Home / As the Night Fades, the Moon Departs / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of As the Night Fades, the Moon Departs: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The dart brushed the top of my head and hit right into the apple. Emma Chambers, who was Clara Hall's assistant, quickly ran up to untie me. I lost my balance and had to lean against the dartboard as I slid down on the deck, trembling from the cold.Clara approached me slowly, glancing at my unnaturally angled hands. My fingers were twitching uncontrollably. "Have you gone dumb?"She stared at my emotionless face with a flash of annoyance in her eyes. Clara was not happy with my dead look, and she was about to say something when someone placed a coat over her. "You're scaring him, Clara."Zayn Jordan was in a bespoke suit and was wearing an expensive watch on his wrist. The watch had been the headline of all major news outlets over the past few days in Graymore. Clara had generously spent $60 million on the auction and locked down the bidding three times just to make Zayn happy.Clara went up to Zayn right away and hugged him with a soft look in her eyes. "What are you doing out

Chapter 2

I was a well-known, arrogant heir of Graymore's casino tycoon. Anything I wanted, I would get, and that included Clara.We had a high-profile relationship, and the public speculated that the great Eric Miller would get tired of this low-income student within three months. No one knew that Clara was my first love, and I had given my heart to her.Even though Clara had nothing back then, she loved me with her whole heart. To convince my father to agree to our relationship, she knelt outside the Millers' for three whole days in the rain and swore that she would treat me wholeheartedly and never hurt me.I was a proud man who would constantly lose my temper at her. Every time I did that, she would crawl into my arms lovingly yet helplessly, coaxing me with her gentle voice until I was happy.This was until Clara climbed up the ladder in the business world to become one of the latest powerhouses in Graymore. She became increasingly busy, and even canceled our appointment to try on our w

Chapter 3

I looked at his face, unable to remember where I had seen him, no matter how hard I tried. Zayn stirred his coffee and smiled nonchalantly. "It's only normal that you don't remember me. I did suffer under the surgical blades numerous times just to ensure that I looked as close to you as possible."Hate appeared in his eyes. "Weren't you looking down at me from upstairs ten years ago when my mother and I were at the Millers' mansion?" The realization of his identity exploded in my mind as I looked at him in shock. Memories from ten years ago came pouring in as I remembered the woman who caused my mother's death and her illegitimate son who hid behind my father, not daring to look up from the ground. It was him."I see you remember me." Zayn smiled gleefully as he admired the shock on my face. "After my mother was kicked out of your house, she had to live her entire life in shame from being known as the third party."That was the day I swore that I would have my revenge. Too bad t

Chapter 4

Zayn was putting up a swing in the garden and was covered in sweat, while Clara giggled as she massaged his shoulders. "You should let the help put this together.""Not a chance. This swing is for you and the baby. I can't let someone else do this."Swing. Baby.I clutched my stomach, feeling it cramping violently. I did not tell Clara about my stomach cancer because I did not want her to worry. To think that I had even tried to tiptoe around the issue of her pregnancy by asking, "Do you want a boy or a girl?"She was silent for a long time before replying hoarsely that she had never given any thought to the question. I guess it was because the baby she was thinking about was not mine.Zayn caught sight of me from the corner of his eye, and he smiled maliciously. "Clara, you know what a proud person Eric Miller is. He won't let me get away with this if he finds out that you're having my baby. A-Are you willing to make our relationship and our baby legitimate?"I held my breath.

Chapter 5

The alley fell silent, and all we could hear was each other's breathing. Clara clutched her phone, looking surprised, and she frowned after that. "What medical report?"A medical report from four years ago…The memory of Zayn always talking about how his stomach hurt flashed in Clara's mind, and her brows furrowed deeper. "Is it Zayn's?"Her tone became deeper, and she sounded a little frustrated. "If there's nothing wrong stated in the report, just put it away."The person on the other end of the call was silent for a few seconds before speaking up again carefully, "No, it's not his, Ms. Hall. The name printed on the medical report is Eric Miller."The phone slipped through Clara's fingers and fell to the ground. The screen flickered several times before going black. A chill ran through Clara as she stood frozen where she was, and it took quite a while for her to slowly turn to stare right at me. "What did he mean? What's going on?"Clara's voice was hoarse, and she lost her com

Chapter 6

The doctor sighed, and he glanced emphatically at my thin, frail body. "Mr. Miller's health can be described as a complete mess. Long-term malnutrition has caused him to suffer from a serious case of anemia. I'm guessing his weight right now must be frighteningly light."He has suffered a fracture on his left rib, and because he did not get it treated in time, his bones had healed at a wrong angle, causing him to suffer intense neuralgia during rainy days."Clara clenched her fists, and her breathing became heavy and erratic."Also…" The doctor hesitated and glanced at Clara before saying truthfully, "Mr. Miller had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer four years ago. As he had been overexerted physically and starved constantly in the past four years without any treatment, his cancer cells have spread all over his body."The room became silent, with only the beeping from the monitor.My eyes started to fill with tears after hearing what the doctor said. Four years were equal to

Chapter 7

When Zayn saw that it was me lying in bed, his carefully groomed face contorted into an ugly expression, and he yelled shrilly, "Eric Miller?! Why aren't you dead yet?!"He dashed toward me and pointed at my nose as he shouted, "You humiliated me four years ago because you were jealous that Clara was pregnant with my baby. You caused her to suffer a miscarriage, and you still refuse to let us be."Haven't you always said how much you hate a third party? Just look at yourself right now. How disgusting can you be?"I did not even look up at him when he distorted the truth with his shouting. When Zayn realized that I was ignoring him, he took out his phone angrily and kept taking pictures of my sickly face. "I'm sharing your pictures with the paparazzi right now and showing the whole of Graymore how the once great Eric Miller has fallen to become a gigolo who seduces another man's wife!"Before he could finish, Clara slapped him so hard that Zayn was stunned. His phone fell to the g

Chapter 8

Clara had to attend a meeting she could not cancel that day, and the security at the villa had slightly relaxed that day.I had no idea how Zayn managed to bribe the help to sneak into the villa, but he appeared looking haggard with reddened eyes while clutching a bottle, and was acting completely crazy. "This is all your fault, Eric! If you refuse to let me live a good life, we'll die together!"He opened the bottle and a strong chemical scent filled the air. Zayn screamed and splashed the bottle of highly concentrated acid into my face.The villa's door was kicked down at the crucial moment, and Clara dashed in like an angry beast to push Zayn to the side. The acid fell onto the carpet, burning a dark hole in it, with white smoke wisping in the air as the carpet sizzled.Zayn hugged his stomach and started screaming in pain after being kicked. "Clara, my stomach… It hurts…""Your stomach hurts?" Clara sneered as she took out a medical report and a thick stack of pictures taken

Chapter 9

I bought a train ticket to a town far away by the sea. Unlike Graymore, the breeze was gentle and always brought a scent of the salty sea with it. I used what little money I had left to rent a cheap apartment, and I worked part-time while I learnt to paint.Even though my fingers were damaged and my paintings always had crooked lines, I felt freedom every time I held a paintbrush in my hand.I could paint all sorts of lines and images on the paper, and paint how I saw the world with my eyes without any limitations.When I was working at the convenience store, I met Melody Simmons.The store supervisor had accidentally broken a bottle of expensive red wine that day, and he tried to push the blame on me by pointing at my nose and yelling at me. He wanted me to pay for the thousand-dollar bottle of wine.I stood in the mess and was unable to defend myself, but a fair, slender hand reached out with a black card. "I'll buy that bottle." Melody was wearing an expensive-looking coat an

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