CEO Ex-Husband, Don't Bother Me-Chapter 102 - 100: You’ve Always Been Like This (2)

Chapter 102: Chapter 100: You’ve Always Been Like This (2)

She gave a soft, mocking laugh, just as he once did.

"What about Joy? She’s my child too. In her current condition, she needs a complete family even more than Dylan does."

’For Dylan’s sake? If she were really thinking about Dylan, she wouldn’t have insisted on the divorce back then. She loves Dylan, but she also loves herself. Besides, she knew that a loveless home environment wasn’t good for him either.’

He frowned.

"I can treat her as my own daughter."

’For her sake, he could begrudgingly accept her daughter with Sean Donovan.’

She said flatly,

"Sean can also treat Dylan as his own son."

His anger flared.

"Naomi Shaw, do you have to oppose me on everything?"

Her expression remained calm.

"I don’t mean to antagonize you. I’m trying to discuss this with you calmly. You were the one who got angry first."

With that, she turned and left. No one could have known the deep despair hidden beneath her calm exterior. It had to be said, his attitude in trying to win her back was truly disheartening.

Just as she was about to open the door, he suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind. His large hands clasped her slender waist tightly, and he rested his chin on her shoulder, his voice filled with helplessness.

"Naomi, I think I love you. Come back to me, okay?"

For Julian Donovan, these were the softest words he had ever spoken in his life. Back when he and Juliet Jennings were first forced to part, the words he had used to try and win her back were much the same.

She had to admit, his words of love made her heart skip a beat. But after a moment of silence, she still removed his hands from her waist. She didn’t look back at him, keeping her eyes lowered.

"Julian Donovan, I don’t need your love to survive. If your love is just pity, or something you’re giving me out of guilt, then I don’t want it!"

’She really didn’t need a love that felt like charity. ’It’s not just me,’ she thought, ’who wouldn’t want a love like that, right?’’

’Love has to be nurtured with heart to become deep and moving. Words alone are so shallow.’

With that, she opened the door and left without a backward glance. Julian Donovan slammed his fist into the adjacent wall. Her repeated rejections made him feel a frustration he had never known. He truly wanted to win her back and be with her again. If he didn’t have her in his heart, he could have found other women over the past three years.

’He just didn’t understand what she wanted!’

Willow Summers, who had been eavesdropping outside the door, quickly scurried away the moment Naomi Shaw opened it. ’Ugh, that scumbag Julian Donovan! Can’t he say anything right? Is that what he calls trying to win someone back? His tone and attitude... even I, a total outsider, am furious just listening to it, let alone Naomi, who he’s hurt so badly. Does he really think he’s some high and mighty emperor, and everyone has to do whatever he says?’

As soon as Naomi Shaw walked into Dylan’s bedroom, she saw Willow Summers and Dylan staring intently at her in unison. She smiled and walked over.

"Why are you two looking at me like that?"

’For the past three years, she had constantly tried to convince herself to forget him. And now, seeing his attitude, all she felt was despair and a chilling of her heart, nothing more. In fact, getting everything out in the open felt like a weight had been lifted. Plus, now she could see Dylan openly, without having to hide her identity anymore.’

"Mom, are you—" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Dylan came over, hugged her, and looked at her with concern. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Mom’s fine. What do you want to eat for lunch, Dylan? I’ll go make it now. I have to work this afternoon, so I can’t stay with you! Oh, right, your stomach isn’t doing well right now. How about I make you some light porridge?"

Dylan nodded.

"Okay, Mom. Can I come find you on the weekend?"

Naomi Shaw reached out and gently caressed Dylan’s handsome face.

"I’m working as a caregiver at the orphanage on weekends. You can find me there. Just have Willow bring you along!"

"Okay!"

Dylan smiled happily. Leaning against the doorframe, Julian Donovan watched their warm interaction, feeling as if something was tearing at his heart. In the end, all he could do was turn and walk away. He had never felt so lost and helpless. Willow Summers glanced at his desolate figure and followed him out.

