Category: English

Three years after my death, Julian finally started going on blind dates. But he brought our kid to every single one, and he couldn’t go three sentences without talking about baby purees. I was so annoyed. I decided to make some noise to give him a good scare. Instead, my daughter pointed a chubby finger at me and blinked. “Daddy, over there, there’s a…” Before she could finish, Julian peeled a shrimp, popped it into her mouth, and stared straight ahead. “There’s nothing over there.” 01 Huh? Was there something around me? I looked left and right, but there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Forget it. I slowly drifted closer to them. Just in time to see Julian take off the wedding band from his left ring finger and slip it into his pocket. Good. He finally remembered he was here for a blind date. After all, no one likes a guy who’s still hung up on his dead ex-wife. I floated around our daughter, Mia, and made a bunch of ugly faces at Julian, but neither of them reacted. Looks like they really couldn’t see me. So, I just plopped down in the empty seat right next to the woman sitting across from him. She seemed pretty satisfied with Julian, a polite smile playing on her lips. “I can accept the child. But in return, I’ll need some… compensations outlined in the prenuptial agreement.” Honestly, aside from having a kid, Julian was a massive catch. The sole heir to the combined Vance and Sterling corporate empires. Six-foot-two, broad shoulders, narrow waist—handsome in a dark, slightly arrogant, intellectual kind of way. When we were kids, I used to pull my punches when we fought just because of that face, leaving only a few bruises on his back instead of giving him a black eye. Julian finished peeling the last shrimp and dropped it into Mia’s bowl. Then, he slowly and methodically wiped his hands with a napkin, his tone completely indifferent. “No problem.” “But I sleep hugging my late wife’s urn every night, and I spend three hours every Sunday purifying myself to honor her memory. Oh, right, and you can’t wear white. It’s bad luck.” The woman fell dead silent. Her eyes drifted down to the crisp white dress shirt Julian was wearing under his suit jacket. She gritted her teeth. “So, what color is your shirt? A kaleidoscopic white?” She had too much class. If it were me, I would have already started throwing sarcastic daggers. Julian looked mildly surprised. “Oh, this is white? My apologies. I’m colorblind.” Ha. What a load of crap. Finally, the woman reached her limit, grabbed her designer bag, and stormed out. Mia hopped down from her chair and waved her little hand like a pro. “Bye-bye, lady! Grandma says Daddy’s head doesn’t work right.” 02 The date was a bust. Julian drove Mia home. In the car, Mia was full from dinner and dozing off in the backseat. I hovered over her, pretending to hold her in my arms. She was already five. She looked more and more like Julian every day, except for the shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth—she got those from me. It’s such a shame. I only got to be with her for two years. The space where my heart used to be felt incredibly empty. Ghosts can’t cry. It’s really annoying. I looked up and caught Julian’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He glanced at me, then quickly looked away, staring straight at the road. I drifted into the passenger seat up front, stretching lazily like I used to when I was alive. “You know, you’re getting up there in years. If you don’t find someone soon, by the time you’re old, nobody’s going to want you. Might as well use what little good looks you have left to marry yourself off.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the wedding band was back on the ring finger of his left hand. “Hah.” I leaned in for a closer look. “When we got those rings custom-made, you said this one was just ‘average.’ Why are you treating it like a precious treasure now?” “Heh, I guess as you get older, the only thing that stays tough is that stubborn mouth of yours.” As expected, no response. I was just talking to myself. Boring. When I was alive, bickering with Julian every day turned me into someone who loved a good argument. Now that I’m a ghost, being stuck in the living world by myself is incredibly dull. I gave up and just stared out the window at the passing scenery. Suddenly, I heard a very soft murmur from Julian: “You think I’m old?” I didn’t quite catch it, so I leaned in closer, curious. “What are you mumbling about? You sound like a buzzing mosquito.” Julian didn’t say another word, but the corners of his mouth twitched up into a fleeting smile. Weirdo. Just as it got quiet, Julian’s phone rang. It was a group voice call from a chat called “The Mia Protection Squad.” I came up with that name. When he answered, there were already four people on the line—my parents and his parents. “Julian, honey, how did the meeting go today?” The one asking was my mom. 03 The Vance and Sterling families were old friends, and our houses were close. So Julian and I grew up together. We were childhood sweethearts, technically. But we were the chaotic, fighting kind. If I climbed a tree, he’d kick the trunk. If he went swimming, I’d hide his towel. Basically, we grew up treating each other like sworn enemies. When we grew up and took over our respective family businesses, we constantly sabotaged each other in the corporate world, just to prove who was better. But somehow, our parents decided we needed to get married. Since we didn’t actively hate each other, we just went along with it. A year after we got married, Mia was born. Three years after we got married, I died. After I died, the weight of both the Vance and Sterling empires fell entirely onto Julian’s shoulders. He had four aging parents to care for, and a child to raise. He did a pretty damn good job. He didn’t use the opportunity to swallow up the Sterling Group, and he treated my parents and Mia incredibly well. So, he’s spent three years mourning me. That’s more than enough. My parents couldn’t bear to see him alone for the rest of his life. Plus, I had dropped a few hints in their dreams, so they recently started setting him up on blind dates. Sigh. People have to move forward. Even ghosts do. Julian let out a soft laugh, his tone gentle. “Mom, these things take time. I’m driving Mia home right now, so I’ve gotta go.” My mom sighed over the speaker. “You kids… alright, alright. Remember to bring Mia over for dinner next weekend.” Julian agreed and said nothing else. The parents chatted for a bit longer, and the call only ended when the car pulled into our gated community. Julian reached into the back seat, scooped Mia up, and rested her against his chest. As we walked, he patted her back gently, his voice softer than a summer breeze. “Little baby, we’re home. Let’s take a bath and go to sleep, okay?” I drifted behind him, watching Mia slowly peel her eyelids open. She’d had a great temperament since she was a baby. No crankiness when waking up. Maybe because both her parents were like sticks of dynamite, having a kid turned out to be like having a tiny fire extinguisher. “Daddy, Mommy is here.” Mia rubbed her eyes, trying her hardest to keep them open, but they drooped half-shut again. Julian didn’t break his stride. “Mm-hmm. Mommy is always here.” 04 The house looked exactly the same as it did three years ago. Nothing had changed. My favorite knick-knacks and plushies were exactly where I left them. My clothes still hung in the closet. Even the bedding in the master bedroom was a set I had picked out. Julian… was surprisingly sentimental. I floated nearby, listening to Julian read Mia a bedtime story. He was a lot better at it than he was three years ago. It didn’t take long for Mia to fall fast asleep. When she fell asleep, she was still clutching the cherry-print pajamas I bought her. My heart ached looking at her. I hopped onto the bed, lying down next to her, pretending to pull her into my arms. Why couldn’t I touch her? Being a ghost is so frustrating. I needed to ask Hades if there was any way, any spell, that would let me touch her just once. If it was a matter of money, that was no problem. Over the last few years, Julian and both sets of parents had burned a mountain of “hell money” for me. I used that cash to team up with some other rich ghost-girlfriends and started a real estate empire in the Underworld. I was practically the richest ghost down there now. The fact that I could come up to the living world and stay for a few days this time was only because I’d accumulated three years of good karma and spent an astronomical amount of spirit money for the privilege. It was just so I could see them one last time before I reincarnated. I didn’t stay by Mia’s side for too long. Ghosts carry a heavy aura of negative energy. It’s bad for the living, especially kids. So, I sneakily—well, openly, since no one could see me—drifted into the bathroom. Julian was taking a shower. Through the steamy mist, the water traced every sculpted line of muscle on his body, flushing his skin a faint pink. Three years hadn’t changed a thing. That body was still incredibly distracting. I audibly gulped. I looked at him from behind, from the side, and finally just floated right in front of him for a full frontal view. Julian leaned one hand against the wet tile, running the other through his dripping, dark hair. “Scarlett, you died way too early. We didn’t even get to finish trying everything in your 100 Ways to Spice Up the Shower manual.” He was smiling, staring dead-on in my direction, as if he were actually talking to me. My ghost-face turned burning hot. I instantly started cursing him out. “You shameless dog! I’ve been dead for three years! Can’t you leave me a shred of dignity? I’m asking you, can you?” After my rant, I floated right out of the bathroom. I definitely couldn’t keep watching that. Thinking back to when Julian and I were in bed together… Neither of us ever wanted to submit to the other. He would pin me down and demand I call him “Daddy.” I would bite his shoulder and demand he call me “Mistress.” To win the war of dominance, I specifically looked up that 100 Ways to Spice Up the Shower manual, determined to conquer him. I never expected it. That was the first time that bastard ever yielded to me. He praised my research skills to the high heavens. He even suggested I find manuals for the bedroom, the living room, the kitchen… Ugh, absolutely insufferable. 05 After Julian finished his shower, he half-lay in bed, reading a book called The Encyclopedia of Parenting. He rarely wore his glasses. But wearing them gave him a very “sophisticated villain” look. I floated next to him, staring at his face. He was still handsome, but it seemed like he had a few fine lines around the corners of his eyes now. “There’s actually a perk to being a ghost. Your appearance freezes at the age you died. So, I still look very young.” Saying this, I floated down and sat right on top of him, gazing down at his face. “Heh heh, which means you look a lot older than me now. You’re out of my league! How about that? I finally won!” Julian suddenly closed his book and took off his glasses. Then he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Scarlett, how could you be so cruel? In three years, you’ve only visited my dreams exactly once.” His voice sounded exhausted, like he was genuinely blaming me. He wasn’t wrong, though. I had only visited his dreams once. And that was to strictly lay down the law: he had to mourn me, properly, for at least three years. He had looked thoughtful, then smiled with red-rimmed eyes. “And if I moved on immediately, would you get so mad you’d come back to life?” Without a second thought, I beat the absolute crap out of him in that dream. I never visited his dreams again after that. Thinking about it, I muttered to myself. “Wasn’t it because I was afraid my charm was too overpowering? If I visited your dreams too often, you’d never be able to move on.” “After all, I, Scarlett Sterling, might not be the most beautiful woman in the world, but I’m definitely top-tier in the state. Back then, the line of guys wanting to marry me could wrap around the earth three times. I only picked you because I thought you’d be easy to bully.” As I spoke, I leaned close to his face, making a pinching motion at his cheek. “Get it?” He suddenly opened his eyes, looking directly at where I was hovering. He let out a soft, low chuckle. “Oh? You really think you’re that irresistible?” 06 My heart gave two violent thumps—if I still had a beating heart, that is. Could Julian actually see me? But if the Day Patroller gods found out a mortal could see me, they’d deport me back to the Underworld immediately. All this effort would have been for nothing. But the next second, Julian said, “Are you tired of hanging on the wall for three years? Want me to swap you out for someone else?” It was only then I realized he was talking to the massive wedding portrait hanging on the wall behind me. In the photo, I was forcing a fake smile, while Julian had a faint, genuine smirk. Instantly, I was furious. “Oh, I see how it is! You’ve wanted to find a new wife this whole time, huh? It’s just that none of your blind dates were good enough for you!” But as soon as the words left my mouth, I felt like a crazy person. I was the one who asked our parents to set him up. I was the one who wanted him to find a new partner. Yet, hearing him say it still made my chest ache. I was conflicted enough when I was alive; why was my ghost-brain still fighting with itself? So annoying. I was so annoyed I made a series of grotesque ghost faces at Julian. I even morphed my face to mimic the gruesome state I was in when I died, trying to scare him. Julian suddenly stopped looking at the wedding portrait and buried his face back in his book. Perfect timing—his phone rang. I glanced at the screen. It was Liam calling. He was a friend we grew up with. He had a gentle personality. When we were kids, he’d always try to break up Julian and my fights, and somehow, he always ended up catching the most stray punches. Julian answered, and Liam’s familiar, warm voice came through. “Jules, a friend recommended a highly respected psychiatrist. You should bring your meds and—” He was cut off before he could finish. “Busy. Hanging up.” Julian ended the call abruptly. I floated there, stunned for a moment, a single question circling my mind: Why does Julian need to see a psychiatrist? After spinning in circles for a while, I decided to go into Liam’s dreams and ask him. Knowing Julian’s personality, even if I visited his dreams and asked him directly, he would absolutely lie just to save face. 07 Liam told me that Julian had developed severe PTSD and clinical depression. He had to take massive doses of medication every night just to fall asleep. I was shocked. But thinking back on the details, it made tragic sense. After all, Julian had witnessed a brutal murder. He watched me die right in front of him. Any normal person would have psychological trauma from that. But he had always acted so casual, so flippant. He hid it so well that everyone just ignored the possibility. Liam also mentioned that Julian was planning to kill himself as soon as Mia grew up and became independent. I fell completely silent. That was absolutely not going to happen. So, I made a quick trip back to the Underworld and begged Hades to let me borrow something. 08 I was determined to find a reliable partner for Julian. So, after returning to the living world, I spent days observing Julian. And Maya. Maya was my secretary when I was alive. She had just been hired full-time when she and I were attacked together. Then, I, the boss, died, and Julian took over the company. Right now, she was in the executive lounge, playing with a toy BBQ set with Mia. “Your daddy’s meeting is almost over. Just wait a little longer, okay?” Saying this, she pulled a small box from her pocket. She opened it to reveal a beautiful jade pendant. It looked expensive. It probably cost her several months’ salary. Maya slipped the pendant around Mia’s neck and tucked it under her shirt. “Wishing little Mia a lifetime of peace and safety.” Even though Mia didn’t understand the value of the jade, she politely said, “Thank you, Ms. Maya.” Then she asked quietly, “Ms. Maya, can I hug you?” Maya froze for a second, then slightly opened her arms. Mia immediately threw herself into Maya’s arms, pressing her ear against her chest. “It’s beating so fast!” Maya’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. At that exact moment, the lounge door opened, and Julian walked in. “Sorry for the trouble.” “I heard Apex Corp is trying to poach you? If the position and salary are right, you should consider it. I told you a long time ago, you don’t need to stay at Vance Enterprises out of gratitude or guilt.” …How could this guy speak so coldly? Maya stood up, ramrod straight, and replied: “Understood, Mr. Vance. I know.” Julian nodded and started packing up Mia’s things. Maya watched his back, muttering softly, “Actually, it’s not entirely because of that…” She liked Julian, but for complex reasons, she didn’t dare say it. I could see it clearly. I had been observing her from every angle these past few days. Not only was she still excellent at her job, but she also knew Julian’s personal preferences. She knew he only took half a spoonful of sugar in his coffee, she knew he preferred dark-colored ties… Most importantly, she was incredibly sweet to Mia, and it came from a genuine place. Furthermore, she had my heart beating inside her chest. And Julian really needed to let go of his feelings for me and live a good life. Sigh. Looks like I have to handle this myself. I slowly pulled out a red string. This was the Red Thread of Fate. Once tied, Julian would forget his romantic feelings for me and fall in love with Maya. 09 I tied one end of the red string around Maya’s wrist. Then I floated over to Julian, ready to tie the other end. But my hands hesitated. I hovered there for a long time. Just as I finally steeled myself and was about to loop the string around his wrist, I heard him ask Maya: “How are the preparations for our wedding venue coming along?” Their wedding venue? What did that mean? Did this mean they didn’t need the red string? They were already engaged? Startled, the red string slipped from my ethereal fingers. I didn’t manage to tie it. Maya immediately replied: “We’re currently at 100% completion. It matches the traditional style you requested perfectly. The 3D renderings and the promotional rollout plan are already on your desk…” … Oh. They were talking about a corporate project. I rolled my invisible eyes and prepared to try tying the string on Julian again. But he happened to turn around, scooped Mia up, and walked out of the lounge. So I grabbed a handful of empty air. And because the two of them were no longer in the same room, I couldn’t successfully tie the knot. I chased after Julian furiously, yelling at him: “Ahhh! I was so close! You were this close to forgetting me, you jerk!” His footsteps inexplicably faltered for a second, but then he kept walking. I was just about to keep yelling when my ears were assaulted by an ear-piercing ringtone. “Hades wants your soul! Hades wants your soul!” Yes, we have Wi-Fi in the Underworld, and ghosts have smartphones. I nervously pulled my phone out of thin air. As soon as I answered, the roar from the other end nearly blew my eardrums out. “Are you done with your living-world business yet?! I went through hell to steal this Red Thread from Cupid’s pocket! Use it quickly before he notices!” “Your three-year death anniversary is in a few days! If you pass the three-year mark, not only can you not reincarnate, your soul will completely dissipate! Stop stalling! Also! You have a mandatory medical checkup the day after tomorrow. You must come back!” I held the phone away from my ear, nodding furiously. “Yes, yes, I’m almost done! I promise! I guarantee I’ll be back the day after tomorrow!” After finally hanging up, I sighed. “How am I supposed to leave without worrying?” I floated anxious circles around Julian and Mia. Finally, I muttered to myself: “No way. I have to visit his dreams tonight and give him a serious talking-to.”

