My engineer husband recently designed a new game. The entire interface has no levels, no payments, just a chat box with a female NPC. [Baby, you were so wild in bed today, I almost couldn’t handle it~] [Me or your wife, who do you love more?] [Baby, coming to play with me today?] Suspicious, I clicked open the chat box with the female NPC. Didn’t expect the next second she popped up a message. [Baby, how long do we have to hide in this game way?] Chapter 1 I looked at this simple game called “Virtual Lover”. Turns out my husband Justin worked overtime for three months just for this “top masterpiece”. I loved him for ten years, watched him become a game designer, from nameless to famous now. I thought I knew everything about him. Until now. I clicked that only dialog box, the female NPC’s message jumped out impatiently. [Baby, how long do we have to hide in this game way?] [Yesterday you said you would divorce that old woman today, why haven’t you acted yet?] [Didn’t you say, you had enough of her dead fish look long ago?] I pinched my fingers hard, sent a message to that NPC. [Baby, wait a bit longer.] Almost instantly, the other side replied. [So annoying! Justin, can you do it or not?] [Who was the one begging me, saying as long as I nod, you would divorce her immediately?] [Now I waited for you for three months, you are still dragging!] [Today 5 PM, meet at Union Square.] [If you can’t bring out the divorce agreement, I’ll tell your wife about us, and you embezzling company’s 20 million to invest in ‘Project Starlight’!] I looked at the threat on the screen, cold all over. “Project Starlight” was the project I strongly advised him to give up, bound to lose. He not only didn’t listen, but also embezzled public funds behind my back. I took a deep breath, dialed Justin’s phone. Phone rang for a long time before being picked up, background noise chaotic, accompanied by a charming female voice. “What’s wrong wifey? I’m in a meeting.” His voice was gentle as always, but revealed a trace of impatience. I gripped the phone, a cold sneer on my lips couldn’t be suppressed. “Nothing, I came to see the progress of the new game you designed, called ‘Virtual Lover’ right?” “Looks like it’s done pretty well.” The other end of the phone instantly quieted down, that female voice even silent as a cicada in winter. A few seconds later, Justin’s panicked voice came. “That’s a test demo I made for a friend, offline long ago.” “Are you too tired from overtime baby? Don’t think nonsense.” “Miss me? I’ll go back to accompany you well tonight.” He started changing the topic lightly, tone was consistent doting. “Oh? Is it?” “I thought, that ‘dead fish look old woman’ mentioned inside was me.” His breath hitched. Immediately came his lowered voice command on the other end, like saying to person beside “You go out first!” He explained to me with incomparably gentle voice. “Wifey, that’s all misunderstanding!” “That’s programmers writing test scripts, AI randomly generated dialogue!” “How I treated you these years, aren’t you clear?” “Wifey, believe me, I’m coming home right now, we clear things up face to face!” “No need.” I said lightly, “I’ll wait for you at Union Square at 5 PM.” I hung up directly. Yes, just because he treated me too well these years. I would always firmly believe we would love each other forever. I screenshotted all chat records of the game, one by one. Less than half an hour, Justin rushed in. Forehead full of cold sweat, came to grab my hand entering door, dodged sideways by me. “Sarah, listen to me, things aren’t what you think!” Face written full of anxiety and panic, eyes besides nervousness, also a trace of impatience. “That’s just a test!” “Other programmers fed some cheating corpus to that female NPC, that’s why she said such things!” “I love you, Sarah, how could I betray you!” He hugged me hard, chin against my shoulder. “It’s my fault, I didn’t watch subordinates well, let this kind of thing dirty your eyes.” “Sarah, don’t be angry, okay? I swear, never again!” His handsome face full of self-blame, as if I pursue further, I’m an unreasonable lunatic. I looked deeply into his eyes, finally sighed lightly helplessly, nodded. “I knew Sarah loves me most!” He breathed a sigh of relief, bending down to take off shoes. From his open suit collar, I saw a clear hickey with teeth marks under his collarbone. That kind of bright lipstick shade. I never used. Chapter 2 Justin thought he had coaxed me well. Whole afternoon, he stayed by my side inseparable. Peeling fruits for me, telling jokes, even digging out our college photo album, recalling past one by one. “Sarah, remember this one? We tutoring under cherry blossom tree at school, you said I looked handsome coding, said I was future game god.” “And this one, first time I won design award, prize money only five thousand, all bought you your favorite cake.” He immersed in his own performance, deep affection in words almost drowning people. And I, just cooperated quietly, tears poured back into heart. My heart was ice cold, but face had to squeeze out a smile. He tried every way to make me forgive him completely. So he can find a way to go to the 5 PM date. Seeing almost five, Justin getting more impatient, frequency of checking watch higher. I understandingly pretended tired. “Justin, I’m a bit tired, want to sleep a while.” He immediately nervous. “Wifey still uncomfortable? Shall I accompany you a bit more?” I shook head, ignored him. He hesitated, finally picked up jacket. “Then you rest well, I go back to company, what to eat for dinner? I bring back for you.” He leaned over, printed a cold kiss on my forehead, then left quietly. Moment door closed, I opened eyes immediately, no trace of sleepiness in eyes. I changed into most inconspicuous clothes, wore hat and mask, arrived at Union Square twenty minutes earlier than him. People coming and going around square fountain, I found a hidden cafe corner. View can see every movement by fountain without obstruction. 4:55, Justin’s figure appeared at square edge. He seemed somewhat anxious, constantly checking watch, pacing back and forth by fountain. 5:00 sharp, a young girl wearing white dress, long hair fluttering appeared in my vision. She looked just early twenties, pure and weak, face carrying grievance and uneasiness. I’ve seen her, when I went to Justin’s company to deliver food, she was the new intern in their department. Justin introduced smilingly then. “This is Rachel, a very spirited little girl.” Thinking now, that smile was full of deep meaning. Rachel saw Justin, eye rims red immediately. She trotted over, but stopped two steps away from him, look of suffering huge grievance. “Justin brother…” Justin immediately stepped forward, wanted to hold her hand, but dodged by her. Rachel with crying tone. “Did your wife discover something again?” “No! Rachel believe me, I already handled that stupid woman!” Justin explained urgently. My hand holding coffee cup shook violently, hot liquid spilled on back of hand, but I felt no pain. Turns out in his heart, me who loved him ten years, is just a “stupid woman”. “Then divorce agreement?” Rachel relentless. “You said you would give me today! When exactly can you divorce her?” “Soon, soon baby, give me a little more time!” Justin lowered posture, coaxing softly. “How long do I have to wait?!” Rachel voice became sharp. “Child in my belly can’t wait!” “One more month will show! I don’t want my child born as a bastard with no dad!” My brain buzzed, like hit hard by heavy hammer. Hand under table pinched own thigh hard, using pain to maintain last trace of sobriety. Justin obviously also stunned by this news. He froze on spot, reacted after long time. “Rachel… you said is true? You pregnant?” He grabbed Rachel’s shoulder, excited incoherent. “Great! I finally going to be a dad!” He hugged Rachel tightly into arms. “Don’t worry! Rachel, I swear! I propose divorce to her next week! No! Tomorrow! I showdown with her tomorrow!” “Her old face, I got tired of looking at it these years, should have let her get out long ago!” “After divorce, I marry you immediately!” “I want to make you the happiest ‘Mrs. Ji’ in the world!” Separated by glass window, I looked coldly at the couple hugging tightly by the fountain. They bathed in golden sunset, like a pair of lovers breaking through worldly obstacles, planning their beautiful future. And I, am the obstacle in their future that must be cleared, the “old woman” who can’t give birth. I took out phone, recorded all this, clearly. Chapter 3 Following days, Justin was considerate to me to the extreme. He didn’t mention that game anymore, as if that thing never happened. He came home on time every day, cooked for me personally. Even suddenly researched various tonic recipes. “Sarah, we should also have a child.” He hugged me from behind, warm breath sprayed on my ear. “Look, we have everything, just missing a child to be perfect.” I leaned in his arms, heart cold to bone marrow. I looked at my pale face in mirror, asked him. “Justin, do you like children very much?” “Of course!” “Didn’t we agree, have two after marriage, a son a daughter, make a ‘good’ word.” His acting was perfect, no flaw. If I didn’t hear his conversation with Rachel personally, I probably would really soften. I closed eyes, suppressed all hatred and nausea, nodded obediently. “Okay, then we try hard.” He got the answer he wanted, satisfied kissed my side face. And handed over a bowl of tonic soup. I excused feeling unwell, pushed him away. A trace of impatience flashed in his eyes, pretended aggrieved. “I stewed for three hours, if you don’t drink I can only give to colleagues.” “I’m too tired, no appetite today.” He didn’t force anymore, just instructed me rest well. Really carried thermos bucket to company. Thinking of him stewing soup for Rachel in my name, and acting pitiful in front of me. I disgusted enough to vomit overnight meal. Confirmed he went far, I quietly opened his computer. His computer no password, this is proof of “trust” between us once. But he forgot, when chasing me back then, taught me many methods to make hidden files. At that time he held his everything with a sincere heart