Category: English

I was reborn on the day Alpha Ethan lost control to an aphrodisiac. In this life, I didn’t sleep with him. Instead, I called his destined mate. In my previous life, I fell in love with Ethan, my guardian who shared no blood relation with me. When I learned he’d been drugged and was losing control, I ignored his request to call Chloe and slept with him instead. Out of responsibility, Ethan was forced to marry me. However, on our wedding day, Chloe was kidnapped and killed by a group of Rogues. Before she died, she called Ethan ninety-nine times for help. But Ethan was too busy with the wedding ceremony to answer a single call. Afterward, Ethan stared at those ninety-nine missed calls without saying a word. Then, a month later, when he learned I was pregnant, he abandoned me in the forest and left me to be torn apart by his enemies. Before I died, I heard him say: “If you hadn’t deliberately climbed into my bed, I wouldn’t have been forced to marry you, and I wouldn’t have missed Chloe’s calls for help. You deserve to die…” When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Ethan lost control.

“Lydia, don’t touch me! Call Chloe now!” Hearing those familiar words again, I jolted awake. I had been reborn. At that moment, I was clinging to Ethan’s waist. I’d already torn off his shirt, and his burning chest pressed against my face. Without a moment’s hesitation, I quickly pulled away from Ethan, ending this mistake. I grabbed my phone and dialed Chloe’s number. Ethan’s face was flushed red, his gaze burning and unfocused as he looked at me. Unable to control his impulses, he moved toward me when I pulled away. He tried to kiss my lips. In my previous life, I’d mistaken his aggressive behavior for love, thinking he felt the same way about me. So I made a terrible decision that led to my tragic death. This time, I backed away toward the door, avoiding his gaze as I said: “Ethan, just hold on a little longer. Chloe will be here in ten minutes!” Then, ignoring his reaction, I opened the door and escaped. The moment I closed the door, I heard Ethan force out a few words through gritted teeth, seemingly calling my name. But I pretended not to hear, firmly closing the door behind me and standing guard outside. Ten minutes later, Chloe arrived in a hurry. She looked at me with a complex expression, then relaxed when she saw my clothes were still intact. Before pushing open the door, she glanced at me: “You can leave now. You’re not needed here.” I turned and went straight upstairs to my room. It wasn’t until late that night that the room downstairs finally fell silent. I let out a long breath. In my previous life, I loved Ethan so much that I willingly became his lover. Later, he married me under pressure, but on our wedding day, Chloe died unexpectedly, and he lost the one he truly loved. Then he said nothing, waiting in silence until the day I discovered I was pregnant. He said he wanted to take me out to relax, but instead left me alone in the forest. I was surrounded by a group of rogues. I tried to intimidate them by dropping Ethan’s name, but they just laughed. That’s when I realized—those men had all been punished by Ethan and harbored deep hatred toward him. When I was barely alive from their torture, Ethan finally arrived and dealt with the rogues. Then he looked at me coldly: “If it weren’t for you, Chloe wouldn’t have been killed by them. Now you and your child have served as bait to lure them out. Consider it your atonement.” Ethan had known all along. He’d deliberately brought me there, wanting to watch me die. In this life, I followed his request and called Chloe. And soon I would leave this place, getting away from him completely. The next morning, when I came downstairs, I found Chloe already sitting in the dining room having breakfast. When she saw me, she immediately put on a flawless smile. “Lydia, good morning. Did you sleep well?” She deliberately lifted her head so I could clearly see the bite marks on her neck. “I hope I didn’t disturb your rest. Ethan has such stamina…” Growing up in the pack, I knew this meant Ethan had already Marked Chloe. They’d formed a mate bond and become true mates. I paused briefly but kept my expression neutral: “Morning. I slept very well.” Chloe cut a small piece of bacon and spoke as if casually: “Speaking of which, I really need to thank you for contacting me last night.” I looked up at her: “Don’t mention it. It’s what I should have done.” Chloe’s smile deepened. “I’m so glad you think that way. I was worried you might feel uncomfortable about it, especially since…” She raised an eyebrow. “The way you looked at him last night didn’t seem like you were looking at your guardian. But obviously, even though you were in his room last night, he wanted me, not you.” Blood seemed to rush to my head with a roar, but I forced it back down. I took a deep breath, about to speak— “Ah!” Chloe suddenly cried out softly, knocking over the glass beside her. At the same time, Ethan’s deep voice sounded from the dining room doorway: “What’s going on?” Chloe had already quickly switched to a panicked and aggrieved expression. “No—nothing… Ethan, I was just clumsy…” As she spoke, she glanced at me timidly. “Lydia?” Ethan walked to Chloe’s side, checked on her, then looked at me with displeasure. “What did you do now?” “I didn’t do anything.” “Ethan, it’s really not Lydia’s fault.” Chloe grabbed Ethan’s arm, her voice breaking. “I said something wrong… I shouldn’t have mentioned last night. I might have upset Lydia. Please don’t blame her.” Ethan’s eyes instantly became sharp. “Lydia, Chloe is my future partner and your mother. You need to learn to respect her.” “I told you, I didn’t do anything.” I repeated. “Are you saying Chloe is framing you?” Ethan’s anger seemed ignited. “Lydia, you make a mistake and won’t admit it, and now you’re turning it around on her? Is this what I taught you?” “I haven’t done anything wrong, and I don’t need to admit to anything.” I turned to leave. “Stop!” Ethan barked. “Did I say you could leave? Apologize to Chloe!” “Sorry for interrupting your breakfast.” I nodded slightly, then without looking at his instantly livid face, I turned and left the dining room. Behind me, I could hear Chloe’s fake attempts to mediate and Ethan’s suppressed angry murmurs. I shut them all out behind my bedroom door. Half an hour later, someone knocked on my door. I opened it, completely unsurprised to meet Ethan’s eyes.

I instinctively tried to close the door, not wanting to get entangled with him. Ethan blocked the door first, frowning as he looked at me: “You’re avoiding me? Why?” He leaned in closer, scrutinizing me: “Are you angry? Because of Chloe?” I quickly shook my head and explained: “I’m not angry. I’m happy for you, Dad.” His eyes held an unreadable emotion, as if he was dissatisfied with my answer. “Is that the truth? Are you sure you’re not just saying that out of spite?” Then he sneered: “Lydia, you haven’t gotten over me, have you? On your eighteenth birthday, you snuck a kiss while I was sleeping. You think I didn’t know? “I’ve read all those private diaries you’ve been secretly keeping over the years. You think you hide it well, but the love in your eyes is so obvious. Who in Shadowfang pack can’t see that you’re in love with me? “Not confessing your feelings to me was the smartest decision of your life, because I would have laughed at you! Laughed at you—a human—for being so delusional.” He laughed to himself, then walked around me to my desk and yanked open the bottom drawer. Ethan grabbed a box from inside. It was full of photos I’d secretly taken of him. Ethan scattered the contents all over the floor, then stepped on them: “Lydia, I’ve raised you since you were eight years old. I’ve taken care of you all this time, but you, at such a young age, developed inappropriate feelings for your guardian! You even secretly collected these things. Do you know how disgusting that makes me feel?” Then he leaned close to my ear and said softly: “I came here to tell you—I know you wanted to use yourself to calm me yesterday! But fortunately you didn’t go through with it, or I would have been disgusted for the rest of my life!” My heart suddenly clenched, aching sharply. Even though I’d decided not to love him anymore in this life, hearing these hurtful words still caused pain. After speaking, Ethan warned me several more times to keep my distance so Chloe wouldn’t misunderstand, then stormed out, slamming the door. I didn’t want to be an eyesore around them, and I needed to handle my paperwork for going abroad anyway, so I packed up and left the house. That evening, I deliberately waited until almost ten o’clock before returning. As soon as I entered my room, I noticed something was wrong—someone had gone through my closet. Then I saw Chloe had posted on her social media, showing off a full-length photo of herself in a luxurious gown. The caption read: “I only mentioned needing a dress, and he immediately gave me this one.” She’d taken the custom dress Ethan had made for me. That dress had been specially designed by a master for my coming-of-age ceremony. It was worth seventy million dollars. He’d told me the dress was one of a kind in the world. Just like I was one of a kind to him. He knew exactly what treating a young woman he’d raised himself that way would mean. He’d encouraged my feelings, letting me fall in love with him. Yet he stood on moral high ground, saying I shouldn’t have violated ethics by falling in love with my guardian. Now, with just one casual comment from Chloe, Ethan had the dress sent to her without even telling me first. Ethan heard me return and stood at my door, saying lightly: “Chloe needs a nice dress for the upcoming gala, so I gave her yours. You don’t have any occasions that require it lately anyway.” I didn’t even look up, just hummed in acknowledgment. Ethan frowned, staring at me intently: “Lydia, you’re suddenly so agreeable that I’m not used to it. What’s gotten into you these past two days? You’re not planning something, are you? I’m warning you, if you dare provoke Chloe, I won’t indulge you like I used to!” Only then did I look up and reply softly: “I don’t want to provoke anyone. In fact, I hope no one provokes me either. Besides, Dad, haven’t you always wanted me to be more sensible? You should be happy with how I am now.” Ethan pressed his lips together and said almost petulantly: “Fine, fine, fine! Lydia, you’re doing great!” He slammed the door and went downstairs. Whenever he said that, it meant he was angry. And I would always try every means to placate him. I’d prepare all his favorite foods or carefully make handmade gifts for him. But I didn’t want to placate him anymore. For me, I’d decided to stop loving him. Whether he was angry or not no longer mattered. Besides, I would be leaving soon.

The following days passed simply. Chloe made a point of flaunting her affection with Ethan in front of me every day. She even deliberately showed me the marks on her body, saying on purpose: “Lydia, that’s just how Alpha Ethan is. He always wants everyone to know I’m his.” But I didn’t care. Even when I saw them, I acted as if I hadn’t. Ethan was still holding a grudge against me, and this time I was determined not to placate him. A month later, Chloe announced she was pregnant. Ethan was so excited he wanted to announce the news to the entire world. He moved up his wedding with Chloe, and the entire Shadowfang pack was busy preparing for their ceremony. In this life, it was Chloe—the woman he deeply loved—who was pregnant. I decided to help them have their happy ending. As soon as my paperwork for going abroad was ready, I immediately booked a flight to Switzerland for the day of their wedding. Ethan finally couldn’t hold back and came to find me. He waited until Chloe wasn’t home, then came upstairs and pushed open my door. He pulled out his phone, opened an email, and held it in front of me: “You bought a plane ticket abroad? Why? Are you so devastated by my marriage that you need to go abroad to recover?” My heart skipped a beat. I’d forgotten that any purchases on that card would send notifications to Ethan. But his follow-up comment eased my tension somewhat. Seeing me looking down without speaking, Ethan’s tone grew cold: “Lydia, haven’t you thrown enough tantrums? You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder for an entire month. If I hadn’t come to you, were you planning to ignore me for the rest of your life?” “Ever since Chloe moved into this house, you’ve been cold to me. But she’s the woman I love. If you love me, you should love everything about me, not avoid me and Chloe all day long.” “Are you going to avoid me forever? Even after Chloe and I are married, you plan to keep this up?” I shook my head in denial: “Ethan, I think you’ve misunderstood. I only see you as the elder who raised me. I only feel gratitude toward you.” He laughed as if he’d heard the funniest joke, unable to stop. “Lydia, the whole world knows you love me beyond reason. You only feel gratitude toward me? Would you have wanted to sleep with me if that were true? Ask yourself—do you believe that?” Then he glanced at the display cabinet in my room and smirked: “All these gifts I’ve given you over the years—you’ve kept them in such perfect condition. And you’re saying you don’t love me?” He walked over, picked up the gifts from the cabinet one by one to admire them, then said seriously: “But you should probably put these things away. I’m about to marry Chloe, so you shouldn’t keep harboring inappropriate fantasies about me. You’re grown now. You should interact more with humans instead of revolving around me. After Chloe and I are married, I’ll have her make arrangements for you.” I hummed in agreement, not telling him I’d already decided to leave. I casually packed the items from the cabinet into a storage box. I was planning to get rid of these things before going abroad anyway, so I might as well pack them up now. Seeing my calm reaction, Ethan frowned deeply and stopped me: “Lydia, can’t you be more careful? Look, you’ve scratched the band of this watch!” I glanced at the luxury watch in his hand. After my parents died in an accident, Ethan, as their close friend, decided to adopt me. And this watch was the first gift he’d given me. The watch face was inlaid with priceless gemstones, and my name and adoption date were engraved on the back. Over the years, I’d treasured it, carefully maintaining and polishing it every day. I wouldn’t let anyone else even touch it. But now, I’d just casually tossed it into the storage box. I didn’t answer. Looking at my calm expression, Ethan actually couldn’t take it anymore. “Lydia, stop pretending! You’re obviously so upset about my marriage to Chloe that you need to go abroad to recover, but now you’re acting like you don’t love me anymore! This behavior is really laughable. But it’s good for you to go abroad and clear your head. Maybe you’ll actually get over me!” After speaking, Ethan handed me a supplementary card. “Use this. Visit several countries. Stay for a month before coming back. By then, Chloe’s baby will be stable too.” He looked at me meaningfully and handed me a key: “I’ll be a married man from now on. Living together would make Chloe unhappy, so when you come back, go live in this apartment.” I took the key, neither accepting nor refusing. Ethan gave me a few more instructions about precautions. But he didn’t know that this time, I was truly leaving for good. On Ethan’s wedding day, everyone in Shadowfang pack got up early to help with preparations. I left the key and card on the table, and while everyone was busy, I quietly slipped out the back door with my suitcase and headed straight to the airport.

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My husband had weak sperm. After our eighteenth round of IVF, I finally got pregnant. I came home with my eight-week ultrasound report, overjoyed, only to find Margaret with a dark expression. “This baby can’t stay. Your sister-in-law Madison is fighting her husband for custody of their son in the divorce. If she gets custody, it’ll be hard for her to find someone new with a kid in tow. We’ll raise little Tyler here instead.” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Margaret, what did you say? You want me to abort my baby? Are you out of your mind?” “If she can’t raise him, then let his father have custody. I’m not raising him, and I’m definitely not getting rid of my baby!” Madison’s expression immediately turned sour. “Jason already agreed. Who the hell do you think you are? This family isn’t yours to run!” I looked at my husband in disbelief. “Jason, you agreed to this?” Jason grabbed my arm, trying to persuade me. “Madison’s looking out for you. You’ve never raised a child before. Having Tyler here would give you practice for being a mom. Just listen to her.”

I was shaking with rage. “Jason, three years! I’ve done countless IVF cycles. My stomach is covered in needle marks. Now that I’ve finally succeeded, you want me to abort?” Margaret chimed in with her snide remarks. “Who’s fault is it that you’re useless? Jason’s been kind enough to keep going through this with you. Anyone else would’ve divorced you ages ago!” “I’m making the decision. Abort the baby. When Tyler’s older, you two can try again.” I looked at my husband, my face pale. “Is this what you think too?” He pulled me aside and lowered his voice. “It’s just weak sperm. If it worked once, it can work again. Just listen to Madison.” I stared at him in despair. He still didn’t know that he now had azoospermia—no sperm at all. “Jason, do you have any humanity left? That’s your own flesh and blood in my belly, and you want me to abort it to raise your sister’s kid?” Jason grabbed my hands, looking aggrieved. “Emma, please understand. Tyler is Madison’s son, born after ten months of pregnancy. I can’t bear to see them separated.” “But you can bear to let our baby die before it’s even born?” My eyes were red. “Jason, we’ve been waiting for this baby for three years. I’ve done eighteen IVF cycles. How can you not want our baby?” For this child, I’d taken ovulation shots for three years. My stomach was covered with tiny needle marks. The egg retrieval was so painful I wanted to die. Back then, Jason had held my stomach and cried tears of heartbreak. “Emma, you’ve suffered so much. From now on, you and the baby are my life. I swear, as long as I’m here, no one will hurt you.” But now, the man who’d sworn to protect us with his life wanted to be the executioner who killed his own child first. Jason looked torn as he glanced at Madison. “Madison, maybe we should think of another solution…” “Another solution, my ass! Who else could we trust to raise Tyler? We’re going today. From now on, Emma will be Tyler’s mom!” Margaret shoved Jason aside and dragged me toward the door. I clutched the table desperately, screaming at the top of my lungs. “Mom, this baby is your grandchild too!” Margaret sneered. “My daughter is my blood. Her child is the true heir of the Smith family. You’re an outsider. How can your child compare to my daughter’s?” “Besides, I’m not saying you can never have kids. Once you’ve put Tyler through college, you can have as many as you want. But this one has to go!” I was trembling with rage. “Margaret, I’m twenty-eight years old. Tyler is four. He won’t graduate college for another twenty years. I’ll be almost fifty by then. How am I supposed to have children?”

