The Substitute Son-in-law's Revenge

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"Hi," Ethan replied kindly.

But then his face turned confused. "Excuse me, who are you?"

Suddenly, the happy smile that had been wide slowly faded, leaving her annoyed face with faintly dipped eyebrows. "You don't remember?"

"Have we met before?" Instead of answering, Ethan asked back with growing confusion.

The woman with shoulder-length hair snorted in annoyance while averting her eyes for a moment. Afterwards, she said with emphasis. "I'm Aurora, the only daughter of the Marlowe family and a good friend of Ariana, your wife."

"Oops, sorry, you guys are divorced, I should have called her your ex-wife. You don't mind, right, Ethan?" In an instant, her pretty face turned cynical with a smile full of mockery.

But Ethan didn't change at all. He remained calm and said, "It's you. Sorry for not recognising you for a while."

"No problem. It's normal for someone who's never been around the outside world like you not to recognise important people," Aurora said, smiling so sweetly that her eyes narrowed beautifully. "By the way, what are you doing here? It can't be to look for Ariana, right?"

I don't know what happened, Ethan just chuckled softly as if what Aurora said was something funny. "Is Ariana an employee of Pasaraya that I have to look for her here? I have business here, and it has nothing to do with your friend."

"Oh yeah? What business?" Aurora still looked arrogant and assumed Ethan's presence there was to seek Ariana's attention again.

As a person who had no influence, it would certainly be very detrimental to lose someone who had everything like Ariana. As the saying goes, opportunities don't come twice. Ethan must have felt regretful and upset about his divorce yesterday.

Unfortunately, what Aurora thought was simply not true.

"It has nothing to do with you," Ethan replied unexpectedly.

He carved out his best smile and continued, "I'll be going then."

Without waiting any longer, he turned around and walked away from Aurora's presence. Right at that moment, Ethan's face instantly turned flat.

Aurora, Ariana's best friend, whose personality was almost identical. At first, he was confused about who to start with. But looking at her now, it seemed to be from her, someone who had once treated him like an errand dog.

"He just left like that?" Aurora was shocked by Ethan's very bold behaviour. Her eyes bulged with her mouth wide open. "Since when did he change? This... hah! No, I can't just leave it at that."

With raging anger, Aurora hurriedly took out her cell phone from her expensive bag and pressed Ariana's contact.

The phone call connected immediately. However, Ariana's tone did not sound good. "I'm on business. If it's not too important, I'll call you later."

"Wait, Ariana." Aurora quickly cut her off. "I'm meeting Ethan."

Elsewhere, Ariana, who was so emotionally distraught that she had made a mess of her room, instantly felt interested in this conversation. "Ethan who?"

Aurora clucked lazily. "Who else, if not your poor ex-husband."

"Aurora!" snapped Ariana with renewed annoyance.

Ethan and the fact of her marriage to him was a huge embarrassment. Whenever someone brings this up, Ariana feels like the whole world is laughing at her. 

However, Aurora did not flinch in the slightest. She looked in the direction Ethan had gone and said excitedly. "He was at your grandfather's department store. I don't know what he's doing, but he doesn't remember me. Damn it! Ariana, your ex-husband, is so annoying. He's changed. He's different from the last time I saw him."

While talking about this, Aurora suddenly realised something and straightened up. "Ariana, since when did your loser ex-husband become handsome? His clothes are from famous brands. You wouldn't have given him any property, right?"

"Do you think I'm like that? Don't ask me something I can't possibly do, and stop referring to him as my ex-husband!" Ariana emphasised the last few words as she walked around her desk and grabbed her tote bag, then walked out of the room with wide strides.

"But he is your ex-husband," Aurora retorted, not to be outdone.

"Don't irritate me, Aurora! You better follow him now and watch what he's doing. I'll catch up with you, so make sure he doesn't throw a tantrum." Afterwards, Ariana unilaterally disconnected the call.

Aurora furrowed her brows in annoyance, not accepting Ariana's arbitrary order. But even so, she still did what she was told.

Meanwhile, Ethan was now looking at the shops in Pasaraya one by one without entering them. Everything was filled with shoppers. His head unconsciously nodded happily. Then, his gaze fell on the products available.

When he passed by a women's purse and bag shop, his steps spontaneously stopped. He took a good look at the products and then turned to the shop's shining name.

Velvet Vault.

It was the handiwork of Madame Bernita and Great Mistress Celeste.

Thanks to the support from various parties, especially from the two's circle of friends, the shop had become one with a large turnover. Their pride and esteem in Pasaraya resided in this shop.

With a faint smile, Ethan stepped closer.

However, just past the door line, an employee came and blocked his way.

"Sir, I'm sorry, you can't enter this store."

Ethan was silent for a moment, then asked, confused. "Why? This store can't possibly have gender restrictions, right? I don't see any restrictions about men not coming in."

"It's not about gender, it's about yourself," the employee said boldly.

Ethan was even more confused.

"Madam Celeste forbids you to come to this shop no matter what business you bring. Sir, please don't make things difficult for me. Please leave." The employee stepped aside and held out one hand, inviting Ethan to leave her workplace.

But Ethan didn't budge. Instead, the man chuckled softly despite the situation he was currently in. "It's Mrs. Celeste," he muttered.

"Where's your manager?" Regardless of the employee's ban and expulsion, Ethan stepped inside, making the other three who had been watching hurry over. 

"Sir, please leave. This store does not welcome your presence," one of them said.