When I Stopped Clinging, My Husband Panicked - Chapter 1

I was an incurable love addict.

In elementary school, I liked the boy next door so much that when he was kidnapped, I voluntarily got into the car with him.

In middle school, I had a crush on a boy with bleached hair. One comment from him about my weight, and I furiously shed ten kilos.

In high school, I chased a straight-A student, studying myself half to death to get into a Project 211 university hundreds of kilometers from home.

My parents took me to a therapist. They consulted a spiritual master. They even moved our ancestral graves.

They gave up when I suggested moving them next to my boyfriend’s family graves.

So when I announced that I’d fallen for the penniless Pei Jin, they actually sighed with relief.

“Reliable, lives nearby, no debts, handsome. Heaven has answered our prayers!”

Married life, however, wasn’t what I’d imagined.

“Pei Jin and I had another fight.”

My eyes swimming with tears, I flung my bag onto the sofa.

“He doesn’t love me anymore!”

I delivered this conclusion to my sister, who was sitting at her desk.

Jiang Zhu paused over the document she was reading. A moment passed before she looked up.

“And what’s the reason this time?” she asked skeptically.

“He didn’t kiss me this morning!” I declared, righteous indignation and all.

She gave a cold laugh. “Keep making me sick and I’ll throw you out.”

She didn’t look as though she was joking, so I hurried to make my case.

“It’s the twentieth today, and he’s been away on business for seven days! His second trip this month!”

“He came home and went straight to cuddling. We barely even talked!”

“And tomorrow morning, he’s leaving again!”

Since Jiang Zhu still looked unmoved, I pulled out my phone to show her.

“I sent him 539 messages in those seven days. He only sent me 32!”

At this point, I couldn’t keep lying to myself.

I took a deep breath.

“He’s cheating!”

“Ow!”

I’d barely finished when Jiang Zhu whacked me on the head.

She gave me an impatient look. “Sweetheart, with the hours your husband works, he wouldn’t have time to hang himself.”

When I tried to speak again, she glanced at me.

“Besides, aren’t those informants you planted around him keeping an eye on things?”

That shut me up. My eyes still stung, though.

Jiang Zhu looked at me, then finally set down her pen.

Her voice softened.

“Pei Jin’s proud, isn’t he? Your standard of living dropped a lot after you got married. It’s only in the last few years, since his business took off, that you’ve gone back to the lifestyle you had before. Right?”

Clearly, this wasn’t going to comfort me.

One look at my tearful face and she knew exactly what was coming.

“I don’t need lots of money. I need lots of lo—”

She pinched my lips shut.

“Say it and I’ll throw you out,” she said dangerously. “You hopeless little love addict.”

“Mmph!”

But being alone was so lonely!

Reading the plea in my eyes, Jiang Zhu slapped a document down in front of me.

“Then come to work. You’ve got nothing else to do.”

At first, I didn’t want to. Wouldn’t that leave me even less time with Pei Jin?

I’d been planning to go to the city where he’d be working tomorrow and surprise him!

“Even couples need some space,” Jiang Zhu said. “What if you keep this up and he really does stop loving you?”

“You can’t hang on to him every second. Give him some time to himself.”

I opened my mouth to argue. Then I remembered my sister’s swarm of admirers, compared it with my past romances that had failed before they’d even begun, and fell silent.

…Was I holding on too tightly?

I went home carrying a stack of documents, my thoughts a jumble.

Four dishes and a soup were waiting on the dining table, along with a little apology cake.

Pei Jin’s voice drifted in from the balcony.

He was clearly still dealing with work. His brows were slightly drawn, and he looked troubled as his long fingers tugged loose his usually immaculate tie.

Pei Jin rarely let negative emotions show on his face.

Except last night. As if he’d reached the absolute limit of his exhaustion, he’d said:

“Xiaoyu, could you let me calm down on my own for a bit?”

He’d looked startled the moment the words left his mouth, then immediately tried to make it up to me and soothe me.

But I couldn’t forget what he’d said.

Maybe I really was too clingy.

While I was wondering whether to call out to him, Pei Jin happened to look up.

Our eyes met. In an instant, he hid his fatigue and irritation and gave me a gentle smile.

He said a few words into the phone and hung up.

“Were you at your sister’s? Why didn’t you call me to carry those?”

His gaze fell on all my bags, and he came straight over to take them.

He frowned slightly at the red marks the handles had left on my palms.

I waved it off. “It’s fine. I only carried them up from the garage. I’m going to work at my sister’s company for a few days.”

Pei Jin paused. “Are you short of spending money? I have another card. There’s still—”

“No, no!” I cut in. “I’ve just been bored lately, and you won’t have time these next few days anyway.”

The moment I said it, we both went still.

Clearly, neither of us had put last night’s conversation behind us.

Pei Jin took my hand, utterly serious. “I’m sorry. What I said last night was awful. I made you unhappy.”

“It’s okay, really,” I said at once. “You were busy. I wasn’t paying enough attention to how you felt, either.”

To prove I didn’t mind, I leaned in and kissed his cheek.

Pei Jin still seemed to have something to say.

I firmly changed the subject.

“All right, let’s leave it. No more talking about unhappy things.”

“Let’s eat. I’m starving. You can tell me what I should watch out for at work.”

“It’s been ages since I had to deal with strangers.”