Before Margaret could respond, Madison added her mocking commentary. “If you can’t have them, someone else can. Jason can have children with another woman. You’re a barren woman anyway. IVF babies aren’t even healthy. Let Jason have kids, and you can just pay to raise them.” “You just focus on raising my Tyler. If I’m satisfied, I might consider letting Tyler take care of you when you’re old.” I was about to explode with fury. She wanted me to raise her son, while Jason had children with other women, and I’d have to pay for them? What did that make me? A complete fool? The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I was about to reveal the secret I’d kept buried for three years. “The one who can’t have children isn’t me, it’s…” “Emma!” Jason dropped to his knees in front of me, frantically giving me meaningful looks. “Emma, I know you’re suffering. But Madison saved my life when we were kids. I owe her this. I have to repay her. I’m begging you, please just agree.” I was furious. “You owe your sister, so you repay her yourself. Why should my baby’s life be the price? I’m telling you, absolutely not!” Madison pulled him up, glaring at me coldly. “Why are you negotiating with her? You’re the father. You have the right to terminate the pregnancy!” Madison dragged me toward the door without another word. I screamed in panic. “This is illegal! I’m calling the police!” I grabbed my phone to call for help, but Margaret snatched it away. Then Madison slapped me hard across the face. “You dare call the police? This is a family matter. I’ll tell the cops you’re pregnant with another man’s baby and we were just trying to stop you from leaving. Who’s going to interfere?” My face burned with pain. I was shaking all over. I stared at Jason. “Jason, you’re just going to watch your sister hit me?” Jason cowered like a turtle, glancing timidly at his sister before pleading softly with me. “Emma, that’s just how Madison is. Please bear with it.” “Bear with it? How am I supposed to bear with this? Jason, your mother and sister want to kill our baby. Do you have a heart or not?” Before I could finish, Madison kicked me in the chest. “So what if I hit you? Let me tell you something, Emma. If you come with us quietly to get the abortion, it’ll be easier on you. Otherwise, I’ll kick that baby out of you myself. You’ll hemorrhage so badly you won’t even be able to save your uterus. Believe me?” I stumbled backward and fell to the ground, gasping for air. Jason took a half-step forward as if to help me, but didn’t dare. He looked at me pathetically. “Emma, just agree. I promise we’ll get you painless anesthesia at the hospital…” “What painless anesthesia?” Margaret shot him a displeased look. “She can’t have children. Spending money on her is wasteful. Save it all for Tyler!” She turned to look at me with a smile that held poison-tipped needles. “Emma, don’t blame me for being cruel. You can only blame your timing for being wrong. If you’d gotten pregnant three years ago when you got married, the baby would be running around by now. This is your fate. Just accept it.” I looked up sharply at Jason. “Jason, say something! Tell your mother the truth—I’m not the one who can’t have children. This baby can’t be aborted. You have azoosper—” “Emma!” Jason pulled me up from the floor and said earnestly. “Margaret’s just blunt. But I never looked down on you for not being able to conceive, did I?” “Tyler and Madison are my mom’s whole life. She can’t stand to see them suffer even a little. She’s just upset.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make you wait twenty years to have another baby. Just terminate this pregnancy first. I’ll talk to Margaret and my sister later about letting you have one sooner.” He leaned close to my ear, his voice very low. “Come on, Emma. I have weak sperm, not no sperm. You’ll just have to work hard for a few more years. I’m sure you’ll get pregnant again.” My heart turned to ice. Three years ago, our premarital checkup revealed his weak sperm. He’d cried so helplessly, so pitifully. I knew he was afraid I’d leave him. I chose to marry him anyway because I couldn’t bear to give up our three-year relationship. For the sake of his pride, I’d accepted the narrative that I was the infertile one. Three years. Eighteen IVF cycles. Each one stripped away a layer of my being. And all I got in return was his “I never looked down on you” and “you’ll just have to work hard for a few more years.” I suddenly laughed, tears streaming down my face. “Tyler and your sister are your mom’s life. Isn’t my baby my life too?” I tried to grab his collar, but my fingers were shaking too hard to muster any strength. “Jason, do you realize this might be your only child? Are you really this heartless?” Reluctance flashed in Jason’s eyes. He turned to look at Margaret. “Margaret, maybe we should keep this baby. Emma’s pregnancy wasn’t easy. We can still raise Tyler. Whatever Madison wants, we’ll agree to it.” Margaret and Madison exchanged glances. Margaret’s tone softened. “I can’t bear to lose my grandchild either. Your sister’s just worried that once Emma has her own child, she’ll treat Tyler badly. How about this—to put your sister’s mind at ease, have Emma sign a property transfer agreement. Everything goes to Tyler. Then we can keep the baby.” Madison immediately pulled out an agreement and shoved it in my face. “Sign it!” “Emma, take a look. Make sure there’s nothing I don’t know about. Hand over everything so Margaret and my sister can feel secure.” I stared blankly at the agreement, which listed every single asset I owned in detail. A 2,000-square-foot apartment in a premium school district, worth $300,000. Two 1,000-square-foot commercial properties in the downtown business district, worth $2 million. A beauty salon business, worth $500,000. $400,000 in fixed deposits across three major banks. A Mercedes, 200 grams of gold, household appliances… From major assets like properties and savings down to every needle and thread, everything was documented clearly. I hadn’t even realized I owned this much. The last item on the agreement was particularly striking. [Assets to be managed by legal guardian. Manager: Madison Smith] A voice in my head suddenly made everything clear. I finally understood the real reason behind all this. Aborting the baby was just an excuse. Seizing my assets was the real goal. I looked up at Jason and asked through gritted teeth. “Jason, you’d kill our baby for this?” His eyes darted away. “Emma, you said the baby was your life, right? Trading all your assets for the baby’s life is worth it.” My face turned iron gray with rage. I threw the agreement on the floor. “I won’t sign! These are my premarital assets. They have nothing to do with you. This is extortion and blackmail. I’m going to report you!” Madison immediately flew into a rage. She grabbed my hair and slapped me repeatedly until my head was ringing. “Bullshit! You little bitch! You belong to the Smith family, so your money belongs to the Smith family!” She grabbed my hand and pressed it hard onto red ink pad. “We were being nice by discussing it with you. Just stamp your fingerprint and sign. Don’t make me get nasty!” Her strength was terrifying. My wrist bone felt like it was about to shatter.

I screamed in pain. “Jason, are you dead?” Jason stood there unmoved. Not only did he not intervene, but he spread his hands with a helpless expression. “Emma, giving the assets to Tyler is just giving him security. We’re all family. Why make such a fuss?” “Just sign it and you’ll suffer less.” My heart felt like it had a gaping hole in it, cold through and through. Margaret picked up a stick and struck my waist hard, saying viciously, “Are you going to sign or not? If not, the next hit is your stomach!” I screamed in pain. My waist throbbed, and my stomach felt an ominous heavy ache. My heart lurched with fear. I closed my eyes in despair. “I’ll sign…” My hands trembled as I pressed my fingerprint, tears falling. Seeing my clear fingerprint on the property transfer agreement, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief at once. “Should’ve cooperated earlier. Would’ve saved me the trouble!” Madison blew on the still-wet marks, then collected the agreement with satisfaction. Jason finally came over and reached out to help me up. “Emma, good girl. What do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.” My stomach cramped in waves. My face contorted. “My stomach hurts. Take me to the hospital.” Jason looked at me nervously. “It’s okay, Emma. I’ll take you to the hospital right now. We’ll definitely save our baby.” He’d just gotten me to the door when Margaret stopped him. “Wait. You gave all your money to Tyler. Where’s the money for the hospital?” “Did you hide money from us? Unlock your phone. Let’s check how much she still has.” Margaret clutched my phone and walked over to slap me hard across the face. “What’s your phone password?” My already swollen cheek took another brutal hit. Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth. “That’s all the money I have left. I need it for childbirth…” “Childbirth? You’re Tyler’s mother now. Everything has to be about Tyler first. You’re already thinking about your own baby before it’s even born? That money belongs to Tyler. You have to hand it all over.” I looked pleadingly at Jason. Jason said helplessly, “Emma, just give it to them. Don’t make Margaret angry.” I shook my head stubbornly. “No. That’s my and my baby’s emergency money. You can’t have it…” “Thud!” A kick to my stomach. My back slammed against the door with a dull sound. Searing pain shot through my lower abdomen. A hot stream gushed between my legs. “Won’t talk?” Margaret grabbed my hair and bashed my head against the door. “Then you can forget about keeping this baby!” I screamed in agony as my vision went black. “Jason…” Jason grabbed Margaret’s hand. “Margaret, that’s enough. Emma’s pregnant with my child.” I slumped weakly against the door, blood streaming down my forehead and covering my face. Jason grabbed my chin. I thought he was checking my injuries. But instead, he held my phone up to my face for facial recognition. I struggled frantically, but couldn’t break free. The phone unlocked effortlessly. He opened my mobile banking app. His eyes grew wider and wider. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…” Margaret and Madison crowded over. Seeing the string of zeros in the balance, their voices trembled. “Two hundred thousand dollars!” Margaret grabbed my hair. “You little bitch! You hid this much money from Jason. Tell me, how much more do you have that we don’t know about?”

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For three years, I was Silas Vance’s best-kept secret. His gorgeous, compliant little songbird in a gilded cage. The day I found out I was pregnant, I went to surprise him at his private club. But before I could open the door, I overheard a conversation between him and his identical twin brother, Elias. “Sias, I’ve been posing as you, playing house with your little bird for a while now,” Elias said, his tone casual but dangerous. “If she finds out, she’s going to bolt.” Silas sounded utterly indifferent. “Let her. She knows where her bread is buttered; she won’t leave. Besides, it’s not like this is the first time we’ve swapped.” He paused, his voice turning cold. “Just tell me you didn’t get her pregnant. That would be disgusting.” Right then, a strange text message appeared floating in front of my eyes, like a chat frame from a livestream: 【Lmao, this dumb side-character thinks being pregnant is a good thing. She has no idea Silas hasn’t touched her in a year. Elias is the one who got her knocked up.】 【Silas only has eyes for the main female lead. Even if the side-character is pregnant with his twin’s baby, Silas will make sure she and the kid both vanish.】 I didn’t scream. I didn’t cause a scene. I went back to the penthouse and kept playing the part of Elias’s perfect, oblivious little bird. But behind their backs, I quietly scheduled an abortion. I bought a one-way international plane ticket. The day they caught me at the clinic, ready to end the pregnancy, Elias went absolutely primal. He grabbed Silas by the throat, pinning him against the wall. “Who gave you permission to touch her?” he roared, his eyes insane with rage. 01 The day I found out, it was pouring rain in the city. Ignoring the weather, I rushed to the exclusive downtown lounge where Silas usually hung out. By the time I arrived, my hair was damp, and water was dripping from my coat. Just as I reached for the handle of his private VIP suite, I heard Silas’s voice through the door. It was cold, detached. “You done playing? When are we swapping back?” His twin brother, Elias, laughed. “Not yet. I’m having too much fun.” Silas frowned. “You didn’t actually touch her, did you? You know the rules.” Elias hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then, a slow, dark smirk spread across his face. “Relax. I didn’t. Probably.” He picked up his glass of whiskey. “But honestly, even if I did, why would you care?” Silas paused, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Obviously I care. It’s filthy.” The private room erupted in whistles and catcalls from their trust-fund friends. “Elias, you crazy bastard. You’re actually willing to sloppy-second your brother’s trash?” “Can you blame him? Look at Ava’s face. Hell, with a body like that, who wouldn’t want a turn?” “Seriously, that ass is intoxicating. She’s practically begging for it.” “It’s just funny that Silas is the one acting like a saint, refusing to touch her.” Sitting next to Silas was Chloe Sterling, the ice queen of the Hamptons and Silas’s childhood sweetheart. He’d worshipped her since they were kids. Chloe let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Honestly, Ava is like a public restroom. Everyone gets a turn.” The room rolled with laughter. I recognized some of the other faces in there. One of them asked, “Whose idea was this switch, anyway? It’s wild.” Chloe lifted an eyebrow, looking smug. “They’re too boring to come up with something this good. It was me.” She looked directly at Silas. “Ava probably dreams about Silas having a secret twin. You should thank me. Without me, none of you would get to experience something this thrilling.” Silas smiled at her, an expression of pure adoration. “You’re right, honey. You’re always the smartest person in the room.” Someone else chimed in. “I heard Silas is actually going through with a wedding to Ava next week. Is that legit?” Silas chuckled, a cruel sound. “Of course not. The little lower-class girl wants a ring. I’m just humoring her for now.” Chloe sat up straighter, a gleam of malice in her eyes. “Imagine this: next week, at the ‘wedding,’ right when she thinks she’s officially made it, you guys tell her the truth. Tell her that for a whole year, you’ve been passing her back and forth.” Chloe smirked, anticipating the moment. “Imagine the look on her face when you push her into the abyss right as she’s hugging happiness. Wouldn’t that be a blast?” Silas gave a helpless laugh, stroking Chloe’s hair. “You’re vicious. So childish.” Chloe pouted. “Vicious or not, you’ve always given me whatever I wanted since we were kids.” Then she paused, glancing at Elias. “Just make sure you’re careful. Don’t go getting her pregnant by accident.” Her voice turned elitist. “Girls from the gutter get real clingy once they have a kid.” Silas’s brow furrowed slightly. “Don’t even joke about that. Like I said, we’ve never touched her.” Chloe tilted her head, pressing the issue. “But what if she is pregnant? Hypothetically?” Silas smiled, looking completely unbothered. “Then we kick her to the curb. Right, Eli?” Elias seemed to be in a daze, staring into his drink. He heard Silas call his name and snapped back to reality. “Yeah. Right.” Floating Text: 【Lmao, Elias is actually lying. He didn’t touch her? He’s been sleeping with her behind his brother’s back for months. He’s totally wrecked her.】 【This side-character thinks she’s pregnant with Silas’s baby, but Silas has never touched her. It’s Elias’s kid.】 【In the end, Silas only wants the main lead. Once they find out about the pregnancy, they’re going to make sure she and the baby disappear completely.】 【Omg, I love this dynamic. Silas is saving himself for the main female lead, and Elias is just using the side-character for practice. This is the quality content I sign up for!】 I looked down at the pregnancy test in my hand. Two bold, red lines. I had run through the rain to get here, desperate to tell Silas the news. I really was pregnant. Looking at it now, there was no point in telling him. None at all. 02 That same afternoon, I booked an appointment at an out-of-state abortion clinic. I also bought a one-way plane ticket for next week. Coincidentally, it was the same day as the “wedding.” I figured I could extract a little more cash from my “sugar daddy” over the next few days for my relocation fund. Since they wanted to humiliate me at the altar and show the world what a fool I was… Then why shouldn’t I pre-empt them? I’d stand them up, run away, and turn their little scripted drama into a complete farce. Besides, over the years I’d spent as a professional gilded bird, I had saved up a decent chunk of change. The rate of my savings had actually doubled recently. I used to wonder why “Silas” always seemed to forget he had already sent me money, depositing cash into my account over and over again. Mystery solved. It wasn’t Silas forgetting. One deposit was from Silas, and the other was from his twin, Elias. I gently patted my little nest egg. Money was my only true comfort. I had first crossed paths with Silas Vance back in college. Chloe Sterling had been my roommate. She loved cruel pranks, specifically ones designed to destroy people’s futures. During our freshman year, she had encouraged one of her rich friends to pursue a quiet, hardworking girl from a poor background. The guy showered her with roses, luxury goods, and expensive bags. The poor girl had never seen that kind of courtship. Within weeks, she was head over heels in love. Right before final exams, Chloe had her friend dump the girl brutally. The shock was too much, and the girl, who usually had great grades, completely failed her finals. As soon as exams were over, she jumped off a building. She’s still in a vegetative state. Chloe, meanwhile, just continued with college, acting like nothing had happened. She was my roommate, and she set her sights on me. I worked three jobs back then just to survive. Between my gambling-addicted father, my mother who died young, and my sick grandmother, I was the classic “beautiful, broken scholarship student.” This time, I was the new main character in her twisted game. Silas Vance was her hand-picked male lead. He was the campus god—a brilliant, stony-faced legacy student whose candid photos went viral on social media, racking up millions of views. He was also the heir apparent to the Vance Group conglomerate. His future was blindingly bright. She tasked Silas with “seducing” me, making me his girlfriend. According to Chloe’s script, Silas would ruin me with luxury. He’d make me dependent on him. And once I was completely accustomed to that high life, he’d dump me, leaving me to utterly collapse under the weight of the massive loss. Silas was indeed good to me. He bought me countless gifts. He pretended to have deep empathy for my tragic backstory. He forbid me from working my three jobs, and he came up with a new surprise for me every day. But I’m a hoarder. A survivor. Whatever money Silas gave me, I hoarded. The jewelry he bought me? I never wore it. I sold it online for a premium to other legacy students. I was terrified of being poor again. I didn’t think I deserved nice things. Money was the only thing that felt real. Hoarding it was the only thing that gave me a sense of security. And I wasn’t stupid. I could feel it. Silas seemed to be acting. Whenever he held my hand, I couldn’t miss the flicker of mockery deep in his eyes. I didn’t know why he hated me but was still pretending to love me. But he was definitely rich, and he was definitely a fool with his money. I needed to hoard as much as possible while the opportunity was there. We acted like a normal couple. Dating, hugging, kissing. During the winter, I even hand-knit him a scarf as a gift. The day my grandmother fell critically ill, I finally broke down. I asked Silas for a “birthday gift”—a massive sum to cover her medical bills. I remember Silas froze for a second. Then he smiled. I hadn’t forgotten the spark of sadistic triumph in his eyes. Like a venomous snake finally baring its fangs. He assumed I had finally been broken, corrupted, and was now just as greedy as everyone else. Everything was going according to plan. Silas broke up with me the very next day. Chloe Sterling waited to watch me crumble. She expected the “poor girl” to fall apart, lose my mind, scream, cry, and make a pathetic scene begging Silas to take me back. But she found me exactly the same as before. I went back to working my jobs, back to classes, back to my mundane routine. Actually, I was a little better off. I dropped from three jobs down to two. Instead of eating plain ramen, I could afford to add a small sausage and an egg. And maybe a nice iced coffee after dinner. I even gained three pounds. I didn’t waste time begging to get back together. I didn’t cry for him. In fact, the day we broke up, I deleted his number and blocked him on everything. None of it went according to her script. Chloe exploded with rage. She thought the game was boring because I wouldn’t break. After that, she made my life in the dorm a living hell. Stomping on my shoes. Putting thumbtacks in them. Pouring cold water on my bed in the middle of winter. Later, my dad got deep into debt with some high-stakes gamblers—debts that the Vance family ended up controlling. To pay off his debts, he effectively sold me to Silas. That’s how I accidentally became Silas’s gilded bird. Actually, I had been starting to think about building a real future with him recently. Silas had always been cold and distant. He had never once touched me over the years. But starting this past January, he suddenly started wanting to kiss me. One night, he came home drunk. I was helping him onto the sofa, bringing him some tea to help him sober up. He suddenly grabbed my waist, pulled me onto his lap, and gently kissed me. I rarely kissed anyone; I almost passed out from shock. He gave a low laugh against my lips. “So this is what it tastes like. Sweet.” “Next time we kiss, remember to breathe.” That night, he initiated me into intimacy. After that, he got creative. He loved trying new, aggressive, thrilling things. He hated using protection. He loved dragging things out, even when the house staff was around. I could only bite my lip and try to endure. The more I struggled, the more he seemed to enjoy it. He developed a strange obsession: when we were intimate at night, he’d insist on me saying his name over and over again. “What’s my name?” “Silas. You’re Silas.” “Wrong. Say it again.” “What’s wrong with you, Silas, wait…” I could see the wildness in his eyes. The more I screamed his name, the more savage he became. He was strange during intimacy, like a psychotic dog that needed its fur stroked the right way to keep from snapping. But he was also sweet. He’d kiss me, bring me breakfast in bed, and make me soup when my stomach hurt. On my birthday, he set off an incredible firework display over the river. As the massive fireworks exploded in the sky, he stroked my hair and whispered, “Babe, let’s make a real life together.” And when I had nightmares, he’d wake me up, carefully pulling me into his arms and saying, “Don’t be scared, my sweet girl. I’m here.” Slowly, I began to think I might actually be falling for him. A few months ago, he pinned me to the bed again, refusing to use protection. I asked him, “What if I get pregnant?” He kissed me. “Then we have the baby. I’ll support you both.” The marriage proposal was his idea. That night, after everything was finished, he lay over me and whispered: “Babe, let’s stop being just lovers. Let’s be husband and wife.” Looking back now, I realized that from the very first time we slept together, that man wasn’t Silas. It was Elias. And the proposal was just a new, twisted game. This baby… I really had wanted to have it. But now? There was no point. None at all. 03 I had five days left before my flight. I had gotten very good at telling the two Vance brothers apart. Silas was cold, dark, and never smiled. A total workaholic. Elias was affectionate, clingy, and had a mole right on his V-line. I saw it every time we were intimate. I didn’t know if Silas had a mole in the same spot, as he had never touched me. This morning, I walked downstairs and saw Silas sitting in the dining room, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and reading a newspaper. “Ava,” he said, his tone icy and indifferent. “Dress nicely today. We have a guest coming.” Ah, first thing in the morning, reading the paper, wearing the glasses, and the cold attitude. This was the real Silas. The livestream chat frame exploded with excitement: 【Omg yes, today is the official meeting with Elias! I’m so excited.】 【This side-character is practically Elias’s personal toy. He knows every sensitive spot on her body, and she has to pretend she doesn’t even know him. That must be so humiliating.】 【People from the gutter are all the same. They’ll endure anything for money. Our main girl is so much better. A true heroine who never needs a man.】 【This meeting is just setting the stage for the public humiliation at the birthday party. I can’t wait!】 【Our main girl is so smart and sharp. I love her so much.】 I went back upstairs to change. By midday, Elias arrived, and he had Chloe Sterling on his arm. Seeing Elias, who looked exactly like Silas, I pretended to freeze in well-acted shock. Silas introduced him. “This is my twin brother, Elias. He’s been handling our international operations and just got back.” Elias smiled at me, extending a hand. “Nice to meet you.” I took his hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” I gave a shallow smile. “I had no idea you two looked so identical.” Elias’s expression didn’t change at all. He looked warm and harmless. “There’s a lot you don’t know.” Honestly, I had to give it to him. He was a great actor. We had slept together countless times, and here he was, pretending we were strangers. Chloe Sterling laughed. “Well, I don’t need an introduction. Ava and I were college roommates.” She reached out and grabbed my arm. “I heard you’re getting married. Silas and I already talked about it; I’m going to be your maid of honor.” Before I could respond, the chef came in to announce that lunch was served. At the table, Chloe sat between Silas and Elias. She rested her chin on her hand, looking at me with a sweet smile. “Ava, have you noticed if Silas has been acting any differently recently?” I knew why she was asking. She wanted to see me act confused, to laugh at me behind my back. So I gave her exactly what she wanted. I put down my fork and nodded. “Yeah. He’s actually changed a lot over the past year.” For a second, the entire world seemed to hit pause. Both of the Vance brothers froze. I suddenly let out a small laugh, my cheeks turning slightly pink. “He’s been so much sweeter to me. I think I’m falling in love with him all over again.” Silas shot a glare at Elias. Elias looked distinctly uncomfortable. During the meal, Elias automatically took the shell off a garlic butter shrimp and placed it in my bowl. “Babe, garlic shrimp, shelled. Your favorite.” The next second, the table went dead silent. He realized his mistake instantly, but he didn’t miss a beat. “My brother always calls you that. It slipped out. Sorry.” I nodded. “You’re actually a nice guy.” Silas shot a warning glare at Elias. I ignored them both, picked up the shrimp, and chewed. I felt a wave of nausea. Gross. Fishy. I needed to puke. I covered my mouth and ran to the bathroom. When I came back out, Chloe Sterling was giving me a very meaningful look. “You’re not having morning sickness, are you?” Silas and Elias both stared at me. I forced a laugh. “No. I just ate something that didn’t agree with me. Puking is fine. It helps me lose weight.” Silas put down his fork, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Any thinner and you’ll just be a bag of bones. It would硌手 (hurt my hands).” 04 After lunch, Silas and Elias both drove Chloe Sterling home. They didn’t come back until very late. As soon as “he” walked in, he went straight to the shower. At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure if it was Silas or Elias. I saw “his” phone sitting on the nightstand. I decided to check it. The chat frame started trashing me: 【What does this side-character think she’s doing? She thinks she can check her billionaire boyfriend’s phone? She has zero self-awareness.】 【Don’t worry, she can’t guess the passcode.】 【The passcode is Chloe’s birthday. This dumbass is gonna be guessing until the sun comes down.】 Ah, thank you. Since Chloe and I were roommates, she made sure everyone knew when her birthday was. It was impossible to forget. I typed in Chloe’s birthday. The phone unlocked instantly. I opened iMessage and found the chat between the twins. Silas: 【We’re swapping back in two days.】 Elias: 【No. I’m having too much fun.】 Silas: 【She mentioned today that ‘Silas’ has been very sweet to her recently. You aren’t actually catching feelings for her, are you?】 Elias took a long time to reply. 【No. Of course not.】 【Didn’t you say the sweeter you are to her, the harder she’ll fall, and the more devastating the heartbreak will be when the dream shatters?】 【I’ve spent almost the entire last year with her. I need to make sure she doesn’t suspect anything in these final days.】 Silas: 【Understood.】 【You sure you didn’t touch her?】 Elias: 【No. What, are you jealous?】 Silas: 【No. I just don’t want someone else’s toys messing up my property.】 【I’m warning you, have your fun, but don’t cross the line. That’s the rule.】 So the one in the shower was Elias. Ten minutes later, Elias walked out of the bathroom. I was on my own phone, playing a game, acting like I hadn’t seen him. Elias gently took my wrist. “Babe, I told you about getting those long acrylics. Look what they did to my back.” I said, “Then call the cops.” Elias froze, then low-laughed. “Babe, you’re too cute.” He cupped my face and leaned down to kiss me. His hand started moving down, trying to reach under my top. I pushed him away. “My stomach hurts today.” Hearing that, Elias’s brow furrowed. “Stomach hurts? Your gastritis again?” I shook my head. “No.” He put his hand on my lower stomach. “Let me rub it.” I swatted his hand away. “Don’t.” Elias’s hand froze. After a long pause, he gave a cold laugh. “Fine. Suffer then. See if I care.” We didn’t speak for a long time. That night, my lower stomach kept hurting. I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep, curled into a ball. I don’t know what time it was, but I felt Elias sigh. He pulled me into his arms, gently rubbing my back, his voice thick with sleep. “Don’t hurt, my sweet girl. Don’t hurt…” When I was very young, my mom used to rub my back the same way. That memory felt so distant, like a dream. Now, Elias was doing the same thing. I felt an intense wave of disgust and mockery. 05 In the morning, when I woke up, Elias was already up. He was standing by the bed, scrolling through my phone, and he looked furious. Seeing me wake up, he glared at me, smiling like a psychotic demon. “Babe… tell me the truth. Are you hiding something from me?” I yawned. “What could I possibly hide from you?” His face went dark. He gave a cold laugh. “You’re not gonna tell me?” “Fine. Then tell me this…” He shoved my phone into my face, practically tapping my nose with it. “Why is a reproductive health clinic sending you a text about pre-op instructions for an abortion?” His voice grew colder and colder. “Babe, I don’t recall you telling me you were pregnant.” In that moment, I froze. My heart hammered against my ribs. But I forced myself to calm down. “Oh, relax. You’re making a scene out of nothing.” “I probably clicked some ad on a sketchy website and it signed me up for a spam list.” “If I were really pregnant, I’d tell you immediately. I’d use it to trap you forever.” Elias lifted an eyebrow. “You browse sketchy websites?” I nodded. “It’s good to expand one’s knowledge.” He lifted my chin. “The positions I teach you every night aren’t enough? You need external research? I’m getting jealous.” He pulled me into his arms. “Tell me… what positions did you learn?” I said, “I don’t know. I didn’t memorize them.” He gave a genuine laugh at that. “Stupid. I guess I’ll have to keep teaching you personally.” He looked at me. “Ava, four more days, and we’ll be married. “On our wedding day, I’m going to make you the happiest bride in the entire world. Okay?” I didn’t answer. Because we weren’t getting married. And we had no future. 06 Silas and Elias were both busy with the “wedding” preparations. I was busy with my own preparations: packing my relocation bags and transferring every asset I had extracted from the Vance family out of my name. I had a good friend living abroad, Maya, who had already booked an appointment for me at a clinic there. She’d also found me an apartment with a great balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows. My funds had arrived. Again, in two separate deposits. That afternoon, Elias took me to try on wedding dresses. He poked my stomach. “Your stomach is a little bloated. Eating too much good stuff lately?” I covered my stomach. “Mind your own business.” He laughed. “You’re getting a real attitude now that the wedding is close.” He picked up my hand and套 (套 =套 – to put a ring on) a ring on my finger. It was a diamond as big as a bird’s egg. He hugged me. “Finally. You’re going to belong only to me.” I let him hold me and gave a shallow “嗯” (Mhm). The livestream chat was not happy: 【I hate this b**ch. She actually thinks he’s going to marry her. You have no self-respect.】 【If she had any dignity, she’d have run as soon as she heard the truth. She really is a gold-digger.】 【You’re right. The novel says she’s a gold-digger. Both guys are rich and hot, so of course she won’t run.】 【If she was smart, she’d take the money and run now. Otherwise, Chloe is going to utterly destroy her at the wedding.】 I didn’t have the energy to argue with the chat. I was just silently calculating how much money this ring would sell for. 07 Two days left before my flight. I decided to splurge on myself. I went to a club and hired a few male dancers to perform for me. I wanted to know what it felt like to casually pick and choose men for entertainment. One sip of a cocktail and I was coughing. Right then, I heard a familiar voice nearby. Chloe Sterling was at the bar, completely wasted, slurping her words. “Once the wedding is over and we’re done with her, just kick her out. I’m tired of seeing her sandwich herself between you two every day. It’s annoying.” Silas didn’t give in immediately, which was unusual. He remained silent for a long time before slowly opening his mouth: “We can talk about that later.” Chloe froze. She looked at Elias. “Elias, what about you?” Elias avoided her eyes. “She’s so clingy… I mean, she clings to Silas. I’m worried she won’t be able to handle being kicked out.” Chloe looked pissed. “You guys aren’t catching feelings for her, are you?” “Back in college, when you agreed to this whole prank, it was your idea too, wasn’t it?” “When the original prank failed because she didn’t collapse after the breakup, you two were the ones who were pissed and wanted to find another way to mess with her.” “Now we have this perfect opportunity, and you’re going soft. You need to crush her into the gutter.” One of their trust-fund friends who was drinking with them tried to smooth things over. “Chloe is right. Maya means everything to you guys. Ava is just a toy. You play with it until it breaks, then you toss it.” “You’re really going to let Chloe be unhappy for the sake of that trash?” “Don’t forget, when you were kids and played family, Silas, you were always fighting over who got to be Chloe’s husband.” “You two would give her the moon if she asked for it. This is a small thing.” “If she gets really clingy, Silas, just give her a ‘breakup screw.’ You haven’t touched her for years, just fulfill her one wish and be done with it.” The chat erupted: 【What is going on with the Vance brothers? They used to worship Chloe Sterling.】 【Guys… do you think… they might actually have feelings for the side-character?】 【Especially Elias. He’s slept with her so many times. You can’t tell me there are no feelings.】 【You guys are delusional. The novel says they find out she’s pregnant and they throw her in a basement and torture her to death.】 I didn’t look at the chat. I was holding my breath, waiting for their answer. Finally, Silas spoke in a quiet voice. “Yeah. I understand.” In that moment, my heart seemed to miss a beat. Yeah. Of course.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “404838”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

