Chapter 1

The year was 1983.

The sun had set. It was dark outside. Only one dim light was in the Foster family’s living room.

“Dad, Mom, I’m willing to live abroad with you.”

When they heard their daughter’s words through the phone, Philip York and Angela York were moved to tears of excitement.

“That’s great, Joy. If it weren’t for that earthquake, we wouldn’t have been separated for so many years. We never abandoned you on purpose, really. We’ll come pick you up right now.”

When she heard her biological parents weeping, Joy Foster felt her heart clench in pain. She sucked in a deep breath to calm herself down. “Give me another two weeks. I still need to take care of some matters here. Once I’m done, I’ll go over to where you two are and keep you company.”

Her parents seemed to have been reminded of something. “You’re right. How silly of us. No matter what, the Foster family took care of you for years. I heard that your adopted brother has always doted on you, so you do need to say goodbye to them properly.”

At the mention of Samuel Foster, Joy stiffened for a moment, and her heart was filled with pain.

When she was six, there was a huge earthquake, and she was separated from her parents. In the end, the government had the Foster family adopt her.

The Foster family was wealthy, powerful, and had a long history. Even though they took her in, her adoptive parents were busy with work and seldom paid attention to her.

Hence, instead of saying that her adopted parents brought her up, it would be more accurate to say that Samuel was the one who took care of her.

When she was seven, she was terrified of thunder, so he would hold and coax her to sleep by singing her lullabies.

When she was ten, she wanted her classmates’ snacks and toys. He had bought out the store beside the school to spoil her rotten. She was the object of everyone’s envy.

When she was fourteen, she had her period. He taught her the knowledge of menstruation and took care of her when she had a stomachache.

He gave her everything she wanted, like hair clips, shoes, clothes, phonographs, and cars.

Everyone who knew him would tease him by saying that he was an overprotective brother and no one could possibly marry her in the future.

At that time, he simply laughed and pulled her into his arms. “If they want to marry my sister, they’ll have to treat her better than I do.”

She had buried her face in his arms so he could not see her face turning red.

No one knew that Samuel was the person she loved.

Since they had kept each other company for so many years, she fell in love with Samuel long ago.

But she did not dare confess because she vaguely felt that her love was taboo. That was why she only dared to write down her love for him in her diary or tell Yelena Jones, her best friend, about it.

She did not expect Yelena to tell Samuel about it.

That night, Samuel suddenly barged into her room and tore her diary to shreds with a dark expression.

He then threw the diary at her, and she got a papercut on her face. It hurt her so much that she turned her head to the side.

“How could you fall in love with your own brother, Joy?! Have you no shame?!”

That was the first time she saw him get so angry, and those words felt like knives stabbing into her heart.

As she stared at Samuel dumbly, tears welled in her eyes before falling down soundlessly.

Before she could say anything, Samuel left with a slam of the door.

After that, Samuel did everything he could to avoid her. If they occasionally met, he looked at her coldly as if she was a stranger.

One week later, he announced he would marry Yelena right before everyone.

She had not even figured out when they got together when the news dropped on her, and it shocked her so much that her mind went blank.

After the party was over, she wanted to get some answers and only saw the usually aloof Samuel pin Yelena against a corner while they made out.

That night, she cried until she no longer had any tears left.

But she also knew that she would never get answers to certain questions, and there was no longer any need for her to get those answers.

At that moment, the Family Reunification Organization came to her and told her that they had relocated her birth parents.

After they lost her, her parents had been depressed for a long time. Even after her father was sent to another country to become a diplomat there, they never gave up on looking for her. When they finally received news about her, they were so excited that they nearly fainted.

Right then and there, Joy thought that perhaps God had already decided how certain things should end.

He had decided that there was no possibility for her to be with Samuel, and he had also decided that all the years she spent at the Foster family was just a nice dream.

It was time for her life to return to its original track.

Hence, she made her decision to return to her family and also give up on the love she had for Samuel.

The next day, Joy went downstairs early.

When her adopted parents happily beckoned her over for breakfast, she smiled sweetly and obediently and went to sit with them.

Then, she told them that her birth parents had found her and that she had decided to leave the country to return to their side.

When Martha Foster, Joy’s adopted mother, heard this, she grabbed her hand. Her voice was filled with happiness for Joy, but it was also laced with a hint of reluctance to let her go because she did not know when they would get to meet again. “This is great, Joy. I’m glad that you found your real family. By the way, have you told Samuel about this?”

Joy was stunned. Should she tell Samuel about it?

As of that moment, he was focused entirely on Yelena. Even if she did not tell him, it did not matter.

“What are you going to tell me?”

She heard his cold voice behind him. Joy whipped her head around to see Samuel standing at the door.

He looked incredibly handsome and tall.