to me. I also remembered all. Soon, in a hidden folder, I found all materials of “Project Starlight”. In beautifully packaged investment plan, project prospect described extravagantly. Claimed to be next era’s wind outlet, 100% return rate, profit hundreds times of other similar projects. But as long as knowing some industry rules and financial models, can see inside full of loopholes and unrealizable empty checks. This is a thorough Ponzi Scheme. Justin ran company so many years, even if not understanding finance well, should see loopholes in this project. But he like possessed, insisted investing this project. He was confused by this low-level trick, even didn’t hesitate embezzling 20 million public funds to gamble. I copied all contracts, transfer records, and chat records between him and project leader. Done all this, I received call from best friend Natalie. She is a lawyer specializing in divorce disputes, didn’t agree me being with Justin back then. So after I dated Justin, contact with her became less, Justin didn’t know her either. Now I have no way out, just tried asking her. She immediately expressed providing all help, let me rest assured. Also swore to make Justin this scum leave with nothing. “Sarah, all materials found I packed sent to you.” “Heard he prepares action this weekend… are you okay?” I looked at chat records between him and Rachel. Justin: [I only wanted Sarah’s money from beginning, she forced me marry her.] Rachel: “Then you married so long why still no child… who can’t?” Justin: “Must be she messed around when young, now can’t birth, lack virtue.” Justin: “Do I have problem, aren’t you clear?” I looked at chat records one by one, tears flowed till numb. “I’m fine.” Hung up phone, I was cold all over, mind surprisingly calm. Weekend, is Justin’s game company annual meeting and awards ceremony. As company’s Lead Game Developer, he relying on a hit game this year, without suspense became focus of whole venue. He held my hand tightly, in front of all colleagues and leaders, playing loving couple. “Wifey, after tonight, our life will turn a new page.” He whispered in my ear, eyes flashing a light I couldn’t understand. I smiled, didn’t speak. Yes, new page. Just, it’s prologue of your hell. Chapter 4 Banquet halfway, arrived most exciting award segment. Justin without accident won “Annual Best Game Designer” award. He stood under spotlight, holding golden trophy, face uncontrollable pride and arrogance. Cheers and applause in venue endless. He enjoyed this moment of attention, then, he took microphone, gaze swept venue, finally, fixed on me. “I first want thank company, thank my team, more want thank my most loved person——” All cameras and gazes in venue, instantly focused on me. “Ms. Rachel.” Camera turned to Rachel covering mouth in surprise. Whole venue uproar! Justin stared at me, wanting find a trace of shock and disappointment on my face. “Today, I also want to announce a difficult decision here.” His eyes, finally moved away from my face, became strange and decisive. “I, Justin, will divorce Ms. Sarah by agreement.” Guests whispered, couldn’t believe ears. “What? Divorce?” “Joking? Announce divorce at awards ceremony? Is Justin crazy?” “Aren’t they famous model couple in circle? What’s going on?” Main table’s biggest shareholder Mr. Sterling, face sank instantly, he knocked table, shouted low. “Justin! What nonsense! Come down quick!” Justin like didn’t hear. “I’m not making nonsense.” “To Sarah, I already benevolent and righteous to end.” “These years, I always wholehearted to her.” “But she only perfunctory to me.” “We married so many years, she didn’t even give me a child!” “I can only live hard relying on past memories.” “Until I met a girl who truly understands loving me, willing to put family first.” “And, she is already pregnant with my child, I must be responsible for her, give her a title.” He took deep breath, turned, towards some direction off stage, extended hand. “Rachel, come up.” In dead silence, Rachel wearing white gauze dress, looking pitiful, face hanging happy and shy tears. She walked onto attention stage step by step, hugged into arms by Justin, declaring sovereignty. Justin lowered head, lovingly kissed away teardrop at corner of her eye, comforted softly. “Sorry, baby, let you suffer grievance.” Then, he looked up, looking at me with a high-above, victor posture. “Sarah, for sake of our ten years couple affection.” “You leave decently now, we can still keep last face.” “I will give you a compensation, enough for you to live peacefully rest of life.” “But if you insist making uncontrollable mess, finally losing face, only be yourself.” He calculated everything clearly. In such occasion, using such cruel way, nail me on “infertile”, “boring”, “occupying position” shame pillar. He wants let everyone know, is me, Sarah, unworthy of him, delayed him. And him, just an innocent victim pursuing true love, longing for family. I looked at that pair of hypocritical dog couple on stage, looking at sympathy, disdain, watching show gazes from crowd off stage. I smiled, took another microphone from host. All cameras and gazes focused on me again. Justin face sank, eyes full of warning. “Sarah, what else you want do? Still think not ugly enough?!” Rachel hid in his arms, trembling all over, used a tone kind and innocent like white flower said. “Sister Sarah, I know you feel bad inside… but feelings really can’t be forced.” “Since not love anymore, beg you let go fulfill us!” “You unwilling give brother Justin a child, still not allow me give?” She acted sincere, pity me see, as if I say one more word, is vicious original wife bullying kind mistress. I looked at her, smiled, voice not loud, but through speaker clearly spread whole venue. “Miss Rachel, don’t rush call sister.” “From legal level, I, Sarah, now still Justin’s legal wife.” “No matter how high-sounding you say, you are always a mistress hooking up with Justin!” “And child in your belly, can only be an illegitimate child cannot see light.” Rachel face instantly faded all blood color, crumbling. Justin eyes窜起 a burst of rage fire, he stepped forward, trying snatch my microphone. I stepped back, dodged him. “Justin, you just said, I am not a qualified wife? Said I can’t give family and child you want?” “Yes!” Justin gritted back teeth said, “Which man doesn’t hope home have hot meal eat! Doesn’t want own bloodline!” “You can’t give me, naturally others can give! What else you unconvinced!” “Well said.” I nodded, then turned, looked at that huge LED screen behind him. There, originally scrolling his winning game trailer. I pressed remote in pocket.

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I was born a liar, that’s the label my mother gave me. Just because my mother, who firmly believed in scientific parenting, put Truth Bracelets on me and my twin sister since we were born. As long as we lie, the bracelet will light up red, and mom will press the remote control to release electric current as punishment. My sister’s bracelet is always green, even if she cut mom’s dress and said the cat did it, the bracelet would only gently flash green light. But me, even if I just shout “Mom, I’m hungry”, the bracelet will instantly explode with red light, followed by heart-drilling electric shock. At first I would defend myself, but mom said: “Machines don’t lie, you will only remember when it hurts. Mom is doing this for your own good.” After thousands of electric shocks, I also thought I was born a liar. On New Year’s Eve, mom prepared to take sister to see the fireworks. Severe abdominal pain hit me, I curled up on the floor asking for help: “Mom, my stomach hurts so much, save me.” But the bracelet flashed red crazily. Mom looked down at me sweating coldly, turned the current to the maximum level: “To want to go see New Year’s Eve fireworks with us, you actually fake illness? Really incorrigible!” She turned and took sister out, slamming the door heavily. I couldn’t help thinking, mom is right, the bracelet is red, so I must not be in pain, it’s me lying for attention again. Sorry mom, next life, I will definitely learn to be an honest child. Chapter 1 “It hurts so much…” I convulsed all over with pain, nails scratching white marks on the floor. Doorknob turned. A trace of light burst into my eyes. Mom came back. Mom is a doctor, she must have seen something wrong with me, came to save me. “Not ready yet? Fireworks are starting, Bella is waiting anxiously.” “Mom.” I shouted weakly, reaching out a hand towards the door. “Mom, really hurts, like intestines broken.” She glanced at the crazy flashing red light on my hand. Mom squatted down, pinched my chin, tone angry. “Stella, how long are you going to act?” “Really habitual liar, you just reflect at home!” Dad urged at the door. “Honey, hurry up, fireworks show is starting. If Stella doesn’t go then don’t go, leave some food for her?” Mom stood up, clapped hands, as if disgusted by dirt. “Leave what food?” “There’s a pile of snacks in her room cabinet, that’s what she bought with stolen money last time, won’t starve her to death.” “Lock the door, let her out when the bracelet turns green.” “But.” Dad seemed to hesitate. “But what? Merciful father spoils son! Look at how honest Bella is, bracelet is always green.” “Stella is rotten to the core, must be corrected!” But my cabinet was empty. That time money was taken by sister, snacks were also eaten by sister. Sister just stood by, bracelet flashing gentle green light, said: “Not me.” Mom believed. And I defended a sentence I didn’t take either, red light on, I got electric shocked. I watched mom turn around. Sister poked head out from door crack, made a face at me. “Bye sister, we go see beautiful fireworks lo.” Her bracelet, glowing green, really pretty. Bang. Door slammed heavily, sound of locking came. Home quiet. Only left me, and the saw in my stomach. Hurts so much. Mom is right, machines don’t lie. Bracelet is red, so I must be lying. I don’t hurt. I really don’t hurt. I cried while hypnotizing myself. Don’t know how long passed, seemed really not that painful anymore. I supported last breath, crawled to desk. I need to write Apology Letter, this