A Love I Shouldn't Feel-Chapter 239: Cunning and Cold ( )

Meanwhile...

At a stylish café in the heart of the city, laughter echoed softly over the gentle clinking of spoons against porcelain.

Satomi sat with her circle of girlfriends at a corner table by the window, casually stirring her iced coffee.

"I still can’t believe you actually divorced Haruki-senpai," one of them said, eyes wide. "Like... are you serious?"

"Yeah!" another chimed in, leaning forward with a grin. "That handsome man is single now?"

They giggled.

"You don’t mind if we try to get closer to him, right?"

Satomi shrugged, unbothered, eyes cool behind her designer sunglasses.

"Hmm? Why should I?"

She sipped her drink lazily.

"He’s history."

Her voice was flat. As if she were talking about an old bag she donated and forgot.

"So cold~" one of her friends laughed.

"So... who are you seeing these days?" another asked, leaning in with interest.

Satomi brushed her hair back, lips curving into a faint smile.

"Hmm? No one for now," she said casually. "I’m focusing on work... and my father’s company."

One of the girls clapped lightly.

"Congratulations, Satomi. You and your father’s company really rose up after you became a shareholder."

"Yeah, you’re like... a total boss now," another added, sipping her latte.

Satomi smirked, tossing her hair back.

"Well, you know me~ I don’t sit still."

But then—one of the girls leaned in a little more, lowering her voice.

"But Satomi?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did your father leave your mom, anyway?"

Satomi’s expression didn’t change.

She smiled, soft and controlled—

And lied without blinking.

"Ah~ she cheated on my father," Satomi said smoothly, voice calm.

"She was seeing someone richer than him. Can you believe it?"

Her smile turned cold.

"I couldn’t believe that bitch. After everything my dad gave her."

Her friends exchanged awkward glances—half unsure, half too polite to question her.

"That’s... awful," one of them said quietly.

"Yeah... I couldn’t believe that she was sleeping with a lot of men," Satomi said, lowering her voice just enough to make it sound like a secret.

"And you know?" she leaned in slightly, her friends doing the same.

"She even seduced a bunch of men during that Fujiwara exclusive dinner event."

The girls gasped.

"Eh?! No way..."

Satomi nodded, sipping her coffee with a sigh of dramatic pity.

"Can you believe me? I was there. I saw it. Flirting with all the powerful men, laughing like she was still twenty."

She clicked her tongue.

"I couldn’t help but look at my poor father that night... heartbroken. Just standing there, watching his wife humiliate him."

The table went quiet for a beat.

"That’s... seriously messed up," one friend finally said.

Satomi exhaled dramatically, resting her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand.

"Yeah. But what can you do? Some women just don’t know when to age gracefully."

She smiled faintly, basking in their sympathy.

"And what made my father even more heartbroken that time..."

Satomi leaned closer, her voice dropping with dramatic weight,

"...he caught my mother having sex with two foreigners."

Gasps circled the table.

"In their bed," she added, with a look of disgust.

"My father was devastated."

"W-What the hell..." one of the girls whispered.

"That’s... insane," another said, hand over her mouth.

Satomi sighed, letting the weight of her fabricated tragedy hang in the air.

"Ah... so that’s why all your recent social media posts are with your dad," one friend finally said.

"Yeah," Satomi nodded solemnly, taking a slow sip of her coffee.

"I’m always with him. To make sure he’s okay..."

"I’m the only one he can rely on now." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"That’s the reason I can’t see anyone right now," Satomi said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear with a calm sigh.

"I have to look after my father. He’s still hurt... so heartbroken."

She stirred her drink lazily, tone composed.

"My mother betrayed him. I’m sure she had more affairs even before that. He just didn’t want to say anything."

"Wow..." one of the girls whispered, wide-eyed.

Another leaned in.

"Worst bitch ever—ah, sorry, Satomi! I didn’t mean it like—"

Satomi held up a hand, her smile cold but easy.

"No, don’t worry."

She took another sip of her drink, then looked up.

"She was a bitch."

"Now~ different topic, girls~" one of them chimed in, leaning forward with a playful grin.

"So you don’t mind if one of us tries to approach Haruki-senpai?"

Satomi blinked, then gave a soft shrug and a faint smile.

"Hmm? Go ahead. I don’t mind."

The girls giggled.

But inside Satomi’s mind.

There’s no way my ex-husband would go for bitchy, ugly girls like you.

Please—if you want to seduce someone like Haruki, you need to be at least at my beauty level.

And honestly... I’m sure that moron never had any real interest in women anyway.

He was always so dull. Quiet. Like a ghost trailing behind me.

She smiled faintly as she took another sip of her drink, looking as graceful as ever.

"Do your best, okay?" she added sweetly.

The girls laughed again, taking her words at face value.

Unaware that behind those polite smiles—

Satomi was sneering.

Look at yourself.

Protruding teeth? That fat, bloated body?

Pfft.

What a joke.

You think that level could actually get Haruki? Please. Look in the mirror first.

She sipped her drink gracefully, lips barely touching the straw—expression calm and composed.

If that woman—

If my mother didn’t have the evidence...

If she hadn’t forced me—pressured me with that stupid "proof"... I would’ve kept him.

Her fingers tapped the side of her cup lazily.

Well... bitchy girls,

Just you wait and see.

Haruki will come crawling back to me.

Because I’m the most beautiful one he’s ever had.

No one else compares.

She smiled again, soft and poised.

Then one of the girls leaned forward.

"By the way... do you have Haruki-senpai’s phone number?"

Satomi tilted her head slightly, still wearing that calm, polite smile.

"Ah, sorry~ After the accident, Haruki doesn’t have a phone. So I can’t help you girls with that."

"Aww~ really?" one of them pouted. "You didn’t ask him for his new number?"

Satomi gave a light shrug.

"No~ I didn’t. I’ve been too busy after the divorce. There wasn’t really a reason to keep in touch."

She sipped her drink again, her expression perfectly composed.

Inside, she felt pleased.

She was still in control of the narrative.

Still the one they looked to.

Let them think she didn’t care.

Let them think Haruki was out of reach.

That was how she liked it.

( End Of Chapter )

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