Chapter 800   - When the Time Runs Out (4)

"Zhang Jiren didn't come with you today? Is he busy?" Tang Moyu asked her friend when she noticed that she barely saw or heard anything about her twin brother.

The smile on Li Meili's face slightly faltered which Tang Moyu didn't fail to miss. The empress wondered what was happening between the two now. Did her best friend finally find out that Zhang Jiren was in love with her? She wondered.

"En. He said he wouldn't be able to join us today, which is alright," Li Meili answered. This wasn't the first time Zhang Jiren didn't come with her and her daughter, but she found it weird that her best friend's cold attitude towards her husband had changed into concern.

To be honest, these days Li Meili felt she was lucky if she could speak with Zhang Jiren for a few minutes. Zhang Jiren was barely at home these days and would come home late at night when she and Leyan were already deeply asleep.

She didn't know why she felt like he was distancing himself from her. Was this his way to cope up with the impending divorce they were about to do soon? There were only five months left on their deal, and after that, they would part ways for good. She was the one who proposed this condition; yet, Li Meili felt that she didn't want to end this marriage anymore.

However, thinking of the things Zhang Jiren had done and sacrificed for her sake, how could she deny him his freedom? If he was starting to see another woman, then she didn't have any right to stop him by keeping her bound to their marriage.

"Are you sure everything is alright, Meili?" Tang Moyu allowed Zhang Leyan to crawl on her l.a.p and played with her long hair. The little girl even attempted to bite the empress's forefinger, but Li Meili managed to stop her daughter.

"Yes. We are just a little busy but we're doing well," Li Meili replied with an awkward laugh. She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Tang Moyu or herself with that lame excuse. She wanted to believe that everything between her and her husband was fine, but her instincts were telling her otherwise.

Even when she and Leyan came home that night, Zhang Jiren was nowhere in sight. Once Li Meili tucked her daughter in her bed and fell asleep, she checked her phone for any message she might have missed from her husband but there was none.

The void in her heart grew as she wondered if this was the life waiting for her and Leyan once she divorced Zhang Jiren. Li Meili immediately thought that she didn't like it one bit. Perhaps it was because she had gotten used to Zhang Jiren's presence every day that she found it weird not seeing him today.

Zhang Jiren had left home even before she woke up, but Elder Lan had informed her that he had checked on Leyan before leaving. At least her daughter was still able to get some attention from him unlike her.

It was so unlikely for Zhang Jiren to act like this so suddenly. When they got married, he always made sure to inform her if he would be coming home late or if he had plans needed to attend. His sudden coldness towards her irked Li Meili.

Why did he suddenly give her a cold treatment? If she had done something that might have upset him, Zhang Jiren should have told her so instead of treating her like she was nothing.

Li Meili dozed off on the couch inside her daughter's nursery room and only woke up an hour later. The digital clock next to her daughter's dresser told her that it was approaching midnight. She decided to move to the master bedroom to sleep after making sure that Leyan was sound asleep.

Just as she entered the master bedroom, she realized that the door to the bathroom was slightly open. In the crack, she could see a familiar figure of a man which was Zhang Jiren. She hadn't noticed that he had arrived home since she was asleep.

The slight heat emanating from the bathroom indicated that he just had a shower, but his complexion was strangely pale in Li Meili's opinion. Was he sick? She wondered but she didn't dare ask him.

Zhang Jiren was surprised to see her standing just outside the door. He easily recovered from his shock and smiled at her. It was a good thing that she had come too late or else, she would have seen him taking two tablets that he'd been keeping away from her.

"I see you are awake. I saw that you've fallen asleep in the nursery but I didn't dare to wake you up. How's your meeting with Tang Moyu?" he asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, a towel over his head as he dried his hair.

Li Meili caught the scent of his familiar body wash and became slightly confused with herself. Was she overthinking things again? Zhang Jiren wasn't distancing himself from her, right?

"It's alright. I'm just glad to see them again despite our busy work. She asked why you didn't come with us and told her you are busy with work," she responded, following her husband to their massive bed.

Li Meili slightly bent down, lifted the quilt, and lay on her side of the bed. Her eyes never left her husband who was seated at the foot of the bed, drying his hair with a towel.

"I'm sorry. I'll try to join you next time. It was just hard to reschedule the meetings we've already scheduled ahead of time," she heard him apologize.

How could she stay mad and upset when he was being like this? Li Meili chastised herself inwardly. She was starting to wonder that she might be the one misunderstanding things between them because the second year of their wedding anniversary was approaching.

When the remaining five months were over, and he wasn't her husband anymore, what would happen between them then?