didn’t understand, but he respected her wishes.
’If Hazel wants to buy clothes, then I’ll just have to work harder to earn money for her.’
"Okay, I’ll work hard."
That afternoon, with nothing else to do, they both curled up on the sofa, each engrossed in their phones.
Leon Sterling went online to search "what to do if my wife doesn’t love me anymore."
He clicked on the search results, ready to learn.
The threads were full of useless comments, but as he scrolled, he found a few helpful suggestions.
[As long as your wife hasn’t asked for a divorce, everything can be saved. She’s just disappointed in you. If you turn over a new leaf, she’ll slowly fall in love with you.]
[What else can you do? Have a child with her, tie her down, and make it so she can never leave you.]
Below this comment, many people agreed. With a child, she would stay for the child’s sake.
Others argued that even a child couldn’t tie someone down. Without love, divorce was inevitable. It was better to let her go than to drain the last dregs of her affection.
But Leon was drawn to one particular comment.
[That’s the wife I moved heaven and earth to marry. Why should I step aside for some other man? Even if she doesn’t love me, she has to be with me. It’s enough that I love her.]
[As long as I don’t get a divorce, those other men can never take my place. They’ll be the third wheel for life!]
Looking at these two comments, Leon liked them in agreement.
’He and Hazel Sinclair were a legally married couple. As long as they didn’t divorce, any other man was just the other man.’
After reading the posts, Leon’s gaze fell on the woman beside him. He opened his mouth and asked, "Hazel Sinclair, will you divorce me?"
Hazel Sinclair: ’Huh?’
’What’s wrong with him now?’
"Why would you ask that?" Hazel turned off her phone screen, looking at him.
"Just answer me."
Hazel had never considered divorce. She and Leon were very compatible, both in and out of bed.
After a moment of thought, Hazel answered seriously, "Not at the moment."
’Not at the moment... That means it could happen in the future.’
Leon’s hand on his knee suddenly tightened. He replied, "Mm, I understand."
"Do you hate children?" Leon asked again.
Hazel was completely bewildered. ’What’s wrong with him? Did going out for a bit make him this insecure?’
"They’re okay. I don’t really hate them," Hazel replied.
"Okay."
After asking those two questions, Leon stood up and walked into the bedroom.
Watching him leave, Hazel was completely baffled. ’What’s with him now?’
He seemed so tense and afraid.
Julian Jennings’s words had been devastating, so much so that Leon had become consumed by insecurity.
He had gone from the industry’s rising star, Chairman Sterling, to having nothing. When everyone, fearing Vincent Hawthorne, avoided him like the plague, Hazel had stood firmly by his side.
At the time, Hazel could have easily divorced him, gone back to the Sinclair Family, and resumed her life as the family’s prized daughter.
But she didn’t. Although she complained about their living situation and chewed him out every day, Leon never believed for a second that her harsh words were sincere.
He knew she only said those things to get him to pull himself together.
Her red-rimmed eyes, the tears welling within them, her choked voice—it all proved that Hazel didn’t want to see him fall into despair.
He saw her as the redeeming light of his life.
’If that redeeming light no longer shines on me, what’s the point of living?’
Sitting in front of the computer, Leon’s mind churned with one criminal idea after another.
’Emotionally manipulate Hazel so she can never leave me. Get her pregnant, use a child to tie her down.’
’Or something more extreme, like locking her up in the house until she gives up any thought of divorce.’
But all those dark thoughts vanished the moment he saw his phone’s wallpaper.
The lock screen was a photo of Hazel wearing the red Lolita dress he had bought her. In the picture, her smile was dazzlingly bright and lovely.
Her eyes sparkled like an angel’s.
Just then, Hazel’s voice sounded from behind him. "What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting weird ever since you got back."
Leon turned to see Hazel standing in the doorway, holding the first-aid kit and frowning at him.
"My wounds need a new dressing. Hurry up and help me," Hazel said, walking over and shoving the kit into his arms.
"Did you run into a problem? Or did those people give you trouble?" Hazel asked, sitting directly on his lap.
"No, today went very smoothly." Leon shook his head, opened the first-aid kit, and took out the medicinal powder and antiseptic. He reached over to pull a chair closer, then lifted her up and set her down on it.