Chapter 23 Seeing Him Again
After a brief moment, the outside gossip ceased, leaving Winona puzzled.
As she walked out, she saw Zachary standing.
Zachary who was smoking by the sink was completely stunned and only managed to ask after a while, "What are you doing here?"
The man's face was cold and stern, his gaze falling upon her. His lips curled slightly, filled with indescribable mockery and sarcasm. "Disappointed to see me? Who did you hope would come, then?"
Winona rolled her eyes. "This is the women's restroom. Who else could I hope for? Are you crazy or something?"
She walked over to wash her hands, her emotions slightly calmer but her face still pale.
Zachary suddenly grabbed her chin and forcefully turned her face towards him. "Just because of a watch, you couldn't keep it together?"
With a single sentence, everything became clear. This was all calculated by him.
Winona glared at him. "You did it on purpose?"
Zachary smirked. "It's just a watch. If you didn't give it any special meaning, it would just be an accessory. Instead of questioning whether I did it on purpose, why not ask yourself if you've forgotten about him?"
As if reminding her, he slowly called her by a specific name, "Mrs. Bailey."
Winona frowned. Whenever she heard that title now, it annoyed her, as if it were chains that occasionally suffocated her.
She wanted to push his hand away, but the man's dominance left her with no choice.
"Winona, do you regret sleeping with me back then?"
Back then... she retorted, "If it weren't for that watch, I wouldn't have touched your bed."
He understood this better than anyone else!
Zachary sneered and the next moment, he embraced her, enveloping her in his distinct masculine scent.
"Seems like it. At that time, you resisted when you saw my face. If Matthew had been the one you wished for in bed, then your first time wouldn't have been painful, but joyful, right?"
"Zachary, do you have to disgust me like this?"
Disgust?
Zachary laughed coldly. "You compromised for so long. Now that he's back, you can't wait to divorce me and run into his arms. Do you think he would want a divorced woman?"
Winona thought she wouldn't let this man control her emotions anymore, but she had underestimated Zachary's nastiness!
At this moment, her heart seemed entangled by a dense mass of thread, making it hard for her to breathe! She blinked, trying hard to hide the sour mist in her eyes.
"Think what you want. Either way, I'll be waiting for you at the civil affairs bureau tomorrow, no matter what..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Zachary suddenly descended upon her with a devouring kiss. Winona almost suffocated in this fierce kiss, tasting the familiar cool freshness of the menthol cigarettes he usually smoked. Her mind went blank, and by the time she realized she should struggle, he had already lifted her onto the sink behind them.
Due to the obstruction of her skirt, her legs were forced to wrap around his waist, creating an intensely erotic scene.
Footsteps could be heard from outside, and someone urgently pushed open the restroom door.
Yet, this commotion added a dangerous aura to Zachary's already unfriendly features.
He took a deep breath; two or three buttons on his shirt had come undone at some point, revealing the sharp contours of his muscles.
He glanced at the two women at the door, his tone filled with hostility, "Get out!"
The two women didn't expect to come across such a scene. They didn't dare to use the restroom anymore and hastily left, mumbling an apology before closing the door. As they left, they couldn't help but steal a glance at Winona, but she was effectively hidden by Zachary, and they could only see her black formal dress...
After being interrupted, Zachary didn't continue with his previous assault. He looked down on the woman in front of him, noticing her reddened eyes. He didn't know if it was from being wronged or from being bullied by him.
He released Winona. "How pathetic must you be to pine for a man who refused you when you were desperate? How much of a glutton for punishment are you to never forget for three years?"
The disdain in his eyes was overwhelming.
Winona, however, raised her chin and retorted sarcastically, "It's because I'm a glutton for punishment that I endured a painful marriage for three years!"
For a moment, there was silence in the restroom.
After a while, the corners of Zachary's lips curved into a faint smile. "A painful marriage? That's a pity. I'm rather satisfied with this marriage and have no plan to divorce."
Winona suddenly looked up. If her pale face could be concealed by blush earlier, it was now a pallor that couldn't be hidden even with makeup.
"Zachary, are you willing to let your beloved woman bear the label of being a mistress, just to make me suffer?"
Zachary didn't answer that question, as if it was completely irrelevant.
He straightened the wrinkles on his clothes and turned to leave the restroom. When Winona finished fixing herself and walked out, she didn't see Zachary anywhere.
Later, she stood in a corner, trying to diminish her presence as much as possible.
No one approached her for conversation during the entire banquet. The way they avoided her made her feel tainted. Winona just sneered at it all, she had no interest in dealing with these people anyway.
Although they ignored her, they didn't hold back on gossiping privately.
As Winona sat down with a dessert in the lounge, she overheard someone speaking softly behind a partition, "Someone who was born a parvenu lacks manners. They can even do such things in the restroom. You know, when I opened the door, that woman had already taken off half her clothes..."
"No wonder Matthew rejected her before, and she managed to climb up to Zachary right after. Men always like those sultry and promiscuous types!"
"Oh, come on. Mr. Bailey is just playing around. Everyone in the circle knows that Mr. Bailey's type is the innocent kind, like Fiona. Winona just happened to be at the right place and time while Fiona was away for the past two years!"
Upon hearing this, Winona couldn't help but laugh. She leaned over and said with a smile, "If you want to know what Mr. Bailey thinks, you'll have to ask him personally. Maybe he's just naturally drawn to being gluttonous and likes those sultry and promiscuous types?"
Those few people looked up and were surprised to see that it was Winona speaking. Their faces changed instantly!
Someone even wrinkled their brow in disgust, saying, "We were just chatting, and now she interrupts us."
"What is it your business, you rude woman!"
"So discussing people behind their backs is considered good manners? Sorry, I'm not part of your circle and I wasn't aware of this rule. Should I ask Zachary about it later?"
As soon as the women heard Zachary's name, they backed off and left while grumbling.
Clearly, they and Zachary belong to different social classes.
Winona watched their hurried departure and sneered, "Looks like I need to take some action to deal with these villains!"
After this incident, she lost her appetite and got up to go to the small terrace outside.
Later, Winona thought that she was definitely having a stroke of bad luck tonight.
She had only wanted some peaceful alone time, but she unexpectedly ran into Matthew, who was here to sober up.
Compared to that, she would rather go back and listen to her gossip.
Winona turned to return to the banquet hall, but Matthew stopped her, saying, "Winona..."
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