She picked up the card and opened it. There were only two words on the card—"I'm sorry."Luna sat next to Shayne. "Why are you apologizing to me?""These past few days, I've been focusing all my attention on Aralyn, and I ended up neglecting you," Shayne said as he held Luna's hand."Luna, you're the woman I've loved my whole life. Even after I married Aralyn, my heart has always been with you. I feel so guilty…" Shayne paused."I should have cherished you and treated you better."Spencer had told him that if he focused all his attention on Luna, he might stop thinking about Aralyn. Shayne wanted to see if it would work.Luna shook her head. "It's okay. I don't mind, Shayne."As she spoke, tears rolled down her cheeks, which would evoke anyone's sympathy.Strangely, though, Shayne didn't feel any heartache as he watched her cry.Instead, Aralyn's face surfaced in his mind.When Aralyn cried, she wouldn't say a word. She would only look at him quietly.As that scene replayed
"No need. You stay home with Mama Luna and Mason. I can handle this myself," Zach refused firmly.…At the hospital, people came and went. Willow was visibly tense. She held my hand tightly, her eyes fixed straight ahead."Willow, don't you want to see your grandparents?" I asked gently.Willow answered without hesitation, "I do!"I could sense how tightly wound she was. Julian had already stopped at the door of the ward.I crouched down and gently patted Willow's back. "But you don't seem happy."Willow finally turned to look at me."Can you tell Mommy why that is?" I asked softly.Willow lowered her head."It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," I added with a smile."I'll tell you tonight when we get home," Willow whispered.I was glad she was willing to share. That way, I could better understand and help her open up. Ruffling her hair, I uttered, "Alright."Julian waited until we were finished before opening the door and stepping inside.Willow followed but sne
Since that day, Willow felt that whenever her grandparents saw her, they would be reminded of her parents' death. Terrified they might hate her, she dared not to speak to them anymore.The more I listened, the more my heart ached. "But Willow, accidents are beyond your control."Willow's eyes filled with tears."On the day of the accident, whether you were in the car or not… There was no way to prevent what happened. So, it's not your fault."I hugged her tightly. "You're a victim too."Willow burst into tears. "But… That day, Mom died trying to protect me.""Your mom loved you very much, Willow. You need to understand that even if she could go back, she would make the same choice." I smoothed her hair gently.Willow stopped crying and stared at me intently."Even in her final moments, she must have been grateful that her daughter survived."After some hesitation, Willow asked, "Really?""Yes. Even though she's no longer with you, she would want you to live well and not be
Hearing that, I realized that in the car earlier, I had focused only on explaining how the accident wasn't her fault. But I had forgotten to tell her what her grandparents truly thought.I spoke slowly and gently. "Do you remember what I told you earlier?"Willow nodded. "Of course.""Your grandparents were heartbroken because your mom was their daughter. And she left them forever. Just like…"I paused, stroking her cheek. "You were deeply hurt too, right?"Willow thought back to that day, her gaze lowering."But later, they must have also felt grateful that you survived."Willow sat up straight. "Really?""Yes." I nodded firmly.Willow spun in circles, her joy spilling over. "That's great!"As I watched her, I asked, "Now that you know your grandparents have always loved you and never blamed you, do you think you can talk to them?"Willow stopped spinning, her face serious as she pondered for a long moment.Then, she shook her head. "I don't think I can yet.""That's okay
Julian's eyes sparkled with amusement as he continued enjoying the meal.…Zach sat in the car, staring at the brightly lit villa. What were they doing now? Having dinner?Or was Aralyn holding Willow in her arms, watching TV with her, and explaining life lessons to her as the story unfolded? When Zach imagined how the mother who had once cared for him unconditionally was now giving all her patience and love to someone else, he felt his heart was sliced apart.Noah gripped the steering wheel and looked at Zach through the rearview mirror. Noticing Zach's gloomy mood, he asked, "Should we head home?""Yeah."…Amber arrived at the villa at 9:00 pm.Willow had already finished washing up and was lying in bed on time. I sat by her side, reading her a bedtime story from a picture book. Amber strode into the living room, glancing around as she walked in. When she saw Julian sitting there, she immediately scanned the area.Julian put down the book he was reading. "Mom, who are y
Amber showed no awareness of just how cruel her words were. "If she did, you wouldn't have to take care of her. Maybe you would've been married by now, and I would've had my first grandson!"Julian let out a cold laugh, and the disappointment in his eyes deepened."Since you still refuse to acknowledge your wrongdoings, then stop coming to my house and avoid contacting me altogether in any setting."Amber froze. "What do you mean by that?""I consider Willow my biological daughter. When you unfairly blame her for everything and criticize her, you're essentially saying that the fault is mine. When you wish she had died, it's no different than wishing the same for me."Julian was expressionless, but his words carried a weight that was impossible to ignore. "You've treated me with such cruelty, so of course, I need to defend myself. "If I didn't, word would spread that I'm a pushover. Then everyone would feel entitled to walk all over me."Amber stared at Julian, utterly shocked.
