The Last Smile I Gave You Novel by Arogina _ Novel




The Last Smile I Gave You Chapter 01

At the age of twenty, Charlotte Hayes married Julian Sterling, who had autism.
During their five years of marriage, he was like an unmelting ice sculpture, setting three ironclad rules for her: no talking, no touching, and absolutely no sharing a bed.
Until the earthquake struck. She instinctively threw herself toward Julian to protect him,
only to watch helplessly as he carefully shielded another girl, fleeing the collapsing ruins without looking back.
Waking up in the hospital covered in injuries, the first thing she did was still stumble out to find him.
But she happened to hear that girl persuading him in a soft, gentle voice:
"Julian, I just have a few scrapes. I'm really fine.
Your wife seems badly hurt... aren't you going to check on her?"
After a brief silence, Julian's extremely cold voice pierced clearly through the door:
"I don't like her."
"Whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me."
At that moment, her heart turned to dead ashes.
So when Joey Sterling, the Sterling patriarch, rushed to the hospital, she looked at him and made only one request.
"Grandpa, please let me divorce Julian!"
...
Joey froze, his wrinkled face full of astonishment: "Charlotte, why so sudden... Did that brat bully you again?"
Charlotte lowered her eyelashes, offering no reply.
Bully...
If treating her with the same coldness every day for over a decade counted as bullying, then was it?
She had been an orphan since childhood, growing up in an orphanage.
Until she was eight, when Joey brought her back to the Sterling estate.
The old man told her that Julian had autism since he was little, didn't like to speak, and refused to interact with others. He was getting old and feared no one would take care of his grandson after he passed away, so he brought her back to give her a home and a future to rely on—
to be Julian's arranged child bride!
Ever since she was old enough to understand, she knew she was going to marry Julian in the future.
So even though Julian never looked at her, never spoke to her, and turned a blind eye to all her goodwill, she followed behind him without complaint, learning to take care of him and manage his daily life.
When he had episodes, throwing things and hurting himself, she was the one who rushed forward to hold him regardless of the danger; when he refused to eat, she was the one who reheated the food over and over, coaxing him softly; when he rejected human contact, she was the one who guided him little by little.
Year after year, she devoted almost all her energy and youth.
She watched him gradually improve. Although still aloof, he could at least live a normal life and even take over the family business.
She thought life would just go on like this. Even if he remained an unmelting block of ice forever, she accepted it.
Until that business banquet.
Chloe Bennett appeared in a pure white gown, like an elf who had accidentally stumbled into the mortal realm.
For the first time, Julian's gaze landed so intently on someone, unable to look away.
He even spoke his first complete, explicitly commanding sentence in his life to Charlotte: "Take off your coat and give it to her. She's cold."
At that moment, Charlotte's heart felt like it had been pricked by a needle.
She silently took off her shawl, watching him carefully wrap it around Chloe with a tenderness in his eyes she had never seen before.
From then on, his world seemed to open only for Chloe.
He would smile at Chloe, listen to her patiently, scour the world for treasures to present to her just because she said she "liked" them, abandon important meetings at a single phone call from Chloe, and reveal a rare nervousness whenever she frowned.
And all of this was what Charlotte had desperately hoped for throughout her entire youth, yet never received.
And during this earthquake, he had unhesitatingly protected Chloe and left, abandoning her in danger.
Even after she was injured, he said things like, "Whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me."
She finally understood completely that some things could not be obtained just by trying hard.
Like love. Like Julian's heart.
More than ten years of care and companionship, in his heart, could not compare to the three months since Chloe appeared.
Charlotte took a deep breath, forcing back the stinging tears in her eyes.
"Grandpa, you probably already know about what happened today.
During the earthquake, he protected Ms. Bennett and left.
Just now at the door, I heard him say with my own ears that he doesn't like me, and whether I live or die has nothing to do with him."
"A forced relationship will never be happy.
Anyway, Julian doesn't like me, he even hates me. It's better to just get a divorce, it's good for all of us."
Joey frowned deeply and sighed heavily: "But Charlotte... you've been taking care of Julian for so many years. If we suddenly change to someone else, I'm afraid he..."
"Grandpa," Charlotte interrupted him, her tone carrying a trace of exhausted mockery, "you've seen it too. Hasn't his condition been much better lately while spending time with Ms. Bennett?
He can smile, he can care for others, he can express his emotions.
Perhaps... leaving me is the better choice for him.
Ms. Bennett seems more capable of making him open his heart."
The old man froze.
He thought of his grandson's recent changes, which were indeed because of that Chloe's appearance.
He remained silent for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh, looking as if he had aged several years in an instant: "Never mind.
Since you have made up your mind to leave, Grandpa... respects your decision."
...
After resting in the hospital for two days, Charlotte returned to the home she had guarded for five years.
She walked straight into the bedroom and, from the deepest part of the bedside drawer, took out a document—
The Divorce Agreement!
Julian's name was already neatly signed in the bottom right corner.
Looking at that familiar yet cold and hard handwriting, Charlotte's chest still inevitably twinged with pain.
Married for five years, he loathed her to the extreme.
Every time things didn't go his way, or simply because she cared for him a bit too much and annoyed him, he would coldly throw a signed divorce agreement at her and tell her to "get out."
At first, every time she received this agreement, she would hide in her room and cry secretly for days, then tear it to pieces in front of him, telling herself to hold on a little longer, that he would get better.
Later, as it happened more often, her heart gradually grew numb, and she stopped tearing them up.
The last time he threw it at her, she took it with unusual calmness and quietly put it away.
She didn't expect it would actually come in handy.
She picked up a pen and, in the space for the second party's signature, stroke by stroke, solemnly signed her own name—
Charlotte!

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