The Housewife's Return To Her Alluring Prime - Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Jared was still the same man I knew, who lived by the law of the jungle.
Hearing him say that didn't surprise me. Jared didn't like owing anyone anything, not even a debt of love.
But people like him were often cold and emotionally distant deep down. He rarely fell in love, but once he did, he could be absolutely intense.
In my previous life, the woman he loved deeply was Tracy. She was a force to be reckoned with, fighting her way through all his female confidantes and seizing every bit of his affection for herself.
Thinking about it, I felt pretty ridiculous. Tracy was playing the game with all her tricks, while all I did was love him, thinking that was enough.
No, that dopamine high only lasted about three months. If one really wanted to keep a man's heart, it was all about knowing how to play the game.
Jared took me to breakfast at the hotel first, and then we headed straight to a high-end women's boutique. In the VIP room, Jared lounged on the sofa while the sales assistant brought in a whole row of new arrivals.
I tried them on one by one, taking my sweet time picking out what I liked, like I was picking out vegetables at the market.
The sales assistant also brought over matching bags and shoes for each outfit.
Jared sat there like a perfect gentleman, giving his opinions on every look, but I ignored all the ones he liked and only bought the ones I thought looked good. Jared was left feeling totally helpless and a bit frustrated.
"Mr. Holcomb, your wife has such beautiful skin," someone couldn't help but compliment. That lake-green dress was really hard to pull off unless one had great skin, but on me, it looked especially fresh and charming.
Jared smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment."
By the time we finished shopping, the whole morning had flown by. Jared helped me carry all the bags to the car. There were so many of them. It was like a small mountain.
But I wasn't going to feel bad about his money anymore. In my previous life, whenever he offered to buy me something, I always put on the act of being the thrifty, perfect wife.
That was until Tracy flaunted her emerald bangle worth over 3 million dollars, bragging that she only glanced at it a couple of times and Jared had someone buy it for her right away.
In that moment, I could practically hear my heart breaking. Jared was loaded. It didn't matter who he spent his money on.
Before I divorced him, I was definitely going to get myself an emerald bangle worth at least 30 million from him. He owed me that from my previous life.
"Are you tired? Do you want to check out anything else?" Jared asked in a low voice.
"No, I'm hungry," I replied. Shopping was fun, but it really took it out of me. I needed to eat before I could go another round this afternoon.
Jared's eyes grew a shade darker. I couldn't help but wonder what was on his mind.
"Alright, what do you want to eat?" Jared was being unusually gentle today.
I turned to look at him and asked, "Is Tracy still around?"
Jared replied, "She's having lunch with her grandmother today and heading back to Hachester this afternoon."
'Ugh, why did I have to ask that?' I thought, suddenly wanting to slap myself. 'Seriously, why can't I just keep my mouth shut? Great, now I know Jared has Tracy's schedule down to the minute. Guess it's time for me to give up, huh?'
"Okay." I suddenly felt like leaving him behind and going off to enjoy the scenery on my own.
Jared gave me a strange look. "You always treat Tracy like your imaginary enemy. Is it really so fun to make yourself miserable?"
His words just made my already bad mood even worse.
"It's not fun. I just want to wander around by myself this afternoon. Why don't you head back to Hachester first?" In the past, I would have worried about his feelings and kept my thoughts to myself.
But now, I didn't care anymore. If I wanted to do something, I would just tell him. If he tried to stop me, I had every right to lose my temper.
Sure enough, Jared's face grew gloomy. He tapped his fingers on the car door. "You want me to head back to Hachester first because Nathan's coming to that tech conference this afternoon, right? Did you two set this up?"
"What tech conference? I've never even heard of it," I replied, caught off guard.
Jared gave me a fake, tight-lipped smile. "Guess what? Do you think I'd actually believe that?"
I felt a sudden jolt of panic. 'Wait? Is he serious? Is Nathan actually in Shaville?' I thought.
I turned my head and caught sight of a few big banners hanging from the streetlights not far away, with bold letters. [Welcome to the Shaville Tech Conference. Technology Leads the Future.]
Seeing me staring at those banners flapping in the wind, Jared's face grew even more annoyed.
"It's good to be bold, but don't use it in the wrong place," Jared said, his voice taking on a commanding tone. "Get in the car. We're going back to Hachester."
I shot a dramatic look at those banners—just my luck.
Once I got in the car, I heard Jared tell the driver, Warner, "Head straight back to Hachester."
On the way back, Jared closed his eyes and seemed to be resting. He didn't say a single word to me, except for answering a couple of work calls.
Before we got home, we swung by Sally's place to pick up Yvonne.