is the rule. As long as red light on, must write one thousand words “I am a liar”. After writing, mom will forgive me right? Will send me to hospital right? I trembled hand, opened that crumpled diary. Above densely packed all previous apology letters. Before I wrote “Sorry, I was wrong, I won’t lie anymore”. But this time, I want to write some truth. Vision getting blurry, I cried while using last strength wrote: “Mom, I really love you.” “I really hurt so much, why you just don’t believe me?” “Mom, please believe me once okay.” Finished writing last word, severe pain in stomach suddenly disappeared. Replaced by an unprecedented lightness. Body became light, I floated up. I looked down, saw myself lying on the table, hand hanging in mid-air, motionless. Bracelet on body, still flashing red light crazily. Turns out I died ah, but I haven’t learned to be an honest child yet, sorry mom. Chapter 2 I was woken up by a burst of laughter. That was voice of dad mom and sister. “Tonight’s fireworks really beautiful, especially that smiley face shape, as cute as our Bella!” Mom’s voice revealed gentleness I never heard. I floated in mid-air, watching entrance door open. Already became soul me, subconsciously wanted to float over welcome them, Wanted to help them get slippers like before. This is my pleasing instinct carved in bones. “Mom.” I opened arms, wanted to hug that woman full of cold air: “I don’t hurt anymore, I will be good later, you don’t be angry.” But, my hand passed directly through her body, like a gust of uncatchable wind. Mom shivered, frowned: “Why home so cold? Heater not on?” I froze on spot, looking at my transparent palm. Yes, I already died. Dead people can’t hug living people. “Go see Stella, that girl didn’t come out to eat either, don’t really starve bad.” Dad mentioned casually. Still dad is good. I looked at mom expectantly. If she finds I died, will she be sad? Will she regret? Mom snorted coldly, put on slippers walked towards my room. “Starve to death deserve it. That kind of bad habit faking illness for attention, is spoiled out.” She pushed open my room door. Didn’t turn on light. Borrowing living room light, she saw “me” lying on desk. Motionless, like sleeping. “Yo, still lying?” Mom crossed arms, tone mocking. “Think lying on table acting pitiful, I will carry you to bed?” “Stella, you are ten years old this year, not five!” I floated beside corpse, shouted loudly: “Mom! I’m not faking sleep! I died! Look at me!” “Touch me! My body is very cold!” But mom couldn’t hear. She only believes what she sees. Sister drilled in from her armpit, raised wrist showing off: “Sister is big lazy pig! Look my bracelet is green, sister’s still red!” “Sister always lying, she lies even in dreams!” Mom touched sister’s head: “Still our Bella good. Don’t mind this liar, let her lie, lie for lifetime if capable.” Dad peeked head behind: “How about carry her to bed? Big winter.” “Carry what carry!” Mom interrupted him, “Current kids are just spoiled.” “Parenting experts said, this time need cold treatment, must let her realize her mistake herself.” “Look at that red light, shows her current mental state is still ‘extreme confrontation’, didn’t reflect at all!” “Alright, go sleep. Tomorrow have to go to Grandma’s for Brunch.” Mom turned sharply, closed door again. Click. Lock fell. I floated beside corpse, looking at that point of scarlet light in darkness, sadness in heart more than death. Mom, if you even walk one step closer, even touch my hand, you would find I’m already cold through. But you didn’t. You only believe that cold machine, but don’t believe daughter you carried ten months to give birth. Late night, a rat drilled out from empty cabinet. I used to fear rats most, screamed every time seeing. But now, I can only float on ceiling, watching it presumptuous on my corpse. “Go away.” I drove weakly, but couldn’t make sound. Rat bit my toe, oozed a little black purple blood. I can’t feel pain anymore. Really good. Finally not painful anymore. I said to that pitiful shell below: “Don’t fear, anyway can’t feel pain anymore.” “Will end soon.” Chapter 3 Next morning. Sunlight shone on my corpse, didn’t bring a trace of warmth. Kitchen came clanking sound. Mom making breakfast. Smell of Pancakes drilled in through door crack. Usually, this is smell I crave most. But I can only eat boiled vegetables, because mom said, liar doesn’t deserve meat. Today, she deliberately made spatula very loud. I know, she wants to tempt me. Want me can’t stand temptation, roll out admit mistake myself. If before, I might really admit those wrong things I didn’t do for a pancake. But now, I don’t need to eat anymore. “Stella haven’t come out?” Dad sat at dining table reading newspaper. “No, stubborn like a donkey.” Mom put plate heavily on table. “Spoiled habit. Eat or not, not eat pull down.” Sister drinking milk, eyes rolled around. She deliberately ran to my door, sniffed hard. Then exaggeratedly shouted: “Mom! Sister room so smelly!” “Did she pee and poop anywhere inside?” I floated at door, looked at sister bitterly. Heating too sufficient, just one night I started to smell, mom will hate me more. Mom frowned walked over. “Stella!” Mom slapped door panel roared. “Are you pig? Toilet just beside are your legs broken? Actually poop in room?” “Mud can’t support wall! To angry with me, even dignity don’t want?” I remembered childhood. Once I had acute gastroenteritis, diarrhea too late go toilet, soiled pants. Mom not only didn’t help me wash, also made me stand in yard punish display. She pointed at me to neighbors said: “Look at this child, dirty like pig.” Now, she feels I dirty again. “Ignore her!” Mom waved hand disgustedly, like shooing flies. “Let her stay in stink! Stink her to death!” Dad put down newspaper, brows locked tight. “Smell indeed a bit too big, I go look, don’t be some dead rat.” Dad stood up, walked towards my room door. My heart lifted violently. Dad! Open door quick! Look at me quick! I’m just behind door! Just you twist handle, can see I don’t move! Can see my face already black! I floated in front of dad, waved crazily, trying to attract his attention. Dad’s hand put on door handle. Ring ring ring A rapid phone ring sounded. Called by dad’s company leader. Dad picked up phone, face changed: “What? Server crashed? Good good good, I come immediately!” He hung up phone, anxiously grabbed jacket: “Honey, company emergency, I have to go quickly, might not come back these days!” “Ai, then Stella.” Mom’s words not finished, dad already slammed door left. I also stunned. Just missed that little bit. Just missed that one second. If that phone came a bit late, I could be discovered. Maybe that way, I wouldn’t need to continue rotting. Afternoon, mom took sister out shopping, home left only my corpse. At night, they returned fully loaded, brought back many high-end seafood and gifts. Just entered door, that smell heavier. Mom covered nose, even retched once: “Stella! Are you turning home into garbage dump?” She even unwilling open door scold me a sentence, as if looking one more glance at that room would dirty her eyes. She found wide tape, squatted down, fiercely sealed bottom of my door crack tightly. “Since you like stink, then stink enough inside yourself! Don’t smoke us!” Mom finished pasting last strip, patted hands satisfied. “Now quiet.” She turned to kitchen steam seafood. I looked at that sealed door, last bit expectation in heart, also suffocated with tape fitting. Turns out, in mom’s heart. My life and death, even not important as a seafood feast. She rather seal me dead, than willing look once if I died inside. Mom, you won. I will never disturb you again. Chapter 4 Third day morning, winter warm sun shone into living room, but couldn’t drive away haze in this home. Home floor heating on very sufficient, 78 degrees high temperature. Tape already couldn’t seal that smell. That was a disgusting, greasy rotting smell. Mom was trimming just bought fresh flowers, but no matter how strong flower scent, couldn’t cover that corpse smell. Snap! Mom fiercely cut a rose, thorn pricked her hand. She finally couldn’t bear anymore. In her cognition, I don’t shower, pee poop in room, Even hide dead rat in room, is to disgust her, to resist her authority. “Stella, you really give face not want face!” Mom rushed into kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin, angrily walked towards my room. “I must beat you this slob to death today!” “Looks like electric shock can’t cure you, have to let you taste flesh pain!” I floated in front of mom, looking at her hideous face, crazily waved to block “Don’t go in! Mom don’t go in! I’m very ugly! I already rotted! You will be scared!” Although she doesn’t love me, but I also don’t want let her see my terrifying appearance. However, she passed through my soul, tore open door sealing tape. Rip Sound of tape tearing exceptionally harsh. Spare key inserted into lock hole, twisted. Bang! Door violently pushed open. A strong to substantial corpse smell blew over face, like opened Pandora’s box. Mom smoked stumbled back a step, bent over retched. “Blech, Stella! What exactly are you doing!” She looked up, saw I still maintained posture lying on desk three days ago, back to her, motionless. In her view, this is a silent provocation, extreme arrogance. “I talk to you can’t you hear? Still playing dead?” Mom anger attacked heart, rushed over few steps, raised rolling pin in hand high. But she didn’t hit down directly, she wanted to pull me up first, see what expression that “stubborn” face exactly has. “Get up for me!” Her hand fiercely grabbed my back neck collar, even grabbed my skin. Next second, her movement froze. Moment of touch. Time seemed solidified. Across thin pajamas, mom’s fingers felt not warm skin. Nor soft flesh. But a piece of cold, hard as stone dead meat. That coldness, is阴冷 penetrating into bones. No temperature of life. “Hmm?” Mom stunned a bit. But inertia made her continue force. Body dragged backward by her brute force. Along with chair fell to ground together. Clang! Loud noise of chair smashing on floor. My body like a stiff statue, fell straight down. My face, finally revealed.

