He Chose His Assistant So She Married Another Man Chapter 09
“Then what is it?” Emma asked.
She didn’t really seem to be asking—just watching him.
“You said I had no self-respect in this relationship. Said I could never leave you. You let Chloe cross the line again and again—treated her well, flirted with her. And every time I brought it up, you called it a joke.”
“Daniel, it wasn’t a joke.”
Emma looked at him. Her voice was soft, but absolutely clear.
“It was betrayal.”
The color drained from Daniel’s face.
Emma didn’t stop.
“What you called jokes were just a way to cover up your emotional affair—and to ease whatever guilt you felt toward me.”
“Daniel, you didn’t love me. You were just used to having me around.”
Daniel wanted to say that wasn’t true.
He did love her.
But the words refused to leave his mouth.
A long time passed before he managed, his voice wrecked: “I’m sorry.”
Even knowing Emma didn’t want to hear those words anymore, he said them anyway.
“Go home.”
Emma turned and walked back inside.
Daniel wanted to call after her, but his mouth wouldn’t open.
He didn’t even have the right to call out to her anymore.
He stood outside her door for a long time before he finally left.
No matter what, he told himself, he would wait for Emma.
He went back twice more after that.
He also met Ethan—Emma’s husband.
Ethan was good to her. So good that Daniel thought Ethan seemed more like the man who had loved her for three years.
After that, Daniel stopped going.
But he still said he would wait. Always.
His friends all told him to move on.
They said Emma was married now. He needed to let go.
But Daniel couldn’t.
Every night he lay awake, the space beside him feeling impossibly vast and empty.
When he closed his eyes, all he saw was her.
Every time he came home from work, he’d think—when he opened the door, would she poke her head out of the kitchen like she used to and ask if he was hungry? Or would she be curled up on the couch, watching TV, waiting for him?
But no.
He’d open the door to darkness and silence. Not a single light left on for him. No one waiting.
Later, Chloe came to find him too.
She cried and said she wanted to stay by his side.
Ever since Daniel transferred her to another department, her colleagues had been mocking her behind her back, making snide remarks at every turn. He’d also taken back the apartment he’d rented for her, so she’d had to move back into the staff dormitory. Her salary had been slashed by more than half.
She cried pitifully, but Daniel didn’t even look at her.
A year later, Emma got pregnant.
When Daniel found out, he sat motionless for a long time.
He prepared a pile of gifts to send over. Every single one was returned.
The only thing that came back to his phone was a single message.
“Don’t send any more. Move on.”
Daniel’s eyes slowly turned red.
Move on.
It meant they were never going to happen again.
He used to believe that no matter what, Emma would never leave him.
He understood now. That was never how it was.
It had always been Emma accommodating him. And he had exhausted every last drop of her love.
So she left.
Daniel finally understood: he and Emma were over. Completely and irreversibly over.