During the earthquake, both my brother and my childhood sweetheart gave up on me. They chose to save the “biological” daughter first. Because of that choice, my right leg was crushed under the weight of the debris. As they carried me out of the ruins, I heard my fiancé give my brother a calm, cold command: “I’m planning to break off the engagement. I need to keep my distance. She’s your sister—you take care of her.” “Like hell she is,” my brother muttered, his voice dripping with reluctance. “My real sister is back now. Why is this outsider still hanging around our house, anyway?” They turned around then, quite by accident. When their eyes met mine, the air grew thick with an awkwardness they couldn’t name. 01 The paramedic carrying my stretcher froze. He looked down at me, his brow furrowed. “I thought you said these were your family and friends?” “Why is he calling you an outsider?” “Who am I supposed to hand you over to?” The two men, who had been tossing me back and forth like a burden seconds ago, went silent. They turned in unison, their eyes locking onto mine. I saw a flicker of unease in their depths. They clearly hadn’t expected me to be right behind them, hearing every word. I tried to speak, but the pain surged, and I blacked out before I could make a sound. 02 I was woken up by the muffled sound of voices outside my hospital room. “That poor girl. Her leg is shattered, and she’s been here since the surgery without a single visitor.” “Well, honestly, it’s her own fault. I heard she was switched at birth. The real daughter is back now, yet she hasn’t made any move to leave. She’s practically asking to be treated like an outcast.” “I guess you’re right…” I stared blankly at the heavy cast on my right leg. Strangely, it didn’t hurt as much as it had that day. When I was trapped under the rubble and heard my brother Leo’s voice, I really thought I was going to be saved. “Don’t waste time,” he had told the rescuers. “Save my sister first.” “She has severe claustrophobia. If she’s in there any longer, something will happen to her. I’m holding you responsible.” The sister with claustrophobia was Maya—the biological daughter. The rescuer’s voice had been heavy with warning. “The family needs to be prepared. The woman trapped on the other side… there’s a high probability the collapsing wall will crush her legs if we wait.” Leo paused. His voice dropped. “I… I understand.” “But if I can only save one, what choice do I have?” A sliver of light had filtered through the cracks, hitting my leg where it was pinned between the jagged stones. In that moment, when the pain took my voice, my resentment toward Leo reached its peak. But now? I couldn’t even summon the energy to be angry. Looking at it objectively, Leo wasn’t “wrong.” It was only natural to choose his blood relative. Leo was right. I should leave. Nothing is more pathetic than staying where you aren’t wanted. 03 When Leo and the others finally came to see me, I was struggling to reach a heated pack on my nightstand. The IV fluids had left my hands ice-cold. Maya was at the front of the group. She skipped over to my bedside, looking bright and energetic. “Claire, is your leg really broken?” She stared at the cast with wide eyes, then let out a breath of relief, as if she had been the one to dodge a bullet. “I can’t even imagine if that were me. I’d be crying every single day.” “I’m so lucky… so lucky…” A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me. I didn’t care enough to figure out how much of her “relief” was actually malice. Leo stood the furthest away, his eyes constantly avoiding mine. He was clearly still reeling from the embarrassment of the other day. He wasn’t like Asher, my fiancé. Asher’s expression was as cold as ever. He glanced at my injured leg, his brow twitching almost imperceptibly. He didn’t speak for a long time. “Once you’re recovered,” he finally said, “we need to talk.” I blinked. I remembered what he said at the ruins. He wanted to break off the engagement. Those were the words he was hesitating to say out loud. Maya turned to look at him, her eyes trembling. “Are you having second thoughts?” Asher pressed his lips together. “Do you think I should hurt her a second time while she’s in this condition?” Maya looked down. A few seconds later, she whispered: “That’s not what I meant.” “I’m a little tired. I’m going home. You two should stay and look after Claire.” “It’s hard for her to do anything on her own.” She finished her sentence in a small voice and ran out of the room. The faint sound of a sob lingered in the air. Leo glared at Asher like a protective wolf pup. “Asher.” “How dare you make my sister cry?” Asher’s gaze followed Maya out the door, ignoring the warning. He simply dropped a heavy “Stay here and take care of her” before chasing after Maya. “Wait, what?” Leo stammered. He looked back at me, his body stiff, then scrambled after them. “Wait!” “I don’t know how to take care of anyone!” “Don’t leave me here alone with her!” His footsteps were so fast it was as if he were outrunning a plague. The hospital door remained half-open, swinging back and forth in the wind from the window. In an instant, the room was empty again. From beginning to end, no one had given me a chance to speak. I wanted to tell them I agreed to the breakup. I wanted to tell them I didn’t need anyone to “stay” and look after me. In the week I’d been hospitalized, I had already learned how to take care of myself perfectly well. 04 No one came to see me again until the day I was discharged. The only contact I had was a phone call from my adoptive mother, Mrs. Sterling, right after my cast was removed. She sighed, her voice soft and persuasive. “Claire, don’t blame Leo for choosing Maya. She’s his biological sister, after all, right? I hope this doesn’t create a rift between you two.” “I don’t blame him, Mom. He didn’t do anything wrong.” “I knew you were the sensible one. Your father and I will pick you up when you’re discharged. We’re on a business trip right now, so we don’t have time to visit, but please take care of yourself.” As soon as she finished, Leo’s voice rang out in the background. “Mom! Who are you talking to? Hurry up!” “Let’s take a family photo before that person gets back.” The silence on the line was so heavy I could hear the static of the connection. I spoke as if I hadn’t heard a thing. “I understand, Mom. I’ll take care of myself.” I heard a distinct sigh of relief from the other end. “Oh, good…” “I have to go. I have a meeting starting.” The phone was hung up in a rush. It was late at night. I put my phone away and gripped the handrail, beginning another round of physical therapy. In the silent hospital corridor, I was the only one dragging a withered leg, moving forward one tiny, agonizing step at a time. Half an hour later, drenched in sweat, I let out a small smile. I walked two meters further than yesterday. 05 No one came to pick me up the day I left the hospital. Luckily, I wasn’t waiting for anyone anymore. As soon as I walked through the front door with my suitcase, I realized my timing was terrible. The four Sterlings and Asher were having a celebratory steak dinner. My appearance shattered the warm, happy atmosphere. Every face held a different expression, but none of them were positive. The only sound in the room was the sizzle of the grill. Mrs. Sterling recovered first, forcing a smile. “Claire… you’re back. You should have called…” “You haven’t eaten, have you? Come, sit down and join us.” The air was thick with the smell of heavy seasoning. My wound seemed to throb in sympathy. I didn’t feel the need to act out my grievances like I used to. I didn’t point out that no one actually cared, or that no one remembered I was supposed to avoid heavy spices while healing. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin their night. I just said: “No thanks, Mom. I ate before I came.” “I’m going to my room to pack.” … Later that evening, in my adoptive father’s study. He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the mahogany desk. “You’re leaving?” I nodded. “I have a flight booked for next week.” “Please don’t tell Mom and the others yet.” I chose to tell Mr. Sterling because he was the most distant person in the house. He wouldn’t be swayed by sentimentality, and he wouldn’t offer any hollow words of “staying” to make things difficult. He didn’t try to stop me. “It’s for the best.” “You can see for yourself. This family has become unrecognizable because of your presence.” “Once you leave, don’t contact your mother or the others. Let’s have a clean break.” I promised him I would never appear before them again. He looked at me with surprise for a few seconds, but said nothing. 06 The suffocating weight in my chest suddenly vanished. I felt an incredible sense of lightness. I walked out of the villa, just wanting to breathe in the night air. A familiar roar sounded not far away. “Asher, you motherf***er, you ditched me again!” “You take Maya out on a date and leave me alone to face her? Are you even human?” “I’m so done… why did she even come back? Doesn’t she know how awkward she makes everyone feel?” Leo hung up the phone with a violent gesture. He turned around and ran straight into my gaze. His furious expression shifted instantly into something unreadable. As we stood there in a deadlock, a car began speeding toward the curb. Leo was standing right on the edge of the road, oblivious. Years of habit kicked in. I stepped forward instinctively and yanked him back. The car honked twice and sped past. I exhaled, feeling no desire to speak to him. I let go of his arm and turned to walk away. Leo hesitated for two seconds, then followed me. “Uh, Claire… thanks…” I nodded slightly but didn’t say a word. Leo stammered for a while, then suddenly grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry…” he blurted out, sounding defeated. “I shouldn’t have said those things about wanting you gone. You know how I am. I say things I don’t mean. I never actually wanted you to leave…” I tilted my head, looking at the boy whose face still held a trace of childhood innocence. “I know.” “So… are we good?” Leo was still being awkward, his ears turning red. I pulled my wrist away. I didn’t answer his question. Instead, I said: “Can you let go? Holding my hand like this makes me uncomfortable.” Leo froze and let go. His shocked expression was tinged with a hint of hurt. Ever since we were kids, that was how he had always held my hand. I didn’t know when it happened, but I was no longer comfortable with his proximity. 07 Just as I was about to leave, a convertible Aston Martin pulled up in front of us. Maya was in the passenger seat, her eyes darting between me and Leo. She spoke to Leo. “Leo, how old are you? Still following us around?” “Get in.” “This is the last time, though.” “Next time, we’re really leaving you behind.” Leo didn’t move. He frowned. “Maya, wipe your mouth first.” Following his gaze, I noticed the smudged lipstick on Maya’s lips. Asher, sitting beside her, had a faint trace on the corner of his mouth as well. Maya’s ears turned red. She looked into the rearview mirror, reapplying her lipstick while complaining: “I told you not to kiss me so hard.” “How embarrassing.” I looked at Asher and unexpectedly caught his eye. The next second, he looked away. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, asking Leo impatiently: “Are you coming or not?” Leo didn’t snap back like he usually did. He grabbed my hand again and said in a low voice: “You guys go ahead.” “I don’t want to intrude. I’m going home with Claire.” Before I could react, he was already leading me away. Maya suddenly called out to me. “Wait, Claire. Asher has something to tell you.” She poked Asher’s shoulder affectionately, a bright smile on her face. “Now that she’s out of the hospital.” “You can say it.” I looked at Asher quietly, waiting for him to bring up the breakup. The man kept his eyes lowered. It was a long time before he spoke. “How is your physical therapy going?” Maya’s smile froze on her lips. I paused. “It’s going well.” Asher gave a short nod, shifted into gear, and drove away. He still hadn’t mentioned it. Inappropriately, I remembered a nurse telling me during my hospital stay that a very tall, handsome man had come to watch me sleep twice. Belatedly, I realized it must have been Asher. 08 Asher kept delaying it. But at dinner the next night, Mrs. Sterling brought it up. Asher was sitting next to Maya. He looked up sharply, clearly caught off guard. Mrs. Sterling looked at me persuasively. “This marriage was always meant for Maya.” “Be a good girl and give it back to her. I’ll find someone else for you.” I picked up a piece of greens and put it in my bowl. “Okay, Mom. Whatever you want.” My indifference caught everyone at the table by surprise. It was as if they hadn’t expected me to agree so easily. Mrs. Sterling’s expression softened. She smiled. “You’ve become so much more sensible since you got back.” I lowered my head and ate, saying nothing more. I had simply realized my place. I no longer viewed them as family. I saw myself as an outsider who owed them for my upbringing, and I had placed myself accordingly. I had no reason to be resentful. After dinner, I passed Maya’s room with a glass of water. The door was ajar. She was hugging Mrs. Sterling’s waist, acting spoiled. “Mom, you can’t find a good match for Claire.” “She’s lived a charmed life for twenty-one years on my behalf. She needs to suffer a little.” “She owes me this.” Mrs. Sterling’s hand, stroking the back of Maya’s head, faltered. “Claire is an orphan. She was abandoned at the hospital. It was the nurse’s mistake that you were switched.” “She’s innocent, too…” Maya looked up from her lap. “So I deserve to have suffered all those years?” “I’m not asking her to pay back every cent this family spent on her for twenty years. I’m not even kicking her out.” “I just want her to face a little hardship, to balance the scales. Are you really going to protect her over me?” Her voice broke into a sob at the end. Maya pushed her away and buried her face in the bed, crying harder. Mrs. Sterling rushed to comfort her. “Okay, okay. I promise.” “Mr. Vance’s son is the biggest playboy in the city. I’ll set him up with Claire, okay?” “Don’t cry, sweetheart.” I looked away and didn’t listen to the rest. I went downstairs and put my glass on the counter. The ice had mostly melted. I looked at my hand. My palm was pale and numb from holding the cold glass for too long. I only just noticed.

