Zaki was dumbstruck. He was rooted on the ground while Hinari kept whining. The words she said were like echoes in his head, driving him insane.

H-husband? W-who the hell is your husband? And what? Other beloved? Who the hell is that? Hinari... you...

Just as Zaki was trying to calm himself, the crowd suddenly started attacking him with words. The old ladies started scolding him like he was some delinquent teenage boy.

"You... do you even have a heart? How could you leave such a beautiful wife?"

"Yeah, right! This miss is really beautiful, how could you still have another?!"

"Yeah, no matter how handsome you are, you should be satisfied with one woman."

"Look! Your poor wife is crying hard. Don’t just stand you little punk!"

"You can’t treat a woman like this even if you’re the handsomest man in the world. You’re not forgiven because you are handsome, you understand?"

"We, old ladies here are giving you wise advices young man. We are like your grandmothers so listen to our advice and don’t leave your wife. Leave that other one instead and stick to your wife alone. You understand?"

"You understand?! Huh? Young man?!"

While the crowd continued their rants on Zaki, the crying Hinari was left out stunned. She didn’t expect the old ladies to sympathize with her for real to this extent. She can’t even interject due to the endless confrontations that were all pointed out to Zaki.

The tears in her eyes stopped and anxiousness flashed across it. Somehow, she felt guilty and she didn’t know what to do. This was definitely not the scene she wanted to happen. She simply acted like this to stop the man from leaving so they could continue their stalking, but who knows it would end up like this? Who knows this would turn out a disaster?

Hinari looked at Zaki with panic in her eyes. She was aware this has gone way too overboard and for some reason, she felt somewhat scared and she didn’t know why. She stared at Zaki and her heartbeat went disarrayed. It was because, strangely, Zaki was looking calm as ever. He listened to the old ladies like a good boy without even saying a word, as though he was accepting all the blame.

Looking at him, Hinari was getting even more anxious. This is the first time something like this happened. This is the first time she failed to control a situation. This is the first time things went this far. At the same time she realized that she never wanted others to badmouth and scold this man like this, she realized she never want anyone to falsely accuse him like this especially that he was never at fault.

That moment, Hinari felt her heart breaking the longer Zaki just stood there like an innocent victim at stake. She would rather want him to defend himself and tell them that she was just acting or tell them that it was just a misunderstanding. But because there was no sign of him trying to stand up for himself, Hinari was left without a choice.

"U-uhm..." Hinari finally found her voice as her feet slowly moved closer.

Upon hearing her voice, Zaki turned her gaze and he almost smiled devilishly at her. However, the instant he saw the guilt and anxiousness in her eyes, Zaki slightly creased his brows. He was puzzled for a moment before realization slowly dawned on him.

Wait, does this mean this is not actually what she wanted?

Zaki was surprised. Knowing Hinari’s mischievousness, he actually thought that this was what she was after. He thought that she was trying to create much bigger trouble for him as usual so he tried his hardest to stay calm for now and just punish her for what she deserve later. However, it seems like this is not the case at all.

Looking at her, Zaki somehow could tell that she was about to try clearing the misunderstanding.

"Uhm... actually I..."

Just as Hinari was about to tell the crowd that it was a misunderstanding, Zaki suddenly walked towards her in a flash and hugged her, burying her face on his chest to prevent her from talking. His brows were knitted as he speaks.

"Are you perhaps trying to tell them that you’re lying?" Zaki asked softly in her ear and Hinari jolted.

"Y-yes. I’m... I’m s---"

Before Hinari could continue her words, Zaki interrupted her. Somehow, Zaki was surprised to himself. This could be a good chance to punish her for getting overboard but for some reason, this is never the way he wanted to make her taste her own medicine.

"I’m sorry for the trouble. I will heed your advices and never leave my wife again." He deaclared and Hinari was once again stunned. The old ladies on the other hand heaved a sigh of relief as they started encouraging Zaki like he was their very own grandson.

"You better be a man of your word young man. The heaven will curse you make your wife cry out again."

"Yeah right, if you’re a man, you have to promise that you will only love your wife."

They said and Zaki could only smile.

"Yes, yes I understand. Thank you for the advices. I’ll take my wife away then." He replied before he quickly swoop Hinari up and carried her like a princess away from the crowd.

That moment, instead of smiling mischievously like usual, Hinari felt like karma finally caught her this time. She could tell that Zaki was at the edge of bursting out and she can’t help but bite her lip as she started preparing herself for something that will surely come ahead. She just can feel that this calm expression of his since a while ago was definitely calm before a storm. Even though she could always retort back again, she was guilty enough to what happened to him that she decided to accept her punishment this time without fighting back.