Chapter 606 That Scumbag is You
Winona never expected that a simple glance up would reveal Zachary, who was supposed to be back home, standing amidst the crowd.
It wasn't a holiday, so the museum wasn't very crowded. Among the group of tourists, Zachary's face stood out, not to mention his tall stature and handsome features, which had several girls whispering excitedly about him.
But all of this became mere background noise to Winona.
Zachary being here was completely unexpected.
He looked at the stunned Winona, and, with his long strides, walked over to her. The dignified man from a moment ago transformed into a pitiful figure, like a puppy that had traveled miles to find its owner after being abandoned.
His first words were a complaint: "You didn't answer my calls or reply to my messages."
Winona suspected that if they weren't in public, he would have rested his head on her shoulder.
She had been angry at him for hiding things from her, but his words deflated her anger by more than half. She even felt an urge to ruffle his hair.
Why did Zachary seem so endearing like this?
But letting him off the hook so easily felt unfair, and she couldn't bear to stay mad at him either.
These conflicting thoughts tugged at her mind, neither gaining the upper hand.
She lowered her voice, "I'm at work right now. Keep your distance."
Having him follow her around would look bad if her colleagues saw.
Zachary seized the opportunity to make a request: "Then let's have dinner together tonight."
He reached out and hooked her pinky finger when no one was looking.
The touch sent a tingling sensation up her arm, making her lose a third of her ability to think clearly. Without looking at Zachary, she said, "No."
She had plans to have dinner with her colleagues.
Zachary panicked, "Winona, there's really nothing between Maeve and me, you have to believe me."
Winona rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention back to the exhibits, letting him ramble on beside her: "Winona, I had Dylan return the clothes. Please don't be mad at me, okay?"
Seeing that Winona wasn't responding, he took a step back: "Even if you're mad, don't ignore me. I just happened to run into her being harassed by debt collectors when I was leaving the nightclub, so I helped her out."
He recounted the events of that night in detail, "She was working part-time at the nightclub, and her clothes were torn. It was late, and it wasn't safe for a girl to go home like that, so I gave her my clothes."
Afraid she wouldn't believe him, he added urgently, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Samuel. He was there too. There's really nothing between Maeve and me. I told her to throw the clothes away, but I didn't expect her to keep them. But that's not my fault."
If he had known it would cause such a misunderstanding, he would have burned the clothes himself.
Zachary explained frantically, almost swearing to the heavens, only to find Winona engrossed in her colleagues' discussion about a nearby pillar.
He took a deep breath, feeling like he needed oxygen.
When Winona started to walk away again, Zachary grabbed her arm, "Honey, look at me. I'm better looking than the pillar!"
He said this without any embarrassment, not feeling that there was anything wrong with sweet-talking his wife, nor did he think it was shameful.
The people studying the artifacts looked up, their kind smiles tinged with amusement. "Windy, we've only been here two days, and your husband has already come running after you. If there's a misunderstanding, just talk it out. Don't let his sincere feelings go to waste. It's hard to find such a devoted man these days."
Because of Zachary, Winona had deliberately lagged behind, but her colleagues still overheard.
She blushed with embarrassment, muttering a few vague responses to send her excitedly observing colleagues away.
Once they were gone, she immediately changed her expression, crossing her arms and glaring coldly at Zachary. "Is this the only thing you've been hiding from me?"
She wasn't sure if he was really okay, so she decided to test him.
What should have been an easy question stumped Zachary.
Seeing his reaction, Winona understood that he was hiding something from her, possibly more than one thing, and he hadn't planned on confessing.
She let out a cold laugh, no longer wanting to deal with him. She had actually felt sorry for him and wanted to ruffle his hair, but now who was the pitiful one? It was her, for being so blind at such a young age.
Zachary couldn't let her leave; if she did, he'd have to start the whole "winning her back" script again. Without thinking, he quickly followed her. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you, it's just..."
Facing Winona's fierce expression that said, "If you keep stalling, you'll never get to say it," he decided to come clean. "I was afraid you'd get annoyed."
From the sound of it, he had more than one thing he was hiding from her. Winona felt both irritated and uneasy. "Are you going to tell me or not?"
Zachary sighed. "When you turned eighteen and got drunk, I was the one who took you home."
This memory was a bit old, and it took Winona a moment to recall it. When she did, she covered her neck with her hand. "You took me home? Then..."
Her eighteenth birthday had been organized by Matthew. At home, she was like Cinderella, and no one remembered her birthday.
Since no one remembered, she naturally wouldn't celebrate it.
That made her feel even more lonely, like a pitiful soul.
Matthew had pulled her into the lively crowd, inviting all her close classmates and Zachary's group, throwing a big party.
He had said, "Eighteen is a milestone, it deserves a big celebration."
Since her mother passed away, Winona had become a burden to others. Matthew's gesture moved her to tears.
She remembered Matthew being startled by her reaction, then gently patting her head, saying, "After today, you're an adult woman. No more crying."
Throughout the party, he took great care of her. After it ended, Winona was completely drunk. When she woke up in a hotel room the next morning, she naturally assumed Matthew had taken her there.
She had even seen two clear kiss marks on her neck in the mirror.
She had always thought...
But Matthew never mentioned it again, nor did he express any intention of dating her. Winona had chalked up the kiss marks to a drunken accident and secretly cursed Matthew as a jerk for half a year.
Winona's voice trembled with anger, "So you were the jerk?"
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