I looked at the furious Gray Carroll, puzzled.

The sample was handed to me by him personally, and I had delivered it as promised. As for waiting for him, he was clearly the one who had stood me up.

I gently pushed aside the scattered lipsticks on the table, not understanding his intense anger.

I replied honestly, "I sent you a message saying I was back. The sample was given to me by you."

His lips tightened, and his anger flared even more.

"Why didn’t you say something if you got it wrong? You, with your poor eyesight, can't tell the difference between red and coral pink? Couldn’t you just ask?"

"Even delivering a lipstick sample is a mess for you! I think you're just getting back at me for yesterday!"

Before I could respond, he threw a delicate gift box at me. "Hmph, I even went out of my way to get you a custom anniversary gift. If I had known, I would have just thrown it away. What a waste of my effort!"

The gift box fell open, revealing a bottle of "limited edition perfume." I looked up at him, meeting his resentful gaze, and said coldly,

"It’s indeed better off discarded."

Because just yesterday, I had seen this very perfume in Zoe Walsh’s social media post.

“Birthday gift—my boss really spoils me.”

The picture showed Gray Carroll selecting haute couture dresses for her, with that very perfume as a gift. The style and packaging were identical to the one he had given me.

In the comments, she wrote: “There’s always this perfume as a gift; the scent is so strong, I can’t use it.”

Gray Carroll’s voice rose sharply with anger. "What do you mean by that, Selena Nguyen? Are you trying to be bold now?"

I interrupted him directly and showed him Zoe Walsh’s comment.

"I—"

Confronted so bluntly, Gray Carroll was momentarily at a loss for words. Exhausted by his endless lies, I felt drained.

"Just throw the perfume away. I don’t like strong scents."

For the past six months, Gray Carroll had been giving me perfume as gifts. Looking at the row of unwanted perfumes on my vanity, I felt nothing but sadness.

"Perfume is all pretty much the same. Why make such a fuss..."

I ignored his attempt to justify himself and walked into the side bedroom, shutting him out.

We had been sleeping in separate rooms for the past six months.

His light sleeping habits and my need to apply medication due to skin allergies had led me to try not to disturb him.

Once, when I got up in the middle of the night to find medication, I woke him.

He had yelled at me, disregarding my discomfort, and after sending me to the side bedroom, he never mentioned having me return to our bed.

Looking back, it seemed our relationship might have started to deteriorate at that point.

With this in mind, I contacted a lawyer friend and decided to draft a divorce agreement for Gray Carroll to sign as soon as possible.

After playing on my phone for a while, my eyes began to strain, and I decided to rest.

However, just as I was drifting off to sleep, a rapid knocking at the door jolted me awake. The loud "bangs" made me startle.

The person knocking seemed determined to see me, so I reluctantly got up to open the door.

Standing at the door, Gray Carroll spoke to me in an unusually gentle tone.

"Selena, things aren’t as you imagine."

"Don’t be angry. I’ll get you another anniversary gift."

"I’ve booked a private room for the afternoon to celebrate our anniversary. I’ll come pick you up then."

I responded coldly, "Do as you wish."

With that, I promptly closed the door and returned to my interrupted sleep.