A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 424 Window Shopping

"Yes. If we have spare time, we can even play golf or billiards. It's up to you," James said. He and Maria rarely took time off work, so he wanted to make the most of it. The next time he could spare a few days, he would take Maria and Bob on a vacation.

"James, is that child really yours?" Maria asked with a frown.

He was offering to take her shopping and even for a hot spring bath all of a sudden. It was so out of character for him that she couldn't help but replace it suspicious.

Pinching the space between his eyebrows, James sighed and asked, "Why are you bring up that child again?"

"It looks like you're trying to get on my good side so that I'll let that child stay."

"Does that mean that you've agreed to my proposal and are willing to live with me for the rest of your life?" James asked eagerly.

Maria clucked her tongue. "What are you babbling about? That's not what I said at all. I'm talking about the child. I didn't agree to your marriage proposal at all. In fact, we have broken up! You can go shopping with whoever you like."

James stiffened, realizing that he had pushed her too far. So he hastily said, "Well, have a good sleep! You can wake up late tomorrow!"

"No, I-" Before Maria could finish her words of protest, the line was disconnected.

She lowered her phone from her ear and looked at the screen in confusion.

Had James hung up on her? How dare he? Did he think that she had forgiven him and that he could act all arrogant now?

He wanted to go shopping, right? Fine! She would torture him as much as she could.

The next morning, Maria peacefully slept in. When she opened her eyes, she was startled to see a man sitting next to the bed.

She calmed down and rolled her eyes. "When did you come in? How did you get in here?"

How could she not have sensed a grown man entering the room and sitting next to her? She would be ashamed tell anyone that she had once been trained by Norman. James leaned in and kissed her on the lips. "Good morning, Mia."

The fact that he didn't even answer her question put her in a bad mood. But on the bright side, he had already made breakfast for her.

She got out of bed, brushed her teeth and washed her face, before scoffing down the food that he had prepared.

After that, James led her to the Harkim. Today, he specially drove her instead of appointing a driver. There was another car closely following them.

Of course, Maria knew that there were bodyguards in that car. She didn't ask any more questions, and just let James drive out of the community.

After half an hour of being on the road, Maria glanced at the scenery through the window and asked curiously, "Where are we going?" "Shopping," James replied simply.

Maria had the urge to roll her eyes again. Of course she knew that. "I meant, which area?"

"The old town."

"I see." The old town was close to the high-tech district. It was an area that had recently developed in the past two years. There were many shopping malls and branded stores constructed by James' company. Knowing that they were going shopping, Maria had specially wore a pair of soft, flat shoes today.

When they arrived at their destination, she slipped on her sunglasses and took the initiative to hold James' arm. "Let's go, Mr. Xi."

James looked at her suspiciously. Why was she being so intimate?

If a person behaved abnormally, it meant that there was something fishy going on.

Looking at her hand wrapped around the crook of his arm, James guessed that she was up to no good.

And he was right.

Later, Maria walked out of the fitting room in a sophisticated red dress and looked at the man waiting for her in the VIP area. "Do I look good?" James raised his eyes and looked at her up and down for a few seconds. "Yes." "Okay." She went back to the fitting room and tried on the next dress.

This one was a beige knee-length dress chosen by James. "Do you like this one?" she asked when she walked out.

"Yeah." James nodded again with a slight smile.

After that, Maria changed back into her own clothes and returned the two sets of clothes that she had tried on to the store manager. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I want to look around first," she said with a polite smile.

The store manager understood what she meant and returned her smile. "It doesn't matter. You're welcome to come back at any time."

Maria nodded. Then, she walked back to James, grabbed his hand, and led him out of the shop. "Let's go!"

"Don't you like those clothes?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, I do."

"Then don't you want to buy them?"

"No, I don't."

Her logic left him speechless.

In the second clothing store that they went to, Maria once again tried on two sets of clothes.

This time, James went straight to the cashier's desk to pay the bill, but Maria stopped him and said, "No hurry. I want to look around first."

James couldn't understand what she was thinking at all.

What baffled him even more was that she repeated the same thing in the next two clothing stores that they went to.

He stopped the woman who was walking forward to yet another store and asked, "What kind of clothes are you looking for? Or if you don't feel like buying clothes, let's go and do something else." "No, I like walking around and just having a look at everything." Maria shrugged.

As a man from a rich family, James didn't understand the concept of window shopping at all.

It was getting dark. This time, after Maria tried on the last dress, James didn't even give her a chance to speak and just told the saleswoman, "Pack them all."

But Maria quickly held the saleswoman's arm and said, "No, thanks! They don't suit me."

James stood up and said, "They suit you very well, Maria-"

"Shut up," Maria hissed, turning around to shoot him a glare.

James didn't bother protesting after that.

At last, the two of them walked into a cafe and sat down at a table. Tapping his fingers on the table, James said, "Today, I took a total of 21, 000 steps. You tried on 25 sets of clothes. You stopped me from paying the bill five times, and asked me to shut up once. After all of that, we're here empty-handed. Don't you think today was a waste of time, Maria?"

The woman took a sip of the latte in her hand and raised her eyebrow at him. "A waste of time? Do you feel that it's a waste of time to go shopping with me? Shouldn't you feel happy to be with me even if we don't do anything but wander around aimlessly?

You got to see a beautiful woman like me in so many different kinds of clothes.

Most people would never get such a chance. Why are you still complaining? Can't you be content, Mr. Xi?"

Hearing this, James was speechless.

After a while, when Maria stood up and went to the washroom, he grabbed the opportunity to call the bodyguard who was standing not far away. "Go and buy all the clothes that she tried on today, and get them sent to my manor."

"Yes, Mr. Xi."

Standing in the washroom, Maria dialed a number and said, "Come to the pedestrian street in the old town. I'll send you some photos of clothes that I saw here. I want you to buy all of them for me." After hanging up the phone, she sent the photos of the clothes that she had tried on to her assistant.

Earlier, she had just been trying to piss off James, but she didn't want to disappoint those enthusiastic saleswomen. Most of the clothes she had tried suited her well, so she asked her assistant to buy all of them.

After Maria came out of the washroom and returned to her seat, she and James continued to drink their coffee as if nothing had happened.

Taking a look at his watch, James said, "Let's have dinner near the hot spring place tonight. Are you hungry now? Is there anywhere else you want to go?"

"Will we go back home after the hot spring?" Maria asked casually.

James shot her a meaningful smile. "Since you asked, we won't leave."

Maria scoffed to herself. Was there anything wrong with her question? Why did he think that she was implying something? "Well, in that case, I want to shop for some skin care products!" she announced. Lately, she'd developed the bad habit of staying up late, which put her skin under a lot of stress.

"Okay." Then, James stared at her closely and added, "Don't you visit a medical cosmetologist regularly?"

Maria subconsciously touched her face. Although her skin felt dry, she didn't think she needed any medical cosmetology treatments. "Am I getting ugly?" she asked nervously.