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On the bullet train, a guy with an incredibly clean-cut, handsome vibe sat next to me. Just before I got off, as I was putting on my backpack, he suddenly asked: “Are you still in college? Which school do you go to?” I gave a slight smirk and casually bragged: “Yeah, Columbia University.” The handsome guy’s eyes lit up: “I can give you a ride. It’s on my way. I’m a professor at Columbia.” I froze. Don’t they say you can invent whatever identity you want when you travel? Did he just invent his identity too? I crossed my arms and forced a polite smile: “No thanks, Professor. I’m going to NYU first to meet my boyfriend.” The handsome professor was silent for two seconds, then nodded seriously: “That’s even more on my way. I’m picking someone up at NYU too.” 1 I stood frozen in place, my smile almost slipping off my face. I finally gathered the courage to act a little unhinged, and the universe decided to smack me right back. How could he be a professor? He looked younger than me, and his hairline was flawless. Seeing my dumbfounded expression, he gently pulled a card from his breast pocket. It was blue and white, clearly displaying his ID photo and name. Even on a standard ID photo, he looked more breathtaking than those heavily photoshopped influencers online. Clean vibe, nice name. His name was Liam Reed. Underneath the photo were two small words: Faculty. Goddammit, it seemed his identity wasn’t invented at all. I averted my gaze and nodded, bracing myself: “Well… sorry to trouble you then, Professor Reed.” He gave me a warm, gentle smile and stood up, his tall shadow enveloping me. Long legs, narrow waist, perfect posture—but I was in no mood to drool. When we got off the train, he intentionally walked beside me, thoughtfully reminding me not to get lost in the crowd. His car was parked right at the station—a sleek, understated black Audi A8. The interior was spotless, with a faint, crisp, clean scent in the air. It smelled so good that when he wasn’t looking, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath. I didn’t say a single word the whole ride, terrified he would ask me more questions. I was actually a seasoned corporate drone who had been in the workforce for years. I only got mistaken for a college student because I still dressed like one. And stupidly, my big mouth just had to pretend to be a Columbia overachiever. I just wanted to leave a memorable impression on a handsome guy during a train ride. Now, this was going to be more memorable for me than for him. The car was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat. Liam focused on driving, his tone as natural as if he were dropping off one of his own students: “Which department are you in? What year?” My back stiffened. My brain went into overdrive as I stubbornly kept up the lie: “…Just, uh, regular liberal arts. Senior year.” “I feel so bad making you go out of your way to drop me off. Could you just let me off at the subway station?” He smiled faintly: “It’s on my way. It’s only right for a professor to give a student a ride.” I quietly crumbled inside, burying my head even lower. It might be on your way, but it’s not on mine. The direction I needed to go was the complete opposite of Columbia. Thinking about how I’d have to miserably take the subway all the way across the city later… I wanted to slap my past bragging self in the face. Liam kept his eyes on the road. The sleeves of his dress shirt were casually rolled up to his forearms. His side profile was ridiculously handsome. But I had no mind to admire it; all I could think about was getting out of this car as soon as possible. He suddenly spoke up again: “Aren’t you afraid I’m a fake and I’m going to kidnap you?” 2 Wait, that was actually a possibility. Why did I just blindly get into his car earlier? This was way too dangerous! I suddenly gripped my seatbelt tightly, looked at him nervously, and asked: “Would… would you?” He laughed out loud. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled in a way that was incredibly attractive. “I wouldn’t. My identity is 100% real. You can look me up online.” Since he said that, I decided to actually look him up. I looked down at my phone, searched his name and the university, and his photo actually popped up. In the photo, he was wearing a crisp white dress shirt, standing in front of a campus building. High nose bridge, sharp jawline—not aggressive, but exceptionally good-looking. His eyes and his smile in the photo were exactly the same as the man sitting next to me. The article detailed the various academic achievements he had accomplished at such a young age. I was absolutely stunned reading it. My fingertip hovered over the screen, and it took me a long time to snap back to reality. When I looked up at him again, my heart skipped a beat. He smiled warmly, turning his head to glance at me, but the question he asked was completely devoid of warmth: “You’re a senior, so you’ve already started writing your thesis, right? What topic did you choose?” I felt like my heart had leaped into my throat. My brain short-circuited, going completely blank. Senior? Thesis? Why did I say I was a senior?! How was I supposed to know what topic to pick? I had completely forgotten what my own college thesis was even about. My brain spun at lightning speed, and I stammered for a good while. I haltingly recited the topic of my actual thesis from years ago: “That… the emotional narrative and… audience psychology of… shipping TV couples.” As soon as the words left my mouth, my face turned bright red. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t do anything productive in college except obsess over fictional ships. The hand Liam used to grip the steering wheel paused for a half-second. He turned his head to look at me again, a very faint smile dancing in his eyes. “TV couples? I actually dabble in that area. I could give you some guidance…” I was completely dumbfounded. Thank God the car was already approaching the NYU campus gates. I was practically steaming with anxiety and quickly interrupted him: “Professor Reed, you can just pull over up ahead! My boyfriend should be waiting for me at the gate. I can walk over myself!” He spoke at a leisurely pace: “It’s fine. I’m actually early. I’ll wait until I see your boyfriend pick you up before I leave.” 3 Help. I couldn’t sit still anymore. In broad daylight, where was I going to produce a living, breathing boyfriend to pick me up? Suddenly, I thought of a specific useless man and furiously texted him. “Come to the NYU gate and pick me up. You have FIVE MINUTES! I’ll cover for you at the next family gathering when they bug you about getting married!” Thank goodness my younger uncle owned a vet clinic nearby. It would only take him five minutes to run over. He was only three years older than me; pretending to be my boyfriend shouldn’t be a problem. At that moment, Liam smoothly pulled the car over a short distance from the NYU gate. He patiently turned off the engine. His long, elegant fingers tapped rhythmically against the steering wheel. He even thoughtfully inquired about my “boyfriend’s” studies: “What is your boyfriend majoring in? I might know his advisor.” God, what did my boyfriend major in? God is too clueless, he can’t read minds. I hemmed and hawed for a while, and finally beautified my uncle’s veterinary degree. “Oh, he’s in pre-med.” Liam nodded thoughtfully and said evenly: “That’s very demanding, but he has a bright future.” I let out two dry laughs and didn’t continue the conversation, silently praying for my uncle to appear quickly. Fortunately, he didn’t bring up any more academic topics after that. He just casually asked about my life, acting exactly like a caring, fatherly figure. Adhering to the principle of “the more you say, the more mistakes you make,” I kept my answers as brief as possible. But perhaps because my responses were too cold, Liam’s expression cooled down a bit too. Finally, my uncle appeared. It was literally just a few minutes’ walk, yet he insisted on driving his flashy, obnoxious sports car. He revved the engine and slid to a stop by the curb. The window rolled down, revealing a face topped with blinding, bleached-blonde hair. The clothes he was wearing looked like they were stolen from a homeless shelter, ripped and tattered. I was instantly stunned. I hadn’t seen him in a month. How did he turn himself into this? I shot a mortified glance at Liam. My face was burning; it was so embarrassing. But I couldn’t care about that now. I grabbed the door handle, ready to make my escape. “Um, Professor Reed, my boyfriend is here. I’ll be going now.” But he unhurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. His tone was very calm: “As a professor, I need to see you safely into the car.” As the door opened, the wind blowing in felt chilly. 4 Liam followed me to my uncle’s car. Only when I got closer did I realize there was a woman sitting in the passenger seat, sporting an equally eye-searing look. Heavy smoky eye makeup, hair as messy as a bird’s nest. It was my fault for not explaining things clearly to my uncle earlier. This was definitely his new girlfriend. I didn’t have time to care about all that. I bit the bullet and whined to my uncle: “Babe, what took you so long? You made the professor wait with me.” The usual slacker look on my uncle’s face was instantly replaced by terror. He stared at me wide-eyed. I frantically winked and gestured at him with my chin. He instantly understood. But the next second, he received a hard slap on his right cheek. From the woman sitting next to him. “Tyler! You better explain this right now…” She was on the verge of exploding. Tyler quickly covered her mouth. He muttered a few words in her ear, and she finally glared at him and calmed down. I turned around, giving a forced smile as I introduced them to Liam: “Haha, Professor Reed, this is my boyfriend, and… his sister!” Liam paused slightly: “Your boyfriend and his sister… they have quite a unique style.” I continued my forced laughter: “Yeah, their whole family is just so trendy!” Liam’s gaze had been resting on Tyler the whole time, but suddenly he turned back to look at me. His gaze was the kind of shallow, faint look that said, “I don’t understand, but I respect it.” I quickly said goodbye to him: “Professor Reed, thank you for the ride. I’m getting in the car now. Bye.” He didn’t speak, just watched me quietly. His stare gave me the creeps. Just as I turned around, his voice sounded: “How are you going to get in?” I turned back, looking at him in confusion. He smiled warmly and glanced at Tyler’s sports car. Only then did I remember. Tyler’s damn car only has two seats! I glared fiercely at Tyler. He finally realized it too, and muttered a few more words to the woman in the passenger seat. The woman got out of the car looking extremely annoyed, finally freeing up the passenger seat. I lifted my foot, about to get in, when Liam’s clear, calm voice drifted over again. “Aren’t we going to add each other on WeChat? Chloe, we should keep in touch.” I stared blankly at Liam. Growing up, I had never been chased down so relentlessly by a teacher. The words of refusal were on the tip of my tongue, but meeting his smiling eyes… I couldn’t say it. I frantically pulled out my phone, added his WeChat, and then shrank into the car. The moment the car pulled away, Tyler flashed a huge grin and waved at Liam. “Bye, Professor Reed!” 5 I finally let out a sigh of relief. I told Tyler the whole story, and he laughed so hard he couldn’t hold the steering wheel straight. I then asked him why he was dressed like that. He said he was really into the “visual kei” aesthetic recently. Just as the car turned a corner, he slammed on the brakes. “Get out. Remember you owe me one again.” I was shocked: “You bastard, you’re not going to drive me home?” He rolled his eyes at me: “That’s an extra charge. Taking you home costs 20 bucks.” “I’m your niece!” I yelled. His eyes lit up: “Oh wow, I forgot about that! Then it’s 50 bucks!” I slammed his car door and got out, maintaining my dignity. He also showed zero respect and sped off. After all that drama, I had no desire to squeeze onto the subway anymore. So I ordered an Uber. But I waited a long time before a notification finally popped up saying a driver had accepted the ride—and it was an Uber Pool. I glanced at the car model and my eyelid twitched violently. It was another Audi A8. I muttered to myself, today I really had some bad karma with this car model. But it was already rush hour, and it was hard to get a ride, so I couldn’t be picky. After waiting by the curb for a while, a black sedan slowly pulled up. I opened the door, and a faint, crisp, clean scent wafted over me. It felt somewhat familiar, but I didn’t think much of it. Without even looking up, I casually gave my address. After I spoke, the car still didn’t start. Confused, I looked up toward the driver’s seat. That one look almost scared my soul out of my body. Liam was sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat, his fingertips resting on the steering wheel, his posture relaxed. He looked at me through the rearview mirror, a warm smile on his face. “What a coincidence, Chloe. Where’s your boyfriend?” My entire body instantly went rigid, my tongue tying itself in knots: “P-Professor Reed, why is it you…” He gripped the steering wheel, a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips: “My side hustle. Is that a problem?” “What about you? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?” I clutched my backpack tightly, answering blankly: “Oh, no. I had an emergency at home and needed to go back. He still has class.” Liam let out a low chuckle, started the car, and smoothly merged into traffic. “I see. He drives such a flashy sports car, but he didn’t even offer to drop you off.” I forced a bitter smile: “He’s pre-med. Kinda busy.” He didn’t press further, focusing on driving, his voice soft: “Then sit tight. I’ll take you home.” I was still shaken, and instinctively blurted out: “Professor, weren’t you supposed to pick someone up? Should I just get another Uber!?” 6 Liam, of course, rejected my proposal. He said he got stood up, was heading home anyway, and just conveniently picked up an Uber Pool ride along the way. I was completely speechless. As long as he didn’t talk to me about Columbia, I’d gladly sit on his lap and let him drive me home. So, to avoid awkward small talk on the way, I simply leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep. But I didn’t expect to actually fall dead asleep. I really wanted to beg myself to be better. When I opened my eyes again, the car had stopped. We were in an underground parking garage. “We’re here. You can get out.” I groggily replied with a “Mhm”: “Thank you.” Then I opened the door and got out. Suddenly, I jolted awake. Wait, that’s not right. Why did he drive into the underground garage? I turned around and saw Liam had turned off the engine and was getting out of the car with me. My footsteps faltered, and I looked back at him in confusion: “Professor Reed… you really don’t have to. Dropping me off here is fine. I can go up by myself.” I was genuinely panicking. No matter how handsome he was, he couldn’t be a creep stalking a beautiful girl, right? He smoothly locked the car, his gaze sweeping coolly over the garage. The expression on his face remained gentle as jade, his tone utterly natural: “I didn’t say I was walking you up.” I froze for a moment. He looked up toward the elevator bank, a faint smile curving his lips: “My apartment is also in this complex.” My entire body stiffened in place, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. We drove halfway across New York to an apartment complex ridiculously far from Columbia. I never expected him to live here too. He looked at my shocked and disbelieving expression and let out a low chuckle. “I live in Building 7. You don’t live in Building 7 too, do you?” 7 I practically blurted out: “No, no, no, I live in Building 3!” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to slap myself. Why did I answer so eagerly? It made it seem like I was terrified of living in the same building as him. Liam’s footsteps paused, a playful glint in his eyes as he drawled: “Oh, what a shame. Since there have been so many coincidences today, I thought it might be even more of a coincidence.” I forced a calm smile: “It is… pretty coincidental.” So coincidental that if you wrote it in a novel, readers would complain it was too contrived. He didn’t reply, just walked with me to the elevator bank for Building 3. The lighting in the underground garage was a warm white, stretching his shadow out long. His shadow occasionally overlapped with mine, then separated. He was half a head taller than me; his gaze could easily sweep over the top of my head. I suddenly felt a knot in my stomach, remembering I hadn’t washed my hair during my two-day business trip. My scalp was definitely greasy and shiny. I subtly put a little more distance between us. He suddenly spoke up: “I didn’t expect you to live in a complex so far away either.” My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly tried to cover my tracks: “Yeah, yeah. We’re probably the only two people in the whole complex who commute from around Columbia.” As soon as I said that, I bit my tongue hard! I really asked for it. Why did I bring up Columbia again on my own initiative? He smiled leisurely: “True. In the future, I can give you a ride to school.” I quickly waved my hands: “No need to go through the trouble! I usually live on campus and rarely come home.” He nodded slightly, stopping in front of the Building 3 elevators, and pressed the button for me: “Go on up. Get some rest.” The elevator doors opened, and I practically fled inside. I turned around and waved at him: “You get some rest too. Good night.” He stood outside the doors, nodded slightly, and his thin lips moved again. “If you want to catch a ride to school, send me a WeChat message.” Absolutely not. The elevator doors slowly closed, cutting off his gaze. I let out a long exhale, my heart still pounding wildly. After getting home, I collapsed onto the sofa and, as if possessed, tapped into Liam’s WeChat profile. His profile picture was a bland landscape photo, the kind of picture older management types usually use. Scrolling through his posts, it was all shared articles—either academic updates or industry news. A uniform wall of content I couldn’t understand, like an old-school bureaucrat. Turns out he really was a bureaucrat. A young one now, an old one later. Normally, if I got the contact info of a guy this good-looking. I would absolutely swallow my pride and find a topic to chat him up. But today had been so awkward I could have curled my toes into diamonds. It was too much of a deterrent. My finger hovered over the screen for a long time, but eventually, I quietly closed the chat window. Please, let’s just stay dead in each other’s contact lists like this. Let’s never meet again, and please never think of me again. 8 But I still underestimated the cruel irony of fate. Two weeks later, my supervisor suddenly informed me I needed to help host a visiting scholar. Moving forward, we were going to collaborate on drafting a batch of important documents. I eagerly followed my supervisor downstairs to greet them. A black SUV pulled up smoothly to the lobby entrance. The car door slowly slid open. A pair of clean, long legs stepped out first. A crisp suit, broad shoulders, narrow waist—an elegant aura. I still had a standard, polite, professional smile plastered on my face as I raised my eyes. A fragile little girl died inside me. It was Liam. The moment he appeared, all the young women in the office were stunned, frozen in place. Then, they all collectively lowered their heads. Secretly cursing themselves for wearing the ugliest outfits in their closets to work today. I didn’t have to worry about that. After all, my closet didn’t contain anything that wasn’t ugly. The main issue was that someone who looked like Liam usually only appeared on TV. Who would have thought I’d run into him at my crappy 9-to-5? Liam, however, was completely composed. He reached out to shake my supervisor’s hand, his gaze lightly sweeping over the crowd in front of him. When his eyes landed on me, he paused slightly. Then, a very familiar, warm smile curved his lips. “Chloe, I didn’t expect to see you here too.” I kept my face stiff and used a breathless whisper that only he could hear to quickly spit out one word: “Internship.” My supervisor only heard Liam’s words and chuckled from the side: “Chloe, you know Professor Reed? Then you’ll be responsible for hosting him going forward.” “Professor Reed, you’ll have to show our Chloe the ropes.” I stood rooted to the spot, the corner of my mouth twitching violently. The professional fake smile on my face was barely holding on. I had no choice but to bite the bullet and nod: “Yes, boss. I’ll definitely take good care of Professor Reed.” I figured it out. Ever since I met Liam, I was constantly biting the bullet. If this kept up, I’d develop a skull of steel. Liam stood to the side, holding his briefcase, an unfathomable smile hidden in his eyes. “Chloe must be very reliable at her job, considering she’s from Colum—” My scalp instantly went numb.