Now, having left the past behind, Aralyn had become both gentle and strong.Julian had been furious earlier. But the moment he hugged Aralyn, all his negative emotions vanished, leaving his heart calm and peaceful.As he had resolved the matter with Amber, Julian had no intention of wasting any more time on her.He pulled out his phone and called Mark."Tomorrow, before school starts, I want everyone at their school to know what Luna did.""Understood."…Zach pushed the door open, finding the lights in the living room still on.Shayne immediately walked over to him. "Why are you back so late?"Zach looked weary. "I already explained it over the phone."Seeing how dejected Zach was, Shayne decided not to press further.Aware that Shayne's sudden warmth toward her was an opportunity she couldn't squander, Luna decided to put on her best behavior.She stood up, supporting her belly. "Zach, do you know how worried we were about you coming home so late?"Zach looked up at her
"I feel so happy right now," Luna said sweetly.Shayne replied perfunctorily, "Me too."…As usual, I got up early to wake Willow.Coming out of her room, Willow immediately went to call Julian. The three of us ended up running several laps around the yard before stopping. I accompanied Willow to take a bath.After a few days of this routine, she had gotten used to it. Now, even though she felt tired after running, she could still chatter away with me.She stood still, letting me bathe her. "Mommy.""Yes?" I said, continuing to bathe her."I feel as if I've changed a bit recently," Willow remarked delightfully.Surprised, I asked, "How so?""Before the training, when people said mean things to me, I would sulk and feel really sad. But now, with the training, when people bully me, I just think about how I'll teach them a lesson one by one once I get stronger and better in martial arts."Willow couldn't help but laugh. "And then I feel happy.""That's great. You're getting
Rowan said, "Come on, I'll take you to eat."Patrick followed behind Rowan and asked, "Have you thought about what to do with Mason in the future?"Rowan didn't take the question seriously. "Why would I?""He's your only child. If you don't acknowledge him, you'll end our family line."Rowan didn't know why, but looking at the streetlights and the thinning crowd around him, he felt unusually calm. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"When they reached the restaurant, he handed the menu to his mother. "See what you want to eat."Shannon picked a light vegetarian dish and said, "We just didn't expect Hannah to lie to us!"Rowan crossed his legs and repeated her words. "You didn't expect Hannah to lie to you?"Patrick ordered two meat dishes before saying, "Exactly. Who would've thought she would dare lie about something like that?"Rowan stared at his father. "So, just because you said it, even if you had doubts, you really thought I cheated on her with Luna…"Shouldn't you ha
Willow stared at me in shock for a long time before finally asking, "You can really do that?"I nodded. "Yeah. As long as you want to, you can keep in touch with her as much as you want."Willow jumped up excitedly. "That's awesome!"Just then, there was an urgent matter at the company that needed Julian's attention. After taking the call, he happened to overhear my conversation with Willow.He immediately got an idea. "During summer break, if you want to hang out with Pamela every day, she might not have that much free time."Willow's smile disappeared instantly. She asked, "Then, what should I do?"He guided her, "Do you think there's an excuse that could make both of you improve and leave her mom no reason to say no?"She followed his lead and quickly figured it out. "Studying?"He didn't give it away directly. "Oh?""Daddy, how about you hire a tutor for me during summer break? I can get a head start on school! Then, I'll ask Pamela to join me. Her mom will definitely agre
Alice raised her voice and asked, "You two already broke up, and he's still coming around asking you to apologize?"Stephanie shrugged. "What else could it be? You don't think I'd made all that up just now, do you?"Alice had never thought that, but Spencer's behavior still struck her as outrageous. "Do you need me to help you?""No, it's fine." Stephanie had already moved on, so she needed to handle it herself. "I can deal with it."With that, she walked out of the hotel.Spencer saw her come out and quickly stepped in front of her. "Can we talk?"He expected Stephanie would agree, but she gave him a glance and asked, "What do we have to talk about?""I know you're upset because of her, but can you be the bigger person? If you just apologize to her, a lot of things can be smoothed over."She looked at him, confused. "Why should I be the bigger person?""Because you're my girlfriend!" He tried to persuade her.Hearing that, Stephanie couldn't help but laugh out loud. "It look
The expression on Stephanie's face suddenly turned bitter. "Actually, when we first started dating, my friends kept warning me. They said he was way too close with that female friend of his, and that I was going to end up hurt."But I didn't believe them. I thought they were just overthinking everything and would never find real love that way. So, I went ahead and got together with Spencer. But after we got together, I realized they were all correct."In Spencer's eyes, that female friend was always more important than me. Every time she bullied me, he would make me step up and apologize to her."Stephanie looked exhausted. "I could put up with it once or twice, but after a while, anyone would get tired."Alice nodded in strong agreement. "Yeah."Stephanie continued, "Recently, the two of us had another fight because of his 'friend.' And as always, he took her side without question…"After I calmed down, I really sat and thought about it. I realized… It's been like this for years
