Luna smiled at me. "We're coming home for dinner tonight, though. Please prepare food for us then, Aralyn."She was blatantly taunting me, thinking that she could crush me by doing this. Yet, I ignored them and strode toward the living room.Shayne explained on my behalf, "She's probably still a little upset, but don't worry. She'll come around by the time we come back."Zach chimed in, "That's right. She may be an annoying person, but her cooking skills are excellent. You'll get to enjoy a feast tonight!"Luna asked delightedly, "Really? I'm so excited!"These people seemed to think that I was still in love with Shayne. They assumed I would prepare a huge spread for dinner despite being in a weakened condition just to earn Shayne's forgiveness.Yet, none of them noticed how I was staring at Shayne as though I was looking at a stranger who obviously had something wrong with his head.After they left, I went to the storeroom and found my suitcase. I brought it to my bedroom and o
I got up and headed for the bedroom while responding coldly, "Report it to the authorities, then. Why are you telling me?"Shayne moved to block my way. "It's Luna's ex-husband who's kidnapped Zach."I took one step to the side and moved past him. My voice hardened. "Then, you should be talking to Luna."Shayne caught up with me again and completely blocked my path. "He's very angry because he thinks Luna and I have slept together. He said that he would only let Zach go if you spend a night with him."Shayne sounded torn and helpless. "Honey…"He had not finished what he wanted to say, but I could tell what Shayne was getting at. I was shaking with rage as I slapped him hard across the face."Shayne Pearce! Do you really consider yourself a man?""Honey, Zach is your son! You can't possibly turn your back against him when he's in danger!"He swiftly produced a spray bottle, which he had kept hidden by holding it against his back, and sprayed something onto my face several times
"It was because my son told him that Luna would become his mother if he just stayed with me for a while."Indeed, it sounded like what that ungrateful child would do. I replied indifferently since I was not surprised at all, "Okay."Rowan got to his feet. "Do you know why I'm setting up this equipment? It's for recording the process of me raping you."I'll send it to Shayne tomorrow. Once he's seen us together, he'll give you up entirely!"After saying that, he strode toward me.Judging by his actions so far, I swiftly processed the information I had of him and what I had seen up to this point. In an instant, I thought of the solution.I stared at Rowan straight in the eye. "So, you and Luna are divorced. Yet, you're still listening to her demands and helping her with these things?"Rowan gave me a push. I could not help but fall backward and landed heavily on the hard mattress. Then, Rowan pressed himself against me.Someone who used to live a dignified and privileged life lik
Shayne turned his head toward my voice. He stared at me with a conflicted look in his eyes."Aralyn… you… you're back. He didn't… hurt you, right?"I scoffed inwardly at how pretentious he was. He stopped calling me "honey" like a loving husband would since he thought I had slept with another man."Oh. He didn't do anything to me. We just sat and spoke for a while." I told them the truth nonchalantly."I'm sorry… Aralyn, I didn't have a choice." It was obvious Shayne did not believe what I said. He went on apologizing as though he was truly sorry.I gave a shrug. I knew he would not believe me. I had expected that much.Besides, Rowan might serve as the key witness who could help me expose Luna's plots and secrets soon. Naturally, I saw no need to explain further to Shayne.I ignored him and fetched my suitcase from the storeroom. "Let's go."I would continue to gather more evidence after the divorce. When Shayne and Zach had fallen completely for the illusions of their newfoun
Her bedroom was huge. It was nicely and exquisitely decorated to resemble how a princess' room would look like in an animated film.Willow wore a fluffy, tiered dress. With a bunny doll in her arms, Willow had her back to the door as she sat silently on the carpet.Julian desperately wanted to cheer her up. "Willow, look who's here?"Willow turned her face further away from the door. She would not look at Julian or speak to him. Julian looked to me for help.This was supposed to be just a part of my job. However, I had always wished to have a daughter of my own…Willow looked just like a little princess in my eyes. She was so cute, and I could not help but grow fond of her. I tried to sound as if I was troubled. "I see that a little Willow doesn't welcome me here."Willow turned her head the second she heard my voice. When she saw it was me, Willow leaped to her feet and dashed toward me. She shook her head.I crouched down and met her gaze. "Why won't you talk to me? Do you hat
I looked at him.Julian went on saying, "The two of them are even in the same class."Willow commented proudly, "I observed everyone in our class and noticed that Zach had received the best care! I had imagined how great it would be if Zach's mommy was my mommy at the time."She smiled sweetly. "Now, my dream has come true."Willow was so cute and endearing. Her words warmed the frozen corners of my heart.I smiled faintly as I looked at her adorable face. "Congratulations."Willow let out a chuckle and continued eating."I've agreed to be Willow's mother. Then, I should fulfill my duties as a real mother and drop her off at her kindergarten. Isn't that right?"I turned my eyes to Julian. "I'll go regardless of who I'll run into at the kindergarten."Julian gave a slight nod. "I'll be counting on you, then."I responded, "I should be doing that much, of course."…I thought Willow's condition had improved since she spoke to me quite a lot. However…She still ignored everyo