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During the year of our purest hatred, our families had a joint dinner. My childhood frenemy sneaked into the kitchen behind everyone’s back and cooked a pot of wild mushroom soup, purely to poison me so I’d lose my voice. But my mom enthusiastically served him a bowl too, and we both ended up in the ICU. The exact second we regained our strength, we went into combat mode. The hospital room door pushed open, and a cute little cupcake of a girl wearing a princess dress walked in. “Daddy, why are you calling Mommy a pig?” “Mommy, why did you tell Daddy to go die?” “What does ‘may your future son be born without an asshole’ mean? I’m a girl.” 1 The very first second I opened my eyes, I turned my head to look at Mason, who was waking up at the exact same time. “Idiot. How did that not kill you?” Mason hadn’t even fully opened his eyes before he instinctively snapped back. “If you’re so smart, how come you drank as much as a pig and can still talk?” My chest heaved violently with anger. I stared at the IV drip ticking away beside me. “This is attempted murder! Mason, you son of a bitch, you intentionally tried to kill me! I curse your future son to be born without an asshole!” Mason’s face went pale. He let out a weak cough. “Tyler gave me those mushrooms. He said they’d just mess up your vocal cords for a while. You’re so loud every day, you give me a migraine.” “It’s not like it wouldn’t heal. Damn Tyler, this mushroom soup is completely useless. How can you still yell at me?” “You drank it yourself! What are you barking at?” Seeing his genuinely regretful expression, I forced my arm out to grab the vase next to me, fully intending to smash this moron to death. The moment the vase shattered, the door opened. We both looked toward the door simultaneously. A little girl with her hair in space buns timidly poked her head into the room. “Mommy…” The second our eyes met, the little girl’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears. I sat up, feeling weak, and gave a dry chuckle. “Hey kiddo, you got the wrong room.” Mason gloated. “Riley, you had a kid this big at 18?” I glared at him. What kind of garbage is he spewing in front of a kid? But the little girl didn’t leave. Instead, she walked all the way in. She was wearing a fluffy pink and white tutu, her eyes blurry with tears. “Daddy, why are you calling Mommy a pig?” “Mommy, why did you tell Daddy to go die?” “What does ‘may your future son be born without an asshole’ mean? I’m a girl.” I calmly turned my head to look at Mason. “Where did you hire this child actor? This prank is actually kind of creative.” Mason’s pranks usually consisted of putting disgusting things in my bed, my shoes, or my clothes. Plus, this idiot always couldn’t help but stare when he pulled a prank, so it was always obvious it was him. I really didn’t expect a prank this advanced could come out of his pig-brain. Mason looked completely bewildered. “Little brat, what are you babbling about? Who’s your daddy? I’m only 18, I’m still a pure, innocent virgin boy…” Before he could finish, the little girl burst into loud sobs, opening her arms and throwing herself into my embrace. “Daddy is so mean…” I was completely numb. I instinctively raised my arms to hold her. Her crying was so loud that someone rushed into the room in a panic. “Mom…” I called out dryly, awkwardly trying to push the crying child in my arms away. “Whose kid is this running around?” My mom had clearly marched in ready to breathe fire, but hearing my words, she froze completely. “That’s your kid!” Before I could even open my mouth, Mason let out a screech that sounded like a dying donkey. “Mrs. Miller, you must be mistaken! This kid looks at least three or four. What kind of monster would do something like that to Riley at our age?!” 2 The air went dead silent. My mom slowly turned her head. “What did you just call me?” Mason swallowed hard. “M-Mrs. Miller… you’re scaring me a little right now.” My mom looked at me in horror, then looked at Mason. Her resulting scream nearly blew the roof off the hospital. After a chaotic flurry of doctors and nurses, the attending physician pushed his glasses up his nose. “It’s possible that the toxins in the mushrooms did affect some neural pathways. These two… currently believe they are still 18.” After hearing the whole explanation, my face was full of disbelief. “So you’re saying, not only have I already graduated from college, but I’m married and have a kid this big?” Mason shook his head like a rattle drum. “Don’t believe it.” My mom stayed silent for two seconds. She pulled up the security camera footage on her phone and shoved it into my hands. Mason ripped out his IV tube and crawled onto my hospital bed to watch the footage with me. In the video, I was in the kitchen wearing a pink apron, cooking something. Mason had the little girl in one arm and wrapped his other arm around my waist. “Babe, it’s our five-year anniversary, we should just go out to eat. Why do you insist on cooking yourself?” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. “I just wanted to be a good, traditional wife for once.” He affectionately patted my butt. I leaned into his chest all lovey-dovey, and the little girl hugged my head, giggling. I picked up a spoon and brought it to Mason’s mouth. “Hubby, try this. Is it too salty?” Mason very obligingly took a big gulp, then leaned in to kiss me. “Wifey, this is your first time making wild mushroom stew and it’s this good. I’m so lucky…” Then, his arm went slack, and the little girl thudded onto the floor. As Mason and I were kissing, we both tipped backward and fell straight down like chopped trees. Our little cupcake landed on her butt. She was just about to cry when she realized her dad’s massive body was falling toward her, so she quickly scrambled out of the way, sticking her butt in the air. Mason’s head smacked solidly against the floor. The toddler cried and called for Mommy and Daddy, but got no response. She stood up, trotted to the living room, and pulled out her little Gizmo Watch. “Grandma, waaaah, Mommy and Daddy kissed each other to death, waaaah…” The security footage abruptly ended. The entire hospital room plunged into a deathly silence. I looked at Mason, whose arm was still half-wrapped around my waist on the bed. I screamed and kicked him off the bed. Mason’s head had already taken a hard hit in the video, and now he hit the floor again. He lay there for a long time without getting up. I looked like I’d seen a ghost, pointing a trembling finger at the security footage. “Mom, you’re messing with me, right? That’s an AI deepfake!” Our little cupcake was terrified by my screaming. She hugged my arm and cried non-stop. “Mommy, you can’t hit Daddy, waaaah.” My mom gritted her teeth and glared at me. “Stop scaring the child!” Honestly, that was the most terrifying horror movie I’d seen all year. How could I possibly be married to Mason?! Mason and I grew up together, but you couldn’t call us childhood sweethearts. Everyone called us the Twin Terrors of the neighborhood. We fought from the time we were toddlers. I replaced the lemonade his mom made him with hot sauce water; he cut off my hair to make a hacky sack. At 18, the year of our purest hatred, I stuffed a dead mouse in Mason’s bed, and he put cockroaches in my shoes. During a joint family dinner, he secretly sneaked into the kitchen and made poisonous mushroom soup just to ruin my vocal cords. I only found out the damn soup was made by Mason after I collapsed on the floor. But he didn’t expect my mom to drink the soup too. So Mason snatched my mom’s bowl and downed it in one gulp. That’s how we both ended up in the ICU. But when we open our eyes, we’re actually married? And we have a four-year-old daughter! Mason clearly didn’t believe it either. He scrambled up from the floor. “How could I ever marry Riley? I’d rather eat dirt!” I slapped him across the face. “You were just kissing me in that video! If you ate dirt, wouldn’t there be dirt in my mouth too?!” My mom looked like her head was about to explode. My daughter’s soft, timid voice was thick with tears. “Daddy, Mommy, what’s wrong? Are you going to get a divorce?” Mason and I froze simultaneously. Even though I had no memory of this child’s existence, seeing her nose red from crying made my heart ache. Mason’s heart ached even more than mine. His head was wrapped in bandages, but he stepped forward and scooped the child into his arms, gently patting her back. “Don’t cry, sweetie. Daddy and Mommy are just playing around.” Me: … He got into character really fast. 3 Lily was terrified all day, and finally cried herself to sleep in Mason’s arms. Once the hospital room quieted down, my mom frowned and asked me. “What are you two going to do?” I sighed. I felt like I was going crazy. “Divorce.” There was no way I could live in the same house as Mason. We’d tear the place apart! Before my mom could even speak, Mason panicked. He immediately rejected the idea. “No way!” His voice spiked sharply. Lily let out a sleepy hiccup in his arms, and he quickly lowered his voice. “Riley, you have to take responsibility for your actions! You have to take responsibility for me and our daughter!” My eyes widened. This bastard! Did he even hear what he was saying?! My mom didn’t agree either. “Riley, you and Mason were definitely a handful when you were younger, but you were very much in love after you got married. The doctor also said that once your bodies metabolize the mushroom toxins, you might get your memories back.” Mason, holding the child like a wronged little wife, nodded emphatically. “Exactly. What if we get our memories back? Wouldn’t we just have to get remarried?” I gritted my teeth and glared at him. “You just want to sleep with me, don’t you, you bastard?!” Mason’s face instantly turned beet red, and my mom smacked me on the back of the head. “You brat, your mother is standing right here!” I rubbed my head, puffing my cheeks out as I glared at Mason. He looked down at Lily in his arms. “The child is innocent. Even if it’s just for her sake, let’s just pretend for a while, Riley.” My knuckles cracked as I clenched my fists. Don’t think I didn’t see the smirk this deadbeat couldn’t hide. He didn’t want a divorce; he was definitely plotting something! But my mom said she had already hidden our marriage certificate and our IDs. “You two have been so nauseatingly in love for five years, it makes people sick. I’m afraid you’ll regret it if you divorce now.” She turned to Mason. “You two just need to adapt for a bit and see if you can get your memories back soon. If you really can’t live together anymore, at least don’t fight in front of the kid.” I took a deep breath. My mom turned and vanished before I could argue. When Mason and I were discharged and went home, I opened my phone. Seeing that Mason and I had matching couples’ profile pictures made me physically nauseous. Our entire chat history was voice messages. I clicked on a random one. From the screen, Mason’s voice let out a disgusting, cutesy pig snort. “Wifey, wifey, I’m getting off work soon! Do you want me to bring my little baby something to eat~” I almost threw my phone across the room. Mason’s face was red all the way to the tips of his ears. “Why are you only clicking on my messages? Yours are probably way more disgusting!” I stiffened my neck. “Impossible! I’m an iron-willed woman…” He reached out and tapped on my reply. “Hubby, mwah! Little baby says she wants to eat durian, but I want to eat my hubby…” Mason covered Lily’s ears, looking at me in absolute horror. I shoved my phone into my purse, practically grinding my teeth to dust. I’m throwing this phone in the washing machine the second I get home! I’ll wash it eight hundred times!!!!! It’s contaminated! 4 I followed the address my mom gave me and arrived at Mason and my house. Our daughter held my hand on the left and Mason’s hand on the right. It was a beautiful suburban house. From the flowers on the fence and the green lawn in the yard, you could tell it was a very happy home. When I opened the door, I was almost blinded. Who can tell me! Why is there a massive! MASSIVE! MASSIVE wedding photo hanging right facing the front door?! Personally, I thought it completely clashed with the entire aesthetic of the house. Mason frowned too. “Who came up with such a garbage design?” I shot him a look of disgust. “Definitely you.” Lily gently swung our hands. “It was Mommy’s idea, and Daddy hung it up the very next day! Daddy even said Mommy is the smartest baby…” Mason and I both fell silent. If the other person had done something this tacky, we would have ruthlessly mocked them. But it was a joint effort. It was truly an unprecedented masterpiece of bad taste! Lily skipped off to get the photo albums. She had already called Grandma, and Grandma said looking at photos together might help Mommy and Daddy get their memories back. I watched the little girl run off. “I’m making this clear right now. Don’t come into my room tonight.” Mason clicked his tongue. “That’s my room too!” “Besides, if we sleep in separate rooms, the kid is definitely gonna think we’re getting a divorce. We can’t.” My eyes went wide. “You really do want to sleep with me!” Mason’s face flushed red again, and he gritted his teeth. “Riley! Can you watch what you say? What if the kid hears you?” “We can sleep in the same room, but separate beds. You sleep on the floor.” I raised my foot to kick him. “Are you even a man? Why aren’t you volunteering to sleep on the floor?” Mason didn’t back down an inch. “You were just talking about gender equality the day before yesterday! And look at my neck, look what you did to it! Are you even a woman?” I gritted my teeth. “Then let’s fight! Winner gets the bed!” Mason looked utterly dismissive. “If our daughter wasn’t here today, I would’ve pinned you to the ground a long time ago! You actually think you can take me in a fight?” Actions speak louder than words! The two of us immediately started brawling like two aggressive roosters. I threw a left hook, Mason countered with a judo throw, and we both tumbled onto the couch. I brought my knee up hard, and Mason sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. He curled up on the couch, shivering in pain, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, his teeth chattering. I jumped in fright. I had been straddling him, fully intending to slap his face silly, but now I was completely paralyzed. “Mason, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!” He forced a sentence out between his teeth. “Riley, you’re trying to murder your own husband… We’re really only ever gonna have Lily as our only child…” I instantly realized what I had just kneed, drawing in a sharp breath. “No way, really? Is it really that fragile?” Mason ignored me, which made me panic even more. I reached out my hand toward his crotch. “Mason, stop scaring me, let’s go to the hospital!” Mason’s voice was hoarse. He swatted my hand away. “And say what? Say we got into a fight and you kicked my balls into pieces?” My face instantly exploded into a fiery red. “Can you watch what you say? That sounds horrible!” “Is what you did any less horrible?” His forehead was covered in cold sweat. After a long silence, I sniffled. “So what do we do?” He struggled to grab his phone from nearby. “Take a look for me. Is it bleeding? Is it broken?” I felt like I’d been struck by lightning. “Are you insane?! You want me to look there?” Mason looked utterly defeated by life. “Then just let me die. Let me die of the pain.” I gritted my teeth. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Mason didn’t even have the strength to sit up. He tossed the phone to the side. “You vicious woman. You will be the sinner of our family line.” I really couldn’t stand his whining, so I got up, grabbed the phone, and turned on the flashlight. Fine, whatever. Even though I currently only had the memories of an 18-year-old, Mason and I had genuinely created a child together. I’ve probably seen everything there is to see anyway. I took the phone and slowly knelt down. I knelt between his legs. Gently pulling down his underwear… The door was suddenly pushed open. My mom’s voice carried a hint of panic. “You guys stopped fighting, did one of you kill the other?” The air went completely dead. I stiffly turned my head. Mason and my position was, frankly, far from elegant. He lay weakly on the bed with his legs spread, and I was kneeling between them with a flashlight, my entire head hovering over his… I let out a shriek and frantically grabbed the nearby blanket to cover Mason’s body. My mom really was a woman who had seen the world. She was silent for three seconds, then silently turned and left. As she left, I distinctly heard her muttering, “Youth is so uninhibited. I thought you two wanted to kill each other, but it turns out…” Mason’s voice carried a hint of a laugh. Between grimacing in pain and laughing, he was practically convulsing. “Our image in your mom’s eyes is completely destroyed.” “Shut up!” I kicked his shin hard. In the end, seeing that I was genuinely furious, Mason went to make a bed on the floor. 5 Early the next morning, my mom knocked on our bedroom door. “You guys promised Lily you’d take her to the amusement park this Tuesday. The kid has been looking forward to it since last night. As parents, you can’t break a promise.” I sighed. “Being a mom is so hard. Can I just stuff her back in?” Mason, who was getting dressed, glared at me fiercely. “Don’t say things like that in front of the kid!” He really was a good dad. I couldn’t understand Mason’s enthusiasm at all. In the past, Mason’s morning crankiness was terrifying. You could even say that aside from me, no one dared to wake him up. And it wasn’t that he wouldn’t get mad if I woke him up; it was just that I was the only one who could fight him to a draw. Mason frowned at my outfit. “We’re going to an amusement park today, not walking the red carpet. Why are you wearing heels?” I glared at him. “Mind your own business!” The truth was, the 18-year-old Riley never had the chance to wear high heels. Seeing a whole closet full of them, I was itching to try, so I picked the prettiest pair. Our daughter held my hand in one hand and Mason’s in the other. “Did Daddy and Mommy sleep well last night?” Thinking of the chaotic events of last night, I turned to look at Mason. “Are your balls okay?” Mason raised a hand to cover my mouth. “Can you please watch what you say in front of our daughter?!” But he was overthinking it, because our daughter didn’t understand at all. “Daddy, what balls?” Mason took a deep breath. “Kinder Joy surprise eggs! Daddy will buy you one later!” I couldn’t hold it in anymore and stood to the side, laughing until tears came to my eyes. I hadn’t been to an amusement park since elementary school. Our daughter pointed at the rollercoaster, screaming in excitement. “Daddy, Mommy, I want to ride that!” I snapped my head around to look at Mason, and sure enough, the man’s face had gone ghostly pale. If there was one thing I knew Mason was terrified of in his first eighteen years, it was heights. When we were kids, Mason’s mom was away for a while, so he came to play at my grandparents’ house with me. My older cousin suggested we play hide-and-seek. I was the seeker, and he took Mason to hide. But I searched until noon and couldn’t find them. My mom called me in for lunch, and my cousin skipped in happily. It wasn’t until it was almost dark that I suddenly remembered Mason was missing. My cousin’s eyes widened in horror. “I put him up in the branches of a tree!” My cousin, the genius, in order to win the game, had hung Mason up in a tree while he sat in another one. And then he just forgot about him. By the time we got Mason down, his legs were shaking for over an hour. With a hint of sadistic glee, I kept my mouth shut. Lily didn’t notice her dad was about to pass out from fear. “Mommy, let’s go ride that, okay?” I smiled brightly. “Okay!” “Daddy, can we?” She turned to look at Mason. I thought Mason wouldn’t agree, that he’d make an excuse about not feeling well, or just tell our daughter straight up that he was scared of heights. But to my surprise, after a long pause, I heard Mason’s voice sounding like a martyr heading to the execution grounds: “Okay!” My heart gave a sharp jolt, and I looked at him in surprise. I had never seen this self-sacrificing side of Mason before. We paid the entrance fee and slowly moved forward with the crowd. The closer we got, the more violently Mason’s legs shook. I was holding back my laughter so hard I thought I might rupture an organ. Finally, right before it was our turn, I suddenly clutched my stomach. “Baby, Mommy’s tummy hurts a little. Can we ride this another day? Let’s go ride the Ferris wheel.” I pointed to the Ferris wheel not too far away. Our daughter had glanced at it several times while we were in line. Sure enough, little kids don’t overthink things. She nodded excitedly immediately. “Okay! Mommy, go to the bathroom first.” Mason turned his head, looked at me deeply, and mouthed two words silently. “My hero!” The corner of my mouth twitched. This idiot deserved to be single, calling his own wife “my hero.” I should have just made him get on the ride. 6 Little kids just have too much energy. Our old, twenty-something bodies simply couldn’t handle the wear and tear. Especially since I was wearing 4-inch stilettos. To avoid being a buzzkill mom, I gritted my teeth and pushed through. When I came out of the restroom, I saw Mason holding our daughter, sitting quietly on a bench waiting. Lily was holding a giant Kinder Joy egg. I found it a bit funny. He actually kept his promise. The next second, he stood up, walked toward me, and shoved a giant… pair of plush slippers into my hands? I threw them away. “Are you crazy?! Giving me plush slippers in this heat?” Mason gave me a sideways glance. “What plush slippers? They’re cartoon slippers. Donald Duck. What kind of amusement park sells regular slippers? It’s merchandise!” “I am not wearing those!” He forcefully pushed me down onto the bench. “Stubborn! Fine, suffer the pain! You’re an idiot!” He helped me put the slipper on my left foot, and I kicked it off with my right. He put it on my right foot, and I kicked it off with my left. “Who wears such stupid slippers to an amusement park?!” A soft touch came from my other foot, and I looked down. I saw our daughter mimicking her dad, kneeling on one knee, helping me put on the other slipper. Father and daughter, each holding one of my feet. Lily tilted her head, her eyes sparkling. “Mommy, Daddy and I are helping you put them on together, so it’s not stupid!” Mason froze. Our daughter stood up. “I want to wear slippers like Mommy’s too! If our whole family wears them, it won’t be stupid! It’ll be so cute!” A warm feeling flowed through my heart, and I resignedly slipped my feet in. “You don’t need to…” But before I could finish my sentence, I saw Mason had already taken Lily’s hand and was walking back toward the gift shop. “Mason, don’t we look really stupid doing this?” The three of us walked along in giant plush slippers, receiving stares from a crowd of people. My cheeks felt hot, but I didn’t feel ashamed. Mason shrugged casually. “So what? They’re probably jealous.” “Jealous of what?” I looked at him sideways. “You have such a handsome husband and such a cute daughter. Who wouldn’t be jealous?” The corner of my mouth twitched. Narcissist.

