His Belated Love for the Abandoned Ex-Wife Chapter 34: The Hidden Care

Zoe's eyes went wide. "You got so many cabinets here. Wiping all of them must take forever, right?"

Iris sat up, grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. She glanced around. "There's no dust."

"Huh?" Zoe sat down across from her.

Iris spoke softly. "Maybe because we're on a high floor. No dust gets in up here. I've lived here two years and never wiped them once. It's always clean."

Zoe laughed, leaning back on the sofa and squinting at her. "Iris! You're so wrapped up in your experiments. A spotless house? You really think the only chores are mopping and doing laundry? C'mon, be real."

Iris had never thought about that. Zoe's words hit her—she'd been missing something in her daily life.

"Did Julian hire a housekeeper?" Zoe asked, curious.

Iris shook her head. Just mentioning Julian made her heart sink again. She said quietly, "Before we got married, I told him I hate strangers touching my stuff."

Zoe mumbled under her breath, "If not a housekeeper, then a fairy godmother?"

Iris let out a soft laugh.

"Want something to drink?" Iris pulled herself together, standing up and heading to the kitchen.

Zoe propped her elbow on the sofa back, calling over her shoulder. "Just water, please."

Iris went into the kitchen, came back with two glasses of water, and handed one to Zoe.

"Thanks." Zoe took the glass, then pointed to the corner of the ceiling, a little nervous. "You got security cameras in your house?"

Iris shrugged, sitting back down on the sofa. "Don't you?"

"My grandma and parents are home all the time. No need for cameras."

Iris glanced up at the camera, answering calmly, "For burglars."

Zoe took a sip of water, holding the glass and asking curiously, "Where's the monitor?"

Iris took a drink too, saying, "On mine and his phones. And the computer in the study."

Zoe leaned in, whispering, "So he can watch us talking right now if he checks it?"

Iris rolled her eyes a little. "He's way too busy to check the cameras."

"Does it alert you if a stranger comes in?"

"Yeah."

Zoe gasped, covering her mouth.

Iris suddenly realized something. She put down her glass, pulled out her phone, and saw a "stranger detected" alert pop up.

She froze for a few seconds, then looked at Zoe. "When you got here, it did alert me."

Zoe smiled, pressing her lips together. "So no fairy godmother here. Wanna check old footage? See who's been cleaning your house?"

Iris hesitated for a second, then leaned down to work on her phone.

Zoe leaned over, putting her glass down and pressing her shoulder against Iris's, watching closely.

The cameras only stored footage for a week—anything older got deleted automatically.

Iris skipped through the timestamps and clicked play.

Julian almost always got up at nine. First thing after leaving his room, he'd go to the kitchen for a glass of water. He'd stand on the living room balcony drinking it, stare at the street for a bit, then eat the breakfast she'd left on the table.

He'd stay in the kitchen for at least ten or fifteen minutes before coming out.

Zoe watched as Iris fast-forwarded. "He's in the kitchen for over ten minutes. What's he doing?"

Iris looked at Zoe. "He's a bit of a clean freak."

"You don't wipe the stove after making breakfast?"

"I wipe it if it's dirty, not if it's clean." Iris felt a little guilty.

Zoe laughed, covering her forehead and nudging Iris's arm. "Fast-forward more. See what else he does."

Iris dragged the progress bar again.

On the camera, Julian walked out of the kitchen, holding a white cloth.

He went to the cabinet, took out a pair of wireless earbuds, put them in, and started wiping the wine cabinet casually, listening to music.

Thirty minutes later, he went back to his room, got dressed in a suit, and left.

The time showed 10:35.

Iris clicked on the same time the next day.

Same morning, same routine—except Julian was changing the curtains, shoving the dirty ones into the washing machine.

The day after that, Julian was wiping the TV stand and vacuuming the sofa.

The day after that, he was cleaning the robot vacuum and wiping the windows.

And the day after that...

Zoe let out a long sigh, sighing. "He gets up at nine every day and leaves at ten thirty. He spends at least an hour tidying your place. He's really into cleaning, huh?"

Iris froze, her eyes getting wet for no reason. She thought about what Julian had once said, and her heart felt confused.

Zoe glanced at Iris, nudging her shoulder. "Really? You're getting emotional over this? You make him breakfast every day too. Wash his dirty clothes, and fold them up nicely. It's not one-sided."

Iris smiled bitterly, pressing her lips together. "I'm not emotional. I just thought of something he said once. It makes me sad."

"What did he say?"

Iris turned off her phone screen and set it on the sofa. She stared at the heavy rain outside, her heart feeling damp and gloomy. "He said I was a maid he bought for 500 grand. Said I was easy on the eyes and didn't cost him a dime. Said it was a good deal."

Zoe's mouth dropped open. "No way. Does Julian have such a sharp tongue?"

Iris hung her head, recalling. "He was drunk then."

That was the same night Julian said he hated her. Said she was like plain water—boring, tasteless.