LOGIN[Cecilia]
A few days earlier.
“You just need to make sure she comes. I’ll handle the rest,” Ethan said as he ran a hand through his hair.
Cecilia bit her lip.
“Yeah, I think I can invite her to my event.&rdqu
[Maria]“Mom! Don’t just ask her that out of the blue.” Damian called out. “You’re making Maria uncomfortable.”“What’s wrong with that? Damian, you’re our only child. Of course you need to give us a grandchild to continue the family line.”“I know, but—"“As a husband, you have to try hard too. Drink some supplements. Don’t overwork. Eat healthy food. Do some exercise.”I didn’t expect this lunch to turn into a conversation like this.“Yeah, but we’ve only been married a few months. We need to—” Damian searched for the right words, “date first. We didn’t date before getting married. We need more time to enjoy our time together as a couple.”
[Maria]I hadn’t visited Damian’s parents’ house in a long time. I didn’t meet them very often either. His family wasn’t like typical conglomerate families that frequently appear at parties and events.In their circle, they were very selective about which events to attend, except for those related to the RQL Group, since Damian’s father was still serving as CEO there.They were on a different level from other conglomerate families. They didn’t need recognition and didn’t need to build connections.People like that had their own aura, and meeting them made me feel slightly intimidated.After all, I’m just the illegitimate daughter of the Wang family.
[Maria]“You’re right. I should have said thank you,” I said while reaching for his arm.Right now, all I could think about was that I needed to calm him down and reassure him first.Besides, Damian was right. Thinking about it, I hadn’t really thanked him since he got injured. For some reason, I don’t know why that sentence never really occurred to me.Maybe it’s because “thank you” is something I say when I get what I want, and clearly, his injury wasn’t something I wanted at all.“About my hand, I’ll tell you someday, not now,” I said softly. “But you really don’t need to worry about it. It’s a completely different situation. I just
[Hannah]Somehow, the anime turned out to be so good that Hannah ended up binge-watching nonstop with Kevin until episode six.She sat on the couch with one leg tucked beneath her, sipping from a can of soda she had helped herself to from Kevin’s refrigerator.The dryer had finished a long time ago, but she found herself strangely comfortable staying there. She was still wearing Kevin’s sweater along with the slacks she had worn to work that day.The ending song for episode six played. Kevin pressed pause and turned toward her.“You’re not sleepy?”Hannah checked her phone. It was 11:24 PM.
[Hannah]“Oh no, Hannah...” Liz winced, covering her mouth.“Sorry, sorry. It wasn’t on purpose.” Kevin quickly grabbed some napkins and held them out to Hannah.But Hannah didn’t take them.Her brain froze for a moment as she looked down at her white blouse stained with coffee.Her house was only ten minutes away, but walking around in a dirty, wet, sticky blouse would be both embarrassing and uncomfortable.Trying to clean it in the bakery restroom wasn’t really an option either. She knew they didn’t have proper soap for washing clothes. And she didn’t want to walk around
[Hannah]Hannah held out her hand.“Deal?”“It’s ridiculous,” Kevin said with a sigh, but eventually gave in. “But okay. Deal.”He immediately went back to what he had been doing, putting his headphones back on and resuming the anime on his phone, as if giving Hannah no opportunity to interact with him.They got off at the bus stop in front of Briarwood Prep, the stop that was supposed to be closest to Kevin’s house.Kevin didn’t ask many questions. He simply followed behind Hannah as she led the way to the place with the supposedly great food.Eventually, they arrived at a bakery.
[Maria]“I guess since everything’s clear now, I’ll head home. I need to rest after the trip.”“Sure.&r
[Maria]I asked my chauffeur to drive me to my father’s house. And there I was, all alone. I couldn’t force a smile onto my face, even though I wanted to.A mai
[Maria]A few days ago.“Business trip? You’re going to Mexico?”I frowned when I accidentally overheard his phone conversation wi
[Cecilia]A week had passed since that incident, and nothing had happened to her so far.Maybe Ethan was right. Cecilia was safe. Nothing would happen because Ethan had cov