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I found a bottle of women’s personal lubricant in my husband’s gym bag. I didn’t yell. I didn’t cause a scene. I simply swapped the contents for Super Glue. At 2:00 AM, our new night nanny was rushed to the ER. 01 Mark was in the master bathroom taking a shower. His phone, sitting inside his gym bag, kept buzzing, waking me up just as I had managed to fall asleep. I pulled it out to check. It was just a spam call. I hung up and put the phone back in its place. But my fingers accidentally brushed against something else in the bag. It felt cold. Smooth. Like a small bottle. I hesitated for a second. Curiosity got the better of me. It was a pink bottle. The packaging featured a provocative anime-style woman. The text was entirely in Japanese. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like something innocent. My heart tightened. I quickly used a reverse image search app on my phone to scan the bottle. The results that popped up made my blood run cold. It was a women’s personal lubricant. An “intense stimulation” formula. And the seal was broken; it had clearly been used. The room spun. It felt like I had been hit over the head with a baseball bat. I was still recovering from giving birth. Obviously, this wasn’t something he was using with me. Mark—was he having an affair? 02 The thought felt like a sharp knife plunging into my heart. The shower kept running, but my mind was in absolute chaos. With trembling hands, I unlocked his phone. [Sweetheart] was pinned to the top of his messages. That was me. The rest of his texts were just mundane conversations about work and daily life. So ordinary, you couldn’t find a single flaw. TikTok, Instagram, hotel booking apps, even his mobile games… I quickly went through all of them. But I couldn’t find a single suspicious trace. Could it be… Was this bottle just a prank from one of his friends? I was desperately trying to find a reasonable excuse for the lubricant. But the next second… My finger accidentally swiped into a folder labeled “Work.” Inside, there was a baby tracking app. This wasn’t right! Mark had a touch of OCD. He organized his apps meticulously. Why would a baby tracking app be in his “Work” folder? My heart skipped a beat. My finger, almost out of my control, tapped the app. The chat logs inside made my blood turn to ice. 03 March 8th. The day I was rushed to the ER with a threatened miscarriage. He stayed by my bedside the entire night. [I’ve held out for 3 months, I finally thought I could get some action, and she turns out to be useless.] [Go get a room near the hospital tonight. I’m dying over here.] [Skip the lingerie this time, wear the nurse outfit. That gets me going!] May 20th. The day we took my maternity photos. He proposed to me all over again in front of everyone, promising to celebrate 52 anniversaries with me. [When she cries, her fat just jiggles. It’s disgusting.] [I’m “going on a business trip” tomorrow. Come keep me company for a few days.] [I miss you so much. I want to destroy you!] September 10th. The day I was lying in the delivery room, hooked up to an IV. He cried harder than I did, swearing he would never let me suffer like this again. [I heard women are ruined down there after having a baby, how are you still so tight?] [I miss you again. Send me a video so I can look at you.] [Can you come to the hospital bathroom right now? I can’t take it.] October 6th. The day of our wedding anniversary. We took our first family portrait. He smiled and said we were the happiest family of three. [You screamed so loud right in front of her today.] [She has no idea. Just holding the baby and smiling at me like an idiot.] … And the most recent message read: [Let’s play a little rough tonight!] 04 A wave of intense nausea rose in my stomach. I covered my mouth tightly. Terrified I would vomit right there. These filthy, disgusting words… they actually came from Mark’s mouth? The “reliable” Mark? I couldn’t understand. I really couldn’t. He had always been so good to me. He came home on time every day, put his paycheck into our joint account. During my pregnancy, he took over all the household chores. He tirelessly massaged my swollen legs every night and carefully rubbed stretch mark cream on my belly. He even washed my underwear by hand, laughing while doing it. He treated me like glass, terrified I would break. Every time I went in for a prenatal checkup, he was so anxious the night before he couldn’t sleep. When I was in labor, he waited outside the delivery room, sobbing louder than I was. Other new mothers couldn’t get a full night’s sleep, but I woke up naturally every morning. Because Mark had arranged everything perfectly beforehand. A top-tier night nanny, a specialized postpartum diet plan, parenting classes. He even got up every night to soothe the baby. Just so I could sleep a little longer. Even my best friend said that men like him were one in a million. Yeah. How could a man like that cheat? But reality had just slapped me hard in the face. Mark was cheating. And it started while I was pregnant. I raised my hand and wiped away my tears, taking a deep breath. No! Now is not the time to cry. Crying doesn’t solve any problems. I used my phone to take pictures of every single chat log. Then, I emptied the bottle of lubricant and replaced the liquid with Super Glue. I didn’t know who Mark was cheating with. But tonight. The truth would come to light. 05 Just as I put everything back in its place, The bathroom door opened. Mark walked out, drying his wet hair with a towel. Seeing me sitting on the bed, he paused. “Honey, it’s so late. Why aren’t you asleep?” His voice was as gentle as always. I looked up, our eyes meeting. In that instant, The tears I couldn’t control spilled over. It was as if my emotions had finally found an outlet. Seeing me cry, Mark immediately panicked. He hurried over, his eyes full of concern. “Honey, why are you crying? Did you have a nightmare? You shouldn’t cry while you’re recovering; it’s bad for your health.” His touch was so gentle. If I hadn’t seen those chat logs with my own eyes, I would have believed his concern was genuine. It turns out, love can really be acted out to perfection. I stared at him with red-rimmed eyes, my voice trembling slightly. “Mark… I just dreamed that you were cheating on me.” Mark froze for a second, then let out a soft chuckle, pulling me into his arms. “Silly girl, dreams are the opposite of reality. You’d be better off dreaming that I died.” I clenched my fists, my nails almost digging into my flesh, but I pretended to joke. “Mark, I’m fat and ugly now. Do you still love me?” Mark let go of me, cradled my face in his hands, and looked at me with deep affection. Then, he lowered his head and planted a reverent kiss on my forehead. “My wife will always be the most beautiful woman in the world. Besides, I chased you for ten years. How could I ever stop loving you?” Right. Mark chased me for ten years. He would probably give me one of his kidneys if I needed it. I honestly used to believe that pigs would fly before Mark would cheat on me. However, the truth was cruel. Those chat logs were like needles. Stabbing deeply into my heart. Leaving me bleeding and raw. I looked into his eyes and spoke, word by word. “Mark, if you really are cheating on me, would you just go die?” A flicker of unease crossed his face. But he quickly regained his composure. “I would rather die than cheat on you.” I finally smiled. Mark. You said it yourself. Someone who betrays true love deserves to die. Mark smiled too. He reached out and ruffled my hair, his tone light. “That’s better. My wife looks prettiest when she smiles.” 06 Mark brought me a mug of warm milk. “Here, honey. Drink some milk, it’ll help you sleep.” As I took the mug and took a small sip, I lowered the cup and frowned. “Mark, the baby sounds like he’s crying. Can you go check on him?” Mark didn’t suspect a thing and walked out of the room. I quickly dumped the milk down the sink. Watching the white liquid swirl down the drain, I sneered inwardly. So, this is why I was able to sleep through the night. When Mark returned, his eyes swept over the empty mug. A strange glint of excitement flashed in his eyes. He walked over, patted me gently on the shoulder, and spoke softly. “Honey, the baby is sleeping soundly. Don’t worry.” I nodded, pretending to be drowsy, and faked a yawn. “That’s good. I’m tired too. Let’s sleep.” He smiled, reached over, and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. I closed my eyes, my breathing steady, as if I had fallen into a deep sleep. In the middle of the night… Mark gently patted my cheek, calling my name softly to test the waters: “Honey? Honey?” I kept my eyes shut, pretending to be fast asleep. And let out a soft snore. Mark paused for a long moment. He seemed to be confirming that I was truly asleep. Only then did he quietly slip out of bed, his movements careful, terrified of waking me. After I was sure he had left, I opened my eyes and checked the time. 1:00 AM. Mark was really dedicated; it was this late, and he was still going out to meet his mistress. I grabbed my phone, quietly got up, and followed him. Almost there. I would soon have the evidence I needed. To my surprise… Mark didn’t leave the apartment. Instead, he turned and walked into the guest room. The guest room was the baby’s room. My heart pounded. Did my probing earlier make Mark change his plans? The next second… I realized that Mark was far more disgusting than I could have ever imagined. 07 “I thought you weren’t coming tonight. You’re so bold. Aren’t you afraid she’ll find out?” A woman’s voice came from the guest room. My heart violently contracted. It was hard to breathe. This… This was the voice of our night nanny, Chloe. Chloe was the night nanny Mark had chosen for me. She usually wore simple clothes, tied her hair back in a messy, low ponytail, and rarely wore any makeup. Even though we were about the same age. But she was very professional and knew her boundaries. Except for taking care of me and the baby, she mostly stayed in her room, minimizing her contact with Mark. So, I had never even suspected her. The sound of rustling clothes brought me back to reality. Mark’s voice was full of impatience, like a starving animal. “She sleeps like the dead. Chloe, let me touch you, I’m dying here.” Chloe’s tone was slightly anxious. “I think I heard her ask you what would happen if you cheated? Is she getting suspicious?” But Mark didn’t care at all. His tone was absolutely certain, as if he had everything under control. “Relax, she trusts me completely. I crawl into your bed every night, and she just feels bad that I’m ‘working late’.” “You’re so bad…” Chloe’s voice softened into a moan. “Isn’t that what you like about me?” … Their conversation was like a dull knife. Slicing into my heart over and over again. It hurt so much! How dare they do this in my home! Right next to my child! Doing something so vile! I wanted to burst in there and stab them both to death! But reason told me I couldn’t be impulsive. 08 “Do we really have to try that today? I’m scared…” “Relax, I brought the lube. It won’t hurt.” “But…” Chloe’s voice was still hesitant. Mark suddenly grew annoyed. “I didn’t mind that you’ve slept with so many other guys, and you can’t even do this one little thing for me? If you can’t handle it, I’ll find someone who can.” “No… I can.” Chloe caved. She twisted her body, trying to please him. “Good girl. Relax, I’ll put it on for you.” Mark sounded eager. Chloe obediently lay down. Mark squeezed the entire bottle of “lubricant” inside her. “It hurts!” Chloe cried out in pain. “Bear with it. This is the intense stimulation kind. It’s supposed to hurt a little. Chloe, here I come!” Mark looked excited. He pressed down on her. Suddenly… A piercing scream shattered the silence of the room. “Ah! Mark, what the hell did you put on me?! Why is it sticking together?!” Chloe frantically twisted her body, trying desperately to break free. But it was too late. The Super Glue had already taken effect. Mark was panicking too, covering Chloe’s mouth with his hand. “Keep your voice down! Do you want everyone to know? I’m stuck too!” “Mmph! Mmph! Do something!” Chloe’s voice was already breaking into sobs. “I’m trying… let’s try hot water?” “Ah! That’s burning hot!” “…” They tried for half an hour. Eventually, they had no choice but to call an ambulance. The two of them, stuck together in a grotesque position, were carried out on a stretcher. I stood on the balcony, watching the ambulance disappear into the distance. Only then did I go back into the guest room. My baby was sleeping soundly in his crib. Completely unaware of what had just happened. I gently stroked his little face, making a silent vow. Don’t worry, sweetie. Mommy will protect you. Then, my gaze fell on the empty pink bottle on the bed. Perfect. They used every last drop. 09 Mark and Chloe didn’t return until the next evening. One was walking with his legs clamped tightly together. The other was clenching her buttocks. The two of them hobbled in, one after the other. Their postures were incredibly awkward. I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep from laughing out loud. “Where have you two been? I haven’t seen either of you all day.” I asked with feigned concern, my gaze darting between them. An unnatural look flashed across Mark’s face, and he avoided my eyes. “Something came up at work; I was busy all day. I happened to run into Chloe downstairs, so we came up together.” His voice was shaky and entirely unconvincing. I turned my head and looked at Chloe. “Chloe, why didn’t you at least tell me you were going to be gone all day? I thought something terrible had happened to you.” Chloe was frighteningly pale, her lips trembling slightly. She clearly hadn’t come up with a good excuse yet. She could only stammer, “Mrs. Miller… I…” Seeing this, Mark quickly jumped in to defend her: “Chloe had a family emergency. She asked me for time off, but I got so busy I forgot to tell you.” Chloe nodded frantically, terrified I would keep asking questions. “Mrs. Miller, I’ll go check on the baby now.” I waved my hand dismissively, my tone light. “No need. My parents said they missed him, so they took him for a few days. You can take it easy for a bit.” Chloe froze for a second, then finally muttered: “Then I’ll go make dinner for you.” I nodded, my tone flat: “Go ahead.” She stole a glance at Mark, her eyes full of grievance. But Mark was too busy trying to deal with his own situation to care about her. Chloe had no choice but to look away and slowly hobble into the kitchen, her buttocks clenched tight. Her figure looked incredibly pathetic. Every step seemed to be excruciatingly painful. Honestly. Even I felt bad for her. A servant by day, a plaything by night. And now she had to cook for me while suffering a “workplace injury.” It was tragic. The clatter of pots and pans echoed from the kitchen. Chloe’s movements were clearly much slower than usual.

