Chapter 2

“I thought you were still upset and refusing to come.

“Please don’t blame my family. They were just too worried about me, so that’s why those misunderstandings happened.

“This is actually the perfect chance. Let me introduce you to them today, and once we talk everything through, there won’t be any misunderstandings anymore.”

She hooked her arm around mine as if it was the most natural thing in the world and walked me over to the crowd, smiling brightly.

“Guys, guess who’s here!”

In an instant, every pair of eyes turned toward me.

The smiles on Rowan, Sandy, and Charles’ faces froze the moment they saw me.

“This is my best friend, Sandy. She works in the psychiatry department at your hospital too. You two have probably met before, right?”

Sandy’s eyes flickered several times before she finally forced out stiffly, “Nice to meet you, Dr. Lane…”

Her tone was polite yet distant, as though we were meeting for the very first time.

Unaware of anything strange, Vivian pulled me over to Charles.

“This is my best friend from college, Charles. He’s the idiot lawyer who reported you, but I’ve already taught him a lesson. Dr. Lane, please don’t take it personally. Don’t bother arguing with this dumb*ss!”

Charles’ face was heavy with mixed emotions. His eyes darted away. “Wylie…”

His voice was too quiet and disappeared beneath the noise around us. Vivian did not hear him.

Finally, she brought me to Rowan, then affectionately leaned into his arms.

“And this is my husband. He’s—”

I smiled and interrupted her, “Rowan, the owner of this restaurant.”

Vivian was startled for a moment.

She looked at Rowan, then back at me.

“How do you know that? Have you two known each other for a long time?”

I let out a small laugh and deliberately ignored the warning look in Rowan’s eyes.

Then I slowly said, “He’s my boyfriend.

“We’ve been together for seven years, and we’ve been preparing for our wedding recently.

“He actually bought this restaurant for me. Did he really never tell you any of that?”

Back then, I casually told him that I wished I could sit here every day and watch the ocean. The very next day, this place became my twenty-sixth birthday gift.

It was not until six months ago, when Rowan claimed his company was short on funds, that I agreed to sell it to help him through the crisis.

I finally knew the truth. That was just another one of his lies.

“Dr. Lane, what are you talking about?” Vivian’s eyes reddened as she turned toward me.

“Rowan and I got our marriage certificate a year ago. How could he possibly be your boyfriend? What’s going on?”

Rowan panicked instantly. “Vivian, listen to me. Let me explain…”

When I heard that, my heart sank and all the noise in my head went silent.

I had been betrayed and deceived, yet the only thing he cared about was explaining himself to Vivian.

I suddenly laughed as if I was finally releasing years of pain. I began exposing every piece of our past.

“He has a surgical scar on his lower back. He got it four years ago when he saved me during a confrontation with a patient's family.

“The jade pendant he wears was something I prayed for at Puji Temple and gave to him…

“So yes, you are the woman he kept hidden from me, the mistress he was seeing behind my back.”

“Wylie, enough!”

The three of them shouted at me at the same time, while Vivian’s eyes turned completely red.

Rowan’s gaze instantly turned cold.

Sandy and Charles looked at me with nothing but blame.

“Am I wrong?

“Rowan, Sandy, and you, Charles! Are you all really going to pretend you didn’t do anything wrong?”

Rowan pulled the trembling Vivian into his arms and spoke coldly.

“Wylie, Vivian knew nothing about this. If you have something to say, say it to me. Don’t attack her like that.”

Sandy stepped forward. Her voice was sharp.

“Wylie, Rowan stopped loving you a long time ago. The person he truly loves now is Vivian.”

Charles finally gathered the courage to argue back.

“Wylie, now that you know the truth, just let them be.

“Vivian risked her life to give him a child. No matter how much you make a scene today, you can’t tear apart their family of three."

One hurtful sentence after another struck me. My eyes burned so much that I could barely hold back my tears.

“So is that why you all worked together to destroy my career?

“To have someone break my hand?”

A wave of resentment and fury surged from my chest.

I stared directly at Vivian, then looked at every single one of them.

“She’s the other woman, and you’re all her accomplices. Tell me, am I wrong?”

Before I could finish speaking, a glass of ice water was poured over my head.

The water soaked my hair and chilled my heart completely.

“Wake up, Wylie!

“You’re the one who was abandoned, not Vivian!”