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The guys in my class mocked my chest, calling me “Double-D Dave.” Even my best friend didn’t hesitate to distance herself from me. She blinked her innocent, doe-like eyes: “But a lot of girls with big chests aren’t decent, you know? “And you dressing like that… you’re doing it on purpose to seduce guys, aren’t you?” But, during my most vengeful year, I actually ended up seducing the school’s top student, the guy she had a massive crush on. 01 Right before P.E. class. I slumped over my desk, looking dead inside as I spoke to the P.E. rep: “Stomach cramps… write me a pass.” I waited until everyone had left the classroom before dropping my hand from my stomach and sitting up straight, my face expressionless. I hate P.E. I hate the sticky wind, the gross sweat, and most of all, the lingering, predatory stares. In our last P.E. class, we were doing 50-meter sprints. After I crossed the finish line, a few guys by the track were staring right at me. The ringleader, Chad, nudged the guy next to him with his elbow: “Did you see Double-D Dave bouncing when she ran? “What do you call that, the jiggle physics?” He didn’t bother lowering his voice; he spoke just loud enough for me to hear. Almost instinctively, I hunched my shoulders and slouched. I was a late bloomer. When puberty finally hit, it hit fast and hard. After I developed, I lost my actual name. “Double-D Dave” became my new alias. During every passing period, Chad and his crew would huddle together. They’d look me up and down while cracking crude jokes. They’d say breasts only get that big from being touched, that girls with big chests are all sluts… These words rushed into my heart like a howling wind, telling me that having a large chest meant being promiscuous, dirty, and indecent. I hated these two massive lumps of flesh on my chest, and I hated that piece of trash, Chad, even more. I wanted so badly to march over and confront him loudly, but the topic inherently carried a deep sense of shame, making it impossible for me to speak up. I could only look toward the group of girls sitting by the track, desperate to fit in. But they silently averted their eyes. To them, I was the sacrificial lamb thrown out of the flock. As long as I was drawing the fire, the rest of the sheep were temporarily safe. I wasn’t ready to give up. I waved at a girl with pigtails in the group: “Chloe! Do you want to partner up with me for sit-ups later?” Seeing this, a guy mocked: “Hanging out with Double-D Dave? Be careful, you might catch the Double-Ds too.” Chad answered: “It’s possible. Birds of a feather flock together, and big boobs gather together, right?” They burst into a roar of laughter. Hearing this, Chloe looked embarrassed and quickly said: “No way! Maya and I are not best friends! “I’m never going to turn out like her!” Chloe had transferred here six months ago. Because her voice naturally had a high, breathy pitch that sounded a bit fake, she didn’t fit in at first. When she was being excluded, I was the one who took the initiative to befriend her, went to the cafeteria with her, and helped her integrate into the group. We used to pass notes while the teacher was writing on the board, share teenage secrets, and exchange knowing smiles. Back then, her eyes sparkled as she told me: “You’re my best friend.” But now, she didn’t hesitate to draw a line between us. I was completely isolated. I lowered my eyelashes, turned around, and went to the equipment room to get a dumbbell plate to hold down my feet for sit-ups. As I bent over, I heard a collective gasp from behind me. Someone said regretfully: “It sucks we can’t bring phones to P.E. Otherwise I’d have Chad snap a pic, that would be totally hot…” “Cut the crap,” Chad interrupted him. “Let’s go do pull-ups.” 02 Walking through the empty classroom, I stopped in front of Chad’s desk. Chad was the AP Physics representative. On the surface, he was upbeat, got good grades, and was well-liked by the teachers. But behind closed doors, he was an absolute piece of trash. I dug out a piece of scratch paper from his desk cubby. Written on it was: “Junior Year Class 3 Big Boob Ranking.” The very first line glared at me: “Maya Lin, D+.” I fought the urge to rip that paper to shreds, pulled out my phone, and took a picture to save as evidence. Then, I pulled Chad’s phone out of his cubby. The screen lit up, revealing his lock screen photo. The photo was a side profile of a girl standing in front of a bookshelf in the library. The angle of the photo was weird, giving off a subtle, unsettling vibe—like someone was hiding behind a bookcase, shooting upwards from a low angle… In the frame, a girl in her school uniform skirt was on her tiptoes, reaching for a book on a high shelf. From that low-angle perspective, the hem of her uniform top rode up, exposing a sliver of snow-white waist and the bottom edge of a light purple bra. It was an upskirt photo. I wasn’t hearing things—that piece of trash Chad really was taking creepshots! I gritted my teeth, my chest heaving violently. When was this photo taken? Who had seen it? Were there more explicit photos besides this one? Anger, disgust, shame, terror… a torrential flood of intense emotions washed over my nerves. It was so disgusting! Trash! Trash! Chad was a disgusting, perverted creep! Fighting down the urge to vomit, I took a picture of the lock screen and then tried to unlock the phone. I knew that to completely ruin Chad’s reputation, this evidence alone wasn’t enough. Over the past few days, I had been paying attention to his unlock pattern; I should be able to figure it out. However, I tried many times, and the screen only displayed two words: “Incorrect Password.” Did Chad change his passcode? Frustrated, I shoved his phone into my pocket. I pulled out Chad’s textbooks and workbooks and, on the cover of each one, used a red Sharpie to fiercely scrawl the words: “Go to hell, pervert.” 03 P.E. was the last period of the day. The dismissal bell rang. I shoved Chad’s books back into his desk, shouldered my backpack, and prepared to head home. At the turn of the stairs, I bumped into someone—Chloe. She had just come from P.E., yet she had already put on her jacket and was sweating profusely from the heat. When she saw me, her innocent, doe-like eyes flickered, as if she wanted to say something. But I didn’t give her the chance to speak. I kept my face completely blank and walked straight past her. From the moment she drew a line between us, she became a traitor. While I despised trash like Chad, Chloe’s betrayal hurt even more. I was only plotting revenge against Chad; not seeking revenge against Chloe was the greatest mercy I could offer to our past friendship. … I live in a low-income neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. After my parents died in an accident, my grandmother and I scraped by on the insurance payout, living very frugally. Although the neighborhood is run-down and dirty, the rent is cheap and it’s close to the school. I turned my key in the lock: “Grandma?” I didn’t find my grandmother. Instead, I saw a greasy, overweight, middle-aged man walking out of the kitchen. The landlord, who had let himself in uninvited, had half a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He jingled a large ring of keys in his hand: “I told your grandma I was coming to check the gas meter today.” After checking the meter, the landlord swaggered toward the door. Before stepping out, his gaze swept over my chest: “In the blink of an eye, the little girl has grown up. “Girls really do blossom when they hit eighteen.” That kind of gaze was sickeningly familiar. It felt like a brazen tongue licking my skin, giving me goosebumps all over. I immediately and warily pulled my jacket tight across my chest. I had seen the landlord affectionately hug his young son; I had seen him look at his wife with eyes full of love. Did his wife and son know he would look at a young girl with such unbridled lust? A second ago, he was a good husband and a good father. Why, when facing me, did he reveal such a disgusting expression? After the landlord left, I leaned against the security door, hating this post-pubescent body for the millionth time. 04 The next morning. I slammed the snooze button on my alarm clock and forced my eyes open with sheer willpower. Yesterday, I took Chad’s phone. I stayed up half the night trying to guess the passcode, but I never managed to unlock it. Furious, I simply went into the class group chat’s photo album, found an ugly picture of Chad, and created a fake profile on Instagram pretending to be his parent. I posted his ugly picture and asked if he could be a child model. Right now, I opened Instagram. Seeing the comment section filled with mockery and insults, I finally felt satisfied enough to get out of bed. There was a hard-boiled egg on the dining table, and oatmeal was still warm on the stove. My grandmother had already left. Even at her age, she couldn’t sit still. She liked collecting cans and bottles to sell for recycling. I yawned and walked onto the familiar path. Passing by a narrow alley, I stopped. There was a stray calico cat in this alley that I called Mimi. I held a sausage, making clicking noises as I walked into the alley. Unlike before, there was an extra cardboard box in the alley. A hole had been cut into the box, and some old school uniform jackets were lining the inside—had some kind soul made a bed for Mimi? “Meow—” A faint meow came from the box. I leaned in, and my eyes widened—inside the box was a litter of tiny, colorful kittens. … I hummed a song, feeling a rare surge of joy as I walked into the classroom. Ever since I was singled out and isolated by Chad, I had become a warrior fueled entirely by hatred during an age supposed to be about innocent romance. I hated school, I hated morning assemblies, I hated P.E. class, and I hated my own body… But I will always love kittens. Kittens wouldn’t look at me with weird eyes because in their eyes, there was only sausage. I was just pondering how to get some extra nutrition for Mimi, who had just given birth, when I suddenly realized the classroom was exceptionally quiet. I looked up in confusion and saw many of my classmates staring at me with bizarre expressions. Someone said: “Maya, the homeroom teacher wants to see you in his office.” 05 I pushed open the door to the teacher’s office. Our middle-aged, balding homeroom teacher, Mr. Harris, was rubbing his receding hairline, looking deeply troubled. Chad was standing opposite him. Seeing me enter, Chad immediately pointed at me: “Mr. Harris, yesterday Maya was the only one who didn’t go to the last period, which was P.E. “She definitely stole it!” Knowing I held evidence of his creepshots, Chad actually had the audacity to complain? Looking at Chad’s face full of resentment, I put on a sweet smile: “Oh? Why don’t you tell me, what exactly did I steal? “Chad, what kind of shady things were you hiding?” Since I dared to take Chad’s phone and scribble all over his books, I wasn’t afraid of him making a scene. If he didn’t make a scene, he’d have to swallow a bitter pill and explain to the teachers why he couldn’t hand in his assignments. If he really dared to bring it up to the teacher and accuse me of stealing his phone, then I would confront him and force him to unlock his phone right there. Chad stared at me, a smile I couldn’t decipher on his lips: “Earlier, the physics teacher had me collect $500 for the new AP prep books. “The envelope with the money was in my desk cubby. “Now the money is gone, and you definitely stole it.” I was stunned. Prep book money? When I rummaged through his cubby yesterday, I didn’t see any envelope with money. I denied it loudly: “You’re lying. I didn’t steal any money!” Mr. Harris looked at me hesitantly: “The security camera system happens to be undergoing maintenance recently… “But besides Chad, there’s a witness who can prove you were the only one in the classroom yesterday afternoon.” Following his gaze, I saw Chloe sitting in the corner. Right now, Chloe was nervously wringing the hem of her shirt. Seeing everyone looking at her, she swallowed hard and said quietly: “I was the first one back to the classroom yesterday. “At that time… I ran into Maya as she was getting ready to leave. “Her expression was very unnatural, and she definitely had something stuffed in her pocket…” My brain went “BZZZZZZ—” 06 Chad and I went back and forth, almost getting into a physical fight right there in the office. He absolutely refused to mention his missing phone, sticking to his story that he only lost the $500 for the prep books. Mr. Harris couldn’t determine who was lying and decided to put the matter on hold for now. He said: “I’ll cover the cost of the prep books this time. But I will continue to investigate.” He looked at the two of us, his expression serious: “$500 is enough to get the police involved. “Within a month, if the student who took the money thinks it through, they can come to me privately and admit their mistake. “Don’t go down the wrong path.” Chad and Chloe left one after another. I was the only one left standing there. Mr. Harris asked: “Maya, is there anything else you need?” My heart was pounding like a drum. Should I tell this middle-aged man, who is supposed to be a role model, the truth about the whole thing? Last time, I pretended to casually mention to Mr. Harris that Chad was always staring at me and making nasty jokes. And what did Mr. Harris do? He laughed heartily and said teenage boys just like to attract girls’ attention like that. He said Chad was a bright, sunny kid with no bad intentions and told me not to take it to heart. He even said my weakness was Physics, and since Chad happened to excel at it, he told me to ask him for help more often. If I told Mr. Harris now that I suspected Chad took indecent photos of me, and that I stole his phone to preserve the evidence, would Mr. Harris really take my side? The landlord’s lecherous gaze flashed before my eyes, and the crude jokes of the guys echoed in my ears. I didn’t dare risk it. I lowered my head and heard my own voice: “No, I’m fine, Mr. Harris.” … The entire day, I was completely distracted. Chloe passed me a few notes, but I crumpled them up and threw them straight out the window. After school, the sky was covered in dark clouds, and it had already started pouring. I didn’t have an umbrella. Seeing my classmates leaving together under umbrellas, or having parents come pick them up, I could only continuously curse this world. The whole school was a piece of shit, everyone was garbage, and the dark clouds were just giant clumps of moldy cotton. “Maya!” Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind. 07 I turned my head and looked coldly at Chloe. She was holding a foldable umbrella, her round, doll-like face deliberately set in a serious expression. Back when Chloe first transferred here, she didn’t have an umbrella on a rainy day, and I was the one who took the initiative to share mine with her. This damn traitor. She really owed me a lot. I stared at the umbrella in Chloe’s hand, calculating the odds of snatching it and running. Chloe leaned in close and asked quietly: “Why did you throw away my notes?” I scoffed: “Because you’re a disgusting traitor. “You’d rather believe that piece of trash Chad than believe me. “I hate you guys to death.” Chloe’s eyes went wide: “You!” She stared at me, gritting her teeth: “Maya, you are truly beyond saving. “I saw you didn’t have an umbrella and wanted to walk you home. “Chad and the others were right! You used to deliberately wear a tight uniform to seduce guys, and now you’re actually stealing money!” As she spoke, Chloe’s eyes reddened: “Why can’t you have just a little bit of self-respect?” She was highly emotional, her voice becoming shrill. Classmates all around cast probing glances, making me feel like I had needles in my back. Chloe really was something—now, besides “Double-D Dave,” I had a new title: “Thief.” Hatred continued to breed in my heart. I wanted nothing more than to rip apart her babbling mouth. Traitor! Damn traitor! I was so angry I yelled: “Chloe, you’re full of shit!” Before she could react, I shoved Chloe hard. Caught off guard, she fell to the ground. The umbrella slipped from her grasp and rolled to the side. I took a large step forward, picked up her umbrella, chucked it right into the trash can, and then turned and bolted straight into the torrential rain. … The rain fell harder and harder. All I could hear was the sound of the rain and my own chaotic heartbeat. Passing by the alleyway, I stopped, hesitated for a moment, and still turned into it. In the downpour, the cardboard box holding the kittens had long been washed away. The box had practically been reduced to a mushy pulp by the water, leaving only a filthy mess on the ground. Where were the kittens? Where did that litter of kittens go? With rain this heavy, could newborn kittens survive? It was only then that my eyes finally started to sting with unshed tears. This damn world—trash guys slandering me, friends betraying me, teachers doubting me… Fate took my parents in a car crash on a rainy night, and now it wants to take the kittens too? I crouched in the pouring rain, hugging my knees, curling into a ball, and began trembling uncontrollably. Suddenly, the rain seemed to stop. A shadow fell over me. I looked up and saw a tall silhouette standing against the light. The person stood beside me, holding an umbrella. He asked gently: “Are you looking for the cats?”

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I was the unattainable first love of a Manhattan elite. When we reunited at my engagement dinner, I found out the man I was marrying was actually his brother. I forced a calm smile and greeted him, “Carter. It’s been a while.” “I’m about to be your sister-in-law.” Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, Carter dropped his cigarette and strode right up to me. “Sister-in-law?” He leaned in slightly, his lips brushing my ear. “Do you think becoming my sister-in-law wipes our slate clean?” 1 My engagement dinner with Nolan Davis was meant to be an intimate affair. We only invited our parents and a few important relatives from both sides. We planned to finalize the wedding details over a nice meal. If everything went according to plan, we would go to City Hall to get our marriage license this afternoon, hold the ceremony later, and officially become a family. It was all happening so fast that I felt a little dazed. Nolan, my soon-to-be husband, sat beside me, meticulously peeling shrimp for me. When our relatives teased him for spoiling his future wife, his ears turned red and he just offered a soft chuckle. He placed the peeled shrimp in a small bowl, casually pushed it in front of me, and even mixed a dipping sauce for me. In that moment, just like many times before, I felt so lucky to have met a man as good as him. I was just about to dip a shrimp into the sauce when the private dining room doors were violently shoved open from the outside. Every eye in the room darted toward the door, including mine. But the moment I saw who had walked in, I froze. A second later, I calmly averted my gaze and turned my head away. I heard Nolan’s father speak up. “Carter? What are you doing here?” My first thought was sheer confusion. Why did Mr. Sterling know Carter? Nolan’s family was well-off, sure, but compared to the Sterling family—an old-money dynasty that practically owned the city—they were miles apart. They shouldn’t even run in the same circles. “My son is getting engaged. How could I not be here? Right, Dad?” Carter placed a heavy, venomous emphasis on the word “Dad.” I couldn’t help but look up at Mr. Sterling. Looking closely, the two men actually did share a resemblance. He was Carter’s father? Then that made Nolan… Carter’s brother? After all these years, my life had come full circle, only for me to become my first love’s sister-in-law? It was absurd. While I was still drowning in this unacceptable reality, Mr. Sterling let out an awkward, nervous laugh. He quickly flagged down a waiter to add another chair. “Right, right, right. You should be here.” He was clearly terrified of Carter. The tone and posture he used to speak to him were painfully cautious. “Let me introduce everyone. This is my youngest son, Carter.” The waiter brought a chair, and Mr. Sterling patted the back of it, waving him over. “Carter, come sit.” But Carter was exactly the same as he was years ago. He didn’t give a damn about saving face for anyone. He stood rooted to the spot, his sharp gaze sweeping the room before locking dead onto me. With an unreadable emotion flashing in his eyes, Carter lifted his chin in my direction. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” My stomach dropped. Mr. Sterling opened his mouth to speak, but the man sitting quietly beside me suddenly stood up. Nolan placed a hand on my shoulder, looked at Carter, and said slowly, “Carter, this is my fiancée, Vivian Hayes.” I didn’t know if I was imagining it, but there was a faint trace of provocation in Nolan’s tone. 2 The air pressure in the room plummeted. A scorching gaze pinned me to my seat and refused to look away. Nolan patted my shoulder, signaling me to stand up and say hello. It looked like I couldn’t hide from this. But on second thought, so many years had passed. The young heir of the Sterling empire never lacked beautiful women around him. There was no way he was still hung up on a nobody like me. Thinking this, I stood beside Nolan and greeted him calmly. “Hello, Carter. I’m Vivian Hayes.” His eyes were cold and piercingly direct. I was terrified he was going to say something he shouldn’t. My mother cared deeply about this engagement, and I naturally didn’t want anything to go wrong. “If nothing goes wrong, I’ll be your sister-in-law soon!” I stated my identity clearly, a subtle warning for him not to cause a scene. But I forgot that Carter was a madman. Six years had passed, and he was even crazier now. Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, Carter dropped his cigarette and strode right up to me with absolute arrogance. “Sister-in-law?” His tone was dripping with blatant mockery. With his hands shoved in his pockets, he completely ignored Nolan standing right beside me. Carter leaned in slightly, his lips brushing my ear. “Do you think becoming my sister-in-law wipes our slate clean?” His voice wasn’t quiet. It was loud enough for every single person in the room to hear clearly. Mr. Sterling was the first to speak. “Vivian, you know Carter?” I gripped the fabric of my dress, my knuckles turning white. I kept a polite smile glued to my face. “We were in high school together.” Hearing the words “high school” fall from my lips, Carter’s eyes turned to ice. Even the mocking smirk on his lips vanished. He narrowed his eyes, his voice dripping with danger. “Were we just classmates?” It wasn’t just him; everyone in the room was holding their breath, waiting for my answer. I stared straight into Carter’s eyes. “Just classmates.” Carter’s body went rigid for a split second. He stood up straight, looking down at me from his towering height. He was a tall man, and his gaze always carried a suffocating weight—even more so now, considering the guilt eating me alive. “Vivian Hayes,” Carter said my name suddenly. “Hugging and making out with normal classmates… You were pretty wild in high school, weren’t you?” 3 That single sentence sent a shockwave through the room. The way everyone looked at me instantly changed. Only Nolan acted like he already knew. He grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him protectively. “Carter, the past is in the past. From now on, she will be my wife, and your sister-in-law.” Carter ignored Nolan’s words entirely. His eyes were glued to our intertwined hands. He let out a cold, dark laugh. “You really think you can steal my woman and live long enough to marry her?” “Let me make this perfectly clear. Whoever dares to marry her, I’ll kill him. If you don’t believe me, try it.” He aimed that threat directly at Linda, Nolan’s mother. The effect was immediate. The warmth in Linda’s eyes vanished. She glared at me, blaming me for provoking a monster like Carter. She marched over and physically yanked Nolan away from me. “I’m so sorry, Vivian! But I really don’t think you two are a good match. Let’s just call off this engagement.” I lowered my head, my grip tightening on my now-empty hand. Nolan refused to leave with her. “Mom, what do you mean call it off?! I’m marrying Vivian!” His mother dragged him toward the door. When Nolan resisted, the usually gentle Linda suddenly slapped him hard across the face. “Carter just said he’ll kill whoever marries her! Do you have a death wish?!” “Did you forget that he and his mother are both absolute lunatics?!” Nolan, who had been fighting her off, suddenly went completely still. He let his mother drag him out of the room. My mother rushed out after them. I knew she was going to try to salvage the situation. Eventually, Carter and I were the only ones left in the private room. I stepped around him, preparing to leave. But as I passed him, his hand clamped down on my wrist like a vice. “Vivian, it’s been so long. Do you really have nothing to say to me?” I struggled, but couldn’t break free. He hadn’t changed a bit in six years. I sighed, exasperated. “Carter, stalking me won’t change anything. I said everything I needed to say six years ago.” He still refused to let go, but thankfully, my mother rushed back in at that exact moment. She shoved Carter away, pulling me behind her, eyeing him defensively. Without a word, she dragged me out the door. In the elevator, I expected my mom to interrogate me, but she didn’t ask a single question. Seeing my body trembling uncontrollably, she just wrapped me in a tight hug. “Vivian, Mom won’t let anyone bully you.” She smelled so comforting. I took a deep breath and nodded against her shoulder. But the moment we stepped out of the elevator, she clutched her chest and collapsed forward. My mother suffered from severe heart disease. In the blink of an eye, her face turned a terrifying shade of pale. I screamed for help. Carter, who had just stepped out of the neighboring elevator, saw what happened. He immediately rushed over, scooped my mother up in his arms, and sprinted toward the exit. In that moment, I threw all our past grudges out the window. I only prayed he could get her to a hospital in time. On the frantic ride there, Carter didn’t forget to comfort me. “Don’t be scared. She’ll be fine.” Years ago, in the pitch black, he had said those exact same words to me: “Don’t be scared, Vivian.” 