Naomi Shaw went to the kitchen to fulfill her promise, making him a dish of fish with pickled vegetables while also preparing something for Dylan. She was all alone in the vast kitchen. As she held the knife, carefully slicing the fish fillet by fillet, tears began to fall.

’How could it be so easy to forget someone? Especially when that person embodied all her youthful dreams and desires for love? Especially when it was the man she had loved since she was eighteen?’

’She was just forcing herself to forget, that’s all.’

’Because love, as beautiful as it is, can also be deeply painful.’

’Her heart was tired, weary. It could no longer bear his indifference and lack of love.’

Julian Donovan was smoking in the garden outside. Willow Summers watched his frustrated expression from a distance. After eavesdropping on his conversation, she was certain she understood his feelings toward Naomi Shaw. He wanted to win her back, but his approach was all wrong. To repay him for saving her life in the past, she, the resident relationship expert, decided to give him a hand.

She walked over, stopped beside him, and held out her hand.

"Give me one!"

Julian Donovan shot her a glare.

"You’re pregnant!"

’If he remembered correctly, he was the one who had cured her infertility.’

Willow Summers sheepishly withdrew her hand.

"Oh, right..."

’If it weren’t for him ganging up with that former Major of hers, she wouldn’t have had her glorious youth locked down so early.’

Sighing in mourning for her lost youth, she cut straight to the chase.

"You took advantage of how devoted she was to you, how she loved you to death. So you always acted high and mighty, and you never cared about her feelings. You’d love her when you felt like it and give her the cold shoulder when you didn’t. Even now, you can’t break that habit. Julian Donovan, don’t you get it? That’s not love. It’s charity!"

Julian Donovan stared at her, stunned. He remembered what Naomi Shaw had just said to him—that his love was just charity.

"Actually, you can’t be completely blamed. She’s the one who spoiled you."

After saying this, Willow Summers sighed to herself. Julian Donovan took a hard drag from his cigarette and asked her,

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if you want to win her back, you first have to fix your attitude and get off your high horse. You need to understand that right now, you’re the one begging her to come back!"

Willow Summers enunciated every word with force, wanting him to recognize the fact that he was no longer in control of the situation. Julian Donovan frowned. ’He had already fixed his attitude and gotten off his high horse. Why else would he have said those things to her?’

Willow Summers was about to lose her mind. ’Does she have to spell it out for him?’

"If you want to win her back, you have to show it with your actions. You have to be prepared for her to reject you at any time. You also need to have enough patience. Most importantly, you have to be sincere and genuine enough to move her! To put it simply, you should court her all over again and make her feel the happiness of being loved!"

Julian Donovan’s frown deepened. Willow Summers rolled her eyes at him.

"Of course, I’m just saying you should do this if you really love her and really want to win her back. If you don’t actually love her, then just forget it!"

With that, Willow Summers turned and left. ’That was all she could do. The rest was up to their fate.’

Willow Summers’s words were like a wake-up call. Julian Donovan’s tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed. ’Court her all over again? If that could really win her back, he was willing to try. After all, he really did owe her too much. In all the years they were together, she was always the one chasing him. He had never really made her feel loved.’

With this thought, his mood brightened, and he turned to go back inside. She was just placing the finished dishes on the dining table. Seeing him enter, she gave him a distant smile.

"I’ve finished making the fish with pickled vegetables. Please consider it my sincere thanks for treating Joy. I have to work this afternoon, so I’ll be leaving now!"

After speaking, she was about to turn and go to Dylan’s room to say goodbye, but he followed her, his eyes sincere as he looked at her.

"I’ll drive you!"

She smiled.

"No, thank you. I can just take the bus!"

"This area is pretty remote. The buses don’t come by very often!"

"Then I’ll just get a taxi myself!"

"It’s not easy to get a taxi here!"