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I walked into the classroom. My eyes immediately landed on my boyfriend, Dave. And, of course, the girl practically climbing him like a jungle gym, laughing with her head thrown back. His lifelong best friend, Monica. They both saw me. Dave instinctively shoved Monica away. But Monica just smirked, throwing me a victorious look. “Sorry, Maya. Dave only saved one seat. First come, first served.” The classroom went silent. Every eye in the room was on us. This wasn’t the first time Dave had only saved a seat for Monica. The first time, I felt humiliated. I burst into tears and ran out of the room. The second time, when Monica gave me that same smug look, I stood my ground. We had a shouting match in the middle of the lecture hall, and I forced my way into that seat. But between Dave and Monica, I was constantly starting fights, constantly furious. My hormones were a mess just from the pure rage I was walking around with. And this time, watching them pull the same old stunt. I just couldn’t be bothered. I didn’t try to take the seat from Monica, and I didn’t start a fight with Dave. I didn’t even look at them. I just clutched my textbook to my chest and walked to the back of the room, toward the only open seat left. “Hi,” I said softly, standing over the desk. “Is this seat taken?” 2 The guy sitting there was wearing headphones, his head down as he focused on his notes. He looked up at my voice. His gaze seemed to pause on my face for a second before he pulled his eyes away. Then, he stood up, gesturing for me to take the inner seat. “Thank you,” I said in a low voice, sliding into the desk. At the front of the classroom. The sound of a book being slammed down hard on a desk suddenly rang out. I looked down the row. I was staring right into Monica’s eyes. She was looking back at me, her expression one of unmistakable fury. I suddenly remembered a rumor I’d heard when I first started at this school. Apparently, Monica and the guy sitting next to me, Ethan, were supposed to be engaged, some old family arrangement. I couldn’t help but glance at him. He’d already put his headphones back on and was leaning slightly over his desk, back to solving his problems. I could only see his side profile—distant, cold, and utterly removed. My phone buzzed. I pulled it out. It was a text from Dave. [I lost a bet last night. That’s the only reason I saved Monica a seat today.] [Don’t be mad, babe. I’ll take you out for a huge dinner tonight.] I looked at the words and almost laughed out loud. There was always an excuse. It wasn’t that Monica had been sick and he had to rush her to the hospital, causing him to miss our date. It was that they were “basically siblings” since they grew up together, completely platonic. If they were really “just platonic,” why was he with me? Dave was my first love. And I’d been serious about this relationship. Which was why my happiness, my sadness, my everything was so easily tied up in his actions. But now, I just felt… tired. I didn’t reply. I just exited out of the messaging app. During the lecture break. Monica and Dave started goofing around. “Alright, Dave, you’re dead!” Monica lunged at him, chasing him and playfully swatting his arm. It looked a lot more like flirting than fighting. She reached out and pinched his neck. The expression on Dave’s face looked like he was enjoying it. “Okay, okay! Are you ever going to act like a girl?” “I’m not one of those whiny, high-maintenance girls you usually go for.” Monica’s words were clearly pointed at me as she shot me a look. “I won’t start crying at the drop of a hat to get attention.” “And I don’t use that fake high-pitched voice to get my way. It’s disgusting.” I kept my head down, a small smile playing on my lips. Under the desk, my hand reached out and lightly pulled the sleeve of Ethan’s shirt. “Ethan.” He turned his head to look at me. I pressed my lips together and pointed to his headphones. Ethan didn’t say anything, but he raised his hand and pulled off the earbud closest to me. Then, I spoke, deliberately using that fake high-pitched voice Monica had just described. “Your future fiancée is being awfully flirtatious with my boyfriend. Aren’t you jealous?” 3 Ethan’s eyes were cold and distant. “I don’t have a future fiancée.” “But I heard that you two have an family arrangement.” “An ancient myth.” Ethan’s voice suddenly dropped a few degrees. I couldn’t help but look at him again, my gaze tracing his sharp, strong jawline. Slowly, I let my eyes wander down to his hand, which was holding his pen. The sunlight was streaming through the window, engulfing him. In the light and shadow, his long, slender fingers were as beautiful as carved ivory. I bit my lip, leaning in close to him, and whispered. “Then… want to make a deal?” “A deal for what?” Ethan suddenly turned his face toward me. I didn’t have time to pull away. A faint, cool, and incredibly pleasing scent of mint washed over me. My breath hitched for a second. “A deal to be your girlfriend.” Ethan actually put down his pen. “What’s in it for me?” My cheeks burned. I looked down, my long eyelashes casting shadows. On the right side of my chin, a bright red, swollen pimple had formed. Right now, it was stinging and itching. My roommate had told me it was definitely a hormonal breakout from stress. In the front row, Dave and Monica were still acting completely inappropriately. Monica was sitting on her desk, playfully kicking Dave. Every now and then, she’d deliberately look back at me and laugh incredibly loud. It was supposed to be a carefree, open laugh. But to me, it was the most irritating sound in the world. When Monica first met me, her attitude had been awful. Dave was introducing us. She was standing right next to Dave, her arm slung over his shoulder like one of his bros. She’d scanned me from head to toe. Then she’d punched Dave’s arm. “You motherfucker! I should have known you liked this type of delicate little flower girl.” “If you ever treat your girlfriend better than your bro, I’ll be the first person to call you a pussy.” Dave had laughed so hard back then. He must have really enjoyed it. I took a deep breath. When Monica deliberately laughed again and looked my way. Under the table, I pulled Ethan’s sleeve again. “It’ll relieve your stress, and it’ll stabilize my hormones. We both win.” I’d heard a few things. The research project Ethan was working on was incredibly difficult. He’d pulling all-nighters in the lab for weeks now. Ethan didn’t say anything. His beautiful hand just picked up the pen on his notebook and started twirling it. A long moment passed before he looked at me again, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “That doesn’t sound too bad. Only…” I held my breath instinctively. The sunlight suddenly disappeared behind a cloud. And Ethan’s voice suddenly turned cold. “I’m not interested in other people’s girlfriends.” 4 Class started again. Monica had gone back to sitting normally in her own seat. The professor walked in again. The noisy classroom slowly went quiet. I spoke in a voice that only Ethan could hear, whispering to him. “I’m already planning on breaking up with him.” Ethan looked straight ahead at the blackboard. “Then break up first. We’ll talk after.” I didn’t dare say another word to him. He was the famous, untouchable genius of the school. When he was serious, he radiated a cold, distant “do not disturb” vibe. For the rest of the lecture. I kept my head down, focusing on the blackboard and the professor. But only I knew that my mind was miles away. Right before class ended. Dave suddenly sent me another text: [Something came up tonight. We’ll have to do dinner tomorrow.] [I promise I’ll make it up to you this weekend.] [How many times do I have to tell you? Monica and I are just bros.] [Fine, if we hang out this weekend, I promise not to let her come.] I didn’t reply. The moment class ended, Monica dragged Dave out of the room. Before they left, she threw one more look toward the back row. But she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Ethan. But Ethan was wearing his headphones, packing up his notes, not looking up. Monica looked disappointed as she quickly dragged Dave away. “Ethan, can I add you on Instagram?” He stood up, and I worked up the courage to stop him. Ethan didn’t pull up his QR code for me to scan. “Break up first.” He was so tall that when he looked down at me. I felt like I was being exposed. Like there was nothing I could hide from his eyes. I couldn’t meet his gaze. I just pulled up my last conversation with Dave and showed it to him. In a very small voice, I said, “Look. We’re already broken up.” Ethan looked at the screen. Then, right in front of him, I deleted Dave’s contact. “Do you believe me now?” Ethan’s face, a face so handsome it should have been a crime, was still blank. But he pulled out his phone, pulling up his own QR code. “Scan me.” 5 After adding each other, Ethan left immediately. He’d been practically living in the lab for the last two days and was swamped. We made plans to meet up on Saturday night. I watched him walk away until his back was completely out of sight. Then I just sat there in my seat, dazed. If Ethan’s profile picture wasn’t right there in my new contacts list. I almost would have believed that everything that just happened was a figment of my imagination. That night, I had insomnia. Monica posted a ton of Instagram stories. They were all photos of their old high school friend group hanging out. But in almost every single photo, Dave and Monica were the center of attention. The last photo was of Dave and Monica kissing. I couldn’t be completely unfazed. But I just let out a self-deprecating laugh. Then I deleted Monica from my contacts. And I posted a new photo to my own story. It was a picture my roommates had taken of my back when we were walking on the track earlier that night. It was beautiful, pure. I added a single caption. “Nothing but single, clean vibes over here.” As soon as the story went up, my phone exploded. Several mutual friends immediately commented with “???” “Maya, are you and Dave fighting?” “No way, did you guys break up?” “I knew this day would come. It’s because of Monica, right?” I didn’t reply to any of them. Because Ethan had just sent me a direct message. [Not asleep yet?] [A little insomnia. How about you? Still in the lab?] [Yeah. Things aren’t going well tonight.] Ethan sent a picture. “The results aren’t matching up. Even after running the simulation.” [What are you going to do? Is it urgent?] [Very. I have to submit the report tomorrow.] [Then… I won’t bother you.] A few seconds later, Ethan suddenly sent an audio message. “Didn’t you say you were going to relieve my stress?” His voice was a low, tired rasp. It carried a deep, unshakeable weariness. I shot upright in my bed. My cheeks were burning, my heart pounding so fast I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. I typed out a few words, deleted them, then started over, not knowing what to say. Ethan sent another message: “The pimple on your chin… does it still hurt?” I bit my lip, biting it so hard I left deep tooth marks. [It hurts. And it itches.] 6 Ethan picked me up and took me to his lab. As soon as the door opened, the first thing I saw was a desk. On it was a piece of tortoise shell and a single stick of lit incense. “My predecessor left that. He said it’s incredibly powerful.” On the other side of the room, on one of the petri dishes, a very old handwritten protective talisman was taped. Ethan explained again, “My other predecessor left that one. We can’t take it off. If we do, the mold won’t grow.” I quickly pulled my hand away from the talisman. So this was what a lab at a top-tier university looked like. It turned out that at the end of science was ancient spirituality. Ethan pulled on a clean lab coat. He leaned against a windowsill, the bloodshot veins in his eyes visible. “Unfortunately, none of it worked tonight.” “What are you going to do?” Ethan shook his head. “I don’t know.” “I just have to run the simulation again.” “Then… will my being here distract you?” Ethan smiled. “No. I have to wait for the data anyway. It gets boring sitting here alone.” “Then I’ll keep you company.” I walked over and leaned against the windowsill right next to him. The moonlight was soft and gentle. It was engulfing him, and it was engulfing me. I don’t know where the courage came from. “Ethan.” “Hmm?” “My chin… it really hurts.” “I’ll go buy you some ointment…” “My roommate said… it’s a hormonal breakout from stress.” I turned around, tilting my face up to him in the moonlight. “Can you help me stabilize my hormones?” 7 Before I could stand on my tiptoes, close my eyes, and kiss him. Ethan beat me to it. He cupped my face with both hands and lowered his head, a deep kiss that was anything but gentle. At first, his movements were stiff and awkward. But very quickly, he seemed to find his rhythm. His long, slender fingers laced through my thick, cool hair. He held the back of my head, pulling me into him, deepening the kiss. I was so nervous I was shaking. Instinctively, I raised my hands to push him away. Ethan stopped. “Maya.” He softly whispered my name. The moonlight was hazy, reflecting in his eyes. His voice was colder than the moonlight itself. “If you want to regret this now, if you want to go back to Dave.” “There’s still time.” I didn’t say a word. I just closed my eyes again and lightly wrapped my arms around his neck. As the sound of soft, wet kisses filled the air. The equipment beside us suddenly started let out a few beeps. “Beep, beep.” “Ethan?” I jumped, automatically trying to push him away. But my damp fingers were held tightly in his grip. “The simulation was successful.” “Maya, we can’t stop yet.” Ethan picked me up and sat me on the windowsill. He brushed away the damp hair sticking to my cheek. He pulled me into another kiss, deeper and heavier this time. “How much longer…” My voice was trembling slightly. My legs felt like jelly. “Until it stops beeping.” “Until the data is completely stable.” “What if it keeps beeping?” Ethan let out a soft laugh by my ear. He lowered his head, pressing against my swollen lips. “Then… maybe a simple kiss won’t be enough.” 8 My eyes snapped wide open. “That, would that… be too fast?” Ethan kissed me again, a shallow smile playing in his eyes. The “beep, beep” of the equipment continued. Slowly, deliberately, he deepened the kiss again, inch by inch. Just as I was starting to lose my mind, completely drowning in him. He gently released me. The pad of his finger brushed against the corner of my mouth, gently wiping away the traces of our kiss. His voice was a low drone right by my ear: “What would be too fast?” “Did you think I was going to do something to you?” “In a lab… with you?” “Ethan!” I was so angry I shoved him. Ethan didn’t move to stop me, letting me push him back a step. He ended up leaning against the lab bench behind him. He wasn’t angry either. His face, usually so cold and distant. Right now, it was still tight with a raw hunger. His lips quirked up slightly, a dangerous, playful smile on his face. If I hadn’t heard it myself… I never would have believed that Ethan, of all people, could say something so explicit. He rarely smiled, maybe this was why. When he did smile, where was the cold, untouchable genius everyone admired? He was just a complete and utter asshole. I pulled my gaze away, a blank look on my face, and turned to walk out. As I passed by him. He suddenly gripped my wrist. And right at that moment, the “beep, beep” of the equipment abruptly stopped. In the same second, Ethan pulled me into his arms. “The simulation was successful.” Saying that, he rested his chin lightly against the side of my neck. “Maya… thank you.”

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I spent two years tending to Damien Thorne after the accident that left him paralyzed. Everyone in our circle assumed that the moment he could walk again, he’d put a ring on my finger. The night his surgery was declared a success, I was the only one who asked, “Do you still want to marry me?” He hesitated. That one simple word—”Yes”—never made it past his lips. I let out a short, dry laugh. “I get it.” I pulled the ring off my finger and walked out of the house I’d called home for two years, and I didn’t look back. 01 “Do you still want to marry me?” Damien froze. He stared down at his legs for a long time, his jaw tight. The muffled sounds of a celebration filtered in through the cracked bedroom door. “The surgeon said the procedure was a miracle. He’ll be back on his feet in a month.” “I honestly thought he was done for. Two years ago, he’d given up on everything.” “It’s all thanks to Claire. She never left his side. I bet there’s a wedding by Christmas. We should start looking at registries.” Damien heard his friends’ cheers, but he remained silent. The air in the room turned heavy, suffocating. Finally, I stood up. I reached for the physical therapy oil and began massaging his knees and calves, just as I had every night for seven hundred days. “Is this pressure okay?” I asked, giving him an out. The tension in his shoulders bled away. He relaxed back into the pillows and whispered, “Yeah. It’s perfect.” “Any discomfort?” He shook his head. “No. You’re better at this than the clinic therapists.” I stared at my hands as they worked. I wasn’t always good at this. In the beginning, he couldn’t stand the touch of a stranger. He’d scream at the professional nurses until they quit. But rehab was non-negotiable. So, I spent three months shadowing a specialist in the city. I practiced on my own muscles until I was bruised, just so I wouldn’t hurt him when I finally touched his legs. The first time I tried, I waited until he was asleep. He was a light sleeper. He woke up and snarled, “Get out! Get the hell out!” I didn’t move. I kept working the pressure points the specialist had shown me. He couldn’t move his legs, so he grabbed his pillow and threw it at my head. I ignored it. Then he grabbed whatever was on his nightstand—books, water glasses—and hurled them at me. The last thing he threw was a framed photo of himself from his college track days. He was holding a trophy, fist pumped, looking invincible. Warm blood trickled down my forehead from the corner of the frame. He watched me, struggling to lunge toward me, but his useless legs kept him pinned. He covered his face and began to sob. “Just leave, Claire. Don’t stay here. It’s useless. I can’t feel a thing. No amount of rubbing is going to fix a broken man.” 02 He was drowning in self-pity back then. I showed up every single day, rain or shine, to work his muscles. It lasted until his mother found him unconscious from an overdose of sleeping pills. After they pumped his stomach, I knelt by his hospital bed. “Look at me,” I said. He looked, his eyes hollow. “Everything is going to be okay,” I told him. “Trust me.” At the time, I didn’t know where that confidence came from. From that day on, I moved into the Thorne estate. Damien’s mother cried as she thanked me over and over. She wanted to ask what our “status” was, but she couldn’t find the words. So I told her: “As long as Damien doesn’t kick me out, I’m staying.” Truth was, he tried to kick me out plenty of times. I just didn’t leave. During one particularly bad session, he screamed, “Get out! Everyone just leave me alone!” He was in his wheelchair then, and he’d smashed half the lamps in the room. But I noticed something—he’d stopped aiming at me. When he was done venting, I walked over to him. “Damien,” I whispered. “Trust me.” I said that for two years. Slowly, he began to feel the pressure. Then a toe twitched. Then he could lift a heel. By the time the surgery happened yesterday, the doctors called it a medical anomaly. The surgery was a total success. Barring any complications, he was going to walk again. 03 When Damien’s mother heard the news, she tried to press a high-limit debit card into my hand. I looked at the plastic and felt a strange sense of vertigo. I hadn’t spent two years of my life for a paycheck. Damien’s friends all called me “the one,” the future Mrs. Thorne. But only I knew the truth: we were nothing. We’d never had an official talk. We’d never even had a proper date. The only thing I had was a promise he made during his first month of recovery, right after a specialist told him he’d likely never walk again. I pushed his wheelchair back to the house, and he broke down the moment the door closed. The golden boy had fallen from his pedestal, and he couldn’t take it. I held him tight. He bit my shoulder in his agony—so deep it left a scar that’s still there today. When he saw the blood, he snapped out of it. “I’m sorry,” he gasped. “God, Claire, I’m so sorry.” As I massaged his legs that night, he whispered, “Claire, the moment I can walk, we’re getting married.” Then he asked, “You’ve had a crush on me since high school, haven’t you?” I didn’t lie. I looked him in the eye and said, “Yes.” He told me he’d marry me, but I didn’t do it for a ring. I did it because I loved him, and I prayed that one day, he’d feel the same. Back in the present, I finished rubbing the oil into his skin. I could feel him watching me. “Claire,” he said softly. “You don’t have to do this anymore.” My hands faltered. I finished the last stroke and looked up. “Damien… do you still want to marry me?” He started to speak, then stopped. He closed his eyes and said nothing. I realized then I was a fool for dreaming. The ring on my finger—the one he’d ordered from his bed and slipped on my hand months ago—felt like a hot iron. 04 I stood up and washed the oil off my hands. The ring was a fraction too small. It had been pinching my skin for months, but I’d ignored the pain. I didn’t even know if he’d guessed the size or if he’d just given me something he already had. “Claire,” he called from the room. “I think of you as a sister.” A tear hit the sink. I wiped it away instantly. Don’t say that, I thought. That’s the cruelest thing you could say to me. I walked out into the living room. The party was still going strong. I looked at Damien and slowly twisted the ring off my finger. My skin was red and indented. For a long time, I’d lied to myself, saying all engagement rings felt tight. But the moment it came off, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. I actually regretted not taking it off sooner. Damien avoided my eyes. I held the ring out to him. “Here. Take it back.” He saw the deep red mark on my finger. “It was a size too small,” I added. He opened his mouth to explain, but I waved him off and pushed his wheelchair toward the guests. 05 As soon as we entered the foyer, his friends swarmed us. “What were you two whispering about? Secrets already?” “Don’t worry, we won’t crash the party today. We’re saving the wild stuff for the bachelor party.” “One more drink and then we’re out of your hair.” Damien’s friends were like him—privileged, but mostly well-mannered. Out of respect for his recovery, they’d brought expensive juices and light catering. “Damien, man,” one of them said. “Once you’re fully cleared, we’re hitting Whistler for a ski trip. Just like old times.” Damien agreed naturally. He didn’t even flinch at the mention of skiing—an activity that used to trigger his darkest moods. His friend turned to me. “You’re coming too, Claire. Damien will book the flights. You’re gonna love the lodge.” Damien looked at me, then shifted the burden. After being rejected twice in one night, I still had a shred of pride left. “You guys go ahead,” I said. But then Damien spoke up. “It’s fine if she comes. “After all, she’s like family. Like a little sister to me.” The room went dead silent. His best friend laughed nervously and swatted Damien’s shoulder. “What are you talking about, man?” Another friend jumped in to smooth things over. “He just had anesthesia yesterday, his brain is scrambled. Don’t mind him, Claire.” The moment passed with forced laughter, but Damien didn’t retract a single word. 06 I remembered what my best friend had asked me when she first saw the ring. “Claire, are you sure about this? “The Thornes live in a different world. If he actually gets better, do you think he’ll really stay?” I hadn’t dared to answer then. I didn’t have to now. Damien had given me the answer. He wouldn’t. The atmosphere of the party remained “harmonious”—soft indie music, talk of old Ivy League days. I looked down and googled Whistler. It was a world-class resort. I realized I didn’t understand half of what they were talking about. My friend was right. We weren’t from the same world. I stood up. Damien’s eyes snapped to me immediately. I went to my room. It was “my” room, but everything in it had been bought by Damien’s mother. I called the woman who had cried tears of gratitude two years ago. “Mrs. Thorne,” I said, my voice steady. “About that card you offered…” She sounded relieved I was bringing it up. “There’s a high six-figure balance on it, Claire. Please, take it. It’s the least we can do for everything you’ve done for my son.” “Thank you,” I said. I didn’t have much to pack. I threw my few personal clothes into a bag and left the rest. I walked through the living room. “Hey, Claire,” one of the friends called out. “It’s late. Where are you heading?” I didn’t want to make it awkward for Damien. I forced a smile. “Just a late-night craving. I’m heading out for some pancakes.” They offered to DoorDash something, but I shook my head. “It’s fine. I need the air.” Damien sensed something. He stared at me, unblinking. I waved to the room. “Goodbye, everyone.” At 1:00 AM, with a debit card in my pocket, I left the life I’d lived for two years. I figured we were even. 07 I found a place of my own in the city. I didn’t have to watch Damien every second anymore. I didn’t have to fear his midnight meltdowns. My body finally relaxed, but it was a shock to the system. I couldn’t sleep. I’d sit on my balcony with a coffee, staring at the few stars visible through the city smog. In the silence, I started listening to my own heart. I thought I’d be devastated. Heartbroken. But I wasn’t. I just rubbed the red mark on my ring finger and wondered how long it would take to fade. That night, the breeze felt cool. The stars felt bright. Damien called me the following afternoon. When I picked up, there was only silence on the other end. Finally, I spoke. “Is something wrong?” “Claire…” he said, his voice hesitant. “I wanted those cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The ones you make.” When he first became paralyzed, he refused to eat. I tried a hundred different recipes. I begged him, tears hitting the floor. “Please, just one bite. You have to eat.” Maybe he got tired of seeing me cry. He finally frowned and took a bite of a cinnamon roll. He didn’t like the store-bought ones. So, I learned how to bake them from scratch. But the silence from the night before was still fresh in my mind. “I’m gone, Damien,” I said calmly. 08 There was a long pause. I didn’t know what else to say, so I hung up. The amount of money in that account was staggering. I stared at the zeroes on the ATM screen, stunned. I checked it three times before I finally understood what my friend meant by “different worlds.” My parents were just normal people. When I told them I was taking care of a paralyzed boyfriend, they even came to visit. Mrs. Thorne had hosted them with such overwhelming “hospitality” that they felt completely out of place. When they got home, my dad told me, “Honey, this is going to be a hard mountain to climb.” They didn’t stop me, though. “Go ahead and try,” my mom said. “If it doesn’t work out, you can always come home.” Two years later, I finally understood Mrs. Thorne’s hospitality. The expensive meals and the constant hovering weren’t just kindness; they were a boundary. She was showing my small-town parents exactly where the line was drawn. I used the money to buy a condo in a nice part of town. There was still a fortune left over. I spent the next two weeks busy with contractors and furniture. Half a month later, I saw Damien again—at a coffee shop right near my new building. His friends were pushing his wheelchair, cheering him on. “Damien, if you don’t win her back, I’m disowning you as a friend.” “Just apologize to her. No one else belongs in that spot but Claire.” “She’s the only one we recognize.” 09 Damien hadn’t been outside much in two years. His skin was pale, and the sunlight made his face look dangerously handsome. He heard his friends’ jokes and gave a non-committal shrug. “Let’s see if she even shows up first.” Ironically, I was sitting at the table right behind them. I instinctively tried to hide, but then a friend I’d made at the gym walked out of the shop and shouted my name. “Claire!” She ran over. “I got that lemon cake you like!” Damien’s table went silent. I saw them follow her gaze until they landed on me. My friend put the cake down, noticed my face, and asked, “What’s wrong?” I realized there was no point in letting them dictate my mood. “Nothing,” I said, forcing a smile. “Sit down. I can’t believe you remembered I liked this cake.” That opened the floodgates. Since we were so close, I couldn’t help but hear their conversation. “It’s fate, Damien. Go apologize.” “You won’t find another girl like her. Trust me.” “If you don’t fix this, we’re done.” I recognized every voice. When Damien was bedridden, they’d come by one by one. There was one girl among them, Sarah, who used to have a massive crush on Damien. When she went into his room to see him back then, Damien had “accidentally” spilled a glass of water on her silk dress. It was a hot day, and the dress was thin. The water made it transparent instantly. Sarah stood there, humiliated. I was the one who found a shawl and covered her up. Damien had just looked at her with cold eyes. “You still like me like this?” Sarah’s eyes were red. I gently led her out of the room. Once outside, she wiped her face and told me, “I don’t like him anymore. He’s not worth it.” She started to walk away, then stopped. She looked at the water stains on the floor and said, “But you’re a good person, Claire. Thank you. “You should stop liking him, too. He doesn’t deserve you.” We became friends after that. We sent each other gifts on holidays. Damien’s friends weren’t bad people. I was lost in thought until I realized Damien was standing right next to my table. He was using a cane now. “Claire,” he said. I looked up. He was frowning, looking like he wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words. His friends started cheering. “Go on, Damien! Apologize! Get her back!” Damien’s frown deepened. But I didn’t need an apology. Relationships are supposed to be mutual. Besides, I had the money. I still hadn’t finished counting the zeroes. I didn’t need to be greedy for his heart, too. I looked at him as he stood there struggling. “You don’t need to do this,” I said. “I don’t need an apology.” He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He started to turn away, then stopped. “When are you coming home?” Maybe I hadn’t been clear enough last time. “I’m not coming back, Damien.” He stared at me for a long time, his expression unreadable. Finally, he gave a curt nod. He went back to his table. His friends were buzzing. “So? Did you get her back?” “When’s the wedding?” “When do we get the save-the-dates?” “There is no wedding,” Damien said, his voice flat and annoyed. The table went quiet. Damien repeated it, louder this time. “Why does everyone assume I’m going to marry her? “Am I supposed to marry her just because I’m grateful? “I told you. She’s like a sister to me.” That was the third time. My patience finally ran out. I stood up and addressed the table. “You guys have the wrong idea about the wedding. I was just paid to take care of him.” Damien looked up at me, his eyes dark. I met his gaze squarely. “And don’t bother calling me a sister,” I told him. “Let’s just be strangers.”

