He Wouldn't Let Me Leave After I Stopped Giving In

"Everyone, let's wish Karen a happy birthday!"

Shawn Porter raised his glass and said.

My friends all smiled and wished me, Karen Turner, a happy birthday, but I thanked them absentmindedly.

My close friend Laura Neal patted the back of my hand.

"Karen, don't worry. Chris must be stuck in traffic."

I took a sip of red wine.

"Hopefully."

After a while, the private room door was pushed open, and a man walked in.

Shawn greeted him.

"What's wrong with you, Chris? You usually care about Karen more than anyone else. How come you're late today?"

Before Chris Buckley could say a word, a woman affectionately held his arm and smiled gently.

"Sorry. Chris was delayed on his way to pick me up."

The private room became quiet at once, and everyone's gaze focused on the woman. I tightened my hands on my lap gradually.

Chris glanced around, and then his gaze stopped on me.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for his explanation.

"Karen, come and say hello. This is Maria."

My heart sank, and I was overwhelmed by great heartache.

He would never speak to me in that tone or ask me to stand up to greet someone.

Seeing that I didn't stand up after a long time, Chris frowned.

"Karen? What's wrong with you?"

Laura pushed me and whispered, "Karen, go. Or Chris will be angry."

Angry? Will he be angry with me?

Maria May saw through me and said to Chris, acting coquettish.

"Chris, don't be so mean. You're scaring her."

It sounded like she was speaking up for me, but in fact, she was showing off her relationship with Chris to everyone in the private room.

I got up and walked closer, feeling Chris' gaze. Then I lowered my head and said, "Hello, Maria."

She took out a small box from her bag and smiled.

"Hello. This is a gift that Chris and I picked together for you."

I held the box, completely attracted by her wording.

Together? Does this gift represent them?

Chris didn't hear my thanks. He touched my hair and said gently.

"Open and see if you like it. If you like it, you should thank Maria."

I obediently opened it only to see an ordinary silver bracelet.

Shawn wanted to lighten the heavy atmosphere and leaned over.

"Let me see what gift it is this year. Don't tell me it's a car..."

Before he finished speaking, he was shocked by what was in the box.

Others also saw the bracelet and realized something.

I held back the bitterness in my heart, snatched the box back, and closed it.

"I like it very much, thank you."

After sitting down, Shawn and Laura took the lead in playing games.

I sat quietly on the side, drinking and silently watching Maria show her concern for Chris.

When he dated someone, he never brought any of them to me.

Not to mention today was my birthday party.

"Who said you could drink?" Chris grabbed the glass from my hand and said impatiently.

Without hesitation, I said, "It's none of your business!"

Maybe he realized I wasn't unlike myself today. He grabbed my wrist, already on the verge of anger.

"None of my business? I've been taking care of you for six years, and now you're saying this? Karen, you're becoming more and more willful."

Today was my birthday. He didn't even say happy birthday to me. Instead, he said I was willful.

I wanted to break free from his wrist, but he held me tighter and brought me into his arms.

I pressed my face against his chest, tears hanging on my eyelashes.

He saw that, and his heart softened. Wiping my tears away, he asked.

"You don't like the gift? I will go buy another one for you tomorrow."

Just as I was about to speak, Maria sat next to us.

She pushed away Chris' hands holding me and said to him, sounding like blaming him sweetly as his girlfriend.

"Chris, Karen has grown up. You've got to have some boundaries."

I felt a bit unhappy at her words but was once again embraced by Chris.

He looked at Maria.

"I raised her. Can't I even hold her?"

Maria's expression froze, and she didn't know what to say.

I felt better now, and I held Chris' hand.

"Let's join them and play games too."

The others were playing Truth or Dare. I always had good luck in games, and today was no exception.

When the bottle pointed at Chris, I was giggling, but after a few minutes, I couldn't giggle anymore.

He chose Truth, and someone bravely asked about his relationship with Maria.

I nervously clenched the hem of my clothes, while Maria aside looked at me with a smug face.

"We are planning to get married in December."

His words shocked everyone in the private room.

Everyone started to ask him questions like when they were going to get married. Only I quietly lowered my head, my tears falling on the back of my hand.

Under the teasing and questioning of everyone, Maria leaned into Chris' arms.

She held my hand with a smile, though her eyes remained cold.

"Karen, we'll be family from now on. We should get along well."

Chris really went to buy a birthday gift for me again. I looked at the dozen or so bracelets that the driver brought over but wasn't interested.

Since the birthday party, Chris hadn't returned to the apartment.

Laura came out of the kitchen, holding a plate of strawberries, and saw the bracelets on the coffee table.

She smiled, "Karen, you are so lucky! Chris is so nice to you!"

I lay back on the sofa, holding a doll.

"Laura, did you find out the identity of that woman?"

Laura put down the things and sat down, looking at me uneasily.

"Yeah! You know what? She's actually a member of the May family. I heard that she is their biological daughter, and they lost her years ago. She only returned in recent years.

"The point is! The May family and the Buckley family arranged for her and Chris to be married years ago. It was not mentioned after Maria was lost, but now that she's back, of course, they want to hold on to the Buckley family. "

I nodded, not knowing what to do.

Laura saw through me and sighed.

"Cheer up. You've been with Chris for six years after all, and you are so beautiful and younger than Maria. As long as you hint, he will definitely choose you!"

I bounced up at once.

"Really?"

She smiled mysteriously, "Yes. But you need props."

In the evening, Chris texted me, saying that he would come back tonight. I ran happily to the bathroom to change into my pajamas and wrapped in a bathrobe, and then the bathroom door was opened.