4 Thankfully, we made it in time. The doctors stabilized her and said she was out of danger. When I went to the billing window, I realized I had left my purse behind in the chaos, and my phone was nowhere to be found. Just as I stood there panicking, Carter reached from behind me and handed a sleek black card to the nurse. I looked at him with genuine gratitude. “You saved her today. Thank you! I’ll pay you back later.” “The doctor said she’s going to be okay. You can go home now.” Carter stood silhouetted against the hospital lights. Hearing my words, his body went rigid. He let out a self-deprecating laugh. When he spoke again, his voice was chillingly cold. “Vivian Hayes. You use me when you need me, and you kick me to the curb the second you don’t. Six years ago and today… nothing’s changed, has it?” He wet his lips, leaning in close. “Do you really think I’m going to let you run away so easily this time?” The sweltering afternoon sun poured in from the window at the end of the hallway. Carter’s towering frame cast a heavy shadow over me. Just as I was struggling to find an answer, a sharp, crisp female voice shattered the eerie tension. “Carter.” The clicking of designer heels approached. Carter looked past my shoulder. I didn’t even need to turn around; just hearing that voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “I heard you were here, so I came to check on you.” The woman speaking was Regina Croft—the living nightmare of my youth. She stopped about three feet behind me, scanning me from head to toe before speaking with feigned uncertainty. “Vivian Hayes?” Great. She actually remembered me. I turned to look at Regina. Years had passed, and she was even more radiant and glamorous than before. Usually, beautiful people naturally draw others in, but I felt nothing but pure, visceral disgust for Regina. “I’ll pay you back later. I’m leaving.” Without another word to Carter, I turned on my heel. I didn’t want to spend a single extra second near them. My dismissive attitude clearly pissed Regina off. She called after me. “Vivian Hayes, you actually have the nerve to show your face in this city again?” I was no longer the timid, terrified little girl I used to be. I threw a cold smirk over my shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I? Because a ghoul like you lives here? Regina, we’re adults now. Can you grow up?” Of course, Regina was no longer the explosive, raging bully she used to be either. Everyone had changed. Everyone except Carter, who stubbornly clung to the past. I instinctively glanced at him, then steeled my resolve and walked away quickly. Behind me, I could hear Regina questioning him. “Carter, why are you still entangled with her? Did you forget what she did to you?” “You almost died because of her! And her? Did she even look back at you once?” My footsteps faltered. Was there something I didn’t know about what happened back then? But the past was the past. I had fought so hard to crawl out of that darkness; I didn’t dare stop and look back now. I felt a gaze following me down the hall until I turned the corner. Just before I disappeared, I heard Carter’s voice, cold as ice: “Shut your mouth.” 5 On the way to the hospital, I had been too worried about my mom to notice that Carter had brought us to an ultra-exclusive private hospital in the suburbs. It was impossible to hail a cab out here, and I didn’t have a dime on me. I had no choice but to head back inside to borrow a nurse’s phone to call a friend. But I had barely taken a step when a sleek black Bentley swerved in front of me, blocking my path back to the entrance. The window slowly rolled down. Carter was in the driver’s seat, one hand lazily gripping the steering wheel. “Get in.” I originally had zero intention of humoring him. But when I casually glanced up, I saw Regina standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, staring down at us. When our eyes met, a flash of memory hit me. Back then, she used to look at me with that exact same expression, right before dumping a tidal wave of abuse on me that I couldn’t endure. Sunlight works in mysterious ways. I felt like this moment mirrored the past perfectly. Suddenly, I smiled right at her, walked over to the Bentley, and slid into the passenger seat. Regina loved Carter. She was obsessed with him. She was back then, and she still was now. From the suburbs to the city center, the starry sky was eventually replaced by the neon glow of Manhattan. “Where do you live?” Carter was the first to break the silence, slowly pulling the car over to the side of the road. I only got into his car to spite Regina. It didn’t mean I wanted anything to do with him. “I’ll get out here. Thank you.” I was reaching for my seatbelt when the car suddenly lurched forward with a violent roar. I froze. I snapped my head to look at him. He was staring straight ahead, his face dark. “When you’re ready to tell me your address, I’ll take you home.” “Carter, stop acting like a child.” I pressed myself against the seat, taking a deep breath. “Don’t make things uglier between us.” The car shot forward again, then slammed to a brutal stop without warning. I thanked God it was late at night and the road was empty. “Did you forget who provoked who first?!” Before my head even stopped spinning from the whiplash, Carter unbuckled his seatbelt, lunged over the center console, and pinned me violently against the passenger seat, his hand gripping the back of my neck. He was so close that even in the dim streetlights, I could see the red rims of his eyes. “Why are things ugly between us? Isn’t this entirely your doing, Vivian?!” His mocking tone cracked, betraying a barely noticeable tremor. “You wouldn’t let me drive you home because you’re terrified I’ll stalk you?” “Vivian, don’t you think you overestimate yourself?” “I am Carter Sterling. What kind of woman can’t I have? Do you honestly think you’re irreplaceable?” He let go of me, threw himself back into the driver’s seat, and stared out his window. “Get out.” The second I stepped out of the car, as if to prove a point, the black Bentley peeled away from me like a rocket. In the blink of an eye, the taillights disappeared into the night. 6 The next morning, I asked my assistant to handle the hospital transfer paperwork for my mom. After work, I immediately drove out to pick her up. Before heading over, I tried calling her, but no one answered. I only relaxed when I peeked through the small window in her hospital room door and saw her sitting safely in her wheelchair, waiting for me. I opened the door and walked in. She whipped her head around, a flash of pure panic in her eyes. It wasn’t until she recognized me that her tension slowly melted away. I frowned, walking over. “Mom, what’s wrong?” “Nothing, I was just… thinking about something. You scared me opening the door so suddenly.” Her eyes darted around as she spoke, and she nervously fiddled with her hair. My heart sank. I knew that was her “tell” when she was lying. As she lifted her hand, the sleeve of her hospital gown slid down, exposing nasty dark bruises on her wrist. I grabbed her arm. “Where did these come from?” She kept stammering, refusing to tell me the truth. I looked around the room. The patient in the neighboring bed had already been moved. It was a massive VIP suite, and my mom was the only one in it. It was way too convenient that everyone else was suddenly “discharged” right after she moved in. I carefully examined her. Aside from her wrists, she had bruises on her back and legs too. I photographed every single one. Then I went to the nurses’ station to demand answers and asked to see the security footage. The nurses wouldn’t look me in the eye either. What started as a suspicion quickly morphed into certainty. When I ran into Regina here the other day, she was wearing a white lab coat. The hospital walls were lined with her accolades: “Genius surgeon,” “Ivy League prodigy,” “Award-winning researcher.” It wasn’t that I was assuming the worst of her; it was that she had been rotten to the core since we were kids. I marched straight to Regina’s office and threw the door open. She wasn’t surprised to see me. “You’re pretty protective of your mother, huh?” She wore a sickeningly fake smile that made me want to rip her face off. “Did you do this to my mom?” She tilted her head back and laughed, utterly unapologetic. “So what if I did? What are you going to do about it? I waited until no one was around, pushed her to the edge of the stairwell, and made sure she took a nice tumble.” “Vivian, I’m admitting it to your face. What are you gonna do? The security footage has already been wiped!” Her absolute fearlessness because of her privilege was probably her only consistent trait. Back in high school, every time she tormented me, she had that same smug look, knowing I was too powerless to fight back. But things were different now. I walked right up to her and slapped her across the face with everything I had. She stumbled backward. Before she could even lift her head, I backhanded her across the other cheek. “You dare hit me?!” I had noticed when I walked in—there were no security cameras in her private office. “Surprised?” I shook my stinging hand. “Did you really think I was scared of you back in school?” I attended an elite Manhattan prep school on a full ride. Not because my family had money. In fact, we were dirt poor. The school waived my tuition and offered a massive stipend. But the condition was that I had to maintain the #1 rank in my grade and couldn’t have a single disciplinary strike on my record. So, when Regina bullied me ruthlessly, I had to swallow my anger and take it. I stepped closer, grabbed a handful of her perfectly styled hair, and yanked her head back so she was forced to look up at me. “I warned you six years ago. Don’t mess with me.” “Did you think I let you off easy back then? Did you forget what I said?” Maybe remembering how unhinged I went back then brought back some trauma, because fear started creeping into her eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her hand creeping toward her phone to make a call. I slapped the phone out of her hand, picked it up, and chucked it out the window. I grabbed a heavy metal pen off her desk, gripping it tightly, and walked slowly toward her. “S-sorry,” Regina suddenly stuttered out an apology. Hearing that, I laughed softly. I stopped, tossing the pen aside. “Since I’m the one who hit you, I should be the one apologizing.” I gave her a perfectly polite, formal bow. “I’m sorry, Regina. I shouldn’t have hit you.” I stood up straight. “Now, it’s your turn to go apologize to my mother.” Regina was frozen stiff by my terrifyingly calm smile. “Regina, you really don’t want anyone seeing you looking like this, do you? Be a good girl and wait right here for me to come back.” Watching her nod frantically, I smiled in satisfaction, turned the doorknob, and prepared to leave. But the moment I opened the door, I looked up and saw Carter standing right outside. Regina saw him too. She looked like a drowning woman spotting a life raft. “Carter, save me! Vivian’s insane, she’s trying to kill me!”

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My husband and I are in an arranged marriage. He’s incredibly busy, leaving him almost no time for me and our daughter. To keep myself occupied and stop my mind from wandering, I got a boyfriend. I told my boyfriend my daughter was my little sister. But just now, my daughter got hold of my phone and added both my boyfriend and my husband to a group chat. She even sent a voice message asking: “Which one of you is free to take me bike riding tomorrow?” 1 I stepped out of the shower just in time to see question marks pop up from both my husband and my boyfriend. I felt the blood drain from my face! My husband was an arranged match. We’ve been married for four years, have a three-year-old daughter, and rarely see each other. But he’s devastatingly handsome, incredibly successful, and makes a ton of money. Otherwise, I never would have agreed to marry him. After all, there’s a whole forest of options waiting for me out there. 2 Being with him, I thought, was pretty great. He’s mature, steady, and commands respect. He’s stoic and reserved, but in bed, he’s intensely dominant. The contrast is intoxicating; I can’t get enough of him. Basically, whenever he’s home, all I want to do is drag him to bed. You could definitely call it a physical attraction. But human greed knows no bounds. Not long after we got married, I got pregnant, had our baby, and devoted myself to taking care of her. Meanwhile, he remained as swamped with work as ever. 3 And me? Having been raised since childhood with the mindset that “important men shouldn’t be bothered while working,” I could only silently swallow my negative emotions. I didn’t even dare show them, for fear of annoying him. I had to be the “understanding” wife. Once my daughter started preschool, I suddenly had a lot of free time. So, I started playing video games. While gaming, I met a total pro. His skills were god-tier, and he carried me through matches. Not only did he make me feel like a badass in the game, but he also chatted with me constantly, and eventually, we got “married” in-game. I figured, sure, his voice sounded amazing, but in real life, he was probably some short, broke, ugly guy. I didn’t take it seriously; it was just a game, just for fun. 4 But the truth was, I really needed the company. So, I kept pretending he was my husband. We called each other “hubby” and “wifey” in the game. I don’t know what possessed me, but I even gave my avatar a pregnant belly. Then I told him we were having a baby together. He bought me a ton of in-game gear. 5 Initially, I didn’t add him on any social media because I was afraid of the hassle, and I was also worried my husband would find out I was gaming so much and think less of me. We kept all our chatting within the game. And, for some reason, even though my husband seemed so mature and normal, I caught him checking my phone on several occasions. It was like he was checking to see if I was cheating on him while he was away. It made me feel really uncomfortable at the time. What did he take me for? Only later did I realize he actually had great foresight. When a guy is constantly traveling for business, isn’t it highly likely his wife might stray? 6 Back to my boyfriend. After playing together for a few months, we became a very close “online couple.” He was gentle and considerate, and his voice was so deep and attractive it could make a girl swoon. I started relying on him a lot. Then, he asked to meet offline. He even sent me a picture of himself. 7 He was gorgeous. And not just regular gorgeous, but that rare, untamed, rebellious kind of gorgeous! Just to see if he was catfishing me, I agreed on the spot. At that time, I was also feeling incredibly empty. My husband was traveling more than ever. I felt like a machine. I desperately needed human emotional nourishment. When we met, I realized he was genuinely that handsome! Unlike my husband’s mature, steady, and stoic demeanor. My boyfriend radiated youth, rebellion, and a wild, untamed energy. Yet, this wild guy would lower his head, softly coax me, and ask why I was unhappy. He would cup my face and kiss me with intense focus. And then he would compliment me: “You smell like sweet milk.” 8 I loved both my boyfriend and my husband. Honestly, human beings are capable of loving two people at the same time. Love isn’t exclusively singular. Meeting my boyfriend offline filled the void left by my husband’s business trips and brought so much more joy into my life. He was still a college student. When we first met offline, he was a junior. Two years passed, and he was about to graduate. He had started his own business and was very successful. Now, the gifts he gave me were luxury cars and houses. Yes, we had a love nest. He even got a dog and said it was the “baby” we had in the game. 9 When you love someone, you desperately want to share your life with them, especially everything you cherish. I couldn’t share my husband with my boyfriend, so I could only share my daughter. But to rationalize my daughter’s existence. I told him a tragic backstory. Divorced parents, an irresponsible father who only knew how to cheat and have kids outside the marriage. I claimed my daughter was one of my father’s illegitimate children. No one took care of her, so I had to. I told him she was my little sister. My daughter is very sharp. She didn’t call me “Sister”; she called me by my name. 10 Recently, my husband hasn’t been traveling as much. He even makes time to play with our daughter. But he’s still very busy with work. So, I shuttle my daughter between the two of them. This way, someone is always keeping her company, the best of both worlds. But my daughter is only three. She doesn’t yet understand that her “Uncle” and her “Daddy” cannot know about each other’s existence. She only knows that if Daddy is busy, I take her to play with Uncle. And if Uncle is busy, it’s not as fun. She said she wanted to go bike riding tomorrow. My husband hadn’t come home yet, and tomorrow was the weekend. So I said: “Let’s wait for JJ to come home and see if he has time to take us? If JJ is busy, we’ll ask Cole.” (Translator’s Note: I’m replacing “Jin Jin” with “JJ” and “Jia Yan” with “Cole” for smoother reading in English.) 10 (continued) “JJ” is James, my husband, her father. “Cole” is Cole Evans, my boyfriend, her “uncle.” I never let her use titles; I just had her use their names. That way, I could avoid slipping up. In front of my husband, she would say: “Today Cole took us to the amusement park to ride the carousel and eat ice cream.” My husband was confused at first, but I told him Cole was my best friend. He assumed a “best friend” was definitely a woman. In front of my boyfriend, my daughter would say: “This morning JJ washed my face and put lotion on me.” My boyfriend was confused. I explained that JJ was our maid. Then I said we both have a lisp and trouble pronouncing certain sounds. The maid’s name is actually “Jane,” but it sounds like “JJ” when we say it. He knew my family was wealthy, just lacking love, so hiring a maid made sense. In front of my boyfriend, my daughter also called me: “Maya, hug me.” “Maya, wipe my hands.” 11 But I never anticipated that my daughter was so impatient. And that she knew how to use my phone. She sent a sweet, baby-voiced voice memo to the group chat: “Which one of you is free to take me bike riding tomorrow?” My boyfriend and my husband both instantly replied with a question mark. My daughter asked: “JJ, do you have to work overtime tomorrow?” Then I saw the replies that made my vision go black. My husband replied via voice memo: “Baby, you have to call me Daddy, not by my name.” “Daddy isn’t working overtime tomorrow; I can take you bike riding.” My boyfriend’s voice memo followed immediately: “Isn’t he your maid? Why is he saying he’s Calf’s dad?” (“Calf” was my daughter’s nickname.) Then they each sent another question mark. My daughter recognized my expression and cheered: “Maya, I asked! JJ has time tomorrow!” I instantly deleted the group chat. 12 By this time, my phone was already vibrating again. A direct message from my boyfriend arrived: “Your maid Jane is a guy? Why did he say he’s Calf’s dad?” I panicked and quickly explained: “He IS our dad. In my heart, he doesn’t deserve to be a father to me or my sister! He’s just a tool in the house. A total stud horse!” (I referred to my daughter as my sister. I couldn’t forget that to my boyfriend, my daughter was my sister!) A major screw-up was not an option. Once I got my story straight, I continued: “But my sister lacks love and still craves a father figure. Ugh, I don’t even want to talk about it.” I added: “I deleted the group. I don’t want my dad to know I’m dating. He’d definitely try to break us up; he’s counting on marrying me off for money.” My boyfriend sent a few hugging emojis, then said: “Baby, you’ve suffered so much.” I replied: “I have, but meeting you makes it all worth it.” 13 Having pacified my boyfriend, my heart was still in my throat. Why hadn’t my husband texted to ask me about it? I had already formulated an excuse in my head. A moment later, I heard the iron gate downstairs open, and my husband’s car drove in. My daughter was already asleep. I hurried to the master bathroom to run his bathwater. When I came out, he was already in the bedroom. His suit was immaculate. His stoic, handsome face was still as heart-stopping as ever. Every movement exuded a mature, steady aura. And the commanding presence of someone accustomed to being in charge. 14 I put on a bright smile: “Hubby, you’re home! The bath is ready. Have you eaten? Should I go make you something?” But he doesn’t eat after 8 PM. I was just being polite. Sure enough, his cool, textured voice replied: “I ate at the office. I’m going to shower.” I said: “I’ll get your pajamas.” He took off his watch, placed it on the coffee table, and asked casually: “Calf is asleep?” I nodded: “She’s asleep. She was so happy when you said you’d spend time with her tomorrow.” I felt anxious, waiting for him to ask me about the WeChat group, watching his expression closely. But he didn’t ask anything. His expression was the same as always, unreadable. Before stepping into the bathroom, he invited me: “Want to shower together?” I looked at his hard, handsome face, his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and his long legs wrapped in suit pants. Thinking of his stamina, I couldn’t help but swallow secretly, drawn to follow him into the bathroom… 15 The moment I stepped into the bathroom, he roughly pinned me against the door. His turbulent kisses engulfed me like a tidal wave… Just as I thought he didn’t care about the WeChat thing, this bastard decided to interrogate me at the most critical moment… Me: … “Who is he?” I said between gasps: “He, he’s my b-best friend Cole! D-didn’t you k-know?” He pinched my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were full of intimidation. I felt a little scared, hugged him, and whined: “Hubby, why don’t you believe me?” “I thought your best friend was a woman.” He said coldly: “So, you frequently take Calf to see a man?” 16 This animal. If he was going to ask, he should just ask. Why use physical force? I gritted my teeth and explained: “He likes guys.” My husband let out a short laugh. He didn’t say anything else, just continued to torment me. His laugh gave me the creeps. When I woke up the next day, it was almost noon. I was startled. My daughter hadn’t come to pester me to take her out to play. I rolled over to get up, but the movement was too big, and the soreness in my body made me wince. I picked up my phone to check my messages. 17 My husband had sent a video of my daughter riding her bike. My boyfriend had sent a message asking me out to dinner. Ever since I added my boyfriend on WeChat, I changed my phone password. My husband could no longer easily unlock my phone. I still remember the day I came out of the shower and saw him holding my phone, staring blankly at it. I actually felt guilty. I almost forgot how controlling he could be. At the time, he asked: “What’s your passcode?” I immediately deployed my prepared speech, saying married couples need privacy too, that I never check his phone, and asking him to respect me as well. I was almost loved to death that night. But I held my ground and refused to give him the passcode. 18 I told my boyfriend my dad was back and I couldn’t go out. I crafted a tragic narrative where my dad was forcing me into an arranged marriage for money. I couldn’t let my dad know I was dating. After handling my boyfriend and deleting the chat history, I went downstairs. Just in time to run into my daughter happily pulling my husband inside. Seeing me, my daughter ran over joyfully: “Maya Maya Maya Maya! JJ, Daddy, and I went bike riding. I rode so fast! Daddy couldn’t catch up!” JJ? Daddy? I felt a surge of guilt. Terrified my daughter would spill the beans to my husband. But I usually took her to play with my boyfriend, and my boyfriend and I never did anything intimate in front of her. She probably just thought he was an uncle. It should be fine, right??? I looked up at my husband and realized he was also looking at me, his gaze dark and penetrating. I felt a chill run down my spine. My husband then said seriously to my daughter: “Maya Jr., how did Daddy teach you to address people?” My daughter looked at my husband and happily raised her hand: “Calf should call JJ ‘Daddy’, and call Maya ‘Mommy’!” After saying that, she yelled at me: “Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy!” Me: … 19 While eating lunch, my husband seemingly casually said to me: “By the way, Cole often helps take care of Calf. We should treat him to dinner.” After he finished, he just looked at me. My scalp went numb. My daughter cheered beside us: “Yay! Calf and Cole are good friends, and Cole and JJ… Daddy are good friends. Cole and Daddy can be good friends too! Right, Maya… Mommy?” I looked at her innocent face, thinking, Look how smart my daughter is! Her communication skills are so strong! I thought sadly, Did her little mouth just sell me out? I said naturally: “He’s out of town on a business trip recently. When he gets back, I’ll ask him.” My husband gave a short laugh.

