Chapter 2 The Woman Who Lived In The Rumors

• The next morning, Lucas was already up when Ashlyn awoke and was washing up in the bathroom.
• “Morning.”
• Ashlyn slowly sat up.
• The man was so aggressive last night that her body felt sore.
• Lucas had put on a black shirt with a pair of black pants underneath.
• Ashlyn got out of bed and found a black dress to put on.
• It was Charles’ funeral today.
• Naturally, she had to attend as his nominal granddaughter-in-law.
• Lucas glanced at her and said, “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We can drop the act now since we’re getting a divorce.”
• Ashlyn’s hands, which were just about to put her clothes on, froze.
• “Grandpa was nice to me. I want to see him one last time and send him off.”
• “All right then, I’ll get Spencer to send you there,” Lucas said flatly.
• “Great!”
• Ashlyn smiled.
• Does that mean he doesn’t want to expose me?
• During the four years of marriage, the public had only known that the president of Nolan Group, Lucas Nolan, had a young wife in a secret marriage, but no one had ever actually seen her face.
• She was the woman who lived in the rumors.
• Now that they were about to get a divorce, it was even more unnecessary to let the public know what she looked like.
• And she understood that.
• Lucas stared absentmindedly at Ashlyn.
• He had always known that the marriage between the two of them differed from others.
• They had signed a contract when they got married in which they wouldn’t meddle in each other’s lives during the contract period.
• Ashlyn would live as his rich wife and pretend to be his lover in front of his grandfather, and in return, he would gift her with bags, clothes, jewelry, or anything that money could buy.
• He had met this woman in front of the hospital, standing expressionlessly in the pouring rain, screaming, “Is there anyone who wants to marry me?”
• All the passersby had thought she was a psycho.
• He didn’t know why she did that and wasn’t interested to know.
• But he knew he needed a wife at that time and that she had a pleasant look.
• Little did he expect this marriage to last for four years until his grandfather passed away last week.
• After four years of acting, the play finally ended.
• The death of his grandfather hit him so hard that he took a week to recollect himself before the funeral.
• Even now, he could still feel a dull pain in his chest whenever he thought of Charles’ gentle voice and happy countenance.
• In the past four years, there was no difference between them and an ordinary couple.
• He was always on the go and would usually spend the night at Whitland Villa only during weekends.
• Ashlyn had always waited for him obediently, and would never complain about his coming and going.
• Before Lucas left the house, he paused in his tracks as a force of habit and bowed his head, seemingly waiting for something.
• Ashlyn smiled gently and stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
• “Bye-bye, honey.”
• The man lowered his head to kiss her lips.
• “Um.”
• The two of them interacted like an extremely affectionate old married couple.
• It didn’t look like they were about to divorce at all.
• Seeing that the man had got into the black Bentley, Ashlyn turned around and closed the door.
• The obedience and gentleness on her stunning face were immediately replaced with an unprecedented coldness, as if it were blanketed with a layer of frost, creating a sharp contrast to her soft and lovely appearance before.
• It was as if she was a different person.
• Expressionlessly tidying herself up, she departed as well.