Chapter 401
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+25 BONUS
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Gideon instinctively wanted to argue with me, but he had absolutely no idea what to say.
After a long pause, he eventually said, “I’m sorry, Emi. My way of thinking may be wrong, but I truly do love you!”
After hearing what I said, Gideon realized his logic was flawed. Even so, he still felt he truly loved me and wanted to make it known.
Why else would he have paid attention to me for 10 years? Why else would he keep wanting to treat me well?
He thought that if he didn’t actually love me, he would’ve settled down and started a family with someone else long ago. He wouldn’t have bounced from one failed relationship to another.
I stared at him, unsure of how to respond. So, I said nothing. As humans, our opinions could differ in such vastly different ways.
After Gideon left, Cordelia stepped out from the unit across the hall. She had been eavesdropping the entire time.
“I got to witness another kind of crazy today. Honestly, even after everything, how could he claim his feelings toward you were true love? 14hought he was the romantic second male lead I always read about in novels, but it turns out he’s not at all!” she exclaimed.
I had told Cordelia I would marry Gideon and that he had also secretly loved me for a decade. When she heard this, the first thing that came to her mind was the second male love interest in the romance novels she had read.
In those novels, such characters usually fell in love at first sight when they were young. Because of this, they would secretly watch over the female protagonist for years and always place her needs first.
Then, once she had divorced her husband, these characters would immediately and unconditionally appear at her side. They would love the female protagonist with unwavering devotion.
Cordelia had truly believed Gideon and I were meant to be. She had thought I would surely be happy by marrying someone who loved me so dearly.
Who would’ve thought things would turn out like this?
I gently patted her shoulder. “Those romance novels are outdated now. These days, if you read the popular short stories, many of them turn out differently.
“The female protagonist becomes disillusioned with the first love interest. So, she chooses to be with the second love interest, the one who has always loved her, instead.
“But once he has her, the guy would stop cherishing the protagonist. Some even go so far as to say they’d die for her. Yet, after getting together with her, they still betray her.
“As society progresses, the plots of these novels become more and more realistic. All that deep affection and unwavering devotion are idealized in romance novels. In real life, there’s no such thing as true love. There’s also no such thing as a perfectly devoted second love interest.”
Maybe it was because I never had feelings for Gideon. Or maybe it was something else. Either way, despite being disappointed by what he had done, I didn’t feel particularly upset. Instead, I felt this was what real men were like. This was also how real life should be.
I also no longer felt panicked, nor as though I’d made a huge mistake and could never trust anyone again. The world wasn’t black and white, after all. So, I no longer struggled to understand why Gideon had done something like that while claiming to
love me.
A lot of men were like him. They would love their wives deeply at home. Yet, they would keep many mistresses on the side or lust after much younger women. After all, men and women had very different core beliefs.
Even though I wasn’t going to marry Gideon anymore, Cordelia still decided to move forward with hers. Still reeling from the shock of Gideon’s actions , I naturally advised her to reconsider.
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But Cordelia smiled and said, “There’s no need for me to think twice about it. Most men may be fickle, but my fiancé isn’t one of them! He’s a good guy. He values love and definitely isn’t the type fool around. Plus, he’s only ever had one other girlfriend despite being almost 30 years old!”
When it comes to romantic relationships, Cordelia saw things much more clearly than I did. She was more experienced and really wanted to settle down. Her parents had been nagging her about it nonstop too.
She wanted to start a family, and honestly, her fiancé did seem like a decent guy. So I stopped trying to advise her against marrying him.
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