Chapter 4

As I watched how self-righteously Mandy was acting, I was finally unable to control myself and laughed. But as if there was glass stuck in my throat, it hurt so much that I started crying.

“You kept this from me for five whole years and played me like an idiot. Am I in the wrong over the last five years?”

Lance’s already pale face turned red as he threw himself at my feet. “Andrew, I’m the one in the wrong. I swear that I was never thinking about replacing you.

“But please, don’t take away Jane’s right to see her mother for two months every year. She’s innocent.”

That again. The child was innocent.

So, was I simply supposed to bear the consequences?

Suddenly, I heard hurried footsteps from above.

“Don’t bully my daddy!” Jane rushed down and crashed into my legs.

She clenched her fists and kept punching me. “You’re bad! Horrible! Get out! Don’t bully my daddy!”

She then lunged at me to bite the back of my hand.

Instinctively, I brought my hand up to block her flailing limbs.

I had not even touched her clothes, and Mandy already rushed over with bloodshot eyes and shoved me away.

“Andrew, I’m warning you! Don’t hit Jane!”

The back of my waist rammed into the tip of the tea table, and the wound from last year’s car accident tore open.

Pain exploded from my waist and shot straight to my entire body.

I sucked in a sharp breath and had to lean against the tea table to stay upright.

Mandy fell on one knee to hug the completely uninjured Jane. “Did he scare you? Did he hit you anywhere? Don’t be scared. I’m right here.”

Then, she turned to her with wariness and rage burning clearly in her eyes. “She’s only five! If you’re angry, come at me! Why hold it against a child?!”

Suddenly, Lance broke down. “Stop arguing. It’s all my fault.”

He scrambled up from the floor to run out.

“Lance!” Mandy’s expression changed, and she chased after him without hesitation.

I followed them outside.

Under the shade provided by the lemon tree, Mandy grabbed Lance’s arm as he cried and struggled to break free. “I shouldn’t have contacted you, much less hoped to have two months of your time every year. Just leave.

“Andrew must hate me. I’ll leave with Jane and never bother you again.”

Mandy’s expression sank. “You’re all alone. Where are you supposed to go with Jane? If she gets sick again, what are you going to do?”

Mandy held him tightly as he said, “But I betrayed Andrew…”

She cradled his face. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it sorted out.”

She then stood on her tip-toes, tilted her face upward, and kissed him in the slightly salty sea breeze from Saint Veronica’s Beach and the lemon tree.

They kissed with great abandon, as if there was no one else around them.

I did not say anything to interrupt them. I could not even muster the slightest bit of desire to rush over and slap them.

The intense pain in my heart had finally been dug out at that moment, and once it was gone, I gained a sense of clarity I had never felt before.

I turned around and left from where I came.

Just then, Mandy sent me a message.

[Andrew, Lance is emotionally unstable right now. Stop kicking up a fuss and go home. Once the two months are over, let’s talk, okay?]

I had always been waiting over the past five years for her meetings to end, for her business trips to be over, and for her to be done with that special project of hers.

Instead, I blocked all of her accounts and deleted her contact number.

I was not going to wait for two months, because I was going to get engaged next week.