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I was the only college student Providence Hollow had produced in a century. My parents were dying of cancer, but to save every penny for my tuition, they refused to go to the hospital even once. When my little brother accidentally bumped into the piggy bank my mom had been religiously filling for me, she beat him so severely he couldn’t get out of bed for three days. To scrape together my tuition fees, the entire town pooled their resources, emptying their life savings down to the last dime. Everyone said I was the pride of Providence Hollow. Unmatched and deeply loved. In the dead of countless nights, I secretly swore to myself that I would remember exactly what they had all done to me. So, the day I received my acceptance letter to Harvard, I took out all my savings and treated the entire town to a massive feast. A literal last supper. Looking at their twisted, contorted corpses scattered across the floor, tears streamed down my face as I knelt down and pressed my forehead to the blood-soaked floor three times. 01 The air was thick with the pungent stench of poison and the heavy metallic tang of blood. The sickening smell hit me right in the back of the throat. When the police sirens wailed outside, I was in the middle of inspecting the final body. It was Old Man Miller. The man who, when I was a little girl, always used to give me candy. He hadn’t drank much of the spiked water, so the poison was acting slowly. His face, wrinkled like old tree bark, was tightly scrunched in agonizing pain. “Freeze! Step away from him!” Crack— As the police officer’s roar echoed through the room, I cleanly snapped Old Man Miller’s neck. With that, all ninety-eight residents of Providence Hollow—excluding myself—were dead. Not a single survivor. “Put your hands in the air! Hands behind your head! Do not resist!” Officers swarmed the room, surrounding me, the barrels of their guns locked squarely on my chest. I raised my hands, admiring my handiwork with a satisfied smile. I made no attempt to resist as the cold steel handcuffs clicked tightly around my wrists. On my way out, I casually kicked the corpses of my parents lying by my feet. “Gemma, why the hell did you do it?” In the interrogation room, the seasoned veteran, Detective Vance, asked me this question for the fifty-eighth time. Watching his grave, hardened expression, I gave a nonchalant shrug. “Detective, I already told you. I was doing society a favor. “Those old hags and geezers were useless alive anyway. They were just draining state resources. I took them out. Doesn’t that count as community service?” “You take this seriously right now!” The young rookie taking notes, Officer Davies, couldn’t stomach my attitude and slammed his hand on the table, barking at me. Detective Vance flipped through the thick stack of files in his hands, his face growing darker by the second. “Do you have any idea that your parents had cancer, but to save money for your education, they refused to get medical treatment even once?” “Oh?” I tilted my head, feigning innocence. “Wow, I really didn’t know that. But whatever, it doesn’t matter. They were going to die from the cancer eventually anyway. That’s an even bigger waste of resources. Rather than waiting for them to slowly die, it’s better that I stepped up as a good citizen and put them out of their misery early.” “And your grandmother! To ensure you had a comfortable life at an Ivy League school, she cashed out her burial fund just to pay for your books.” “Ugh, don’t even bring her up.” My face darkened, showing visible annoyance. “That old bat hoarded money for years, pinching pennies, and she only handed me two hundred bucks. What, was she tossing spare change to a beggar?” Detective Vance choked on his own breath, completely taken aback by my brazen sense of entitlement. His face looked like he had just swallowed a fly. I let out a yawn and decided to finish his line of questioning for him. “I know what you’re going to say next. You’re going to say the Mayor, Old Man Miller, and Mrs. Higgins all did me favors, right? Yeah, well, I figured they’d be lonely in hell, so I sent them down together to keep each other company. “Tell me, Detective. Aren’t I considerate?” “Enough!” Officer Davies slammed his hands onto the desk so hard he snapped his pen in half. “Gemma! Did all that elite education go straight to the gutter?! These people were your benefactors! Your own flesh and blood! And you sit here and laugh about massacring them? You are worse than an animal!” He stood up furiously, spitting on the floor in disgust. If he hadn’t retained the last shred of his professional restraint as a cop, he probably would have lunged across the table and strangled me. But despite his fury, I wasn’t scared in the slightest. “Officer, why are you so angry? If you’re that upset about it, you can go down there and keep them company too.” “You—!” The young cop’s face flushed a violent crimson. His chest heaved rapidly before he finally lost it and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. “I can’t interrogate her! Bring someone else in! This psycho makes my skin crawl!” I curled my lip. My absolute refusal to show remorse had dragged the interrogation into another dead end. But the older detective, Vance, still refused to give up. He tapped his fingertips against the metal table, his eagle-like eyes staring unblinkingly into mine. “Everything happens for a reason. Every effect has a cause. Gemma, if you confess the real truth right now, there might be a chance for you to plead out and get a reduced sentence.” “A reduced sentence?” I looked at his dead-serious face and couldn’t hold back a scoff, looking at him like he was an absolute idiot. “Hey, Detective. Do they not test IQs at the police academy anymore? I murdered nearly a hundred people. And you’re sitting here trying to sell me a plea deal? Are you stupid?” “You’re a lost cause!” Detective Vance finally hit his breaking point, his face turning an ugly shade of green as he stormed out and slammed the door. Two down. Tch. How boring. 02 When the heavy door to the interrogation room opened again, three hours had passed. This time, alongside the police, they brought a familiar face. My high school homeroom teacher, Miss Clara Evans. I thought she would look at me with the same deep disgust everyone else had. I didn’t expect that the moment she saw me, her eyes would well up with tears. “Gemma… how could you do something like this?” She rushed forward, throwing her arms around me, sobbing uncontrollably. “Is there some secret behind all of this? Is there something they did to you? Sweetheart, what pain are you hiding in your heart? Tell me, please? I refuse to believe you would do something like this for no reason.” Listening to her choked, sobbing voice, my face remained entirely blank. I lifted my eyes toward the intimidating, unfamiliar man standing in the doorway and gave a mocking grin. “What, you realized everyone who actually knew me is dead, so you went and dragged my teacher down here? The hard approach didn’t work, so you’re trying to play good cop?” The man’s dark eyes were unreadable as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “My name is Arthur Sterling. Deputy Chief of Investigations. The societal impact of this case is massive, and the nature of the crime is exceptionally heinous. From this point forward, I am leading your interrogation.” Oh, so they brought in the heavy hitters. I rolled my neck lazily, ignoring the red, chafed skin around my handcuffed wrists. “Hey, Miss Evans. You should probably step out.” Miss Evans froze, her eyes red as she stood up. Sterling tapped his pen against the metal desk. The rhythmic sound echoed like a judge’s gavel in purgatory. “Gemma, your academic records were flawless. Your behavioral records were perfect. Your teachers and peers all gave you the highest possible praise. “Furthermore, your psychological evaluations show zero abnormalities. You have no anti-social tendencies. So when you tell us you committed a mass murder for absolutely no reason… I don’t buy it.” He narrowed his eyes, his sharp gaze practically piercing straight through my chest. But since I hadn’t blinked while poisoning an entire town, I certainly wasn’t going to be intimidated by a cop. “I thought the police were supposed to deal in evidence? If you think I’m lying, go find the proof. I’ve already told you everything there is to tell. I was just doing society a favor.” “Gemma, this isn’t right! You were such a good girl at school, why would you—” “Shut up!” I barked sharply, violently cutting off Clara Evans’s sentence. “I don’t need you speaking for me! Get out!” She jumped, terrified by the bloodshot, manic look in my eyes. Her lips trembled for several seconds before Sterling gave her a subtle nod. Weeping silently, she walked out of the room. Watching her back disappear through the door, my chaotic emotions slowly began to level out. When I shifted my gaze back, I realized Arthur Sterling was staring at me intently, as if refusing to miss a single micro-expression flitting across my face. “A model student with no criminal history and a perfect academic record suddenly commits a mass extermination.” He pulled several sheets of paper from a manila folder. They were sketches—drawings of my posture and facial expressions from different angles during Vance’s earlier interrogation. “I have to admit, you possess a psychological resilience and anti-interrogation awareness that is incredibly unnatural for someone your age. “But human micro-expressions don’t lie. “Gemma. You are lying.” The absolute certainty in his voice and the calculated confidence in his eyes made it clear he thought he had me entirely figured out. I found it laughable. “Deputy Chief, if someone as arrogant as you can make it to the top of investigations, the state police force must really be scraping the barrel.” Sterling wasn’t provoked by my sarcasm. He leaned forward. “Tell me I’m wrong.” “Alright. You guessed it.” The new note-taking officer sitting beside him clearly didn’t expect me to fold that fast. He froze in shock. I glanced at the ticking clock on the wall, then back at Sterling. “I know you’re the one pulling the strings here. If you agree to one condition, I will tell you the absolute truth.” “You’re a mass murderer! Do you honestly think you have the right to negotiate?! Deputy Chief Sterling, this girl is definitely plotting something. Do not agree to this!” Sterling raised an eyebrow, ignoring the furious note-taker beside him. He stayed silent for a moment before looking up at me. “Tell me what it is. If you’re asking for a reduced sentence, the answer is no.” I smiled. If I was afraid of dying, I wouldn’t have killed them in the first place. “I don’t want a reduced sentence. I just want to go outside and take a look.” 03 I told Sterling I wanted to go to the observation deck of the Apex Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the city. They debated internally for two hours, but eventually, they agreed. Even though I would be handcuffed the entire time, it felt like a brief, fleeting moment of freedom. But I never expected the chaos that erupted the second we walked out the front doors of the precinct. The station was completely surrounded by an enraged mob of the public. The moment they saw me step outside, they looked like they wanted to tear me apart and eat me alive. “Look! It’s the ungrateful psycho!” That single shout sent a tidal wave of fury through the crowd. People immediately started hurling whatever they had in their hands straight at me. Even with the police struggling to maintain a barricade, I was bombarded by rotten eggs, spoiled food, and trash. The disgusting stench exploded across my clothes and face. “You little monster! How dare you even show your face?! Kill her! Kill the animal!” “Officers, you can’t let her live! Putting a bullet in her would be an insult to the bullet! She deserves to be tied to cars and ripped apart in the streets!” “Do you see this?” Sterling asked. “Your crime has caused a massive societal uproar. There are tens of thousands of people out there right now who want you dead. Even knowing that, do you still want to go out there?” I calmly wiped a streak of raw egg yolk off my cheek and looked at him. “I do.” He frowned, clearly failing to understand my bizarre persistence. “Everyone, move!” Someone in the mob roared, and the chaotic crowd immediately parted to form a narrow path. Before I could even register what was happening, a bucket of unidentified, putrid liquid was hurled directly at my face. The suffocating, stinging stench of feces and urine instantly saturated the air. The person who threw it was a teenage boy, maybe seventeen or eighteen. He held an empty, filthy bucket in his hands, his face twisted in vicious righteousness. “Someone like you just being alive is polluting the air we breathe! Allow me to give you a wash!” The crowd went dead silent for a split second before erupting into deafening cheers and applause. Surrounded by their praise, the boy’s chest puffed out in pride. He looked like a war hero who had just won a glorious battle. Meanwhile, I stood there, dripping with raw egg, spoiled soup, and a mixture of human waste. I smelled so foul that I felt utterly disconnected from the rest of the world. Watching the boy’s triumphant, arrogant face, I suddenly lost all desire to go to the city. “Forget it. Let’s go back inside.” I turned my head and looked at Sterling, who had instinctively stepped back to avoid the splash zone. I didn’t miss the brief flash of confusion in his eyes. “I originally just wanted to see it. I wanted to see what this big, beautiful city that everyone desperately tries to claw their way into actually looked like. But seeing these people right now… I suddenly realized it’s really nothing special.” I pushed a strand of filth-soaked hair behind my ear, desperately trying to cling to my last shred of dignity. “So, I have no interest in seeing it anymore. “Let’s go back inside, Deputy Chief.” 04 Because I was a high-risk mass murderer, my handcuffs couldn’t be removed. Combined with the fact that everyone in the precinct was deeply disgusted by me, absolutely no one was willing to help me wash off the human waste. Except for one person: Clara Evans. She hadn’t left. Instead, she volunteered to help clean me up. Right now, acting as though she possessed no sense of smell whatsoever, she scrubbed me meticulously from head to toe. Watching her, I gave a hollow, sneering laugh. “Miss Evans, why are you always so obsessed with sticking your nose in other people’s business?” She didn’t answer. She just stayed silent and continued wiping the grime off my arms. A few female janitors passing by couldn’t stomach the sight. They stopped and glared at me with pure venom. “Miss Evans, why are you bothering to help that ungrateful little psychopath? Her kind doesn’t remember anything good anyone ever does for her. For what she did, dying a hundred times wouldn’t be enough!” “Yeah, exactly! She deserves to rot and die covered in her own filth!” I thought Clara Evans would nod along and join in their disgust. Instead, she threw the washcloth directly onto the wet floor. A rare flash of genuine anger appeared on her usually gentle face. “Is the case closed?” “What?” “I asked you: is the case closed?” The janitors exchanged confused glances. Clara Evans continued, her voice sharp. “You work in a police station. You are surrounded by the law every single day. Do you really lack the most basic understanding of the legal system? Even if my student is guilty, the law will judge her and pass a sentence. It is not your place to stand here and gossip like vultures.” The women stayed silent for a second before bursting into mocking laughter, looking at Clara like she was insane. “Wow. I actually thought this woman was normal. Turns out she’s an idiot trying to save a rabid dog.” “Whatever. Why are we even talking to her? It’s not like the psycho appreciates it.” “Guess we were just being nosy. Makes sense, though. What kind of ‘good teacher’ raises a mass murderer anyway?” Rolling their eyes, the women walked out of the washroom. I glanced at the back of Clara Evans’s head, fully prepared to throw out a few more sarcastic insults. Instead, she silently walked behind me. Her long, slender fingers gently combed through my wet hair. She took the small, floral hair tie she always wore on her wrist and expertly twisted my hair into a neat braid. She wasn’t bothered by my terrible attitude in the slightest. “A teacher for a day is a parent for a lifetime. Whether you acknowledge me as your teacher or not, the fact that things ended up this way means I failed to teach you properly.” My allotted shower time was short, but she continued to murmur to me softly. She talked about little, mundane things from high school. Tiny things. She even remembered the time in biology lab when I managed to nurse a dying, withered sapling back to life. So annoying. “Gemma, time’s up.” It wasn’t until a police officer knocked on the door that her hands finally stopped. Wearing cold, heavy shackles once more, I began walking toward the interrogation room—my final judgment. “Gemma.” Clara Evans suddenly called out to me. “There’s one last thing I want to say to you.” I didn’t stop walking. I just thought to myself: God, this woman is so annoying. I’m about to get the death penalty, and she still wants to give me a boring moral lecture. “Happy birthday.” My entire body violently stiffened. “Gemma. Happy 18th birthday, sweetheart.” Her voice, laced with the gentle, quiet warmth of a peaceful life, acted like a razor-sharp sword, slicing directly through the impenetrable walls around my heart. The officer escorting me paused, shooting her a strange look. “Such a nice lady. How the hell did she end up teaching a monster like you? So weird.” I turned a deaf ear to his muttering. It wasn’t until a hot drop of liquid splashed against the back of my handcuffed wrists that I snapped back to reality. I closed my eyes and mocked myself internally. Looks like I lost after all. The soft approach… it really does work. “Hey, Officer,” I whispered, aggressively wiping my tears away on my shoulder. I tugged lightly at his uniform. “Take me to Deputy Chief Sterling. I’m ready to tell the truth.” When the other officers heard that the toughest, most uncrackable suspect in the precinct was finally willing to talk, they secretly crowded around the observation window to watch. Even though there were only two people in the room with me—Sterling and the note-taker—I knew there were dozens of eyes watching from behind the two-way glass. The note-taking officer grumbled in annoyance. “What kind of ‘hidden truth’ could there possibly be? She’s just a pure psychopath. I bet you anything she’s just going to spit out more sick lies.” Despite his complaints, his eyes remained glued to me. I looked up at the ceiling and suddenly let out a laugh. It started as a low, quiet chuckle and quickly escalated into hysterical, manic laughter. Soon, involuntary tears were streaming down my face. Just as everyone in the room became convinced I had completely lost my mind… I opened my mouth and dropped a sentence that shattered everyone’s reality. 05 “Hunter is my son.”