Stella went silent.Then, she hung up.Alice turned to look at Joseph."What?" he asked.Alice answered plainly, "I don't care who you date in the future, but I don't want to be dragged into it. Otherwise, it'll cause me a lot of trouble.""Alright."Since they had company matters to deal with, neither of them had any free time.After Alice dropped Joseph off at the company, she headed back to Hughes Group.As soon as she got into the elevator, she saw Stephanie coming out of it. Stephanie also noticed Alice, but after just one glance, she looked away.Alice clearly recognized Stephanie, too.As the elevator doors opened, Alice didn't go straight upstairs. Instead, she turned and walked up to Stephanie, asking, "Why are you working at this company now?"Stephanie had expected this encounter. "Obviously, I'm highly capable and got the job."Her family background wasn't impressive. When she was dating her ex-boyfriend, people in his circle always thought she was a gold-digger
Everyone went silent."We just thought you two got back together later," his friends replied.Joseph almost laughed out of anger. "I've been broke the whole time. You all should know there's no way she would get back with me."Only then did everyone sound disappointed. "Alright, then."Joseph opened the platform where people were posting, and saw that everyone was trashing them."Alice is a homewrecker! She must get off on stealing other people's boyfriends! If she liked him so much, why didn't she say yes when he confessed? Why wait until he has a girlfriend to start messing around?""Joseph's no better. Someone just crooked a finger at him, and he went running like a dog. He missed out on Stella, a great woman, and now he's doomed to never find love again!""Those two scumbags deserve each other!""Let them stay together! Just don't go ruining anyone else!"The insults were disgusting. Joseph just skipped past them.As he kept refreshing, he suddenly saw Alice's response. I
"You'd better hide the recording. Otherwise, if I gave her the recording, she might even blame me for meddling and ruining her family."But after thinking about it, Serena decided she couldn't do that.She continued, "Good thing I insisted. She's doing a lot better now. I heard she not only has a job but has even started her own company. She even suggested I go work at her company."Evelyn asked, "Did you say yes?"Without hesitation, Serena nodded. "Yep."Evelyn shook her head in disbelief. "She was just being polite. How could you take it seriously?""I don't think she was just being polite. She seemed serious," Serena said, sitting down across Evelyn. "And she even told me about the company benefits!"It's ten thousand dollars a month during the probation period, plus holidays. And if you do a good job, you even get profit-sharing."Now, it was Evelyn's turn to be surprised. "That good?"Serena nodded. She understood what her mother was worried about. "At first, I thought s
Sometimes, a company with too many benefits would end up breeding people who were greedy beyond reason.However, that didn't matter. Once they were kicked out, the company would still thrive.…"Joseph hasn't even broken up with Stella yet, and he's already hooking up with Alice!""He even forced Stella to break up with him just so he could be with Alice!"Reporters posted the news and photos online.Everyone who saw it started cursing Joseph, calling him a scumbag, and saying Alice was a homewrecker.They cursed Alice, too.Seeing this, Avery jumped in, saying that Alice had once encouraged Joseph to chase after her, and that the two of them were seasoned players when it came to messing with people's feelings.With someone stepping up as a witness, people figured it must be true this time, and the insults got even harsher.Meanwhile, the ones being cursed were calmly sitting in a restaurant, sipping tea.Lucas glanced over and immediately understood why Julian had made a po
In other words, I could sit in the office, do nothing, and still receive my paycheck. This method of earning was, naturally, wonderful news for me. After completing the drawing, I rested my head on one hand and reviewed the messages and reports from others. The team recruited by the secretary was clearly very capable. They could manage everything flawlessly without my input. Some even took the initiative to propose additional plans and launch new projects to earn more, which I reviewed and encouraged them to pursue. They didn’t need to worry about funding, as my secretary and I were there to support them. Once I had done all this, I leaned back to relax. At that time, both Julian's side and my own company were bringing in significant profits annually. I was not only able to support my mother's retirement comfortably, but I also had plenty of funds to assist others. I quietly contemplated whether there were other companies I could explore beyond these two ventures.There was a kn