"You've just finished showering?"

I was a little shy. I lowered my head and nodded.

His cold hand covered my cheek.

"Why is your face burning? Are you catching a cold?"

I shook my head, pushed away his hand, and got to the point.

"Chris, are you really getting married?"

He nodded and added, "Don't worry. After I get married, I will still come back to live occasionally. You don't have to be afraid that I will leave you after getting married."

I knew that he thought of that year when I was sixteen.

At that time, he had just brought me home, and I was very hostile to a lot of people around him. He had a girlfriend at the time who jokingly told me that they were going to get married, and after that, he couldn't live with me anymore.

I remembered clearly that my reaction was very intense at that time. I even seemed to have cut my wrist. Later, whenever Chris recalled this, he would sigh, "You cried and asked me if I would abandon you after getting married. The look on your face reminded me of that of a kitten."

I grabbed the belt of the bathrobe, stubbornly wanting an answer.

"But you don't love her, right?"

"Karen, for a lot of people, love isn't the reason why they get married."

"But if you don't love her, why do you marry her? If you can marry someone so casually, would you marry me?"

Chris bowed his head and looked at me, his gaze full of scrutiny.

"Karen, some things cannot be said out loud, understand?"

I tiptoed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Chris, I like you. Marry me. I will be good."

He pulled me off him.

"Karen, stop it."

This was the first time he had resisted my touch so much.

I pulled off the bathrobe belt and pressed my body tightly against him.

"I can give you whatever she can give you. I'm willing to do anything for you, Chris.

"Just don't marry her, OK?"

I choked and begged him, hoping he could love me even just a little bit.

Maria held him at my birthday party and declared he was hers.

The bracelet they sent me as a couple was a cheap silver bracelet that I wouldn't even bother to look at normally.

I knew she wanted to humiliate me, to tell me that Chris no longer belonged to me.

I was unwilling to let go.

In the next second, Chris slapped me.

My head tilted because of the slap. It didn't hurt a lot, but it still successfully made me burst into tears.

Chris looked at what I was wearing and scolded me angrily.

"Karen, do you know what you're doing? When did you become so shameless?"

I looked at him in disbelief.

"I taught you that girls should respect themselves. You don't need to seek love in this way at all.

"You let me down so much."

He picked up the coat on the sink and walked out of the room.

I sat on the floor, curling up slowly until I could hold myself. Then I burst into tears.

I was picked up by Chris.

When I was fifteen, my brother and Chris started a business together. When their career finally started to make some progress, they were underhanded by their rivals. My brother was in a car accident, and he was still in the hospital unconscious.

I remembered that day. I sat on the stairs outside the hospital, the winter wind blowing my face red, and tears stinging when they ran down my cheeks.

That was when Chris appeared.

He was wearing a suit and holding a brown woolen coat.

He told me that wherever he was, my home would be there.

When I was fifteen, he bought the largest doll in town just to coax me to sleep. Every night, he would kneel by my bedside and watch me fall asleep before leaving.

When I was sixteen, I failed an exam and was punished by the teacher who hit my palm with a ruler. The next day, he arranged for me to transfer to another school and told me, "As long as I'm here, no one can harm you."

When I was seventeen, my friend and I secretly went abroad to attend a concert. He flew 19 hours to find me after not sleeping a wink all day.

When I was eighteen, I casually mentioned that I wanted to see the aurora, so he bought a small wooden house in Norway and handed me the keys.

When I was nineteen, I fell ill with a sudden flu. He took care of me tirelessly for three days, and while I was delirious with fever, I could hear him say while trying to hold back his tears.

"Karen, don't scare me, OK? Get well soon."

When I was twenty, a senior student pursued me but was turned down by me. He spread rumors in school that I was being kept by someone, and I traded my body for money. When everyone was criticizing me, Chris came to pick me up in his car and deliberately said in a crowded place that I was the person he would protect for the rest of his life.

I had spent more than half of my life with Chris.

He once told me that in this world, we only had each other.

But now, he was telling me he was getting married, allowing an unrelated woman to come between us.

In the past, when someone called me his mistress, he'd snap on the spot.

He didn't care if it would cost him orders worth millions of dollars.

Today was my birthday party.

There were so many friends.

He blamed me for being rude simply because I didn't get up in time.

In the past, he would always stroke my head and say that whatever I wanted, as long as I asked, he would even pay the price of his life to make it happen.

But now, after I put aside all my pride and used such a despicable method to try to keep him, instead of his pity, I received a slap in the face.

I didn't know how long I had been lying on the floor. I only knew that I cried so much that my voice was hoarse, and I couldn't even utter a word.

I heard footsteps at the door. I raised my head with anticipation, not caring how disheveled I looked right now.

Chris stood at the door. Seeing me like this, he paused for a moment.

He took out a towel from the bedroom and picked me up from the floor. I held him and sniffed.

The familiar scent of lemongrass lingered around, and I couldn't help but hold onto his shirt collar tightly.

He gently placed me on the bed, frowning.

"Karen, don't joke about your own body."

His tone was just like before. Every time I walked barefoot on the floor, he had this expression.

I looked at him through tears and whispered.

"I was wrong."

He sighed heavily as if surrendering to me. After all, in these six years, he had never been able to resist whenever I showed the white feather.

He used his rough palm to touch my face.

"I will move out. Be safe living alone. I'll ask Cynthia to come and clean every week." Cynthia Cook was the maid.

He wanted to leave.

I held onto his clothes corner and probed, "Are you going to live with Maria?"