Chapter 313
The door opened. I calmly looked into the room. At the moment the door opened, there was no sound coming from inside the room.
After opening the door, I saw a familiar scene. Katniss was sitting at the dining table, chin in hand, with a table full of delicious food. When she saw me return, Katniss smiled, came to the door, took my shoes, grabbed my briefcase. Just like before, everything seemed normal.
I felt very strange because everything seemed too ordinary, too normal, which made me feel strange.
After washing my hands in confusion, I sat down at the dining table to eat.
"Honey, tired from the trip to Lumaria?"
After sitting down to eat, Katniss finally brought up the topic of my business trip.
"Not really. Why didn't you pick me up at the airport?"
I asked Katniss while eating. Over the past month, our emotional connection had returned, and our conversations were more straightforward and without barriers.
"Some things came up."
After hearing my question, Katniss playfully tapped her chin with her finger, thought for a moment, but didn't give a specific reason.
"What things?"
I had countless questions in my mind and couldn't help but ask casually, trying to appear calm and indifferent.
"I'm not telling you."
Katniss replied with a smile. Even though I tried to act like I didn't care, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by her lack of response.
"You didn't even call me after getting off the plane."
I said this casually while eating, but my eyes didn't look at Katniss, not revealing any emotions in my words.
"Just wanted to surprise my husband."
Katniss hugged my arm and said playfully.
Seeing the delicious dinner in front of me, all my grievances disappeared instantly.
As we finished our meal and Katniss got ready to rest, she didn't rush to see the gifts I brought back from Lumaria. Instead, she climbed into bed to rest, surprising me. Was this the same curious Katniss as before?
In the past, she would have immediately opened the gifts to see if there was anything interesting. But this time, she showed little interest and didn't engage much. After getting into bed, Katniss played with her phone until the lights went out, not saying a word to me.
What's going on? Why is Katniss acting so differently from before I went to Lumaria? She used to care a lot about me, even initiating conversations and sometimes annoying me with her chatter. But this time, Katniss was quiet, and although her attitude towards me was still friendly, it didn't feel as intimate as it was half a month ago.
It's as if half a month has changed Katniss completely. What happened during this time? I have a feeling that something must have happened in these past two weeks.
Did Katniss and Nathan have an affair while I was away? Did their relationship intensify over the past two weeks, leading to a cold attitude towards me? I closed my eyes, the strange feeling lingering in my mind. I waited for Katniss to fall asleep so I could look for the encrypted device and check the surveillance footage.
If the encrypted device wasn't at the office, it must be at home. If it wasn't at home, it meant it was lost, and I would have to get a new one from the supplier. Without the surveillance footage, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering, making it hard to fall asleep.
When I finally felt that Katniss had fallen asleep, I slowly got out of bed. I didn't turn on the light to avoid waking her, nor did I turn on the computer since I couldn't find the encrypted device.
Using the flashlight on my phone, I opened the closet in the dim light and searched through the file bag where I usually kept documents and bank cards.
Sure enough, the encrypted device was there. Finding it relieved me, as it was the only clue to finding answers.
With the encrypted device in hand, I could now check the surveillance footage on the computer. I had done this countless times before, so I wasn't nervous at all.
"Honey, why are you still up? What are you looking for?"
Just as I found the encrypted device and was about to close the closet to open the computer, I heard Katniss's voice behind me, nearly scaring me to death.
I reflexively turned around to see Katniss lying in bed, looking at me. In the darkness, I couldn't see her expression, but I could see the reflection of her eyes.
"I'm looking for my bank card. I need it tomorrow."
I quickly explained, holding the encrypted device tightly in my hand to prevent Katniss from seeing it.
"Did you find it?"
With the light shining from behind me, Katniss could see where I was looking, and she must have noticed that I didn't have the bank card in my hand.
"I found it. I was just checking if it was at home. I couldn't find it at the office today. Let's go to sleep."
I closed the closet, then lay back in bed, trying to calm down. The room fell into silence again. I struggled to control my breathing, surprised that Katniss was still awake and almost caught me. Thankfully, she didn't wake up when I was checking the surveillance.
Normally, by this time of night, Katniss would have been fast asleep, and her breathing had been so steady just a moment ago. Was I being too loud, or was Katniss pretending to sleep? It didn't make sense.
After calming myself down for a while, I slowly relaxed. I tried to fall asleep but couldn't.
Finally, I decided to go to the bathroom and smoke a cigarette to calm my nerves. I walked out of the room with the cigarette in hand.
When I turned on the bathroom light, I caught a faint familiar smell, a strong fishy odor.
It was strange. Why didn't I smell it when I first came back, but now I did? I entered the bathroom and sniffed around like a police dog, but found nothing. The smell didn't seem to be coming from the bathroom.
I walked out of the bathroom and headed towards Nathan's room. The smell seemed to be coming from there.
The smell was faint. I wasn't sure if it was what I thought it was, as the smell of fishiness could also come from evaporating water after cleaning the floor.
Was it the smell from Katniss cleaning or was there something in Nathan's room? I decided to search for answers in Nathan's room. When I checked the shoe rack at home earlier, I didn't see Nathan's shoes, indicating he wasn't home and wasn't hiding in his room.
During this month, Nathan no longer avoided me and didn't need to hide in his room like before.
"Honey, what are you doing up so late?"
Just as I reached Nathan's room door and was about to open it, Katniss's voice came from behind me, startling me. I was already on edge, and her sudden voice made me break out in a cold sweat. The night was dark, and I was already doing something suspicious, and now I was caught again. I turned to look at Katniss, who was standing at the door, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"I wanted to smoke, but I couldn't find the lighter. I'm going to check Nathan's room for it."
After so many years in the workplace, my ability to adapt quickly was still outstanding. I came up with an excuse and shook the cigarette box in my hand.
The lighter was actually in the cigarette box, but since there were only half a pack of cigarettes left, I put the lighter in the box. I hadn't expected it to become my explanation.
"It's in the shoe cabinet."
Katniss found a lighter in the shoe cabinet by the door and handed it to me.
"I need to use the bathroom first."
After handing me the lighter, Katniss playfully said before entering the bathroom and closing the door. I stood outside with the cigarette and lighter, trying to calm my emotions and heartbeat.
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