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I crossed over into a novel while doing the deed with my billionaire husband, one of the most powerful men in New York. [Another one trying to conquer the villain? Hilarious.] [And dressing like a slut? The villain likes pure, innocent girls! This is totally going to fail.] [Arthur Sterling will eventually become a ruthless underworld boss who kills without blinking an eye.] I looked at the floating comments drifting past my eyes, then looked down at myself. A black deep-V dress plunging to my navel, the hem so short it barely covered my butt. Arthur begged me to wear this last night. He was on his knees on the bed, his eyes completely red. “Wife, just wear it this once, I’ll transfer ten million to your account.” 1 I reluctantly put it on. And then he tossed me around until midnight. Now look what happened. I wake up, and the Arthur standing before me, fresh out of the shower and wrapped in a towel, looks at me like he’s seen a ghost. “Who are you?” I was furious. What? He pulls his pants up and suddenly doesn’t know me?! “What do you mean who am I! I’m your wife!” The moment the words left my mouth, I was the one who froze. What kind of dump was this? Peeling paint, drafty windows, furniture that looked like it was scavenged from a dumpster. Where was my California King-sized luxury bed? Where was my bathtub that could fit five people? Arthur’s face was right in front of me. No scar on his temple, no weathering from the years on his face—only the cold, sharp alertness of youth. I reached out, cupped his face, and inspected it left and right. “Hubby, did you sneak off and get Thermage done behind my back?” Which clinic did he go to? The results are suspiciously good! Before I knew it, Arthur slapped my hands away, his gaze sharp as a knife. “I’ll ask you one more time—who are you?” 2 I calmed down. I took a closer look at the calendar on the wall. Five years ago. Which meant the guy standing in front of me was Arthur before he made his fortune. The dirt-poor Arthur. I took a deep breath, thinking of the Arthur from five years in the future. How glamorous he was then. Bodyguards followed him everywhere, crowds surrounded him at meetings, but when he came home, he was as obedient as a cat. When I threw tantrums, he coaxed me; when I whined, he spoiled me. If I said I wanted a star from the sky, he’d actually go buy me a meteorite fragment. Such a massive rock, sitting right in the middle of our living room. My heart ached just thinking about how much it cost. “Hubby, how much did this cost?” He was peeling an apple for me, not even looking up: “Not much.” “What does ‘not much’ mean?” He thought about it: “Only about ten million, give or take.” I almost passed out. “Are you crazy, Arthur?” He looked up at me, his eyes innocent. “Didn’t you say you wanted a star?” I was stumped. “I just said that casually!” He smiled, offering the peeled apple to my mouth. “Even if you say it casually, I take it seriously.” I looked at the eighteen-year-old boy in front of me now. I blinked and put on my standard, professional fake smile. “Little boy, let me ask you: how much money do you make a month right now?” 3 Arthur frowned: “None of your damn business.” “Of course it’s my business.” I circled him, looking him up and down. “If you don’t have money in the future, I’m not staying with you.” Arthur let out a cold sneer and turned toward the bathroom. “Psycho.” With lightning reflexes, I grabbed his towel. The towel dropped to the floor. The air froze for three seconds. Arthur’s face turned visibly red all the way to the tips of his ears. “You!” I looked down, nodding in satisfaction. “Mhm, the size checks out. This is definitely my husband.” [???????] [What the hell is this woman doing???] [LMAO, the villain just got completely exposed hahahaha] Arthur scrambled to pick up the towel and wrap it around himself, his eyes looking like he wanted to eat me alive. “What exactly are you trying to do!” I crossed my legs and sat on his creaky, broken bed. “I told you, I’m your wife.” “You don’t believe me? Then let me ask you: do you have a mole on your left butt cheek?” Arthur’s expression shifted. I continued: “You like it when I put my legs on your right shoulder, don’t you? “You love it most when we do it in front of the mirror, and you make me call you ‘hubby,’ and the moment I do, you…” “Enough!” Arthur cut me off, his voice cracking. He stared at me for a long time, finally asking through gritted teeth: “Are… are you really my future wife?” I nodded elegantly: “Mhm-hmm.” “Then tell me, will I have money in the future?” I laughed. Is that even a question? “You’ll be filthy rich.” “How rich?” I thought about it: “Last month, you transferred five million dollars to me just because I said a new handbag looked nice.” Arthur’s eyes lit up. But he quickly masked his expression and let out a cold hmph. “So you only came to me for my money?” I paused. That was a good question. I didn’t answer, instead asking him: “How much do you make a month?” Arthur was silent for a moment. “Five hundred.” I almost laughed out loud. Five hundred? I normally spend more than five hundred just on a single lipstick. I stood up, walked right up to him, and poked him in the chest. “Little boy, right now you make five hundred bucks, and I’m still standing right here. “Tell me, what exactly am I after?” 4 Arthur was stunned. The floating comments went crazy: [Holy shit, this woman knows what she’s doing] [The villain’s heart rate is going up!] [Wait, wasn’t she just acting super disgusted a minute ago???] Arthur was silent for a long time, then he turned his head away, his voice muffled. “You… put some clothes on first.” I looked down at my deep-V dress. “What, feeling shy?” Arthur’s ears were so red they looked like they were bleeding. [Ding— Villain Affection +10. Current Affection: 10] [WTF, what kind of chaotic strategy is this??] [Is this the legendary ‘innocence is worthless in the face of sex appeal’?] [Hah. Men.] I don’t know if Arthur believed me or not, but I stayed anyway. I batted my eyelashes and whined, wearing down all his resistance. Even though this dump didn’t even have heating. Even though this broken bed was so hard it hurt my bones. Even though Arthur left early and came back late every day, leaving me an allowance of only ten dollars. Ten dollars! I held that crumpled bill, lost in thought. The last time I saw a physical ten-dollar bill was in my past life. It had been a long time since I spent such small denominations; it actually felt like a novelty. Before Arthur left, he gave me a look. “Spend it carefully.” I pouted. Carefully? The word ‘careful’ doesn’t exist in Maya Sterling’s dictionary. 5 I went out with the ten dollars, walked around, and bought a boba tea. Seven dollars gone. Then I bought a slice of cake. Three dollars gone. On my way home, I passed by a menswear store and saw a sweater in the display window. I suddenly remembered that five years later, Arthur had an identical one. He bought that sweater himself. Once, I asked him: “When did you buy this one? It looks nice.” He glanced down at it and said casually, “A long time ago. I just couldn’t bear to throw it away.” I didn’t think much of it then. Now I suddenly understood. So this was when he bought it. I stood in front of the window, staring at it for a long time. I patted my pocket and realized I didn’t have my black card. I pulled out my phone to call Arthur, only to remember this was five years ago—he didn’t have my number yet, and I couldn’t use Apple Pay. Whatever. I turned to leave, took two steps, and looked back. That sweater was light grey. Arthur would look really good in it. 6 When Arthur came home that night, I was curled up on the sofa, shivering. The broken house was drafty. Back at the estate, the heating was on throughout the entire mansion, and I could run around barefoot. I hadn’t felt the sting of the cold in a very long time. He looked at the empty table. “You didn’t eat dinner?” “I ate.” “What did you eat?” “Boba and cake.” Arthur’s face darkened. “You call that food?” I was entirely justified. “That’s what I usually eat.” Arthur took a deep breath, turned around, and walked into that cramped, dingy kitchen. … Ten minutes later, he brought out a bowl of noodles. It was just plain broth and noodles, with a fried egg on top. I looked at it with disgust. “That looks terrible. Even a dog wouldn’t eat that.” Arthur slammed the bowl down in front of me. “If you don’t eat it, then starve.” Then he went into the bathroom. I stared at that bowl of noodles for a long time. Finally, I picked it up and ate it anyway. Damn, it’s actually really good. By the time Arthur came out, the bowl was empty. I was curled up on the sofa, pretending to be asleep. He stood there watching me for a while. Then, I felt a piece of clothing, still carrying body heat, draped over me. It was his jacket. A worn-out, faded, but very warm jacket. I secretly peeked open one eye. Arthur had his back to me, standing by the window. The moonlight hit him; his shoulders looked so thin it made my heart ache. [Affection +5. Current Affection: 15] [Conqueror, you actually tricked the villain into giving you his jacket!] [This is rare. The villain is actually softening up!] I ignored the comments. I just made a mental note. When we have money, I’ll buy Arthur ten jackets. No, a hundred. 7 Days passed one by one. Arthur left early and came back late every day, and I had absolutely nothing to do all day. The floating comments started mocking me. [Is this conqueror actually going to do anything, or just lie around the house all day?] [Other conquerors are out there delivering warmth and care; this one just waits for the villain to come home and serve her.] [LMAO, she’s definitely going to fail.] I ignored them. My life goal was to be Arthur’s pampered canary anyway. What’s wrong with lying around? My husband supports me; it’s the natural order of things. But one day, as Arthur was leaving, I casually asked: “Where are you going?” “To work.” “What kind of work?” He paused. “Construction site. Hauling bricks.” I froze. Hauling bricks? I opened my mouth, wanting to say something. But Arthur had already left. That night, he came back very late. His hands were covered in bloody blisters. I saw them, but I didn’t say anything. I just waited until he fell asleep, then secretly got up, dug out his ointment, and carefully applied it for him. As I rubbed it in, I thought of another pair of hands. Five years later, the hands that frequently held mine. The palms were full of calluses, the knuckles thick, but they were dry and warm. Every time I threw a tantrum, he would use those hands to gently hold me. Every time I was sad, he would use those hands to wipe away my tears. Once, I stared at his hands for a long time. “Hubby, why are your hands so rough?” He looked down at them: “From working.” I frowned: “You’re so rich and prestigious, what kind of work made them like this?” He just smiled and didn’t answer. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Now, I suddenly understood. It was from hauling bricks. Those calluses were born from these bloody blisters. As I applied the ointment, my nose suddenly started to sting. 8 I grew up in a single-parent household, moving from place to place with my mom. Because I didn’t have a dad, I was often bullied. So, when I transferred schools, I deliberately built a persona of a wealthy heiress so no one would dare mess with me. Over time, I started deceiving even myself. Vain and materialistic. When Arthur first offered to be my sugar daddy, I agreed very quickly. It was just an exchange: I wanted money, he wanted my looks. Very fair. Compared to going hungry and being bullied, there was nothing to be ashamed of. But I never expected that Arthur wasn’t born a wealthy heir. Arthur’s brow was furrowed; he was sleeping very fitfully. I gently stroked his face. … The next day, when Arthur woke up and saw the ointment applied to his hands, he froze. He shot me a look. I pretended not to notice, continuing to curl up on the sofa and play on my phone. Arthur didn’t say anything. But before he left, he put a twenty-dollar bill on the table. Double the usual amount. [Affection +10. Current Affection: 25] [The villain seems… to care a little about this woman?] I rolled over. Duh. How could my husband not care about me? 9 I started trying to be a bit nicer to Arthur. “Arthur, I bought you a sweater!” I pulled out the gift, looking for praise. Arthur looked at the light grey sweater, then checked the price tag. “Sixty dollars?” “Yeah, looks good, right?” “Where did you get the money?” I was entirely justified: “The living expenses you gave me. I saved it up.” Arthur was silent for a moment. “How long did you save for?” I thought about it: “About a week.” “Then what did you eat for a week?” “The late-night takeout you brought back.” Arthur’s expression was incredibly complicated. Finally, he put the sweater on. It fit perfectly. I nodded in satisfaction: “Looks good.” Arthur looked down at himself, then back at me. “You… why are you being so nice to me?” I looked at the eighteen-year-old Arthur standing in front of me. Wearing the sweater I bought, his ears were red, and his gaze was both awkward and soft. I froze for a second. Why? Because I’m your wife. But as the words reached my lips, I remembered something else. 10 In the first year of our marriage, I caught a fever once. Arthur happened to be out of town on business and couldn’t make it back in time. Over the phone, his voice was frantic: “I’ll have someone take you to the hospital.” “No need, I already took some medicine.” “Are you sure?” “I’m sure. Focus on your work.” He was silent for a moment: “Wife, I’m sorry.” I laughed: “Sorry for what?” “For not being there with you.” “Oh, please, it’s just a fever. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” He was still worried. The next day, I received a massive pile of deliveries. Fever reducers, thermometers, heating pads, and my favorite strawberry cake. He had someone send a whole box of them. Later, I found out he stayed up all night, constantly making calls, trying to find someone to take care of me. I asked him: “Was all that really necessary?” He hugged me: “Yes.” “Anything involving you is necessary.” I suddenly understood a little. The reason he was so good at caring for someone was that he used to have absolutely nothing. Because he never had anything, he treasured what he had even more. I reached out and pinched his cheek. “Because you’re my future husband. “You’re going to be very rich one day. I’m being good to you now, so you can support me later.” Arthur’s expression stiffened. Then he smiled. The smile was a bit bitter. “Okay.” “Then I’ll work hard, to support you later.” [Affection +10. Current Affection: 35] [Wait, why does the villain look a bit hurt?] I didn’t care. I was telling the truth, anyway.

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For as long as I can remember, my dad was the undisputed Hide-and-Seek Champion of our neighborhood. He always found the most impossible spots. He’d vanish completely, only to pop out grinning the second I finally yelled, “I surrender!” I got used to not being able to find him. I knew the rules. As long as I gave up, he’d appear. Then came that day. The day patrol cars lined the streets, and sirens wailed through the night. It felt like the whole city was looking for him. Everyone’s face was set in grim exhaustion. Everyone except me. I was buzzing with excitement. I remember proudly thinking, Daddy’s too good at this. Even the cops can’t find him. But when a detective in a suit handed my mom his badge and ID, she collapsed onto the floor. She screamed, a raw, soul-shattering sound that echoed through the house. I pulled on her sleeve, confusing gnawing at my stomach. “Mommy, is the game over? Did Daddy win?” She grabbed me, sobbing into my shoulder, barely able to choke out the words. “Maya, Daddy’s not coming back. Not ever.” I squeezed the old, marked-up map in my pocket and shook my head. You’re wrong, I thought. He told me. Only I can find the final treasure. But nobody believed me. They said I was just trauma-stricken, that I missed him too much to accept the truth. Later, Mom started throwing Dad’s things away. She told me I had to forget. They all gave up. But I didn’t. Dad is still waiting for me, and I’m going to find him. 1 “Maya, say hello to Mr. Miller.” I looked up, staring at the man in front of me. He had a tight smile that crinkled the skin around his eyes. His name was Robert Miller. He was my mom’s new boyfriend. “I got you the new Barbie, the dreamhouse edition,” he said, pushing a beautifully wrapped box toward me. His smile widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Do you like it?” I didn’t look at the box. My gaze shifted to the boy hiding behind Robert’s leg. He was half a head shorter than me, gripping Robert’s jacket. He shot me a look of pure provocation. I lowered my head, my fingers tracing the edges of the old map in my pocket. It was the last thing Dad gave me. The only clue to where he was hiding. My mom’s face went stiff. “Maya, Robert is talking to you.” Robert quickly waved it off. “It’s fine, Liz. Kids take time to adjust.” He squatted down, trying to meet my eye level. “Maya, I know you miss your dad. But we have to move forward, sweetheart.” “Liz and I, and Leo here—we’re all going to be here for you, okay? Like a family.” I snapped my head up, glaring at him with icy intensity. “My dad is just playing a game,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. “He’s coming back.” Robert’s fake smile froze. Mom sighed, pulling me aside. “Maya, stop this. Dad is—” “He’s not dead!” I screamed, cutting her off. “He’s waiting for me to find him!” Robert’s son, Leo, suddenly pointed at me and bust out laughing. “Stupid! Your dad’s dead and buried! My dad is your dad now!” Something inside me snapped. I was like a wild animal pushed into a corner. I lunged at him. The living room dissolved into chaos. Screaming, crying, and the sounds of breaking glass. It ended with Mom locking me in my room. Through the door, I could hear Leo sobbing, Mom trying to soothe him, and Robert playing the peacemaker. “She’s just a kid, Liz. Don’t be too hard on her.” “I shouldn’t have let Leo say that. It’s my fault for not teaching him better.” “We’re going to be a family soon. We have to learn to get along.” I leaned against the door, slowly sliding down to the floor. I pulled out the map and unfolded it. Dad, they all say you’re dead. They’ve all given up. But I know the truth. This is just the biggest, hardest game of hide-and-seek we’ve ever played. You’re waiting for me. And I’m coming to find you. Soon. 2 Robert and Leo. They were like two nails, hammered forcefully into the life Mom and I had built. Dad’s old home office was gutted and turned into Leo’s playroom. The picture of Dad in his dress blues on the wall was taken down, replaced by a “family portrait” of the four of us. In the photo, Mom and Robert were leaning into each other, smiling widely. Leo was next to me, flashing a peace sign, looking utterly smug. And there I was, stone-faced, staring at the camera like a total outsider. “Look, Maya,” Mom said, her voice hopeful. “Now it actually looks like a real home.” I said nothing. I just turned and went back to my room. I was becoming a ghost in my own house. All I did was study Dad’s map. It was a map of the old downtown area, covered in strange symbols he’d drawn over the years. Stars, crescent moons, random strings of numbers and letters. They were our secret code. “Maya, dinner! Stop wasting your time in there with that garbage!” Mom’s voice banged against the door, tight with exasperation. I hid the map under my mattress and walked out. At the table, Robert kept piling food onto Mom’s plate. Leo was buzzing around, bragging about his new school certificate like a fly that wouldn’t go away. “Mom, Liz, the teacher said I have the best imagination in class!” Leo slammed a drawing down on the table, looking proud. It was a crayon drawing of a police officer getting crushed under the foot of a giant monster. The officer’s face had been aggressively crossed out with a thick red marker. My stomach dropped. My vision blurred. “Leo!” Mom’s voice actually cracked with severity. Leo jumped, but immediately pouted. “What? It’s true. He’s just a useless, dead cop.” “Shut up!” I grabbed my glass of milk and threw it directly in his face. Leo froze for two full seconds, stunned by the cold liquid, before exploding into ear-piercing shrieks. “You ruined my drawing! I’m gonna tear up your stupid map!” He screamed, scrambling off his chair and sprinting toward my room like a maniac. My heart nearly stopped. I tried to run after him, but Robert caught me by the arm, his grip bruising. “Maya, how could you do that to your brother!” Through the apartment, I heard the sickening sound of paper tearing. I ripped my arm away from Robert and ran to my room. My map. It was torn in half. I stared at the pieces on the floor. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. “Maya Anne Quinn! Look at what you’ve done! Apologize to Leo right now!” Mom’s angry roar came from behind me. I slowly lifted my head, looking at the three of them standing in the doorway. They looked like a family. And I was just an intruder. “Get out.” “Get the hell out of my room.” 3 After that night, I effectively became the “Invisible Girl” of the house. I used clear tape to carefully piece the map back together, inch by inch. Every symbol felt like Dad was whispering clues directly to me. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to activate the “treasure map.” The first marker was a star, drawn over the downtown public library. Dad used to take me there every weekend. He told me knowledge was the brightest star in the night sky. I lied to Mom, saying I was going to a friend’s house, and slipped away to the library. I followed his handwritten code: “A13-7.” I found the section, then the aisle. Row 13, shelf 7. It was an old, beaten-up copy of The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Our absolute favorite. My heart was banging against my ribs. I opened the book, flipping through the pages, careful not to attract attention. On page 137, I found it. Scrawled in the margin in extremely faint pencil, was a locker number and a combination code. I swallowed a gasp of pure joy. I broke into a run, heading straight for the Greyhound bus terminal in the city center. I stood in front of the locker. I took a deep breath, my hands shaking as I dialed in the code. Click. The metal door swung open. There was no Barbie doll. No secret stash of my favorite candy. Just a small, black metal box. I clutched the box to my chest and ran all the way back to the old apartment. We hadn’t sold it yet, and I still had my key. It was the only safe place I could think of. I locked myself in. The box had a tiny combination lock. The combination was Dad’s badge number. I dialed it in, easy. The lock opened. Inside was a key and a small USB drive. Underneath the drive, there was a sticky note. It was Dad’s handwriting. Fast, messy, energetic. To my little detective: Congratulations on passing Level One. The real game starts now. Remember, Game Rule #1: Trust no one. I clutched the sticky note, and the tears finally came. Dad. I knew it. I knew you were playing a game. I wiped my face and plugged the USB drive into my laptop. It held a single, encrypted file. The password prompt was: “My favorite song.” I didn’t even have to think about it. I typed in “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” by Billy Joel. It was the song he always sang in the car, full volume. He said being a cop was like being a fisherman on a stormy sea—you had to be brave, or the waves would swallow you whole. The file decrypted. It was an audio file. I put on headphones and clicked play. It wasn’t Dad’s voice. It was a raspy, unfamiliar voice. “…The shipment is in. We do the deal at the old spot.” “Is the situation with Detective Quinn handled?” “Don’t worry. It’s tight. Internal Affairs is ruling it accidental line-of-duty. Nobody is looking closer.” “What about the kid?” “She’s a brat, fifteen. She’s not going to make waves. That map, though… we need to find it before she realizes what it is.” Everything went white. It felt like a bomb had gone off in my head. This wasn’t a game. 4 “Maya, what are you doing in there? Come out and eat dinner!” Mom’s voice banged against the door of the old apartment. I jumped violently, my heart leaping into my throat. I yanked the USB drive out of the port. I ran to the mirror, staring at the ghost staring back at me. My face was completely drained of color. Calm down. Maya Quinn, you have to be calm. Dad always said, The more dangerous the situation, the calmer you have to be. I took a shaky breath, forced my face into a neutral expression, and opened the door. “Coming, Mom.” At the dinner table back at the new house, Robert was playing the loving stepfather, loading food onto my plate. “Maya, honey, you need to eat more. You’re getting too thin.” He gave me that crinkled-eye smile. The same face that, just moments ago on the audio file, had sounded like a raw-throated monster. The raspy voice on the recording… it was distorted, but that unique, patronizing rhythm… it was Robert. It was definitely Robert. “Thanks, Robert.” I lowered my head, staring at the pasta on my plate, pretending to eat. “So, Maya,” Robert said, his voice casual, almost bored. “Your dad used to be into puzzles, right? I heard rumors he might have left you some kind of crazy scavenger