INICIAR SESIÓN[Maria]Two weeks after Damian's family lawyer finished handling all the paperwork, it finally arrived. Ines brought me the envelope that had just been delivered to our mailbox. She handed it to me while Damian and I were sitting together at the dining table.Smiling, I held the envelope bearing the Social Security Administration logo. Carefully, I tore open one corner."Maria, let's eat first," Damian protested. "I can't wait to try it.""I'm not curious about how it tastes.""Of course you're not. You're the one who made it. You must've tasted it already."I smiled proudly. I'd finally managed to recreate the recipe I'd learned in my cooking class.I was still taking the same course, still at the same level with the same instructor. The difference was that this time, I was trusted to handle the more difficult parts myself. My instructor had told me I was ready to move up to the next level and start cooking more advanced dishes, but I'd decided to take my time.This was the first time
[Maria]"You wanted to marry me? For a long time?"Damian didn't answer. He simply wore a faint smile, as though he didn't want to tell me any more than that.But by then, I'd become too curious to let it go."Why?"Damian still said nothing."Did you know me before?"Because I couldn't remember him at all. Maybe we'd crossed paths at some party where both our parents had been invited. But it was impossible for someone to want to marry another person just because they'd brushed past each other once or caught a glimpse of them from afar, wasn't it?"Answer me. Did we know each other before all this?""Does a story like that really matter?" Damian dodged the question. "That's not what's important... I don't think you even understand what I'm trying to tell you.""What?" I frowned.Damian smiled."You're always like this. I never know what I should say or do to make you understand. If I tell you directly, you think I'm lying. But if I try to say it another way, you don't get it.""What a
[Maria]I needed several seconds just to sit there in stunned silence, carefully processing Damian's words. It took at least ten more before I could respond in disbelief."What kind of joke is this?"I let out a scoff. Calling it a joke wasn't even accurate. There was nothing funny about it."I'm serious. Whatever you heard about me at those clubs, Ed was behind it."I raised an eyebrow, dismissing his explanation. "Let's say that's true and Mr. Ed really was behind it. I still can't think of any reason why he'd do something like that. Besides, I literally saw someone crying because her boyfriend dumped her after being tempted by Damian Lee.""I've never tempted anyone!" Damian threw up his hands in exasperation. "You can see for yourself. Do I even have the ability to do something like that?""You might not realize it, but you do tempt people without meaning to." Not just women, either. Everyone, really. I'd seen it myself at parties. People naturally gravitated toward him, eager to
[Maria]I could feel the pain just by hearing Damian's words. Sentence after sentence, he made me realize the mistakes I’d made. In his story, I was a cruel wife. Maybe I really was.I straightened my posture and sat on the edge of the bed. I was far too restless to lean back or rest."It's not that I don't want to tell you," I swallowed hard, "but what's the point? You already know everything. You know what I've done. I really wasn't a good wife. I wasn't even a good woman.""I was hoping you wouldn't say that, Maria."Damian took a deep breath."I was hoping you'd explain why you tried to push another woman toward me. I was hoping you'd tell me you never really meant it. I was hoping you'd simply misunderstood something and did it because of a mistake I'd made without even realizing it.""I'm not going to defend myself. I was wrong. I'm sorry. There was no misunderstanding. I really wanted you to cheat on me with her.""What?""She was someone you loved. Someone better than me.""Wh
[Maria]It was hard for me to step into the house.Anger, resignation, and guilt all blended together, none of them outweighing the others. Even so, there was something involving Damian that I had to settle. I forced my feet forward, as fast as my pounding heart.I entered the master bedroom. Damian wasn't there. I immediately slid open the door to the walk-in closet. Inside the island drawer, I kept the mini safe where I had stored my contract with Hannah. Hidden beneath a pile of clothes I rarely wore.I took out the portable safe. I tapped its side, and the keypad appeared for me to enter the password. As soon as I keyed it in, the safe unlocked.The contract was still safely inside. Had Damian not read it yet? If Hannah had already told him, shouldn't he have looked for this? He could use this contract as evidence against her.I had to get rid of it as quickly as possible."Maria, you're back?"Damn it. Damian appeared in front of me. I slipped the contract back into the drawer."
[Hannah]Hannah lifted her head and walked away, leaving Emma who was at a loss for words. She bit her lip hard, holding back the pain spreading through her chest. Strange. She was the one who slapped Emma, yet why was Hannah the one feeling the pain.Her steps felt heavy, as she tried to quicken her pace. It felt like dragging herself away from something that had chained her down for so long.Kevin simply followed behind her in silence. Letting her process all these emotions on her own.They really weren't friends anymore. Hannah and Emma.When she came here, a part of her had hoped Emma would sincerely admit everything and apologize from the bottom of her heart. She had truly hoped that, at the very least, Emma had once considered her a friend. That everything Emma had done hadn't come from malice.How foolish Hannah had been to keep believing until the very last second, only to be betrayed.Her chest ached. A painful tightness gripped her. For some reason, the hand she had used to
[Hannah]'KEEP SMILING AT CUSTOMERS EVEN IF YOUR LIPS ARE PARALYZED'That’s this bakery’s crazy motto. For some reason, the owner is confident enough to come up with a slogan like that while the employees are paid barely enough to get by.Hannah shook her head to shake off the drowsiness. She arrive
[Maria]Damian Lee possessed a trinity of pleasure he could never exhaust: money, liquor, and women.All three were intoxicating, but Damian Lee was a master of control. He knew how to start the fun, as well as how to stop. And this club used to be his den.Maybe it was because this was one of the
[Cecilia]The house had been noisy since early morning. There were the clatter of cooks preparing dishes, gardeners arranging orchids by the entrance, and maids who usually cleaned the house in silence. They were always busy when important days like this rolled around.The Wang family were used to a
[Maria]Damian wasn’t here when I woke up this morning. The curtains in my room were still closed even though it was already 10 a.m. There were no sounds of a vacuum cleaner or footsteps in the hallway. The maid probably hadn’t come up to the second floor yet.I splashed water on my face at the sink