Yvonne had been getting more and more spoiled by Sally lately. As soon as she got in the car, she snuggled up in my arms, wanting me to hold her while she fell asleep.
Jared kept glancing at me from the side, and I had no idea what was going through his mind. But he must've noticed that not only was I cold to him, but my feelings for Yvonne had changed too.
As the car headed home, we passed a street, and I caught Jared deliberately glancing at a shop not far away, his lips pressed into a thin, tight line.
Upon noticing that little gesture, a wave of bitterness and old memories hit me.
Jared loved the cupcakes from that place. I used to always stop on purpose to buy him a pack, so he'd have them to eat when he got home at night.
But this time, as we drove by, I didn't even bring it up. He probably felt let down.
'Heh, scumbag. Don't expect me to ever be nice to you again,' I thought.
Yvonne fell asleep not long after, and Jared murmured in a wistful tone, "When are you going to buy me some cupcakes?"
I was lowering my head to check Yvonne's hair, damp with sweat, when I suddenly heard Jared ask that, with a hint of childishness in his voice.
"If you want them, go buy them yourself," I answered flatly.
"I don't want to wait in line," Jared replied, sounding a bit sulky.
"Neither do I," I shot him a grin. "Why not have Tracy do it for you? She'd probably love to help."
"Victoria, can you just drop it already?" Jared's face turned stormy with anger.
The mood instantly turned awkward because of what I said.
I didn't know if it was the whole cupcake thing that set him off, but that seemed to be the last straw. Jared gave me the silent treatment for three days straight, even spending two of those nights away from home.
Since he was ignoring me, I sure as hell wasn't going to go groveling for his attention. Luckily, work was keeping me insanely busy, and with my workouts on top of that, I barely had a second to spare.
Yvonne had recently gotten into crafts, so I signed her up for some classes. But now, it was the driver taking her back and forth. I was done playing the hands-on mom.
Yvonne picked up on the change, and she was definitely not happy about it.
One night, it started pouring rain, and Yvonne suddenly ran off. The driver was so anxious that he nearly had a heart attack. He called both me and Jared in a panic. Even the teachers at the center rushed out to help search for her.
Jared was out there in the rain, frantically searching everywhere. Honestly, I was freaking out, too.
After more than an hour of desperate searching, Yvonne finally came running out of a storage room at the center. When she saw all of us soaked to the bone, she finally realized just how much trouble she'd caused.
For the first time, I saw Jared go crazy with worry. He rushed over, gave her a couple of light smacks on the butt, and then pulled her into a tight hug.
Yvonne was stubborn. She didn't cry when he smacked her, but the moment Jared hugged her, she burst into tears, sobbing and apologizing over and over, promising she'd never hide again.
On the way back in the car, both Jared and I were soaked to the bone, and Yvonne kept sobbing for what felt like forever.
Then, still crying, she choked out, "I just wanted to scare Mom. She doesn't go to class with me anymore."
I crossed my arms, and my face went cold. "Your life is your own. If you get lost or someone takes you, maybe I'll be sad for a few days, but I'll just think that's the way your life turned out.
"I'll still be living my life till I'm ninety-nine. Do you get that?"
Yvonne started shaking, her eyes wide and full of tears as she cried even harder. Jared's face darkened, and he snapped at me, "She's already scared enough. Stop scaring her even more."
"She pulls this kind of stunt just to scare us, and she's not even in the wrong? What if something really happened? She'd never see us again.
"If we don't teach her a lesson now, she'll just keep doing stuff like this." I was so mad my eyes turned red. The kid I'd spoiled all these years was actually using her disappearance to get back at me.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I know I was wrong. I won't do it again," Yvonne said, probably because she saw me crying.
She reached out her hand and tugged at my arm. "Mom, I just wanted you to spend more time with me. I didn't mean to scare you."
I watched her apologize, but I just couldn't bring myself to love her like I did in my previous life. I already knew what she'd be like when she grew up, how her heart would always drift further away from me.
Even though right now she looked so small and in need of love and protection, I just couldn't let myself love her so easily anymore.
"If you know you did something wrong, then fix it. I'm a mom for the first time.
"Why should I always be the one to give in?" The more I spoke, the worse I felt, until I just buried my face in my knees and broke down, sobbing.
Jared reached out with his big hand and gently pulled me into his arms.
"Alright, you're crying even louder than Yvonne," he said. "I know you were scared, too. From now on, I'll hire a full-time nanny to keep Yvonne company, so she won't have to feel lonely anymore."
Yvonne whimpered softly, "I want my mom."
Hearing her say that felt like a knife twisting in my heart. I honestly didn't know how to be her mom anymore.