hunt or something?” My hand jerked. My fork fell onto the floor, the metal clattering loudly in the sudden silence. Mom frowned, her mouth tight. ” Scavenger hunt? What are you talking about, Robert? It was just a stupid marked-up downtown map that she scribbles on. I told her to throw it away weeks ago.” “Threw it away? Oh, that’s a shame. I love a good puzzle.” I bent down to pick up my fork, my mind racing. He knows. He’s looking for the map. Later that night, I lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. The key I found in the metal box… what did it open? The “old spot” mentioned on the audio… where was that? Dad’s note said: Game Rule #1: Trust no one. But what was Rule #2? I sat up, pushing the covers off. I sat at my desk, turned on the small lamp, and unfolded the taped-up map. I stared at it, symbol by symbol. I couldn’t miss a single detail. In the bottom right corner, there was a tiny moon drawn in two different colors. Half was blue, half was red. I’d always assumed Dad had just grabbed the wrong marker when he drew it. But now… I remembered something. I opened my school bag and pulled out my student ID. The school logo on the back was a red and blue half-moon crescent shape. It represented “The moon reflecting on the bay.” Dad had hidden the next clue at my high school! My whole body started to shake with adrenaline. But the high school was massive. Where would I even begin to look? I stared at the map again, my brain working overtime. Next to the moon symbol, there was a string of numbers: “20100901.” September 1st, 2010. That was my birthday. Dad was using my birthday as a code. Birthday… The day the school was built? No. I suddenly remembered a huge assembly we had. Dad had been honored as a distinguished alumnus and had donated a massive collection of books to the school library. They even held a dedication ceremony. Right on the wall of the Alumni Hall of Fame. Under Dad’s photo, there was a small brass plaque. The dedication date carved into the brass was September 1st, 2010! Dad deliberately chose my birthday for the dedication date! The clue was in the Hall of Fame! 5 The next day, I lied again, saying I was going to an after-school study group. I knew the school’s blind spots. I avoided the cameras and slipped into the Hall of Fame. It didn’t take long to find Dad’s photo. He was in his dress blues, looking powerful and resolute. Dad. I’m here. I said it silently to myself. I carefully checked the brass plaque below the photo. It was held by security screws. It looked perfectly normal. I tapped on it with my knuckle. A solid thud. The clue wasn’t on the plaque. Then where? My gaze shifted back to the photo itself. Dad was holding his right hand over his chest. His index and middle fingers were positioned strangely, forming a shape. It wasn’t a peace sign. It looked more like… a number “7.” Seven? What does that mean? I backed up, looking around the entire hall. There were displays of school history everywhere. Trophies, old uniforms, original textbooks… My eyes finally landed on a row of display cases along the side wall. The seventh case. Inside, there were items from ” distinguished past students.” Models, artwork, old newspaper clippings… In the far corner of that case, I saw a small drawing. The signature in the corner: A. Quinn. My dad’s initials! Anthony Quinn. The drawing was of a night sky, but the symbols—stars, moons—they were the exact same style as on my map. In the bottom right corner of the drawing, there was a barely visible comet streaking across the paper. The comet’s tail pointed straight toward the edge of the frame. My heart hammered. I carefully lifted the glass edge of the display—it wasn’t locked. Nobody ever touched this stuff. I picked up the drawing and turned it over. On the back of the cheap frame, someone had used a blade to carve a tiny, deep groove. And inside that groove was a folded-up sticky note. I opened it, my hands trembling. There was just one line of text: Safe deposit box at State St. Bank. The key in your hand is the key to the treasure. The key from the metal box! I quickly put the drawing back and closed the display case. Just as I turned to leave, the heavy doors of the Hall of Fame pushed open. My soul nearly left my body. I dove behind a massive display board. It was Robert. He looked hurried. He walked directly up to Dad’s photo. He mimicked my actions from earlier—he knocked on the plaque, looked at the photo, his brows furrowed in intense confusion. He obviously didn’t understand Dad’s finger signal. He paced around irritably, then pulled out his phone and made a call. “…I haven’t found it yet.” “Yeah, the brat came to school today. I followed her here.” “She’s definitely smart, she knows something.” Whatever the person on the other end said made Robert’s expression turn ugly. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it out of her.” “She’s just a fifteen-year-old kid. You think she can outsmart me?” He hung up, cursed under his breath, and marched out. I leaned back against the display board, cold sweat running down my back. He really was tracking me. This wasn’t a game. It was a race against a murderer. And I had to get to that safe deposit box before he found me. I gripped the key tightly in my pocket. Dad, I got this. I’m not going to let them win. This game… we’re going to be the Hide-and-Seek Champions, together. 6 I couldn’t go home. Not to that house. It wasn’t my home anymore. It was just a prison guarded by a monster. I needed help. Dad’s note in the library had said, “A-13-7,” pointing to page 137 of Sherlock Holmes. I suddenly remembered—there was more scrawled in faint pencil in the margin of that page. Below the locker combo, it had said: “IA. Detective Davies.” Davies. I recognized that name. The night Dad was “killed,” Detective Davies had been the one who handed Mom Dad’s badge. He had patted my head and said, “Maya, your father was a hero. Be strong, okay?” IA. Internal Affairs. Dad was trying to tell me who I could trust. But I didn’t have his number. And I couldn’t use my phone—Robert was definitely tracking it. My only hope was the USB drive. Wait. What if the USB drive was a trap? What if Robert left it for me to find, to lead me to the police, where I’d be forced to hand it over? Game Rule #1: Trust no one. That was the first rule of the game. Could I even trust Detective Davies? I sat on a park bench, the sun setting, casting long shadows across the grass. I was hungry, my stomach growling, but I didn’t have any money. I had to figure this out. I couldn’t make a single mistake. The park lights hummed to life. A city maintenance worker pushed a trash cart past me. She had an old radio clipped to her belt, and a news bulletin was playing. “…Police are issuing an Amber Alert for Maya Quinn, age 15. She was last seen leaving high school yesterday afternoon. Her mother, Liz Miller, is begging for her return…” Mom had called the cops. Or rather, Robert had. It was a tactic to flush me out. I pulled my baseball cap lower and got up to leave. Suddenly, another news story on the radio made me stop dead in my tracks. “…City Police Captain David Rodriguez is holding a press conference today on the ‘Community Policing Initiative’ at the Central Police Station downtown…” Rodriguez! I remembered. IA, and Rodriguez… they worked on the same floor. If I could get to Central Station and find Davies, maybe I could get to Rodriguez too! I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have money for a cab, so I ran. I ran until my lungs burned. Halfway there, a terrifying thought hit me. Even if I meet Detective Davies, how do I prove any of this is real? Robert has contacts in Internal Affairs—that was on the audio! If Davies isn’t who Dad thinks he is, he’ll just hand me right over to Robert… I stopped running, leaning against a lamp post, gasping for air. No. I can’t be reckless. Davies might not believe me. I need something that will make him believe me instantly, something that shows him how dangerous this really is. My eyes fell on the old map in my pocket. Dad always said, The map is the heart of the mystery. On the map, besides the stars and moons, there was one symbol that was different from all the others. A shield. Dad told me a shield represented protection and trust. That symbol was drawn over an old, abandoned warehouse down by the docks. The audio recording had mentioned “the spot.” What if that shield symbol was the key to proving everything? A dangerous plan started to take shape in my mind. I was going to that warehouse. And I was going to find the real evidence.

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I was the charity case, the poor student sponsored by the wealthy Sterling family. At twenty-two, I married Carter Sterling because I was pregnant. Carter was a notoriously severe germaphobe. He used separate serving spoons at dinner and refused to kiss me on the lips in bed. He even found it repulsive to drink from a glass I had used. But at a party recently, I watched him intercept a drink for his childhood sweetheart, his “one who got away,” downing the very glass she had just sipped from to save her from drinking too much. In that moment, I knew our marriage was over. 01 Carter stumbled through the front door, leaning heavily against me. He had intercepted far too many drinks for Serena Hayes, and by now, he was barely coherent. Before we left the party, Serena had looked at me, her face the picture of innocent guilt. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Miller. It’s all my fault Carter drank so much.” “It’s just that… I got a little too drunk once and almost kissed another guy. Ever since then, Carter absolutely refuses to let me drink too much.” Her hand had continuously stroked Carter’s chest, smoothing his shirt. She even had the nerve to remind me to make him honey water when we got home. I thought to myself, if it were any other woman, she would have slapped Serena across the face right then and there. But I just calmly took Carter’s weight and said absolutely nothing. It wasn’t that I was a saint who could endure anything; it was just that I knew I had no right to act like a jealous wife. Eventually, I poured Carter a glass of plain water. Even in his drunken stupor, as he took the glass, he instinctively asked: “Whose glass is this?” “Yours.” I replied flatly. Only then did he relax and drink it down. I knew about Carter’s germaphobia from the very beginning. Shortly after we got married, he had a sudden, severe stomach ache and was looking for his medication. In my panic, I grabbed my own water glass, filled it, and handed it to him. When Carter realized what I’d done, he was furious. He threw the glass, shattering it against the wall. “Haven’t I told you I don’t use other people’s glasses?!” That was the first time I had ever seen him so angry. I was terrified, standing off to the side, not daring to make a sound. Seeing my reaction, his tone involuntarily softened: “It’s not you. I just have a habit of not sharing things. Just be careful from now on.” But in that VIP booth tonight, sharing with Serena came so naturally to him. It turned out he didn’t have a habit of not sharing things; he just only shared with Serena. That realization made the tip of my nose sting. It wasn’t that I didn’t know Serena existed. She had just been living overseas for years. And Carter never brought her up on his own. He treated everyone, including me, with polite, detached courtesy. I figured I could live the rest of my life like that. But now, I had seen what he looked like when he actually loved someone. All the grievances I had convinced myself didn’t matter suddenly crashed over me like a tidal wave. They nearly drowned me. I suddenly felt so incredibly tired. Maybe… I didn’t have to endure this anymore. Maybe leaving would be better for both of us. 02 After helping Carter to his room, I went back to my own room to wash up. We normally slept in separate bedrooms. He only came to my room on the first and fifteenth of every month. Under the guise of fulfilling his “marital duties.” But whenever he got drunk, he would throw a childish tantrum, demanding to sleep with me, wrapping his arms around me and refusing to let go. Just like he was doing right now. I have no idea how he even managed to stumble into my room. I had barely laid down when a pair of large arms suddenly clamped around me. By the time I reacted, I was already locked tightly against his chest. He let out a satisfied sigh and fell asleep. In the past, even though I hated the smell of alcohol, I would have convinced myself to just let it go and sleep like this. After all, the debt of gratitude I owed the Sterling family was too massive. But tonight, I didn’t want to endure it. I struggled and wrenched myself out of his grip. Since he liked this bed so much, I’d go sleep in another room. The Sterling mansion had plenty of them, anyway. But as soon as I stepped out, I saw Leo standing in the hallway. He was peering anxiously into the room, clearly worried about Carter. I smiled, crouching down to rub his head: “Leo, why are you still awake? Don’t you have kindergarten tomorrow? Go to bed, sweetie.” But Leo violently slapped my hand away. He glared at me with eyes identical to Carter’s, full of disgust. “Chloe, you have no right to tell me what to do.” That’s right, Chloe. Not Mom. Ever since someone at school called him a bastard child. And he found out I only got to marry into the Sterling family because I got pregnant with him, Leo had hated me. He forgot how I stayed awake night after night sitting by his bed when he was sick. He forgot how he used to curl up in my arms, whining that he loved Mommy the most. Now, his greatest wish was that I wasn’t his mother at all. Watching his small back disappear into his room, I let out a quiet sigh, stood up, and headed to the guest room down the hall. As soon as I closed the door, I called my old boss, Valerie. “Valerie, I’ve made up my mind. I want to go to Paris with you.” 03 Valerie paused for a second on the other end of the line, then her voice pitched up in surprise: “Really? That’s amazing, Chloe! Get your visa sorted this month, and once I wrap things up here, we’ll fly out.” My college major was actually fashion design. I had worked under Valerie for years. Even after getting married, I freelanced, submitting design sketches for her label. Recently, she was preparing to take her core team and jump ship to a major international fashion house. She really wanted me to go with her. At first, I hesitated. For someone who grew up as an orphan, having a family was everything. I didn’t want my child to lose his mother at such a young age. But looking at things now… Leo didn’t want a mother like me anyway. And I finally realized, the definition of family was never about the number of people. Sometimes, you can be your own family. After hanging up, I scrolled through my saved files and opened a PDF. It was the divorce agreement Carter’s mother had drafted for me four years ago. 04 The next morning, the moment I opened the guest room door, I bumped into Carter coming out of my bedroom. He looked exhausted. His eyes silently demanded to know why he had woken up in my bed. I didn’t even hesitate: “You stumbled into my room last night, grabbed me, and wouldn’t let go. I had no choice, so I just gave you the room.” Hearing this, a rare look of embarrassment washed over his face. He coughed softly: “Sorry. It won’t happen again.” I nodded, not looking at him again. I turned and walked downstairs to help the housekeeper with breakfast. Carter stood frozen. In the past, whenever we talked about things like this, my face would always flush with shyness. But today, I was completely nonchalant, even a little impatient. This sudden shift made Carter stand there, staring at my back for a long time. During breakfast, I announced I had errands to run today. I couldn’t drop Leo off at kindergarten, and I wouldn’t have time to deliver Carter’s lunch to the office. They would have to figure it out themselves. “Where are you going?” Father and son spoke almost simultaneously. Two pairs of eyes stared right at me. I was a little surprised they suddenly cared about my whereabouts. “I haven’t been back to the main estate in a while. I’m going to see your mother.” Carter’s brow relaxed, and the corner of his mouth seemed to twitch up slightly: “Wait until I get off work. I’ll go with you.” I shook my head: “No need. I can go by myself.” Carter’s eyes narrowed. He looked up at me again, but didn’t push it. Just as he was heading out the door, he suddenly stopped and said: “I hope you don’t go back there and say anything unpleasant.” I blinked, then let out a knowing smile. So he didn’t want to go with me because he cared; he was afraid I was going to tattle on him. He was really overthinking it. His scandal with Serena was practically plastered all over the tabloids. Why would I need to tattle? Leo stood at the top of the stairs for a long time, watching me. I didn’t know if I was imagining it, but I thought I saw a flicker of anger and hurt in his eyes. Finally, he let out a loud hmph and stomped off with the driver, Mr. Clark. I shook my head, amused. I really must not have slept well last night to be hallucinating. Leo couldn’t wait to get rid of me. Why would he be upset that I wasn’t dropping him off? When I arrived at the main estate and saw Carter’s mother, Eleanor, my first sentence was: “I want a divorce.” 05 I was adopted by the Sterling family from an orphanage. That year, Carter’s father and grandparents all died in a tragic accident. A psychic told Eleanor that adopting an orphan would build good karma and ward off further disaster. Otherwise, she wouldn’t even be able to keep Carter, the sole heir. So, Eleanor picked me. She paid for my living expenses and put me through college. I was always incredibly grateful to them. Until a gala a few years ago. One of Carter’s obsessive admirers managed to slip a date-rape drug into his drink. I just happened to be walking by. And just like that, we spent the night together. Afterward, everyone assumed I was the one who drugged him. They said the Sterling family had raised a backstabbing snake. Carter knew the truth, but he never said a single word in my defense. Then, I found out I was pregnant. Eleanor begged me to keep the baby. At that time, Carter had been broken up with Serena for a year and flat-out refused to get married. Everyone said it was because he couldn’t get over her. Eleanor put all her hopes on me. She promised that as long as I had the child, I could divorce him whenever I wanted. Thinking of everything the Sterling family had done for me, and seeing Eleanor’s tearful pleas… I agreed. After Leo was born, I couldn’t bear to leave him. I comforted myself by thinking that even a loveless marriage was better than freezing and starving like I did when I was a kid. I ultimately overestimated my tolerance for a marriage devoid of affection. Eleanor kept her word. She never made things difficult for me. She didn’t beg me to stay, and she didn’t insult me. She simply called her lawyer and sat down with me to go over the divorce agreement line by line. She acted less like a mother-in-law and more like a mother. I never thought I’d become a multi-millionaire just by getting a divorce. As I was leaving, Eleanor suddenly spoke: “Chloe, thank you.” My eyes welled up with tears. Honestly, Eleanor had always been good to me. Whether it was paying for my upbringing, or intentionally giving Carter and me our space after we got married… She did things most mothers-in-law would never do. 06 When I got home, I received a call from Carter’s secretary. She said Carter refused to eat lunch because I hadn’t delivered it. She was worried his stomach issues would flare up in the afternoon, and asked if I had time to whip something simple up and bring it over. My instinct was to refuse, but then I thought of Eleanor. I hesitated, then agreed. Just as I reached the door to Carter’s office, I heard him talking to a friend inside. “I hear you and Serena have been getting awfully close lately?” Carter’s pen stopped. He looked up at his friend. “Stop reading the tabloids. Keep talking garbage and I don’t mind having your old man drag you back home.” The friend brushed it off: “Oh, save it.” “You’re really keeping secrets from your best friend? If it’s fake, why haven’t you suppressed the trending articles?” “Listen to me. If you can’t get over her, just get a divorce. Marry Serena and finally get your happy ending, wouldn’t that be better?” “No.” Carter rejected the idea instantly this time. He was silent for a moment before continuing: “Serena has her own dreams. I can’t hold her back.” “Chloe… she’s taken really good care of me and Leo these past few years.” His friend laughed: “So you’re treating Chloe like a glorified nanny?” Carter didn’t answer. Hearing this, my heart still stung. So he didn’t want to divorce me just because I took good care of him. And Serena was the woman he actually loved. So he’d rather stay apart, hoping she could achieve her dreams. And what about me? What was I in his eyes? It seems if you want something, you have to fight for it yourself. If you eat scraps for long enough, people will start to think scraps are all you deserve. I didn’t go in. I handed the lunchbox to the janitor cleaning the hallway downstairs. That night at home, Carter and I barely spoke. But when it was time to go to bed, he stood outside my door and refused to leave. “What is it?” I asked him. He pressed his lips together: “Today is the fifteenth.” 07 I suddenly remembered. Today was our designated day to sleep together. On the surface, Carter seemed like a monk with no earthly desires. But in bed, he was always fierce and relentless. He wouldn’t stop until dawn. He claimed he hated kissing, but in the heat of the moment, he was always the one grabbing the back of my head and kissing me like he was starving. He would constantly demand I say his name. If I didn’t, he wouldn’t stop. Since I had already decided to divorce him, I had absolutely no desire to be intimate with him ever again. “Not tonight. It’s my time of the month.” I turned to go into my room, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist. “I remember your cycle. It isn’t now.” I didn’t expect him to be so stubborn. I wrenched my hand out of his grip, annoyed: “It came early, okay?” I didn’t care if he believed me or not. I walked quickly into my room and slammed the door shut. Carter seemed to stand outside my door for a long time before finally walking away. In the middle of the night, I suddenly felt the mattress dip behind me. The next second, a pair of large, burning hands pulled me into a tight embrace. Carter’s familiar voice whispered in my ear: “Just because it’s your time of the month doesn’t mean we can’t sleep in the same bed.” I tried to struggle, but his grip was like iron. Eventually, I was just too exhausted. I gave up and let him hold me. When I woke up the next morning, Carter was already gone. Leo had been taken to kindergarten by Mr. Clark. I decided to head out and get my visa sorted. On the way home, I was debating whether I should tell Carter and Leo about the divorce. After all, this wasn’t just my business. But the moment I walked through the door, I saw the two of them and Serena in the living room, laughing and playing like a perfect, happy family. The second Leo saw me, he threw his arms around Serena and yelled: “Dad and Ms. Hayes came to pick me up from school today! I was so happy! I wish Ms. Hayes could pick me up every day!” He shot me a smug, triumphant look. 08 Serena affectionately stroked his little head. “If you like it, I’ll pick you up whenever I have time.” Carter was sitting on the couch. Seeing me, he offered a brief explanation: “Serena said she wanted to see Leo, so I brought her over.” I nodded, not looking at Leo again, and walked straight up to Carter. “Do you have a minute? I need to speak to you privately.” Carter frowned: “Chloe, are you throwing a tantrum again?” “I know you don’t like Serena, but she is a guest here right now. She deserves your basic respect.” “Whatever you need to say can wait until tonight. Serena said she wanted to eat the sweet and sour ribs you make. Go help the chef prep dinner.” Serena immediately chimed in: “Carter, what are you saying? Ms. Miller isn’t a maid, how could you ask her to do that?” “I don’t do any cooking at my own house.” “It’s fine. She’s not like you. She does this kind of stuff all the time,” Carter said dismissively. “Really? Then I guess we’ll be bothering Ms. Miller tonight.” Serena looked at me, her eyes smiling, full of both smugness and mockery. I took a deep breath. Only now did I realize that the lunches I had painstakingly made and delivered to him… he had given them to Serena. Suddenly, I didn’t want to say anything at all. What was the point? I was truly pathetic. They didn’t care about me at all. “I’m not feeling well. If you want to eat, make it yourselves.” With that, I turned toward the stairs. Suddenly, Carter’s secretary walked in. She was holding several documents for him to sign. She looked extremely hesitant. Finally, she glanced at me and stammered: “There’s… there’s one more document.” “It’s… it’s the divorce agreement… sent over by the Chairman’s office this afternoon.” The moment she said those words, Carter and Leo’s heads snapped toward me. Even Serena’s eyes widened in shock. Scanning the contents of the agreement, the pen in Carter’s hand snapped with a loud crack. The veins on the back of his hand bulged. His tone carried a forced, terrifying calmness. “You want a divorce?”