I crouched by the entrance of the local ice cream parlor, grabbing the arm of the man rushing past me. “Hey, the sundaes are buy-one-get-one! Want to split an order with me?” He lowered his phone and his gaze briefly swept over the banner advertising the “Couples Special.” “Oh,” I said. “Are we getting back together then?” Caleb narrowed his eyes, a faint smile playing on his lips. “No can do. I’m spoken for.” “I’ve got a new girl,” he added. “She gets pretty jealous.” I froze. He turned away. “Actually, pack the ice cream up to go. She loves it.” 1 I still hadn’t fully processed what was happening. The cheerful barista had already boxed up the two sundaes. “You two make a lovely couple. Enjoy your evening!” she beamed. Caleb’s expression remained flat. He took his sundae and started walking. His sleek black Range Rover was parked right by the curb. It was sweltering out, so I had been squatting by the entrance of the fruit shop next door, mooching their AC while licking my ice cream. Before getting into his car, he threw me a look that was half-amused, half-mocking. “Need a ride, ‘girlfriend’?” I glanced at his passenger seat. It was decked out with a fluffy pink seat cover and a cute stuffed animal. It practically screamed that it belonged to someone else. “No, I’m good,” I mumbled slowly. “I live close by…” Before I could even finish my sentence, he sped off. “Hey, hey! Don’t block the door!” the shop owner yelled. “Ah, sorry.” My legs were aching from squatting so long. As I stood up, I lost my balance. The sundae in my hand hit the pavement with a splat. Ugh, what a waste. A whole boyfriend traded for a dropped ice cream. I smacked my lips, disappointed, and turned to walk home. My studio apartment was simple and clean. I quietly took down the old, framed photo hanging on the wall. In it, a young man with crinkling eyes was smiling brightly, holding a girl’s hand like it was his most prized possession. In stark contrast, the girl’s face was blank, almost painfully cold. I stared at it for a few seconds longer, then tossed it into the trash can. Tsk. No wonder I looked so awful when I tried to smile. No wonder he broke up with me all those years ago. “Meow.” The stray calico I’d picked up rubbed against my legs. I popped open a can of wet food for her. I’d bought it yesterday during a “buy two, get one free” sale at the supermarket. When you’re used to being broke, missing out on a deal physically hurts. I almost regretted not asking him for a breakup fee back then. Just then, an unknown number called my phone. I answered. It was Caleb. His voice was still as cold as ice. “If we’re getting back together, aren’t you going to add me back on Instagram?” “Do you know how annoying it is to call you?” I quietly muttered an “oh” and was about to say something else. But then, a woman’s sweet, whiny voice drifted through the receiver. “Caleb, I’m hungry…” He hung up immediately. The dial tone echoed in my ear. Honestly, that whole “getting back together” thing was a joke… I wanted to tell him to just forget it. But remembering the voice I just heard, it didn’t feel right to call him back. I typed in his Instagram handle. User not found. His phone number? Also out of service. I slowly hugged my phone and lay back on my bed. Caleb had forgotten that he was the one who deleted me. 2 Later, I remembered to use the phone number from the call to add him as a contact. He accepted the request quickly, but didn’t say a word for half the day. I quietly snooped through the six years of his life since he left. His social media feed was quiet and monotonous. Until last year, when a vibrant girl in a red dress appeared—she looked a lot like I used to. From that day on, Caleb posted more often. His smile wasn’t as blazing as it used to be, but it radiated a quiet, steady happiness. I stared at the screen, a little dazed. Halfway through scrolling, the screen went black. It seemed he suddenly remembered and blocked me. I slowly finished my last bite of instant ramen. I tossed my phone aside and wrapped myself tightly in my blanket. I didn’t sleep a wink all night. For the next few days, it was like both of us had completely forgotten the incident. I prepped my lessons, went to the middle school to teach, fed the cat—my life was a simple two-point line. He was busy with his tech company, flying out for negotiations and meetings. Occasionally, I’d see him on the local news. Caleb Thorne, Tech Prodigy, Rises to Power, Acquires Rival Firms. Whenever Chloe came over, she’d bring groceries. We’d sit on the couch, munching on watermelon, and watch the news together. His success had made a lot of wealthy heiresses eager to throw their hats in the ring. “Mr. Thorne, you’ve rejected all proposals for an arranged marriage. May we ask why?” a bold reporter asked on TV. Caleb narrowed his eyes, his demeanor composed yet aloof. But a fleeting, almost imperceptible warmth flashed in his eyes. “I have a girlfriend.” Everyone assumed it was the girl living in his mansion. Chloe poked me, hesitating before asking, “Didn’t you just say you guys got back together? Is he going to marry you?” “I mean, the way he chased you back in high school… the whole town knew about it.” I stared at the polite, distant man on the screen. I shook my head. I tapped her lightly on the head. “Dummy, who becomes someone’s girlfriend over a scoop of ice cream?” Caleb clearly didn’t care about me at all. “I know, but he was the Caleb who loved you more than anything in the world!” She counted on her fingers. “You guys skipped class together, won stuff at the arcade, had your first kiss.” “Every time you even looked at him, that cold, untouchable guy would come running like an eager puppy.” The memories felt so distant now. “By the way, tell me honestly… did you really dump him because you cheated?” I hummed softly and shook my head truthfully. Chloe fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject. “It’s okay, don’t be sad. It’s not like we’re short on men.” I looked up and said slowly, “I was fine to begin with.” She choked on her words, tied on an apron, and went into the kitchen to cook. “Tsk. I should have known you don’t have a heart. Hurry up and help me.” I thought things would just go back to normal. Until one night, he initiated a text. [Let’s grab dinner tomorrow night.] [I’ll wait for you downstairs.] I had just gotten out of the shower when I saw the message. Right, it had been six years since the breakup. Maybe it was because I was getting older, but I just felt lazy. I was still living in the same small apartment we used to share. After staring at the screen for a while, I finally remembered to decline. [No thanks, I have plans tomorrow.] His reply was brief. [I’m only waiting three minutes.] Cold, distant, and impatient. It hit me then. He was no longer the Caleb who catered to my every whim. But honestly, I really didn’t want to go to that dinner. I thought about it for a moment, then started typing. [Ah, I’m really sorry. I didn’t actually mean anything by it. It was just that the ice cream special was so rare, and it was so hot out…] [And you were the only person on the street I recognized. It would be rude to ask a stranger to split an order, at least we used to date…] [Let’s just drop it. It’s better for everyone.] The more I wrote, the messier it got. I deleted the whole thing. I just sent one sentence. [I was joking about getting back together the other day. Sorry about that.] I sat there holding my phone for a while. He didn’t reply. I sighed. All that bitterness from six years ago… let’s just leave it in the past. 3 I didn’t think much of it. He was probably too lazy to argue and just blocked me again. But when I came home from teaching that afternoon… I ran right into Caleb at the school gates. He was leaning lazily against his car, drawing a crowd of staring schoolgirls. “Is that Caleb Thorne? Wow, he’s so handsome!” “Yeah, he was the state valedictorian eight years ago!” Caleb was staring blankly at the oak trees on campus. I quietly tried to walk past him, but he called out. “Maya.” “Long time no see. Turns out you’ve been teaching at Lincoln High this whole time.” Lincoln High was our alma mater. A mocking glint appeared in his eyes. “What, feeling nostalgic? Couldn’t bear to leave?” I blinked, letting out a confused “ah.” “Yeah, I couldn’t bear to leave. They offered me double the salary.” Caleb’s expression darkened. “Hmph. Still as obsessed with money as ever, I see.” I honestly couldn’t read his expression. He pulled open the car door and got in. “Get in.” I said slowly, “I really can’t go…” Caleb calmly rolled down the window. “The seafood boil is half off today.” I asked in a small, uncertain voice, “Can I get it to go?” He looked like he was so annoyed he was going to laugh. “Whatever you want.” I quickly climbed into the backseat. He was driving a different car today, a Porsche Cayenne. It looked barely used, and the passenger seat was free of all those pink accessories. Caleb drove in total silence. I leaned against the window, neither of us speaking. Honestly, I didn’t understand why he came looking for me. I clearly told him it was a joke, and he didn’t seem like the type to cling to the past. He caught my eye in the rearview mirror. Looking irritated, he pulled out a cigarette. My eyes flickered. I opened my mouth to speak. He was holding the cigarette pack and accidentally pressed a button on the dashboard. A sweet, playful female voice filled the car. “My dearest Caleb, are you in a bad mood again?” “Don’t smoke, okay? Let me sing you a song.” “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…” I froze, and he seemed startled too. He instinctively put the cigarette back. A warm, incredibly soft smile spread across his face. It was almost frightening how happy he looked. Leaving me sitting there, truly and completely uncomfortable. We arrived quickly. It was a casual seafood joint by the pier. Caleb went inside to order, and I leaned against the railing, enjoying the ocean breeze. A drunk, overweight man stumbled over and slung an arm around my shoulder. “Hey there, gorgeous. Where’s your boyfriend?” I quietly pushed his arm off and took a step back. The guy was persistent, continuing to harass me. I caught Caleb’s eye from a distance. He just stood there, watching quietly. It wasn’t until a few men nearby couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped in to stop the guy… That Caleb finally sauntered over. The drunk guy seemed to recognize him and sobered up instantly. “Mr. Thorne, I didn’t know she was with you, I was just…” Caleb smiled and patted the guy on the shoulder. “You can mess with her. It has nothing to do with me.” I stared at him. He shrugged, his eyes devoid of any warmth. “What, I said we’re getting back together, I didn’t say I had to treat you well.” With that, Caleb grabbed the tray of seafood and beers and walked away. 4 He leaned back in his wicker chair. I stood there, refusing to sit. “Eat something first. The to-go boxes won’t hold all of this.” I finally felt like something was off and asked quietly. “Mr. Thorne, did you read my message?” He looked at me calmly, his tone careless. “What message? I don’t have the free time to stare at your chat window all day.” I still didn’t move. He grew impatient. “Are you going to eat or what?” I looked down. Everything on the table was what I usually loved. And I was really hungry. I reached out and tried a skewer. It was so spicy that tears instantly sprang to my eyes. “Cough, cough.” “Doesn’t it taste good?” He watched me with unabashed scrutiny. “Oh, I forgot. This is how I like it.” “In the past, I always went along with your bland food. Tonight, you can just deal with it.” I stayed quiet, rinsing the food in my water glass before eating it. But it only seemed to get spicier. Aside from the heat, the seafood was fresh and tender. He squinted at me for a moment, then raised a hand to call the waiter. “Bring another order of everything on the table. Make it mild this time.” He paused. “And grab a slice of strawberry mousse.” I pulled out a wet wipe and said slowly. “Never mind. I want to go home.” Caleb raised an eyebrow. “What, is that all it takes to make you feel wronged?” It wasn’t that bad, really. It was just that the spice was burning my stomach, and that burning sensation was slowly creeping into my chest. It felt incredibly uncomfortable. I just wanted to go home immediately. I couldn’t even be bothered to pack up the leftovers. He stood up, pushing the plates away. “Fine. Let’s go. I’ll take you.” I opened my mouth to decline. As if anticipating my refusal… He added, “We’re in the marina district. It’s ten miles from your place.” “And you have no sense of direction. Do you want to walk until dawn?” Caleb naturally grabbed my hand. I struggled uncomfortably, but just like in the past, he held on tighter. I couldn’t pull away, so I just gave up. As we were walking out… I pulled out my phone, planning to snap a picture of the restaurant to share the hidden gem with Chloe later. Caleb, who had been staring off into space, suddenly lunged. He swatted the phone out of my hand. “Don’t take pictures!” His voice was loud, instantly drawing the attention of everyone nearby. They all turned to look at us. He said coldly, “If I see a picture of us online, I have ways to ruin you.” I was stunned. It took me a moment to process what he said. My phone hit the ground, the screen shattering completely. I bent down to pick it up, wiping the dirt off the screen. It was a shame, really. It was a brand new phone. I said slowly. “I didn’t want a picture of us, and I certainly wasn’t going to post anything online.” “I just thought the food was good and wanted to bring a friend next time.” 5 A flicker of guilt flashed through Caleb’s eyes, quickly replaced by his usual coldness. He pursed his lips. “I’ll buy you a new one.” “That model is old anyway. It’s from last year.” I shook my head quietly. “No need. There’s no reason for you to buy me anything.” “I’ll call a friend to pick me up. Have a good night, Mr. Thorne.” Caleb narrowed his eyes, grabbing my wrist with a cold sneer. “What do you mean, no reason? Weren’t you the one begging to get back together?” I finally realized what he was talking about and let out an “ah.” I waved my shattered phone. “Didn’t you read my message? I was really just joking.” “What are you talking about?” He frowned and pulled out his phone. My messages were on ‘Do Not Disturb’. It was pretty obvious who had done that. I said apologetically. “I’m so sorry. I really just wanted the discount on the ice cream. If I made you misunderstand, I feel terrible…” “Maya!” His face darkened, cutting me off. He practically gritted his teeth. “So, it was all for a scoop of ice cream?” I blinked, confused. “Yeah.” “…Fine. Maya, you are really something.” He let out a few cold laughs. He kicked a nearby tree hard, sending a shower of oak leaves raining down on me. “Do you have any idea how much I want to strangle you every time I see that blank, indifferent look on your face?” He seemed to finally explode. “You’re an emotional cripple! Who else but me would ever put up with you?” “Don’t regret this.” Caleb walked away, exuding a freezing chill. I stood there, frozen. The people walking by were giving me weird looks and whispering. “So she’s emotionally stunted? She doesn’t even know how to love someone.” “Her poor boyfriend. Dealing with a selfish, cold partner… no wonder he was so mad.” “Ugh, people with that kind of mental issue shouldn’t even date. They just ruin other people’s lives. She belongs in a psych ward…” I looked down at the ground. Caleb was angry again. The breakup six years ago flashed in my mind. He was just as furious and desperate back then. “Maya, why don’t you ever say you love me!” “Say it! Why am I always the one trying? Why do you always look like you couldn’t care less about me!” “Did you want to break up this whole time?!” He slammed his fist on the table, loud and hoarse. We were in a crowded place. The broken glass cut his hand, staining it red, and his eyes were bloodshot. I was genuinely terrified. I didn’t know how to respond. Seeing him like that, I was so scared. Memories from my childhood came rushing back. I covered my ears and screamed. “Then let’s just break up!” As soon as those words left my mouth, everything finally went quiet. But later… even though I took all my medication, it didn’t help. When I finally went looking for him, he already had someone new. Someone who actually knew how to love him. I didn’t know when, but a light drizzle started falling from the sky. I lied to him. No one was coming to pick me up. I quietly knocked on the door of the clinic next door. “Doctor, can you cure emotional detachment?” A man in a white coat happened to be leaning against the doorframe. He glanced at me and spoke lazily. “I guarantee a cure. Give me three sentences, and you’ll be fixed.” I widened my eyes. He coughed. “First sentence: I love you.” Me: “???” I took a closer look at the man in front of me. He had pale skin, a tall, lean build, and both hands stuffed in his coat pockets. He had a cold, aloof face, but his eyes shone like stars. They were bright and incredibly gentle. I was a little distracted. He was almost too beautiful. I was worried I’d stumbled into some shady host club… 6 The head doctor next to me was still enthusiastically winking at me. I silently turned to leave. “Hey, miss!” He flashed his medical ID. Graduated with a Master’s from a top medical school. Dr. Liam Hayes. I vaguely remembered seeing him on the news, doing volunteer work in Africa, curing tropical fevers or something. Well, he was a famous doctor, it seemed. “My name is Liam. Nice to meet you, Ms. Weaver.” His eyes crinkled as he extended a long, elegant hand. I shook it hesitantly. “How do you know my name?” He rubbed his nose. “You guys were pretty loud out there. I accidentally overheard.” I looked down. “But don’t worry, we doctors have strict professional ethics.” “Patient confidentiality is guaranteed.” He quickly explained. I said flatly, “No need to keep it a secret. It’s not a big deal anyway.” With that, I turned to walk away again. “I can really help you!” “Um, if you don’t want to talk about it, do you want to grab some crawfish?” “…” This weird doctor was a total chatterbox. His thought process was all over the place. “Why don’t you come inside and sit for a bit, wait out the rain?” Liam opened the door for me and handed me an umbrella. The rain was pouring now, splashing right in my face. I didn’t take it. He clicked his tongue and brushed the raindrops off his shoulder. Just as I was about to step out the door… Liam called out, “I can help you win him back.” In that instant, my tears suddenly started flowing, mixing with the rain. I didn’t know how long I’d been holding them back. The tears burst out like a broken dam. I couldn’t stop them, no matter how hard I tried. My whole body was shaking, and I was practically choking on my sobs. My fingernails dug deeply into my palms. “What does it matter to you?” I turned to look at him, feeling anger for the first time in a long time. “I don’t need to win him back! There’s no chance for us! He hates me!” Liam seemed stunned. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.” “…I just wanted to help,” he said quietly. Just a stranger. I calmed down quickly. I wiped my eyes and tried to make a joke. “Is this your Hippocratic oath in action? Saving the dying?” He smiled too, nodding. “Then please, tell me, is there any hope for me?” I dropped the umbrella and slowly walked back inside. “Does someone like me, who can’t feel emotions, even deserve to live in this world?” “I don’t know joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. I don’t know how to connect with people…” Liam turned on the heater and poured me a cup of hot tea. “I disappoint them. I let down the people around me. I’m disappointed in myself.” My throat hitched. “They’re right. I’m a cold, unfeeling monster.” I talked faster and faster, spilling more and more, not even knowing what I was saying. By the end, my voice was shaking. His gorgeous eyes curved into crescents. He let out a soft laugh. “You make it sound like a terminal illness.” “It’s nothing, miss. That’s hardly a sickness.” “And I’m a miracle worker! There’s nothing I can’t do…” He started going off-topic again. “Like this one time in Africa, a little girl had terrible ear pain. Everyone did all these tests, thinking it was early-stage leprosy. But I was the one who finally realized she just had a bug in her ear…” I silently stared at the ID badge on his chest. “But you’re a dentist. How are you going to fix my heart?” Liam patted my shoulder confidently. “It’s all connected.” “Just like an earache and a toothache.” “…” He smiled like a sly cat. “Let me teach you how to date.” I frantically waved my hands. What if I ran away again? Liam laced his fingers together and sat in front of me. He started to look serious. “You’ve only had one relationship, right?” I nodded. “Then why do you think that one experience defines your whole life?” I paused and looked up at him. “But in my youth, Caleb was the best person in the world to me.” He stopped smiling.

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