‘Is there anything else that you want?’

It was taking Cedric forever to park.

I shook my head at the server and gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks.” I lowered my head into the only meal that I had eaten today. It was a sandwich. The smell of cheese and bacon made my stomach grumble. I dug in.

All that discovery made me hungry.

Diet? What diet? I couldn’t remember the last time I ate a nice sandwich with some bacon and cheese.

Evan had wanted me to become ‘healthier’.

So, he asked me to avoid certain unhealthy foods. Bacon would make me gain at least a kilogram of fat, he said. Ice cream was a big no too. Who would want all that sugar? Not Evan.

No, he wanted a slim woman. Thin but thick at the same time. He wanted someone healthy with all the right curves and enormous assets. At some point, I even thought of undergoing surgeries to make my breast bigger, lips plumper.

Just thinking about all this made me scoff in disgust. How did I not notice all these red flags before?

I took a huge bite from the sandwich before drinking the freshly brewed coffee.

In my last life, I only drank almond milk. Evan said it was healthier.

When I started drinking coffee, he had protested. It was the caffeine, he said. It was unhealthy. Then he told me not to add sugar or I would gain weight.

Apparently, gaining weight would ruin our relationship.

Gaining a healthy weight should be my priority in this timeline. With my current weight and the type of dress that I chose to wear, I looked like a scarecrow.

But beyond actually eating for the first time in years, the thought of revenge and making Evan suffer should also become my priority, right?

I started weighing in the pros and cons of my plan. I had been manipulated; Evan never directly told me to do anything for him. He only told me how everything was making him suffer, how he couldn’t eat or sleep because of his problems.

I was the one who volunteered to help him.

My eyes were glued to the almost empty cup in my hand. All the things that I did to help him obtain the CEO position were things that I did on my own! In the general run of things, I would say that I had been the perfect puppet; organized, shrewd and ruthless.

‘Damn him’

I could only curse at him and at myself. In the end, the best course of action that wouldn’t possibly involve killing someone and putting myself in jail is to avoid him. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I was still Isabella Chen, but in this lifetime, I was going to direct my evil skills in the right direction.

I needed to make that man suffer.

The arduous plan to survive was already in motion. First, I didn’t get back with that asshole Evan. Second, I already married Cedric intending to save him. Third, I had time to figure out how I would deal with becoming the Fang Family Heiress without Evan’s influence.

The next steps were undeniably harder. Making Evan suffer without incriminating myself would be a bit challenging even for someone like me who knows the future. Moreover, my rebirth had already caused a string of changes that would surely affect the future.

And then there was also Monica. I needed to figure out exactly how she factored into all of this.

My scheming was interrupted by Cedric sliding into the booth across from me.

“Sorry, I had to park blocks away,” he grinned.

I looked at my empty coffee cup guiltily, “Do you want some coffee?”

“Nah, I’m going straight for a beer.”

He saw the sandwich on my plate and then continued,

“I hope that’s just an appetizer and I can still treat you to your favorite. Beef with broccoli?”

I smiled. The question surprised me with its normalcy; it was as if this wasn’t the first time that he asked his wife about dinner. “Yes. Beef with broccoli is fine. Perfect for beers.”

I looked out of the restaurant, toward the busy streets of Pudong, Shanghai.

Then I smiled, a brilliant smile. Things are going to change from now on.