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On the final day to submit college applications, my childhood sweetheart suddenly changed his top choice to the same university as the prom queen. His friends teased him: “What about your little shadow?” “Didn’t you two promise six years ago to go to MIT together?” My childhood sweetheart seemed to just remember this. He paused, then answered carelessly: “Oh, Maya? It’s fine. She has my account login.” “When she realizes I changed my application, she’ll just change hers to follow me. It’s not like she can live without me anyway.” I stood in silence for a long time. Then I quietly walked away, pretending I hadn’t heard a thing. That day, I never logged back into the application portal to check, and I didn’t change my top choice to follow him. What he didn’t know was… He could cross mountains and seas for the prom queen, but I also had a sky I wanted to fly towards. Even that dream I had desperately tried to achieve through countless days and nights—it was never just for him. 01 Liam’s words froze me in place, making me almost forget to breathe. Working hard together to get into MIT—that was a promise we made back in seventh grade. During the two days the application portal was open, our families even sat down together and spent a long time discussing it before solemnly finalizing our choices. But now, he had suddenly changed his. And he didn’t even say a word to me about it. Inside the private room of the restaurant, his friend asked curiously: “How do you know Maya will log back into your account to check?” “What if she doesn’t even notice…” Liam acted like he had just heard a joke, casually scoffing: “More than just check. I know her too well.” “She’d log in eight hundred times a day to double-check if she could, terrified of putting in the wrong info and ending up in a different major than me.” He sounded a bit exasperated as he said this. “You wouldn’t understand. If you had a little shadow clinging to you every day since childhood that you couldn’t shake off, you’d get it.” A wave of laughter erupted around him. His friends seemed to understand, but one still argued: “Even if she finds out, are you that sure Maya will change her application at the last minute just to follow you?” Liam looked up from the game on his phone, letting out a short, derisive laugh. “Get out of here.” “Maya hasn’t been apart from me for more than a week since the day she was born. If she doesn’t go to college with me, who else is she going to go with?” Another friend couldn’t help but interject: “Liam, not gonna lie, what you did was a bit messed up.” “Couldn’t you have just told her directly that you changed your application?” Liam’s finger paused on his screen, a look of annoyance crossing his face: “I honestly forgot. It’s annoying, and I couldn’t be bothered to explain everything to her.” “If she knew I changed it for Chloe, she’d throw another fit.” “And it’s not like I changed it for no reason. Chloe said she was scared to go to college down South all by herself, and that having a familiar friend there would make her feel safer.” The friends all paused, then sighed in unspoken agreement: “True. Chloe is so gorgeous, and with her family situation… it really makes you want to protect her.” “Unlike your little lapdog, Maya. Always looking like a mess, only caring about studying. Compared to the prom queen, she’s definitely lacking.” “Tsk, tsk. To think you’d give up the aerospace engineering major you loved so much just to play the white knight for her, Liam.” … The joking and gaming sounds continued inside. Outside the door, I felt like I had plunged into an icy cavern. I clenched my fists tight. I wanted so badly to burst through that door, grab Liam, and scream at him. But my feet felt like lead; I couldn’t take a single step. I stood there in silence for who knows how long. In the end, I couldn’t muster the courage. I just turned around wordlessly. And walked away from the restaurant in a daze. 02 It was only when I locked myself in my room that the tears I had been holding back finally broke the dam. In my mind, Liam’s words echoed, word for word. I still couldn’t understand it. How could he change the aerospace major he had loved since he was a kid at the very last minute? We had clearly promised to work hard together for so many years, and we had finally gotten the scores we needed for our dream program. Even a second before I walked toward that private room, I was still foolishly happy that we were going to achieve our dreams together. But I never would have imagined… That the future for the two of us, which I had fought tooth and nail for… He would casually throw it away just because of one sentence from someone else. But even if he was going to change it, why couldn’t he even manage to tell me? Was he really that afraid I would cling to him? If he was so afraid of me clinging to him, then under the starry sky on his eighteenth birthday… That proactive yet careful kiss from him, that heart-pounding moment for both of us—what was that? Was it just a spur-of-the-moment thing when he was tipsy, which I foolishly misinterpreted as something serious? A string in my heart seemed to suddenly snap. Actually, I didn’t have to follow him. Since kindergarten, I had attended the same elementary, middle, and high schools as Liam. Everyone, even Liam himself, assumed I would always be with him and that we would never separate. But no one knew that, aside from relying on him, I had another reason for wanting to go to that university. And it had nothing to do with Liam. Even if he didn’t go, I would go by myself. I closed the laptop I had unconsciously opened earlier. I didn’t want to look at that application portal for another second. And I had absolutely no desire to change my own application for him. He could cross mountains and seas for the prom queen, but I also had a sky I wanted to fly towards. Since we had different paths ahead, there was no need to dwell on the past. 03 Once I thought it through, everything suddenly felt clear. It wasn’t a big deal. My mom was right; people always have to learn to grow up on their own. As for that kiss… I’ll just pretend I got bitten by a stray dog on the street. Just as I splashed cold water on my face and calmed down, Liam sent me a FaceTime request. My brain was still hesitating, but my finger reflexively hit accept. “Maya, why aren’t you here yet? “Everyone is here, we’re just waiting for you to start eating. Why are you getting slower and slower, princess?” After high school graduation, Liam and his close group of friends agreed to take turns hosting a dinner every day to relax. Today it was Liam’s turn to treat. But I didn’t want to go anymore. “I’m not going, you guys eat without…” Before I could finish, I heard a deliberately lowered, whiny voice coming from next to Liam. “Liam, Maya won’t come. Is she unhappy that I came to your little friend group’s dinner?” Before Liam could reply, several male voices nearby rushed to reassure her. “No way! We’re thrilled the prom queen graced us with her presence.” “Maya is just a bit petty. She throws a fit whenever any girl gets too close to Liam. We’re used to it.” A small portion of Chloe’s profile casually appeared in Liam’s camera frame, leaning extremely close to him. She used a breathy voice to explain to him, playing the understanding victim: “Liam, maybe I should just go. I don’t want to make things difficult for you…” Liam’s expression changed instantly. He turned and reached out to grab her: “Chloe, you don’t need to go. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Maya today. If she doesn’t want to come, then she shouldn’t. “We’re not waiting for her anymore. Let’s eat.” After snapping at me coldly, Liam ended the FaceTime call before I could respond. My anger flared, and I immediately blocked Liam’s number. From childhood until now, this was the first time we had fought and I had blocked him. And it was over Chloe again. 04 Ever since Chloe transferred to our school in junior year. I’ve lost count of how many times Liam broke his own rules for her. Maybe boys just like pure, pretty girls like that. During the days when I looked my worst, burying my head in my studies… Chloe seemed to never settle for less. She always woke up early to do her perfect “no-makeup” makeup, always looking so exquisite and beautiful. Because of Chloe, we fought countless times and had countless cold wars. I even thought he liked Chloe and decided to give up on him, intentionally distancing myself from him a few times in silence. But every time, Liam would find me and repeatedly assure me. “What are you imagining? Chloe and I are just normal classmates. I don’t have any other intentions, don’t overthink it. “I just think she has it rough and want to help her out. Her family situation is complicated. The other students praise her looks to her face, but behind her back, they judge her.” I believed Liam’s words. Chloe did have a complicated family, so I didn’t make too much of a fuss about her getting closer and closer to him. Besides, growing up, Liam had never lied to me. He personally said he didn’t like her, so I believed him. But later, without me realizing it, Liam gradually started doing many, many things with her that I didn’t know about. And now. He had even casually changed his college application for Chloe. It made me look even more ridiculous. I thought about a lot of messy things until my thoughts were gathered by a text notification. [Maya, you’ve got some nerve, blocking me? You better be waiting for me when I get home.] (Angry Emoji) Liam used his friend’s phone to text me. I immediately blocked his friend’s number too. I checked the time, quickly got ready, and headed to school. It was the last day for college applications, and our homeroom teacher had called us in for one final meeting with some instructions. Traffic was a bit heavy. By the time I arrived, Liam and Chloe were already in the classroom. Chloe was sitting firmly in the seat next to Liam—my seat. Seeing me approach, she made no move to get up and let me in, her eyes full of smugness. Liam acted like he didn’t notice. His expression was cold, and he deliberately turned his head away to avoid looking at me. He seemed to be waiting for me to lower my head and beg. But I wouldn’t. Perfect. I didn’t want to sit next to Liam anymore anyway. I looked around and sat in an empty seat next to my best friend, Lily. Far, far away from them. “Class, there’s only half a day left for the college applications. Please be cautious and double-check everything carefully. “For those who still haven’t finalized their choices, you can come to me individually for advice.” The teacher gave a few brief instructions and let us have free time. I was listening to Lily share some celebrity gossip when I felt a tap on the top of my head. “Maya, come outside for a second.” I turned my head and met Liam’s eyes. I looked away, not wanting to engage with him. I turned back to continue chatting with Lily. Liam grabbed my shoulders and forcibly turned me to face him. “Maya, what are you throwing a fit about this time? “I’m really tired of this. Every time we fight and give each other the silent treatment like this. We’re about to go to college, isn’t this childish?” Forced to look at him, I snapped back in annoyance: “It is childish, and it’s boring. So stop coming to me and begging.” After staring each other down for a moment, Liam lost his patience. “Whatever, I’m too lazy to argue with someone so petty. “Keep acting if you want, just don’t cry about it alone in your room tonight.” I kept my face cold and refused to look at him. A moment later, I thought he had left. But Liam grabbed my face with both hands again, looked me straight in the eyes, and said seriously: “Today is the last day for applications. Check it over carefully again, don’t make any mistakes…” He wanted to say more, but Chloe suddenly appeared in front of him, holding a laptop. “Liam, I have a little problem with my application here. Could you help me look at it?” Liam nodded. Before leaving, he pinched my cheek like he always used to, and gave me one last reminder. “Why didn’t you bring your laptop? Remember to go to the school computer lab later and check your application one last time. “You can’t be careless with something this important.” 05 I sneered internally. Liam probably thought that since he reminded me, I would definitely go check, and once I found the discrepancy, I would immediately change my choice to NYU to follow him. But he was being awkward about it, refusing to just tell me clearly and directly. And yeah, if he told me directly that he changed his application, he’d have to spend a lot of effort explaining it to a “difficult” person like me. That would be too exhausting. It’s a good thing I had already made up my mind and would never turn back. Glancing at Liam, who was busy helping Chloe with her application, I pulled Lily out of the classroom. I was about to order an Uber home, but Lily saw I was unhappy and insisted on dragging me to a birthday party for one of her sorority sisters. Unable to say no, I had to tag along. After dinner, they dragged me to a newly opened club. It was only when we got there that I realized Liam’s group was having their party here tonight too. Since there were a lot of people who knew each other between the two groups, we naturally ended up hanging out in the same large VIP booth. Liam looked a bit awkward when he saw me. But he didn’t say anything, and he didn’t greet me. I treated him like he was invisible too. When I was heading to the restroom, I overheard Liam and his friend talking around the corner. The friend was advising him. “You should just be straight with her. It’s pretty tough for a young girl like her to go all the way to Boston [MIT] alone.” Liam still didn’t seem to care. “Don’t worry, I specifically reminded her multiple times. “She definitely already changed it. She’s probably just mad at me right now because I didn’t discuss it with her beforehand.” While I was spacing out, the two of them stepped out from around the corner. Seeing me, Liam signaled his friend to go ahead with his eyes, then turned around and cornered me in the hallway. “Maya, we need to talk.” I rolled my eyes at him and turned to leave. I barely took a step before he pulled me back, trapping me in the corner against the wall. The smell of alcohol, slightly tipsy, hit my face. I couldn’t help but turn my head away. After staring at me for a moment, Liam couldn’t hold it in and laughed softly first: “Still mad? I originally wanted to text you to come to the club together this afternoon. But you blocked me, so the message didn’t go through. “And then I was so mad at you in the classroom that I forgot to tell you. “Alright, be good. Stop being mad. I don’t even know what you’re so angry about today. “By the way, you checked your application, right?” I remained expressionless and didn’t want to talk to him. I kept my head down without saying a word. While we were in this standoff and he was about to say something else, Chloe’s voice suddenly echoed behind him. “Liam, Brad is looking for you to do a shot. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, are you guys…” Sometimes I wonder if Chloe installed a tracking device on him. Every time Liam and I talk, she immediately appears. But I didn’t want to chat with them. Taking advantage of Liam turning his head, I ducked out from under his arm. But as I passed Chloe, she grabbed me tight. 06 “I’m really sorry, Maya. I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys. Liam has been in a bad mood all day because you’ve been giving him the cold shoulder. “Can I apologize to you? Please don’t fight over me anymore.” Chloe said, posturing to stand in front of me and bow. I didn’t want to deal with her. Her grip on my hand hurt, so I forcefully shook it off. Chloe stumbled, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes. “Liam, is Maya still mad that I went to your little friend group’s dinner? “I can apologize to her. Please don’t be awkward with each other because of me anymore.” Liam instantly got angry and immediately turned around to block Chloe. “It’s her own princess temper. Why are you apologizing to her? “Maya, why did you push her? You should apologize to Chloe. “We’re all going to be at the same university in the future, we need to look out for each other.” “Since you love taking care of people so much, you guys can take care of each other.” I threw that sentence at them and stormed off. I didn’t care about Liam’s dissatisfied warning from behind. “Maya, you’re crossing the line.” It was a good while before Liam and Chloe came back. Liam’s face was stiff, but Chloe seemed fine, looking all shy and blushing. Except for Lily, everyone else started teasing them about being gone so long and definitely having a secret, using Truth or Dare to deliberately create romantic moments for them. Even Liam’s closest friends joined in on the teasing, not caring at all if I would feel embarrassed or bothered. Makes sense. In their eyes, I was just Liam’s pathetic lapdog. Chloe ended up drawing a dare to do a sexy dance with a guy in the room, and she immediately locked pleading eyes on Liam. Liam subtly glanced at me, as if provoking me, and gladly agreed to cooperate with her. If it had been in the past, I would definitely have jumped out in anger and stopped it. But now, I had no reaction. Chloe had joined the hip-hop dance club at school, and she had a really hot body, so she was great to watch. I quietly downed a can of beer. I calmly watched Chloe, accompanied by a sexy K-pop track, grinding and dancing closely around Liam. Liam had a faint smile playing on his lips. At first, he kept glancing over at me, seemingly waiting for me to call it off at any moment. As Chloe got closer and more intimate, he stopped caring about his surroundings. He sat up straight, his gaze entirely focused on Chloe’s figure. Sparks were practically flying between the two of them. As the song ended, Chloe ‘accidentally’ fell into Liam’s lap. She was wearing a tight pencil skirt tonight, and she fell face-first into Liam’s lap. They hugged tightly, their seating position undeniably intimate. The crowd’s cheers were deafening, almost blowing the roof off. Chloe’s face instantly turned bright red, looking like she wanted to find a place to hide. Liam cursed at everyone, telling them not to take the joke too far. But his hand firmly pressed Chloe’s face into his chest, shielding her from the crowd’s gaze. That kind of natural intimacy and familiarity used to be exclusive to me. Even though I had already decided to give up, actually seeing it still made my heart ache uncontrollably. I couldn’t watch it anymore. I finished the last sip of my drink and silently left the booth. Lily couldn’t take it either. She followed me out and accompanied me as I cursed him out on the sidewalk for a long time. She had held it in all night, almost snapping at them right then and there several times, but I had stopped her. Why ruin the mood? From now on, we were just strangers anyway. I didn’t know how things ended up inside; I just felt exhausted and didn’t care about anything anymore. When I got home, it was exactly 11:55 PM. There were only five minutes left until the college application deadline. I was completely drained. I closed my eyes and lay on my bed. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed in my heart. Over a decade of feelings, you can’t just let them go. While I was feeling sad, my phone suddenly rang. Unknown number. When I answered, it was a drunk Liam. His tone carried a rare, coaxing quality: “Maya, stop being stubborn, be good. Remember to change your application. “NYU is pretty great too. We can go to the Hamptons on the weekends, I’ll take photos of you by the ocean.” 07 Maybe it was the alcohol, but Liam’s attitude was unusually gentle. In the past, when I threw tantrums, even when he was the first to apologize, it was always with a half-threatening tone— “Maya, stop it. If you keep this up, don’t expect me to take you to Disneyland.” And then I would obediently take the out and forgive him. When you truly like someone, how can you bear to really fall out with them? But this time. The more out of character he was, the worse I felt inside. “Say something, Maya… Maya papaya… how about it? “Haven’t you always been whining about wanting to go on a beach vacation… I heard the new campus is right by the water, you’ll definitely love it. “Honestly, Boston is a bit too far, and the winters are so freezing. You hate the cold so much, you’d definitely cry… Or if you really want to go, I can take you to ski in Vermont during winter break, okay…” Liam rambled on and on, as if trying to convince himself, or maybe trying to convince me. As if changing to go to NYU was all for my sake. I listened in silence for a while, and finally couldn’t help but ask him: “Liam, isn’t there something you need to tell me?” My tone carried a sob that even I hadn’t noticed. I thought, if he could just be honest about his own issues right now, then maybe in the future… we could still be normal friends. If he still chose not to address it clearly now, then really, there was no need to stay in touch anymore. He paused for a few seconds on the other end, then mumbled evasively: “…You already know, what’s there to ask. “You’ve been mad at me all day over this, you’re such a petty princess. “Alright, alright, they’re both good schools anyway. You chose the major you liked, as long as we’re together, it’s the same no matter what college we go to…” Liam went on and on about a lot of things, but he just wouldn’t address the core issue. I couldn’t be bothered to listen anymore. The last chance. Was gone. I didn’t wait for him to finish; I just hung up and turned off my phone. I glanced at the clock. The second hand had just crossed midnight. There was no room for regret anymore. That’s fine. I chose this path myself. We both got what we wanted. I turned off the light, lay flat, and forced myself to sleep. But when I closed my eyes, my mind was full of Liam. Happy, sad, funny, angry—all the different versions of Liam. We grew up together from kids to adults, keeping each other company. Every memory I had held his shadow. I never thought it would end like this. People are always especially fragile late at night. Even though I told myself to be strong during the day, my tears unknowingly soaked my pillowcase. In my haze, I didn’t know when I finally fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already noon the next day. I turned on my phone and found a bunch of missed calls and messages from an unknown number. All from Liam. I ignored them. WeChat was also blowing up. In a group chat with my close girlfriends that Lily had added me to, people were constantly tagging everyone to “spill the tea.”

