The Cherished Wife (Noelle and Charles)

"You... have quite the sharp-tongue!"

Clarisse had not expected Noelle to be this difficult to deal with. It was clear that Noelle had no intention of taking her seriously.

"Do you really think that by saying these things, you can compare yourself to me?"

Noelle smiled calmly. "I never thought that. In fact, I'd rather you compliment my eloquence. After all, Charlie thinks I'm quite articulate too."

"Insolent!" Clarisse slammed the table with a harsh thud. "It seems you really won't leave Charlie, will you?"

"I have no reason to leave my husband. So, I'm not sure what you hope to achieve by meeting me today. Which mother doesn't wish happiness for her child? Yet here I am, facing you-a mother determined to break her son's marriage. I find it... intriguing," Noelle replied, her tone firm and unyielding.

"Of course, I want him to be happy, but not with you!" Clarisse's gaze turned sharp. It was filled with hostility as if Noelle were her greatest enemy.

If Noelle did not know for a fact that she had not met or wronged Clarisse before, she might have believed she had somehow become Clarisse's personal nemesis.

Noelle pressed her lips together. "Why? I don't think I've offended you-"

"It's because of your face! Why do you think Charlie fell for you? It's only because of that face! Y-You're nothing but her repl-"

Before Clarisse could finish, the door to the private room was violently kicked open, startling both women. Noelle turned toward the doorway. "I'm what?" "You are you."

Standing at the entrance, Charles' face was shadowed with anger. His dark eyes held a storm of fury, his entire presence suffused with a suffocating pressure. His sharp gaze fixed on Clarisse, cutting into her like a blade.

At that moment, Clarisse felt an unexplainable fear gripping her. She staggered to her feet, her face pale as she looked at her son.

This was her son, yet she found herself terrified of the man he had become. "C-Charlie, why are you here?"

Charles' eyes never left Clarisse. His expression was cold and unforgiving, as if he was barely holding back the storm within him.

Noelle could feel the oppressive weight of Charles' anger radiating from him. He was furious-more than she had ever seen him before.

Charles advanced slowly into the room, his long strides steady and deliberate. Each step seemed to crush Clarisse's spirit further into the ground.

He stopped beside Noelle and placed his hand on her shoulder with firm pressure. His expression was still as cold as stone.

"Why am I here? Because you invited my wife out, Madam Baker. I'd like to know the purpose of this little meeting." Madam Baker?

This was not the first time Charles

had called Clarisse by that title, but it was the first time he had done so without any regard for her public image.

Clarisse clenched her hands tightly, taking a deep breath. "Charlie, I'm your mother. Since you're married, shouldn't I meet your wife?" Charles sneered, "Mother? Madam Baker, you must be confused. I have no mother."

"You..." Clarisse swayed slightly, as if the words had dealt her a crushing blow. "Charlie, I know you hate me, but that doesn't change the fact that I am your mother."

"We might share blood ties, but that's the extent of our relationship," Charles responded with a cold glint in his eye, his tone as sharp as a blade.

"If my actions so far haven't made

things clear, then let me spell it out for you-Noelle is my wife. That is a fact that no one-neither the Bakers nor the Hoffmans-can change Whether or not you or anyone else acknowledges it means nothing to me."