One of the teachers walked over and explained, "This is Willow's mother. She's here to drop off Willow today. You've probably had some misunderstanding.""That's impossible!" Zach retorted instantly, "She's my mom!""You shouldn't just call anyone your mom." I cut him off. "I don't remember ever giving birth to a child like you."Zach was struck speechless.The teacher tried to remind Zach. "Have you forgotten? You said you didn't know this lady when she came to pick you up last time."Inwardly, the teacher found it strange since Zach was suddenly claiming that he was my son today.On the other hand, Zach was extremely delighted as he watched me get into the car without sparing him another look.With me no longer wanting any involvement with him, Zach figured he could finally enjoy a happy life with Luna as his mother now.Zach had forgotten all about his displeasure of seeing me here just now. Instead, he was brimming with joy."Great! I'm finally free from that ever-so-annoy
Many patients were staying in the hospital wards. A lot of them were even forced to rest on hospital beds placed along the corridors since the wards were fully occupied.A majority of these patients faced serious health issues and had to stay at the hospital for an extended period. Most of them were already staying here when I got admitted to the hospital previously, and they were still here even after I got discharged.I saw a few familiar faces the instant I came near a ward.An elderly man asked, "Didn't you get discharged the other day? Why are you visiting the hospital again?""I fell down the stairs a few days ago, right?" I did not hide from them the reason why I was here. Ultimately, I also wanted to find out if anyone saw or took photos of what happened that day.Still, I could not divulge all of the details of the incident to them. "I noticed the floor was really slippery back then. It was as if someone made it that way on purpose."So, I'm thinking of checking if there
Spencer asked, "Just because of one little argument?""In your eyes, maybe it was just a little argument," Stephanie said calmly. "But for me, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. In this relationship, I was the one who always gave more."No matter what Kelly did, the one who ended up hurt was always me. You only had to take her side and blame me to settle everything. So, to you, it was always just small stuff."She continued, "Nobody wants to spend their whole life being wronged like that. I don't either. So, after that day, I really thought it through…"How much love do I still have left for you? Is it enough to keep tolerating you and her? The answer was no. I even realized at that moment that I didn't love you anymore."Forget tolerating both of you. Even just dealing with one of you felt unbearable. Then, I thought, since it's gotten to this point… We might as well break up."When Stephanie said this, her eyes carried a relaxed smile. "I just haven't figured ou
Shannon shook her head. "That's why I really don't think much of Luna. If it weren't for our son liking her…"Patrick understood how Shannon felt. "Honestly, we did wrong by Luna before. Once she's willing to come back, we should make it up to her as much as we can."Shannon was unwilling, but seeing Patrick insist, she could only mumble, "Fine, we'll do what you say.""Okay."…Hannah noticed that over the past few days, Patrick and Shannon hadn't contacted her at all, and she immediately found it strange.In the past, the two elders were very close to her son, almost seeing him every day. What was going on now?After putting her son to sleep, Hannah took the initiative and called Shannon. "Mrs. Cunningham..."Shannon frowned and glanced at Patrick, speaking in a low voice, "It's a call from Hannah."Patrick's face darkened almost instantly, but he forced himself to hold it in. "Don't tell her we went to see Rowan, and don't let on that we know the truth. If she wants to fool
Rowan shook his head. "If it were really that simple, that would be nice."Patrick didn't understand why Rowan said that.Rowan continued, "Before Luna and I divorced, she had already guessed you were lying, so she made it very clear to Mason…"If I chose to come back and help you, she would divorce me. If I stayed with her, she would continue living the hard life with me."Patrick hadn't expected the truth to be like this. His face turned even uglier. Shannon was also in pain.Rowan tilted his head up, staring at the ceiling. "But in the end, I was too scared the company would fall apart, so I chose to go back. To completely cut ties with me, she went and started dating Shayne."At first, Luna still had hope for him. After all, they had truly loved each other for so long.But over time, through all the back-and-forth, she probably realized he was never going to change, so she finally gave up completely.Recently, the comics she created have been doing very well. Because of tha
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