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The morning after my high school reunion, before I even opened my eyes, my hand brushed against a long, hairy leg. Driven by sheer curiosity, I couldn’t help but reach out and feel it a few more times… The next second—Bang! The door burst open, and a group of guys flooded into the room. Terrified, I immediately snatched my hand back, snapped my eyes open, and hugged the blanket tight against my chest. “Dr. Carter, the Chief of Surgery is looking for you…” The group of men suddenly froze, letting out a collective gasp of shock. Me: ??? What Dr. Carter? I followed their wide-eyed stares and peeked beside me. A man was lying right next to me. He had long, straight, muscular legs completely covered in a wildly masculine amount of hair. And further up… I practically blinded myself. “We… we didn’t mean to intrude!” The group of guys immediately squeezed their eyes shut, scrambling to apologize. I didn’t know these guys, and I certainly didn’t know the man lying next to me. Just as I was panicking, completely at a loss for what to do— The man beside me reached out and gave the blanket a slight tug. He cracked his eyes open just a sliver, shot me a glance, and said in a gravelly, morning voice, “Care to share a little?” It took me a full second to process his words. Then, I released the blanket like it had caught fire. The fabric barely covered his vital areas before he closed his eyes again and drawled lazily at the doorway, “Are you guys still here?” Whoa… I was already terrified of him. I was about to scramble out of bed when he let out a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he muttered helplessly. At his words, the peanut gallery at the door finally snapped out of their trance. “The Chief is waiting for you at the morning briefing! Hurry down!” one of them yelled before they practically tripped over each other running out of the hotel room. The world suddenly went dead silent. I sat there, clutching the corner of the blanket, shivering like a leaf. 2 “What are you so scared of?” My shivering must have chased away the rest of his sleep. He opened his eyes, gave me a helpless look, but couldn’t keep them open and let them fall shut again. “I… I think… it kinda hurts.” Traumatized and panicking, I started babbling nonsense. The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to slap myself. This time, his eyes snapped open and stayed that way. He stared at me for a few seconds, reached up to massage his temples, and then slung a long arm around me, effortlessly pulling my waist toward him. “It’s your first time. That’s how it is. You’ll be fine in a minute.” He was probably trying to comfort me. But I was absolutely not comforted. Instead, a cold sweat broke out all over my body. Then I looked down and saw a tiny spot of blood on the white hotel sheets… My scalp went numb. He stared at the spot of blood too. He froze for a moment, then reached out, ruffled my hair, and let out a breathless laugh. “I’m sorry. I lost control a bit.” Lost control?! Another wave of cold sweat washed over me. “Who even are you?” I asked, agonizing over my life choices. My question actually made him laugh. “You don’t even know who I am, and you still broke in here and forced yourself on me?” “I… I can’t remember…” I had never dealt with anything like this before. I was covered in goosebumps. “I won’t get pregnant from this, right?” Honestly, I applaud myself. In the midst of all that chaos, I managed to push aside every other question and hit the absolute most critical one. I’m a genius. “…” He opened his eyes and gave me a long look. He looked incredibly exhausted—so weak that if I pushed him, he might just stop breathing. Just how wild was I last night to wear a grown man out like this? I was dying of shame. “No,” he summarized simply. I had zero experience, and I couldn’t remember a single detail of last night, so I didn’t dare ask for specifics. If he said I wouldn’t get pregnant, I believed him. After all, those guys had called him a doctor. Maybe he used protection? I could only hope. “Well then. Goodbye?” To avoid the inevitable awkwardness of him fully waking up, I chose the cowards’ way out: fleeing. “…” He gave me one last look and suddenly smiled. “Alright.” 3 I honestly thought I would never see him again in my life. Yet, exactly two weeks later, I was sitting outside his department, clutching a pregnancy test in my pocket, shivering like a leaf. “Hey, Mrs. Carter!” A young guy in scrubs bounded over to me. I jumped out of my skin, nearly having a heart attack. “Are you waiting for Dr. Carter?” He was grinning, acting like we were old friends. In reality, our only interaction had been that hurried, mortifying morning in the hotel room. The morning I wanted to scrub from my brain forever. Two weeks ago, I attended my high school reunion, drank way too much, and stumbled into the wrong hotel room. I only found out later that Dr. Carter and a bunch of surgeons from the hospital were attending a medical conference at that exact hotel. Coincidentally, his room was right next to mine. He had been sick with a fever, and his colleague had forgotten to make sure the door clicked shut when leaving. And I just… stumbled right in. Then his colleagues came to get him for a meeting the next morning… And the rest is history. “Uh, yeah,” I brushed him off, my entire face burning up. “Come wait in the break room with me.” Before I could protest, he dragged me inside. As we walked past Dr. Carter in the hallway, he glanced at me with an expression that said he had absolutely no idea who I was. To be fair, I barely recognized him either. I had never seen him out of bed and fully dressed in a crisp white coat before. I waited anxiously for two hours. From the nameplate on his desk, I learned his name was Liam Carter. Attending Cardiologist. I sneakily Googled his credentials on my phone and discovered he was already… 29 years old? I silently calculated the massive generational gap between us. A while later, Liam finally came into the room to change his coat. He gave me a suspicious look. “Are you waiting for Ben?” Me: ??? “Dr. Carter, I’m waiting for you.” I stood up, gripping my purse tight, my voice as small as a mosquito’s. “You are?” Me: ??? Does he seriously not recognize people once he’s out of bed? “Two weeks ago. At the hotel. We…” I braced myself and tried to explain, losing confidence with every word. Finally, I just pulled the pregnancy test out of my purse and timidly held it out to him. “I think… I’m pregnant…” “Dr. Carter, it’s time for lunch.” Right at that moment, a beautiful female doctor pushed the door open. I panicked and tried to hide the test, but it slipped from my fingers and fell right into the trash can next to the desk. I stared at the trash can, terrified he hadn’t gotten a good look at it, debating whether I should fish it out. “…” Liam didn’t say a word. He just stared at me, a highly amused look crossing his face. “Is this a patient?” The female doctor clearly had no intention of leaving, turning her scrutinizing gaze on me. I opened my mouth, but the awkwardness was suffocating. “Just taking care of something. You guys go ahead,” he said, making zero effort to introduce me. I felt like a thief caught red-handed. The female doctor looked reluctant to leave. Before stepping out, she deliberately tugged on his sleeve, a subtle display of ownership. He has a girlfriend. I felt like I had just been struck by lightning. 4 He acted as if absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He sat down at his desk, started filling out patient charts, and casually joked, “Feeling better?” Wow. My heart started racing. “I’m fine,” I replied automatically. He shot me an airy glance and smiled again. “Want me to take responsibility?” I honestly admired him. How could he calmly write charts at a time like this, treating me like I was just here for a routine checkup? “I just don’t know what to do.” I had never expected him to take responsibility; I was just completely lost facing this result and wanted a medical opinion. I tested the waters, “I can get an abortion, right?” On the outside, I was holding it together, but my palms were dripping with sweat. He kept writing his charts, acting like I was talking about something that had nothing to do with him. What a jerk. His absolute calm was driving me insane. “It’s up to you.” He suddenly looked up, his gaze locking straight onto mine, completely devoid of emotion. “If you decide you don’t want it, then you don’t want it.” “Okay.” Could I really do it? Given the circumstances… “Scared?” His tone held a hint of teasing mockery. “Yeah.” I was at a loss for words. “Now you know how to be scared…” He gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher, flipped to a new page in his charts, and laughed. “You certainly weren’t acting like this that night.” Me: ??? Thinking back to how half-dead he looked that morning, I really, really wanted to know what exactly I did to him that night. But his words made it sound like this was 100% my fault. I was getting annoyed. “It wasn’t entirely my fault either,” I muttered, so quietly I could barely hear myself. He stopped writing. He raised an eyebrow at me, and a sudden smile broke through his stern face. “I was running a 103-degree fever that night. Do you really think I had the energy to fight you off?” Well… He had me boxed into a corner. I thought to myself: If you didn’t have the energy to fight me off, how did you have the energy to wear me out like that? A jerk is a jerk. The fact that he could talk about something this shameful so casually proved he was way too experienced at handling these situations. I couldn’t play his game. “If you’ve thought it through…” He went quiet, finished his chart, and sighed as he looked up. “Let’s do it next week.” “Next week?” “I don’t have an opening in my schedule until next week,” he explained. “Okay.” Adults have to pay the price for their actions. I didn’t argue, but my heart was a tangled mess of anxiety. 5 A week later, I found myself sitting in his office again. My resolve to go through with the surgery had cracked. It started because my mom had invited me over for dinner that week. My stepdad, my little stepbrother, my mom—it was a loud, warm, bustling family dinner. When I returned to my tiny, empty apartment, I looked around and thought of the cozy scene I had just left. I sighed, feeling a crushing, unprecedented wave of loneliness. My parents divorced when I was very young. I lived with my mom, but since middle school, I had been sent to boarding schools. My mom had met my stepdad when I was in junior high and started a new family. She was happy. I should have been happy for her. But coming back to my empty apartment, I felt exhausted down to my bones. Suddenly, I wanted to keep this baby. I was just so lonely. I knew Liam would never agree. No guy in his right mind would. Especially since he probably had a girlfriend. So even as I sat in his office, I was agonizing over whether to go through with it. “Hey, Mrs. Carter, looking for Dr. Carter again?” It was Ben, the guy from before. “Yeah.” I sat there, stiff and uncomfortable. “Please don’t call me that!” I reminded him quietly. “Don’t be shy!” Ben leaned in close, checking to make sure the coast was clear before lowering his voice. “We used to place bets on who would eventually tame the ice-cold Dr. Carter… I never expected it would be you. We seriously bow down to you.” “Huh?” I was completely lost. I whispered back, “You’re misunderstanding… He and I aren’t…” Finally, I gave up trying to explain and just threw out, “Doesn’t he have a girlfriend? Don’t start rumors.” “Who?” Ben suddenly looked deadly serious. “How do I not know about this?” “…” I was stunned. Liam didn’t have a girlfriend? Had I misunderstood? “Are you saying Dr. Carter is sneaking around behind your back with another woman?” “?” I didn’t know how to explain that I was the “other woman.” “Do you have too much free time on your hands?” A voice floated down from above us. A tall figure appeared right in front of us. Liam! I shot up from my chair, feeling the exact same embarrassment as getting caught talking in class by a teacher. “I…” I tried to say something. Ben got so scared he immediately pretended to study a medical chart and bolted out the door. “I wasn’t talking to you.” Once Ben was gone, Liam’s tone softened. He ruffled my hair, gestured for me to sit back down, and took a seat behind his desk. I felt so awkward. Why did he always touch my hair? Didn’t he know that gesture was way too intimate and totally embarrassing? “Why are you always so scared of me?” He gave me a curious look. “Do I look that terrifying?” I sat down nervously. “No, it’s just that you’re older… you seem like…” “Like what?” He suddenly looked highly entertained. “Like an elder,” I answered honestly. “An elder?” He let out a sharp laugh of disbelief. “How old are you?” “I turn 22 next month.” His laugh made me feel totally inadequate. When a usually stern guy suddenly laughs, it’s lethal. Especially when he has a face that belongs on a billboard. “That is a little young.” He dropped the smile, lost in thought for a second. “Wait here a minute.” He stood up and went into the attached locker room to change his scrubs. Those few minutes were pure torture. I kept debating how I should bring it up. Because Ben had said Liam didn’t have a girlfriend, my resolve was shaking even more. I was almost 22. I had never been in a relationship. And Liam—whether it was his looks, the way he carried himself, his career… he checked every single box I had ever imagined for a partner. Except for the fact that he was a bit of a jerk, of course. I thought to myself: Maybe I could actually date him. Finally, I gathered my courage, stood up, walked to the locker room door, and gave it a soft knock. “Dr. Carter, I have a question for you.” I clenched my fists. I didn’t have the guts to say this to his face, so talking through the door was much easier. He didn’t answer. I hesitated, but pushed forward. “Do you have a girlfriend? If you don’t, could we maybe give this a try? I want to keep the baby.” That single sentence drained every ounce of energy in my body. I stood at the door, awaiting his final judgment. Then the door swung open. But instead of his judgment, I was greeted by the booming judgment of a cell phone on speaker… “Keep it! Of course you’re going to keep it! If you dare touch a hair on her head, I will disown you! You bring my granddaughter-in-law home to me safe and sound!” Liam leaned casually against the doorframe, handing the phone right to my face while he continued buttoning his shirt. The sheer volume of the voice on the other end was enough to prove just how furious the man was. “Who is this?” I took the blazing-hot phone, my heart about to beat out of my chest. “My grandpa.” He massaged his temples and gave a helpless smile. “Ah… Granddaughter-in-law, is that you? Don’t you worry, when that brat Liam gets home, I’ll break his legs! If he dares to bully you… you have to keep the baby…” Liam’s grandpa went on a massive tangent over the phone. I was so mortified I wanted to curl up and die. All I could do was nod continuously and say, “Yes, sir.” Meanwhile, Liam listened to the whole thing with an attitude that screamed “not my problem,” casually sitting back at his desk to write more charts. Was he even human? I was dying inside. 6 By the time the call ended, my brain was buzzing. I walked over, handed the phone back, and couldn’t even look him in the eye. “You really know how to cause trouble…” He looked at me and let out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t know you were on the phone.” I looked incredibly apologetic. “Anyway, don’t listen to him.” He stood up and gave his final conclusion. “Dr. Carter, what I asked earlier… did you hear me?” I cut straight to the chase. “My grandpa heard you, what do you think?” he countered. “Oh.” I waited for his actual answer. “Take some more time to think about it.” I took that as a flat-out rejection. I stood frozen in place, my hands and feet turning to ice. “Why?” I honestly applaud myself for having the sheer audacity to ask that question in a moment like this. “…” He paused, letting out another sigh. “You’re too young, and you’re too innocent. I’m not exactly a good guy.” He shot me another look and muttered, “Way too young.” For a second, I didn’t know if he meant my age or… something else. Regardless, my face flushed crimson. I don’t even know how I managed to walk out of that office. But the only thing repeating on a loop in my head was his final sentence— “The best way to fix a mistake is to cut your losses immediately, not use another mistake to cover up the first one.” I told him I was holding off on the surgery for today, and fled the hospital like my life depended on it. 7 Two days later. Just as I had completely given up hope on the whole situation, I was suddenly contacted by Liam’s family. And by family, I mean his grandpa, grandma, maternal grandparents, mom, dad, uncles, aunts… In a single day, I received so many phone calls I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Basically, they all had one central message: The baby must be kept, and they would handle Liam. As for how they were going to handle him? I figured no one on earth could withstand that kind of coordinated artillery fire from an entire extended family. Sure enough, the very next day, Liam showed up at the door of my apartment. “What are you doing here?” I was shocked to see him when I opened the door. He was leaning against the wall outside my apartment, a cigarette between his fingers, looking deathly pale. The floor around him was littered with cigarette butts. “Fixing your little mess.” He reached out, ruffled my hair, gently nudged me out of the way, and walked straight into my apartment. “I’m sorry. I have no idea how your grandpa got my number.” It was obvious he was incredibly annoyed by this whole ordeal. “…” He stubbed out his cigarette, ignoring my apology. He slouched down onto the corner of my sofa and offered a tired smile. “I pulled an overnight shift. I’m dead on my feet. Can I borrow this spot to sleep for two hours?” “Ah, yeah, of course.” I quickly moved the throw pillows off the couch so he’d have room to lie down. No wonder he looked so utterly exhausted. Once he laid down, I realized that compared to his height, my couch was practically miniature. He looked totally cramped sleeping like that; it couldn’t be comfortable. Yet, he fell asleep the exact second his eyes closed. He said he needed to sleep for two hours and asked me to wake him up. But when the time came, his face was still buried deep in the cushions, and he looked so drained I honestly didn’t have the heart to wake him. Even though I didn’t wake him, he snapped awake exactly on the hour. He checked the mechanical watch on his wrist. “8:30. They’re open.” With that, he sat up, suddenly looking sharp and wide awake again. “What’s open?” I asked. Truthfully, those two hours had been nerve-wracking. I had no idea what he was doing here. Since he rejected me last time, I hadn’t wanted to see him again. It was too awkward. “Do you have your birth certificate and ID?” He looked me dead in the eye. “No.” My heart skipped a beat. “They’re at my mom’s.” “…” He stared at me for a long moment, then laughed and sighed. “Looks like we’re taking a trip.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “395076”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel