A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 359 Welcome Back

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers, James stood straight and looked at Maria intently. "Maria, let's get married again, okay?"

For a moment, Maria was stunned speechless. After a short pause, she regained her composure and looked at him curiously. "What do you want to prove this time?"

"That James Xi is the only man that Maria Song can marry in this lifetime," he replied without skipping a beat.

A sarcastic smile tugged at Maria's lips. "What makes you think I'll agree to marry you again?" Was he really proposing to her right now? Not only was it bad timing, but it was also a bad proposal. He hadn't put any effort into it at all.

James' face darkened. "Maria, I'm not kidding. I'm serious."

He didn't want to wait any longer.

Just now, he had seen a trace of the hatred she had for him. He was afraid that she would leave him if he didn't hold her tightly as soon as possible.

"I'm not kidding either," Maria replied blankly, looking into his eyes. "I'm serious in refusing you. I won't marry you again!"

James, who hadn't expected this response at all, was completely taken aback.

A pin-drop silence enveloped the study.

A few seconds later, he turned around, opened the door, and stalked away, slamming the door behind him.

Maria's tense heart finally relaxed. As she held onto the desk next to her, the seeming disinterest on her face faded, replaced with exhaustion.

After returning to the room and taking a look at his sleeping son, James left the villa.

A while later, Maria sighed and walked out of the study. She was about to push the door of the bedroom open when her phone beeped with a notification. It was a message from her gym coach asking her to come for a workout.

She rubbed her temples tiredly. How could she bring herself to exercise at a time like this? She texted him back immediately, saying that she couldn't make it today because she was on her period. "Ms. Song, you've had your period 13 times in the past two months," came the curt reply.

Maria was stunned. Had she used this excuse to get out of going to the gym so often? Her memory was a blur.

Putting her phone away, she walked into the bedroom and found Bob still sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed, with his little head tilted to one side.

She lay down beside him and touched his adorable face.

"Bob, now that your father has found you, you will become a member of the Xi family. You might even have to live here in the future," she murmured softly. She had no idea whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

It would be a lie if she said that she wasn't worried that history would repeat itself.

She thought it would be better to give James an explanation first.

The next day, when Bob woke up, Maria sent him to Augustine's house.

After all, he and Charlotte missed Bob dearly. They said they could look after him while Maria went to work.

In the office building of HL Group, James walked out of the meeting room expressionlessly.

But if one looked closely, they would be able to tell by the slight way his jaw was clenched, and the small crease between his eyebrows, that he wasn't in a good mood.

Gary said cautiously, "Mr. Xi, the flowers you ordered from abroad several days ago have arrived in H City."

"Send them to her." James was in an irritable mood because they hadn't reached an agreement yet. But no matter what happened, he did not intend to break up with her. While he was clear about his stance, Maria wasn't.

As soon as she stepped into her office and saw the exquisite box of flowers lying on her desk, she fell into deep thought.

It was true that they had just had a fight, but she knew that this couldn't be a token of apology. She had been told that the flowers had been ordered from abroad, which meant that James must have bought them for her long before their fight.

The delicate white box was filled with sky blue roses, and a handful of white ones. White pearls were hidden among the roses, and next to them was a small bottle of rose perfume.

'What should I do?' She had an inexplicable fondness for beautiful flowers.

In fact, she had asked someone to dry the Starry Roses she had received from James so that she could keep them for a longer time.

So, as she stared at the box of fresh roses in front of her, her anger at him for lying about Bob's sickness slowly faded away.

However, James did not return to the villa that night.

Maria finished her work rather late, and she didn't want to disturb Bob's sleep, so she went straight back to the villa without fetching him from Augustine's house.

By the time she reached the villa, it was already past midnight. She thought that James must have already come back home, or that he must be on the way back home.

After getting ready to go to bed, she lay down and quietly waited for him. Sometime later, she drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning, she found that the other side of the bed was cold. It seemed that James hadn't come home at all.

She couldn't resist the disappointment that crept into her heart.

After all, she had been living in this villa for a while now. It was okay if he wasn't coming back for the night, but shouldn't he at least inform her about it in advance?

Suppressing her emotions, she got ready and went to the company as usual.

That day, she finished her work a little earlier. At about seven o'clock in the evening, she left the company and went to pick up Bob. When she walked into Augustine's house, she saw the little guy nodding off on Tami's shoulder. When he saw Maria, however, he instantly sobered up, opened his eyes wide, and flashed her a big smile.

The gloom in Maria's heart vanished into thin air. She took her son into her arms and kissed him again and again.

Bob, who was fully awake after seeing her, kept gurgling and waving his arms playfully as Maria bid goodbye to the elders and left the house.

After they returned to the villa, Maria played with him for a while. Then, she gave him a bath and coaxed him to sleep.

She was wondering whether or not James would come back tonight when she heard a knock on the bedroom door.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Hadn't she asked the maid to leave? Could it be James?

When she got up and opened the door, however, she was very surprised to see the man standing outside. "Cooper?" Cooper flashed her a smile. "Maria, I'm back!"

"Why did you come back all of a sudden? Does your brother know about this?" Maria asked, tilting her head.

Cooper nodded. "He does. My plan went better than expected. He has found a suitable CEO for his branch company abroad, so unless something happens in the future, I have no reason to go back there." At first, he hadn't come back to H City because he didn't want to throw fuel to the rumors that were spreading about him and Maria.

After that, he had continued to stay abroad so that he could help James with the management of his branch company abroad.

But now that both of these matters had been dealt with, there was no reason for him to stay there anymore, so he had returned to H City.

After all, this was his home.

Maria couldn't believe her ears. "So you'll stay in H City?"

"Yeah. I won't leave again," Cooper confirmed.

Maria was so happy to hear that that she gave him a hug and said sincerely, "Welcome back, Cooper."

Cooper patted her back and smiled. "Thank you."

She was about to say "You're welcome" and let go of him, but a voice interrupted her.

"What are you doing?"

The cold voice came from a distance. Maria turned her head in a daze, forgetting to let go of Cooper.

James stood at the landing of the staircase, staring at his woman and his brother hugging each other. The scene stung him.

Lowering his hands and taking a step back, Cooper greeted James calmly. "James, you're back."

Maria wanted to explain, but when she remembered that she and James were still at odds, she swallowed her words down. She shifted her gaze away from him on purpose and continued to talk to Cooper as i nothing had happened. "When did you arrive? You never told me in advance."

Last time, he came showed up in Augustine's house without her knowing, and this time, too.

Cooper shifted his eyes away from James as well and replied, "I arrived this afternoon. I came here as soon as I finished my work."

"I see. Have you had dinner yet? Are you hungry?" she asked, concerned about him the same way a sister would be about her brother.

- Author's note

-C LARK COLE ED

Translator: ALibra