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I, a Trust Fund Baby, developed only one hobby after marriage: playing Mahjong. Who knew I would lose three Manhattan Condos in half a year. This day, I was indecisive between the One Wan (10,000) and Eight Wan (80,000) tiles, when suddenly a tender voice came from my belly. “Mommy! Quick! Only playing One Wan can break the game! Otherwise, we are really done for!” I was stunned for a moment, immediately followed by a string of weird floating comments flashing across my eyes. [Don’t listen! Play Eight Wan! One Wan is a death cannon tile, the opponent has a full flush and is waiting for One Wan single wait!] [Play it and you lose a top-spec Porsche Panamera! Your monthly allowance isn’t enough to cover it!] [If you lose again this time, your dad definitely won’t give you allowance anymore!] I was completely confused, who should I believe? Chapter 1 I stroked my slightly protruding belly, gaze wandering between One Wan and Eight Wan. “Mommy! Play One Wan quickly! This is the only chance!” The tender voice came from my belly again, with unquestionable firmness. I looked down, saw the left side of my belly bulge slightly, as if the baby inside was waving anxiously. But immediately after, the floating comments appeared before my eyes again. [Don’t believe! Play Eight Wan! If you lose again, your dad won’t give you allowance!] I bit my lip lightly, falling into a dilemma. Yes. My dad said, lose again, and he will confiscate my monthly 8-figure allowance. “Mommy don’t be afraid,” baby’s voice sounded again, “As long as we win this round, Grandpa will definitely look at you with new eyes!” “Baby, are you sure?” I lowered my voice asking. Left belly bulged again. I remembered my mom’s words. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad’s luck reached its peak, sweeping Las Vegas casinos, earning the name “God of Gamblers”. Maybe, my Chan family bloodline is really destined from the fetus stage. Thinking of this, I made up my mind. Daughter of the dignified Poker King Mr. Chan, how can I not win against these few ordinary women?! I took a deep breath, gently pushed out the tile. “One Wan!” Seeing me drop the tile, opponent Sister-in-law Brenda’s eyes lit up. She stared at that One Wan, fingers constantly rubbing the tiles in hand, but delayed action. At this time, strange floating comments emerged again. [Done, completely done! Chloe actually really played One Wan!] Hearing this, my brows frowned deeper. Did I really play wrong? But next second, Brenda picked up a new tile. Didn’t even look, directly played it out. “Eight Wan.” “Mahjong (Hu)!” I was overjoyed, pushed down the tiles. “Full flush plus All Pungs! Big win, 9 fan!” Brenda’s face turned iron green, Sister-in-law Tiffany (husband’s sister) bit her lip tight, and that accompanying friend Vicky looked at me deeply. Just then, baby in belly came giggling laughter. “Mommy, I didn’t say wrong right? Keep Eight Wan, play One Wan, we won.” I stroked my belly with satisfaction, secretly delighted. Sure enough, our old Chan family children, carry luck from the womb. Floating comments surged like tide again. [Impossible! Opponent clearly waiting for One Wan! Why not win but play Eight Wan?] [Fraud! Absolutely fraud!] [Chloe! Wake up, this game is wrong!] I automatically ignored these annoying texts, gathered the chips into my arms. At night I brought home the hard-won trophies, but saw my usually late-returning husband in the living room. “Congratulations, luck so good today.” I froze. Married for half a year, Jason never came home before 10 PM. More importantly, he never actively asked about my mahjong games. Just then, floating comments appeared again. [Because he is monitoring you!] [Chloe, your husband doesn’t love you at all, he married you just for the Chan family money!] My heart tightened. He doesn’t love me? Baby in belly immediately retorted, “Mommy, Daddy loves you! To marry you, he knelt in snow for three days and nights, almost froze off his legs! Did you forget all these?” I didn’t forget. That winter was especially cold, snow very thick, one step down, up to knees. Jason knelt at my door, snow covering his shoulders. Father stood in front of the second-floor window, watching this scene, said coldly, “Let him kneel, see how much sincerity this poor boy has!” Three days later, Jason was sent to the hospital, legs almost amputated. I cried begging father, finally exchanged for a marriage. “I heard you won a lot today, if Dad knows, he must be very happy.” I instantly alert, “You have contact with my dad?” After I married Jason, my dad except giving me living expenses monthly, didn’t say an extra word. Floating comments crazily scrolling now. [He is lying! Chloe, don’t believe him!] But baby in belly comforted me. “Mommy, Daddy is worried about you. You can’t be suspicious, it’s not good for baby me either.” I nodded, “I’m tired, going upstairs to rest first.” Chapter 2 Next week, I turned on winning streak mode. “Thirteen Orphans!” “Kong on Kong!” “Wait! I directly Heaven Mahjong!” Every time, baby would give precise reminders when I hesitated, while floating comments constantly warned me game was rigged. But I chose to believe the bloodline in belly. Until this day, after I slaughtered all sides again, Brenda pushed tiles directly, face full of unhappiness. “Not playing not playing, always losing, so boring!” Card table instantly quiet. I slowly leaned back on chair, stroking won chips. In short 7 days, not only won back three condos, but also added two downtown shops. Speaking of which, playing mahjong was initially insisted by them dragging me along. When I just married husband, besides shopping, had no other hobbies. It was Brenda and Tiffany lobbying me, saying mahjong is much more interesting than shopping. After that, they two plus one of Tiffany’s besties Vicky formed a group, playing mahjong daily. Didn’t expect, first month down, I actually lost all 8-figure allowance my dad gave. Among them Brenda won the most. Big brother who was originally driving Uber, directly changed to a Porsche 911. Thinking of this, my tone instantly cold down. “If sister-in-law feels boring then stop playing, but today’s lost 2 million needs to be transferred to me.” Words out, Brenda’s face changed instantly, tone softened. “Chloe, look, aren’t we all relatives, besides, I didn’t bring so much money out.” I sneered in heart. Usually when I lost tens, they all stared at me to go home get money. Finally turn for them to lose once, changed like a person. “Sister-in-law, this month, you won no less than ten million from me, plus a detached villa! Just 2 million can’t take out?” Perhaps realized my face not good, hurried explain. “Ai, Chloe, I don’t mean that. I mean, you wait for me, I gather a bit.” I completely cold face. “No need, didn’t Big Brother just buy a Porsche? I see it parked at door, you give me car keys is fine.” Words out, Brenda instantly unhappy. “That’s your Big Brother’s car, why give you?” I laughed angrily on spot. “Because you lost money no pay ah, can’t default right?” She instantly annoyed, eyes looked at Tiffany opposite. “Little sister, shouldn’t you say something? You also lost eight hundred thousand.” Little sister just about to speak, interrupted by me. “That new Patek Philippe watch on her hand leave behind is fine, barely offset eight hundred thousand.” Hearing this, Little Sister instantly screamed out. “What? I won’t give! This is what my brother queued long time abroad to buy for me!” I sneered hooking lips. “Your brother’s money was also given by me!” Back then my dad bitter mouth kind heart, advised me find a matching family. Although Jason motivated, but family background thin. Besides elderly weak parents, there are lazy brother sister-in-law and a sister already graduated college several years still biting old. Just then, baby in belly suddenly whispered persuasion. “Mommy, they are Daddy’s family after all, don’t make it too stiff.” My brows twisted. This is first time baby spoke for outsiders. Floating comments seized opportunity crazy output. [See! Even child in your belly helping them speak! Have you still not found problem?] I sank eyes, didn’t speak. “Alright,” Brenda suddenly sat down again, “One last game, one game decides winner, you win, we return principal plus interest, you lose, today’s money write off at one stroke!” Hearing this, baby in belly cheered again, “Mommy, agree her, we definitely can win!” Floating comments wailed: [Done! They definitely going to cheat!] [Chloe! Don’t agree ah, this is simply a trap!] I stroked abdomen, trying hard to feel bloodline power from inside. “Fine! Deal cards.” Chapter 3 Game starts. This time, baby unusually quiet. “Baby?” I called in heart, but belly no reaction. Cards passed three rounds, my hand shape gradually clear, Mixed Suit, single wait Seven Wan. And on table, already two Seven Wan out. “Mommy, play Three Bamboo.” Baby’s voice sounded again. At this moment floating comments scrolling crazy. [Play Seven Wan! Waiting on Three Six Bamboo!] “No, play Three Bamboo, wait for Seven Wan!” [Chloe! Don’t trust baby, it’s harming you!] “Mommy, play Three Bamboo, trust me.” Baby’s voice carried a trace of pleading. I closed eyes, father’s words sounded in ear. “At gambling table, least trustworthy is own intuition. Because your intuition, often is what others want you to have.” “Three Bamboo.” I pushed card slowly. Air instantly solidified. Brenda eyes lit up, slapped table hard. “Hu le! Fourteen Fan!” She excitedly pushed cards down. “Full flush Bamboo, Seven Pairs, just waiting for a Three Bamboo.” My brain blank. Fourteen Fan. According to our agreed double rule, I not only have to return today’s winning chips, but also pay extra 4 million. “According to our agreement just now, it’s ‘all debts written off’, right?” I nodded stiffly. “Then not just today,” she smiled looking at me, “It’s all debts this week.” I stood up fiercely, “What did you say?!” “I said, three condos in Manhattan, shops in downtown, and all cash, jewelry, antiques you lost to us before…” Brenda counting fingers. “All written off. Of course, this 4 million you owe us finally, we also show mercy, don’t want it.” “You crazy!” My voice trembling, “That’s dowry my parents gave me!” “Willing to gamble willing to lose, you wouldn’t not know even this rule right?” Brenda’s smile expanding constantly. My face iron green, just at this time, phone rang. I tremblingly picked up, father’s cold voice came from that end: “Chloe, I say one last time, if you touch cards again, never enter Chan family door again.” Phone hanging up busy tone echoed in ear. At night, Jason rarely brought a bouquet home. I frowned, subconsciously avoided flower scent. “Wifey, don’t be angry, Father-in-law Mother-in-law definitely in fit of anger, father daughter no overnight feud.” Floating comments: [Wow, Chloe’s husband indeed scheming!] I looked up at him, “How do you know what my parents said on phone?” He froze an instant, expression changed suddenly. “Because Father-in-law called me just now, told me.” Floating comments: [Then check his phone right now!] I reached out, “Then show me your phone.” Husband instantly cold face. “What? You think I lying to you? Then call your dad ask.” Hearing this, I immediately shook head, felt I thought too much, actually suspecting husband. Seeing I not speak, husband expression also softened a lot. “Wifey, all own family, if you really unhappy, tomorrow I let them return winning gambling capital to you.” I shook head, “That no need.” Hearing this, he sighed relief, but next second heard me speak. “Hubby, can you give me another 20 million.” Floating comments all felt I crazy. [Is Chloe crazy ah? Clear they setting up trap, still sending money?] [Yeah, didn’t her parents say just now, if she gamble again, cut ties completely!] [That means, she not only loses monthly 8-figure allowance, billion inheritance also no chance?] Husband eyes flashed a trace obscure look, “You… still want gamble?” I nodded, eyes firm, “And, you have to accompany me!” Chapter 4 Game officially starts, Brenda first pushed a paper agreement to me. “Rules very simple.” “This is list of all our gambling capital, plus all assets under your name. One game decides winner, winner takes all.” I scanned list. Jason’s old house, 10% shares of Chan Group, my parents’ overseas real estate… list shockingly long. Floating comments crazy warning: [Run! Run now! They definitely calculated cheating] Baby in belly unusually excited: “Mommy, sign! We can win! Win and all this is ours!” I lifted pen, signed my name at end of agreement. Game starts. This time, baby voice clear and firm, every step giving precise guidance. Floating comments constantly revealing opponent’s card path, pointing out potential traps. “Mommy, play One Wan, can win max fan.” Floating comments warning: [Opponent doing Thirteen Orphans, single wait One Wan, play Four Bamboo, switch wait Bamboo!] Two voices fighting in my brain, and I must make choice in seconds. Seeing me delay playing, Brenda half joke half serious said. “In case you lose, this equity transfer agreement and asset mortgage documents signed just now all effective.” “But just in case only, Second Sister-in-law don’t be nervous.” Little Sister easing atmosphere aside. Even Vicky who always only play not speak rarely spoke. “You guys don’t scare Second Sister-in-law like this, just saying ugly words front, in case we lose, same pay money.” In case… In case (Wan Yi – Ten Thousand One)… This is their code! Just to make me play One Wan (Yi Wan), so they can triple win on one cannon! “Chloe, your turn play.” Brenda urged again, cards in her hand left one. I looked at Jason, he nodded slightly to me, eyes full of encouragement. Finally, I pulled out One Wan. “I play… One Wan.” Hearing this, three people coincidentally showed delighted expressions. Brenda immediately pushed cards down, “One Wan ah, I exactly win 1 Wan.” Remaining card in her hand indeed One Wan. Atmosphere instantly subtle. Floating comments emerged again. [Said cannot play One Wan ah.] [Now good, lit cannon.] But at this time baby voice disappeared again. Jason face sinking, brows tight. “Forget it Chloe, money for this hand, I pay for you.” Hearing this, Little Sister also pushed cards down. [I also won, Brother, this money you pay too?] Mixed suit, 456 Dot, two 9 Wan, one 2 Wan one 3 Wan, indeed win 1 Wan. My breath stagnated, face solemn. Floating comments also felt incredible. [This is lit two houses ah? Done, this time lose more than previous month.] But next second, Little Sister’s bestie Vicky suddenly spoke. “Sorry, Second Sister-in-law, I also win 1 Wan.” She pushed cards down. Three Red Dragon, three White Dragon, one 1 Wan, single wait 1 Wan. Floating comments stuttering. [This, this is one cannon three sounds?] But unexpectedly me who already in必输 (must lose) laughed shaking head. “Did I lose?” Hearing this, Jason face instantly changed. “I said all, don’t gamble, you don’t listen! Now good, one cannon three sounds, you still ask did you lose?!” I noncommittal, continued asking. “Jason, are you sure I really lost?”

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I loved Xavier for five years. From freshman year of high school to sophomore year of college, people came and went, but I was the only one who stayed by his side. On his birthday, I was a little late. Outside the private room, I heard him say, “Chloe? Don’t talk nonsense, we’re just friends.” Heh, friends. I sneered, turning to leave. Zach walked out from around the corner. Seeing me at the door, his tone was affectionate, “Sister Chloe, you’re here. Why don’t you go in?” I looked at his handsome face, reached out to hook his neck, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his lips. The door to the private room was accidentally pushed open by him. The laughter inside stopped abruptly. Everyone’s eyes widened, watching us kiss. Chapter 1 Zach’s lips were soft and sweet, very exciting to kiss. I originally intended to just taste it, but didn’t expect him to taste so good, got a bit carried away. By the time I reacted, Zach was already kissed flushed, eyes misty. When I let go, he was still subconsciously searching for my lips like a puppy looking for food. I took his arm, smilingly walked into the private room. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I’ll punish myself with three shots.” I poured three shots of Tequila, placed them in front of me. Zach stopped my hand reaching for the drink, his beautiful eyes full of seriousness, “I’ll drink.” He downed a shot in one gulp. Three shots down, his face slightly red, looking innocent and pitiful. Xavier stood up holding his wine glass, walked to us, asked indifferently, “Haven’t had time to congratulate you, when did you get together, why didn’t you tell us?” Before I could speak, Zach put his arm around my shoulder, head resting on my shoulder, provocatively looking at Xavier, “We’ve been together for a while, Chloe is shy, didn’t let me tell others.” Others. Xavier sneered, handed the wine glass to me, eyes cold. “Chloe, this joke isn’t funny. If you don’t want me to get angry and ignore you, drink this glass, I’ll pretend I didn’t see what just happened.” He stood in front of me, seemingly certain I would follow his will, like the past five years, throwing away everything for his special regard. I looked at the wine glass close at hand, the bright red wine swaying gently. There was a faint scar on the hand holding the glass. That scar at this moment was more dazzling than the light overhead. I looked up at Xavier’s angry face, raised my hand, under his confident gaze, firmly pushed that glass away. “Sorry, Xavier, what you said is a bit ugly. Neither my boyfriend nor I like it. Please don’t say such things to provoke our relationship in the future.” Xavier’s face became very ugly. He raised the glass to me again, words like thorns, “You think Zach really likes you? He just wants to snatch my things. If I don’t want you, he won’t even look at you. I give you one last chance, drink this, we can still be like before. You know the consequences of refusing me.” I smiled brilliantly, took out my phone from my bag, in front of him, first blocked, then unfriended him on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, blocked his number, deleted all apps, including LinkedIn contacts. Now, as long as we don’t meet, I can never contact him again. I held up my phone, shook it at him, “If you didn’t say, I would have forgotten. Zach is very insecure.” Zach blinked his eyes, tea-artfully said, “Yeah, I’m very petty. Brother Xavier, Chloe deleted you, you won’t mind, right?” Everyone present was stunned by our drama, exclaiming “OMG”. I didn’t remember the taste of the food that night at all. I only remembered Zach’s grinning face like a fox that got the grapes. Chapter 2 That night, Xavier didn’t say a word, drank a lot of alcohol, white, beer, red, refused none. I sat next to Zach. He kept blocking drinks for me, and took time to pick food for me. One moment I didn’t watch, my bowl was piled with my favorite dishes. Seeing us sweet and loving, they finally believed the romance between Zach and me was true. Not long after, our dorm group chat exploded. My best friend Lila was the first to jump out, sent a candid photo, and a sixty-second voice message. In the photo, Zach and I fingers interlocked, he looked at me dotingly, I lowered my head shyly, looking very matching. I clicked voice to text, the white voice bar flashed and flashed, popped out several big lines of “Ahhhhhhh!” I could almost see the picture of Lila holding her phone turning into a screaming chicken, couldn’t help smiling eyes bent. Lila typed fast in the group sending messages. “Heaven has eyes, finally let our child successfully escape singlehood!” “Woohoo!” by Jasmine. “Woohoo!” by Wendy. Wendy even secretly sent me a small video. Lila wearing green dinosaur pajamas, holding phone emitting “hehehehe” wretched laughter, funny beyond measure. “Heaven opened eyes, finally let Chloe get rid of that toxic man, woohoo woohoo! Chloe as long as you figured it out it’s fine, Xavier is a sugarcane man, sweet one bite and the rest is all dregs!” I couldn’t help laughing, replied to her in the group, “Miss Lila is wise!” Birthday boy Xavier drank unconscious, vomited twice, was carried into the taxi back to school by his roommate. Zach and I stood outside the restaurant. Waiting for them all to leave, I raised our interlocked hands, glared at him playfully, “Addicted to holding?” Zach rubbed and slowly let go of my hand, looking aggrieved, muttering, “No conscience, throw away after use.” I looked up at his face, flushed and moist like rouged after drinking much, eyes staring at me innocently like a puppy, and lips as red as his face, soft and sweet. “Zach, thank you for not exposing my lie, you are a good person.” Zach reached out to ruffle my hair, “Sister Chloe, you are a good girl, Xavier doesn’t deserve you. Helping you tonight, I’m very happy. But~” “But what?” I was a bit puzzled. Zach lowered his eyes, shyly glanced at me, stammered, “But well, just, just now was, was my, first kiss.” He dared not look at me, whispered, “The kiss just now was a bit too sudden, I didn’t react. Sister Chloe can you, can you kiss, kiss me again?” “No.” I frowned and refused his request. Zach lowered his head like an abandoned puppy, voice hoarse, “Sorry Sister Chloe, I was too excessive. Even if Sister Chloe you snatched my first kiss in front of so many people, me saying these now, is also a bit presumptuous. Even if Sister Chloe refuses me, it’s deserved. Sister you don’t have psychological burden, giving first kiss to you, I’m very willing.” Finished, he looked up, carefully smiled at me. Ensuring I wasn’t angry, he reached out to stop a taxi, returning to school with me. Heater was full in taxi. I have constitution of getting carsick once on board, closed eyes leaning on seat, slowing breath, making myself feel better. Zach patted my shoulder. I opened eyes impatiently. He held a tin of mints, squinting eyes asking me, “Want two mints? Will feel better.” I silently extended hand. He poured two mints into my palm. Seeing me eat mints, he also stuffed two into his own mouth. On the way back, because of these two mints, I wasn’t that dizzy, could even appreciate the brilliant night view outside window. After getting off, Zach walked me to girls’ dorm. I broke the silence, “How did you know I get carsick?” Zach scratched head, “Isn’t it obvious, you close eyes rest mind every time in car.” “Carsick is easy to see, then why help me block alcohol?” Zach said frankly, “Because you are allergic to alcohol, will get rashes if drink.” I was silent for a long time, asked softly, “How did you know.” Zach said, “Last year when we just entered school, club welcome dinner day, fruit salad had mango, I didn’t know, got allergy after eating. Sister Chloe you found allergy medicine directly from bag. I thought you were prepared for want back then. Later Xavier and I played familiar, we ate together, I saw red rashes on your arm, running outside to take allergy medicine, then knew you are allergic to alcohol.” I smiled self-deprecatingly. Zach wasn’t familiar with me then, could see I was allergic to alcohol. I knew Xavier for five years, he didn’t know this matter. Chapter 3 Walking to the door of girls’ dorm, Zach handed that tin of mints to me, “Here, for you, remember to eat two when carsick later, will be comfortable.” I took the warm tin, Zach put hands in pockets, mouth corner raised a smile, said gently. “Sister Chloe, later when I’m not by your side, you also don’t drink okay, taking too much allergy medicine is bad for body. Sister Chloe, weather cold remember wear more clothes oh, having cold is uncomfortable. Sister Chloe, I’m going, you rest well.” “You too, drank so much, go back rest well.” Finished, I turned into dorm building. Just walked to second floor, Lila sent me a photo. Zach squatting under street lamp beside dorm building, head buried in knees, looking like an abandoned doggy. Lila patted my avatar, “Chloe, what happened to your little puppy, did you fight?” “Didn’t fight.” I finished replying Lila, sighed. Zach squatting under street lamp, secretly scolding Xavier this big scumbag in heart. A familiar shadow walked to him. Zach ecstatic in heart, dared not show on face, still squatting there acting mushroom. “Why not go back, squatting here for what, feeling unwell?” Zach looked up, pretending strong, “I’m fine Sister Chloe, just dizzy from drinking, will be fine later. Outside too cold, Sister Chloe you go back first, I really fine, I go back in a while.” I said helplessly “Okay, don’t force yourself, give me your hand.” Zach obediently extended hand. I grabbed his hand, pulled him up from ground. He stood up obediently, led by me to sit on bench, gaze always following me. “You know, I liked Xavier for five years.” I looked straight at him, tone full of bitterness. “I know, Xavier takes this as his capital of pride, often brings it up.” “Then what do you think?” Zach held my hand, softly said, “I can’t stand his look of stepping sincerity on ground, often go against him. Sister Chloe, I feel sorry for you, such a good girl like you, should be held in palm, cared for well. Sister Chloe, can you give me a chance, let me cherish you?” My brain was chaotic, organized words for long time, slowly said, “I don’t know if I can completely forget him. Liking him for five years, liking him is like forming a habit. I can’t easily promise you when haven’t seen my heart clearly, this is unfair to you.” Zach smiled brilliantly, “Sister Chloe, I’m not asking you to promise me now, I want you to give me a chance to pursue you. I know Xavier left a heavy mark in your life, doesn’t matter, your past I didn’t participate, your future I willing walk with you. Xavier is just your past tense, Sister Chloe, he is not a good man, I won’t let you return to him. You deserve better.” I was amused by him, “So saying, you think you are the better one?” Zach lifted chin proudly, “That’s of course, if I’m not good, how dare I pursue such good Sister Chloe?” “Smooth talker. Okay, so late, you hurry back, save headache tomorrow morning from sleeping late.” Zach followed me step by step to downstairs of girls’ dorm. Before leaving, he touched nose, nervously asked me, “Sister Chloe, are you willing to give me a chance?” I was embarrassed to look at him, turned head away, nodded gently. Zach lowered head, leaned to my face, smack stole a kiss, “Sister Chloe see you tomorrow!” He seemed afraid I angry, slipped away fast. I looked at his departing back, couldn’t help shaking head smiling. Chapter 4 About me dumping Xavier, turning around dating Xavier’s brother Zach, and passionately kissing in front of him on Xavier’s birthday, soon spread in our school forum. Photos of my intimate interaction with Zach, uploaded by unknown Xavier’s brother. Party involved Xavier didn’t speak up, he just high-profile announced his new girlfriend on Instagram next afternoon of birthday. Since then, Chloe who always surrounded Xavier disappeared, replaced by various girlfriends Xavier dated. Since cutting off with Xavier, my life had lot free time, but didn’t feel empty. I had more time, soaking in library with Lila and others, shopping together, going out for sketching. If they filled my blank about friendship, then Zach was teaching me hand in hand, what is normal and healthy love. From second day of Xavier’s birthday, Zach appeared mysteriously every day. He would secretly appear beside me when I went to class in morning, stuff two meat buns in my hand then run. He would also secretly run to my classroom, attend class with me. From time to time take out a small surprise from his pocket, maybe a cute hairpin, maybe a cute needle felt pig, could also be a Kuromi earmuff. In his words, “I see these cute things, will think of Sister Chloe, Sister Chloe definitely likes, so I bought it.” “Little surprise, life sweeter.” When he said this, eyes full of my shadow. I somewhat couldn’t bear such ambiguous atmosphere, subconsciously moved eyes away. Zach relentlessly leaned over, like a large dog resting head on my shoulder, very clingy. “Sister Chloe, one month to winter break, I so reluctant leave you.” He held my arm acting spoiled. I amusingly touched his head, “Still one month right, reluctant so early, then what to do when you on winter break.” Zach used his furry big head butt my shoulder, “What else do, dead skin rely face begging you video call me daily.” Ring ring ring. My phone rang, I took out to see, unknown number. “Hello?” “Hello, are you Chloe?” “Yes, what’s up?” “Like this, I am manager of Night Dream Bar, we have a guest drunk here, his emergency contact is you, can trouble you come over?” Before he finished, over there came drunkard’s shouting, “Chloe, Chloe don’t go okay, I know wrong, Chloe, don’t unwanted me.” That drunkard’s voice, Zach and I both familiar. It’s Xavier. Zach’s face half black, he gritted teeth taking out phone, called Xavier’s iron buddy. “Xavier drunk dead in Night Dream Bar, bring more money, don’t let people detain there. Listen, Chloe is my partner now, you tell him stop shouting blindly day to night, my partner has nothing to do with him.” Finished he hung up, angrily holding my arm, “What person is this, five years didn’t know cherish you, treat your sincerity as donkey liver lung. I am different, I know Sister is world best best girl, I definitely will cherish Sister well.” Speaking speaking, he seized opportunity expressed sincerity again. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, couldn’t help touching his head, felt good. “Sister, new movie online tomorrow afternoon, is your favorite Studio Ghibli movie, ticket bought, Sister accompany me see okay?” “Okay.”

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1 My husband Allen often hiked in the mountains for weeks, several times a year. His trips always worried me. So when my company—which never sent office staff into the field—assigned me to host a “Happy Families” hiking tour, I felt a secret thrill. Allen had left for the mountains three days earlier; maybe I’d run into him. My colleague handed me the tour list. “Stop grinning and check it. No mistakes.” I flipped through the names, then froze. There it was: Allen Bennett. Next to his name, a clear note:【Traveling with wife, Sophia, and 8-year-old son】 My colleague pointed. “He’s a regular. Comes twice a year with his family, like clockwork. See—’Family suite required.’ They’re so devoted, right?” Cold disbelief hit me. We’d been married eight years. A doctor had said Allen was infertile. He always said he hated kids, that we’d be child-free forever. But there he was, kneeling to tie a shoelace for a stranger, while a little boy—his spitting image—bounced beside him. This was the same man who wouldn’t wash a dish at home, now gently wiping sweat from the boy’s forehead. It wasn’t that he hated children. He just hated having them with me. My colleague waved the group flag. “Snap out of it! Go welcome Mr. Bennett and his wife!” … “Anna?!” The color drained from Allen’s face. He yanked his hand away from the woman’s, the movement so violent that the metal buckle on his backpack clanged loudly. But the woman, Sophia, was perfectly composed. She smoothed her cuff, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face as she extended a hand to me. “I’ve heard so much about you, Anna.” A diamond bracelet on her wrist flashed with a cold light in the sun. It was the matching piece to the one I’d given Allen last year. My gaze fell to the wedding band on her ring finger, identical to mine, and my throat tightened. The eight-year-old boy tugged on Allen’s jacket, his almond-shaped eyes, a perfect copy of his father’s, filled with confusion. “Dad, who is this lady?” That one word, “lady,” pierced my heart like a poisoned arrow. I suddenly remembered our anniversary last month. Allen, wearing the silk pajamas I’d just bought him, had twirled a lock of my hair and whispered, “It’s you and me forever. No kids, just us.” Ten years together. Eight years of marriage. I had worked myself to the bone all these years, just to prove I wasn’t after his family’s money. Now I understood. It wasn’t that he didn’t want a child; he just didn’t want my child. The way he frantically tried to hide the boy behind him was more cutting than any words could ever be. I looked at him, a bitter laugh stuck in my throat, but he couldn’t meet my eyes. Instead, he turned to my colleague, his voice sharp. “Is this the kind of rude staff your company sends? Can’t she even shake a hand?” My colleague shot me a glare, grabbed my rigid hand, and forced it into Sophia’s. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Bennett. Anna’s new to this. Please forgive her.” Sophia’s grip tightened, her nails digging into my skin, the sharp pain jolting me back to reality. “Allen talks about you all the time. It’s so nice to finally meet.” Her eyes held a familiar, triumphant hostility. In that instant, I knew. This “coincidental” work assignment was no coincidence at all. It was a scene she had carefully orchestrated. “Mr. Bennett, your wife and son’s gear is all checked and ready,” my colleague said from behind me, his voice oozing with eagerness to please. “Will you be taking your usual family suite?” “Of course,” Sophia said, a victorious smirk playing on her lips. “And remember to stock it with extra protection. The usual arrangement.” “Right away!” my colleague fawned. “Double the amount, just like always?” Allen said nothing. He just stared at the ground, his eyelashes fluttering wildly. I knew him too well. After ten years, I knew his every twitch. That’s what he always did when he was lying. His right eye would blink three times, and his left hand would start unconsciously fiddling with the hem of his shirt. A dull ache spread through my chest. I stood there, numb, until my colleague led us into the mountain resort. The receptionist greeted Allen like an old friend. “Welcome back, Mr. Bennett. Your favorite family suite is ready, complete with the rose petal service.” She handed over three key cards. “I hope you and your family have a wonderful stay.” Sophia’s hand rested possessively on Allen’s waist while the boy chattered excitedly about going to the hot springs. And I stood in the corner, clutching my staff ID, a ridiculous, pathetic outsider. “Anna,” my colleague nudged me with his elbow. “Go help Mr. Bennett with his luggage.” He lowered his voice. “He’s a major client. What’s wrong with you? Been in the office so long you’ve forgotten how to do your job?” I silently pushed the luggage cart into their room. As I was closing the door, I heard a soft click. Allen was waiting for me inside, sitting alone by the floor-to-ceiling window. “Mr. Bennett,” I heard my own voice, raw and rusted. “When did we get a divorce?” His head snapped up, but his expression was calm, almost practiced. “Anna, you have to know, you’re the only one I love.” He stood up, walking toward me. “The child… he was an accident. You have to believe me.” 2 Listening to Allen’s self-righteous tone, I wanted to laugh. I remembered the medical report from before we were married. The words “blocked vas deferens” had made my heart ache so much I couldn’t sleep all night. I told him it didn’t matter, that having him was enough. And now? He had a child with another woman behind my back and still had the audacity to act like he was the victim. Ten years together. Eight years of marriage. Maybe he still had some affection for me, but it was nothing more than habit. The love had died long ago, replaced by the weary routine of just getting by. “So,” my voice was ice, “because you love me, you had a child with someone else, and I’m just supposed to be a happy stepmom?” The moment the words left my mouth, I froze. That bitter, sarcastic tone… it was exactly how he sounded when he was losing patience with me. It turns out that when you live with someone long enough, you start to become them. The difference was, I had only ever spoken to him with kindness, never daring to say a harsh word. He shoved me out of the room. “You’re being irrational! You sound like a crazy person!” A bitter smile touched my lips. All these years, I had forgiven him for being late, for forgetting anniversaries, for his temper tantrums. But this… this was like him slapping me across the face and then demanding I smile and offer my other cheek. “Anna,” his voice came through the crack in the door, still dripping with entitlement, “we’ve been together for so long. It was just one kid with someone else. Can’t you be as understanding as you used to be?” I stared at him in silence, my heart a gaping wound. How ironic. He’d made a fool of me for eight years, and he still thought he held the moral high ground. “Fine,” his voice turned cold. “If you won’t listen to reason, then you can talk to my parents.” Before I could react, the door slammed shut with a bang, the force of it making the wedding photo locket I wore press, suddenly hot, against my chest. Numbly, I pulled out my phone. The name on the screen, “Dad,” felt like a splinter in my eye. “Anna! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” My father-in-law’s roar exploded from the phone. “A man as good as our Allen married you. What more could you possibly want?” I gripped the phone, my knuckles turning white. The reflection in the window showed a pathetic, broken woman. “Dad…” My throat was tight. “You knew… you knew Allen had someone else!” “Knew? Of course, we knew! It’s just Sophia, what’s the big deal?” My mother-in-law snatched the phone, her voice shrill. “You’ve been married to Allen for eight years and couldn’t even lay a single egg! So what if he found someone who could? It’s better than being stuck with a useless woman like you who can’t even get pregnant!” The hallway lights suddenly seemed blindingly bright, making spots dance in my vision. I thought of all the times I’d gone to their house, arriving three hours early to buy the freshest ingredients from the market. I thought of last year when my father-in-law had surgery, and I stayed outside the ICU for seven straight days. I thought of how, every payday, the first thing I did was buy them expensive imported health supplements. I had supported myself completely, yet I had to grovel in their home like the hired help, all because Allen’s family was wealthier than mine. “If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a quiet, simple girl,” my mother-in-law rambled on, “we would have made Allen divorce you years ago! And now you have the nerve to blame my son? You should be thanking your lucky stars for getting a son for free!” “Sophia’s family is better than yours, she’s younger than you… and you? You’ve gotten older, but not any smarter! You’re not even worthy of polishing her shoes!” Her voice was a relentless torrent of insults. “At least Sophia could give Allen a child! Look at you!” Suddenly, the trembling in my hand stopped. So that was it. Everyone knew about this father and son. Everyone except me, the fool who had been kept in the dark for eight years. Eight years. I had slaved away for them, served them tea, waited on them by their sickbeds like a real daughter. And for what? In their eyes, I would always be the poor girl who married up. “I’ve had enough of this life. Let’s get a divorce.” I cut her off calmly and ended the call. The hallway light felt sharp now, illuminating the pathetic joke my life had been for the past eight years. 3 I took a deep, shuddering breath. So this is what it felt like to finally say “no” to my mother-in-law. Composing myself, I called my lawyer. My voice was so hoarse it didn’t sound like my own. “I need you to draw up divorce papers. As soon as possible.” The morning sun was piercing. Eight years of marriage flashed before my eyes: the coffee stain in the library when we first met, the tear on his cheek at our wedding, the eventual slide into perfunctory goodnight kisses, and the anniversaries he was always “out of town” for. The perfect match I thought we were had only ever existed in my head. I fled the mountain retreat, getting on the first bus back to the city. As the bus pulled away, I saw Sophia through the window, boarding with the child in her arms. The boy was asleep on her shoulder, his features so much like Allen’s. The engine rumbled, but Sophia walked straight down the aisle and took the empty seat next to me. “Anna. Fancy seeing you again.” I didn’t even look at her, a cold sneer on my face. “What, feeling proud of being the other woman?” “You’re wrong, Anna.” Sophia calmly adjusted her cuff, the identical wedding band on her finger glinting mockingly. “In love, there’s no first-come, first-served. The one who isn’t loved is the third wheel.” My nails dug into my palms, the metallic taste of blood spreading in my mouth. “Do you know why Allen put up with you all these years, even though you’re useless in bed? It’s because he said you’d die without him. He’d rather suffer through the disgust of being with you than divorce you.” “You’re a disgrace to women! How long has it been since you and Allen even slept together? A year? Two? Three?!” She shoved her phone in my face. The intimate photos on the screen were like razors scraping against my retinas. Allen was wearing the suit I’d bought him for our third anniversary, the one he’d never even opened, posed in ways I had never seen in our entire marriage. “Take a good look,” she said, her fingertip maliciously tracing the flush on Allen’s face. “See how your husband, the one who wouldn’t even touch you, begs me to take him.” The date on the photos was a glaring stab to the heart. It was the day of my mother’s funeral. He’d told me he had to entertain a client and couldn’t be there for me. My vision blurred, the images twisting and distorting. He looked so handsome in that black suit I’d given him, the one he’d tossed into the back of the closet with the tags still on. Sophia kept swiping, each new photo a branding iron on my nerves. It wasn’t that he had no libido; he just had none for me. He wasn’t physically incapable; his body had just instinctively rejected me. Just like his parents did. “This one’s the best.” She zoomed in on a close-up. Allen was wearing the jade pendant from our wedding. “He loves to clutch this when he climaxes. Says it feels like he’s laughing at how pathetic you are.” That pendant. I had spent three days kneeling and sorting through stones at the jade market to find the perfect piece for him. He had promised to wear it for a lifetime. The scenery outside the window blurred past, a perfect metaphor for my ridiculous eight-year marriage. I remembered our wedding day, how he’d stood on his toes to whisper in my ear, “I’m all yours for the rest of my life.” It turned out I was the one who had been taken for a ride all along. The worst part wasn’t the betrayal. It was realizing that every sweet memory was laced with poison. Every frown, every excuse, every time he was “too tired”—it all made sense now. Eight years. Over two thousand days and nights, I had been living inside an elaborate lie. The bus entered a tunnel, and darkness swallowed everything. Good. This way, Sophia wouldn’t see the woman she called a “disgrace” crying like a pathetic joke.

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I’ve been married to Vincent Leech for almost a year, and he has never touched me. Every morning, before he leaves for work, I knot his tie for him. Then I move behind him, slipping his suit jacket gently onto his broad shoulders. He always turns then, leans in close, and presses a deep, tender kiss onto my eyes. That is the only physical contact we ever have. Our marriage is a transaction. I love his money. He loves my eyes. 1 Every day, I visit a boy named Liam at a long-term care facility. He lies in bed day after day, unconscious, breathing through a ventilator. It’s the best facility in the northern part of the city, and the costs are astronomical. Every month, without fail, Vincent transfers the exact amount needed. Liam is my boyfriend. We grew up together in an orphanage. In the eyes of the world, we shared a single name: abandoned. He was tall and strong but was born with a limp in one leg. I was born with large, beautiful eyes, but a rare, incurable disease left my gaze vacant and unfocused. When we came of age, we left the orphanage together. With little education and our respective disabilities, finding work was a constant struggle. But Liam was always full of ideas. He bought a second-hand food cart and taught himself how to make crepes. Every night after we closed up, he would hunch over the rickety little table in our rented room, carefully tallying the day’s earnings. Liam’s greatest wish, he always said, was to save enough money to fix my eyes. One night, his phone rang. He didn’t even bother wiping the grease from his hands before scooping me up and spinning me around. “Nora, I have amazing news!” “They found a cornea match for you! It’s finally time!” “Your eyes, Nora! They can be saved!” It had started to snow. On that freezing winter night, the steam hissed from the crepe griddle on the deserted street. Two young people, laughing and jumping, finally fell into each other’s arms, holding on tight as the snow fell all around us. That night, Liam calculated the cost of the surgery. He said that after my eyes were healed, he would work even harder to give me a proper wedding. But the wedding never came. Only a nightmare. It was Liam’s birthday. I begged him to take the day off, but he refused. My surgery had cost a fortune, and the next six months of rent were due. Before he left that morning, Liam kissed my forehead hard. “Nora, I’ll close up early today. Wait for me!” He never came back. He was in a car accident on his way home. At the hospital, seeing him hooked up to a tangle of tubes, kept alive only by a machine, my heart shattered. The doctors told me to let him go. I stroked his hand, tears streaming down my face. He was only twenty-two. His hands were chapped and covered in pale yellow calluses. The constant steam from the griddle had made his eyelashes sparse and brittle. His thick lips were pale and perpetually cracked. I never got to be his wife. I never got to see the world with him. How could I just give up on him? Clutching a stack of overdue medical bills, I collapsed in the busy hospital corridor, sobbing. He had given every penny he had to heal my eyes. And now, I was supposed to sign a form that would end his life. A pair of expensive leather shoes appeared in my blurry vision. I looked up, my tear-filled gaze traveling up a pair of perfectly tailored trousers. A pair of obsidian eyes, shining and full of a startling tenderness, stared down at me. He leaned in. “Nora Blake. My name is Vincent Leech.” “I want you. Marry me, and I will give you anything you desire.” 2 Our marriage was met with fierce opposition from Vincent’s mother. She believed that a family of their stature should be joined with a socialite of equal standing, not some no-name girl from an orphanage. In the end, Vincent threatened to take his own life, and she reluctantly agreed. At the wedding, the officiant asked loudly, “Mr. Leech, do you take this woman, Nora Blake, to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Vincent was silent. The entire venue fell quiet. After a long moment, he finally spoke. “I believe you’ve made a mistake. The woman I am marrying is Miss Seraphina Vance.” A wave of murmurs swept through the guests. They were probably remarking on Vincent’s undying love for his old flame. And, perhaps, pitying me, the stand-in. The officiant gave an awkward laugh and glanced at me, as if asking for permission. Before I could speak, Vincent’s cold stare bore into him, and the officiant’s voice trembled as he corrected himself. “Mr. Leech, do you… do you take Miss Seraphina Vance to be your wife?” Vincent’s lips were a tight line, his throat working. Then he lifted his head, his bright eyes already brimming with tears. He looked deeply into my eyes and said, each word deliberate and heavy, “I do.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an elderly couple in the front row, wiping away tears. They must have been Seraphina’s parents. Seraphina Vance was Vincent’s one true love, the center of his universe. She had died of a heart condition the night before their wedding. Her final wish was to donate her corneas. Vincent had moved heaven and earth to find the recipient. The first time we met in that hospital corridor, he said he wanted me. How could he? We were strangers. He didn’t want me. He just wanted what was inside my eyes. It was the only living piece of his beloved Seraphina left in this world. He wanted to see it every day. To kiss it. Our marriage is a transaction. I love his money. He loves my eyes. 3 Every morning, before he leaves for work, I knot his tie and slip his jacket over his shoulders. And every morning, he turns and presses a deep, tender kiss onto my eyes. I thought that was all it would take. Let him kiss my eyes every day, and in return, I would get the money to keep Liam alive. I was so naive. After we were married, he forced me to wear backless dresses, to eat steak, to drink my coffee with sugar every morning. All things that Seraphina had loved. Worst of all, he made me learn the piano. He wanted me to play his favorite English songs for him. I had never touched an instrument in my life; I couldn’t learn that fast. Because my progress was too slow, he accused me of not trying hard enough and forbade me from visiting Liam. At the dinner table, I threw my spoon down in a rage. His voice was like a whip crack. “Quite the temper! Seraphina was never like this!” “Pick it up!” Seraphina again! My face was a cold mask. I sat there, unmoving, my back ramrod straight as hot tears streamed down my face. He walked over, his jaw tight. He patted my tear-stained cheek and hissed, “Don’t you regret this, Nora.” Ten minutes later, I got a call from the care facility. Liam’s condition had worsened. They had stopped his imported medication, and he was having an allergic reaction to the new one. I knew someone had pulled strings. I fell to my knees, sobbing, calling Vincent over and over. He rejected every call. The most dangerous thing in the world is to have a weakness. It makes you do things you never thought you would. Vincent had Seraphina. I had Liam. We were both prisoners of the ones we loved. After that, I never dared to throw a tantrum in front of him again. I practiced the piano relentlessly, my ten fingers blistering and bleeding until the keys were stained red. As the sun set, he would recline on the sofa, hands behind his head, a look of satisfaction on his face. When I finished a song, he would slowly emerge from his distant memories and return to me. He grabbed my wrist. His gaze swept over my bandaged, blood-stained fingers. “Does it hurt?” he asked softly. For a second, I thought he actually cared. I was about to say yes, but then I looked up and met his eyes. I saw the shimmering love in them, a love that was not for me. I forced a faint smile. “No. As long as you like it, it doesn’t hurt.”

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Five years after I broke up with the crown prince of New York’s elite, we accidentally slept together. When I woke up, his face was cold. “It was just an accident. Don’t overthink it.” Later, I found out I was pregnant. At the hospital, he came rushing in, grabbing my wrist, his voice hoarse and full of hurt. “I said it was an accident, and you actually believed it was just an accident?” “Since when were you so obedient?” “That year, I begged you not to break up with me. Didn’t you dump me anyway?” 1 In the hallway during a class reunion. I didn’t notice him until he was standing right in front of me. By the time I registered his presence, my first instinct was to run. But a hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. Jim was just as I remembered him, handsome but distant. He looked down at me, his voice calm. “About that night…” I met his gaze directly. “That night was my fault. I was impulsive.” “I’m sorry.” Jim’s handsome face tensed for a moment before returning to its usual cool composure. He adjusted his glasses, his voice light and breezy. “It’s fine.” “It was just an accident.” 2 I never thought I’d see Jim again. Five years ago, my family suddenly went bankrupt. I was in the middle of preparing to study abroad with my boyfriend when the world came crashing down. Faced with overwhelming debt and my mother’s hospitalization, I made a quick decision. “I don’t like you anymore.” “Let’s break up.” On the athletic field at night, Jim, holding his acceptance letter to Oxford, froze. He frowned at me, his voice low. “Aurora, what are you talking about?” “Are you playing with me?” I couldn’t blame him for being angry. Everyone knew how hard I had chased him. Jim was aloof and hard to get close to. So I brought him snacks one day, “accidentally” ran into him the next, and at a party the day after, I shouted my confession for all to hear: “Jim Sterling, I will always like you, and I will never stop chasing you.” And now, looking at the untouchable prize I had finally won, my pride and my love waged a war in my head. In the end, I chose my pride. “You can think of it as me playing with you, if you want.” “Either way, I’m not going abroad with you.” I had to earn money, pay for my own education, and pay off my family’s debts. I didn’t say the rest. Jim had already turned and walked away. He had a powerful family, striking good looks, and stellar grades. He was quickly accepted into a top-tier university. Meanwhile, I was juggling part-time jobs, my studies, and taking care of my sick mother. I thought I would never see him again. Until a month ago, at that class reunion. He suddenly appeared. His expression was more serious, his every move exuding a new, mature confidence that made him even more captivating than before. I couldn’t resist. I drank too much. And we slept together. Alcohol really is a good excuse for things you can’t admit you want. And once again, I thought I would never see him again. 3 But then another classmate organized a middle school reunion. And he showed up. Damn it! Why were my classmates so obsessed with reunions lately? In my best friend Stella’s car, on the way home, she poked my forehead in exasperation. “You’re ridiculous. You know you don’t have to go to these things.” “Stop lying to yourself, okay?” “First the alcohol, now the reunions. Seriously, are you still in love with Jim?” My heart skipped a beat. “What if I am?” “What if I’m not?” We were adults. It was just one night. Jim’s family business was thriving, and he himself was incredibly successful. His net worth was beyond anything I could imagine. And me? My father’s debts weren’t paid off, and my mother still needed surgery. I was a mess. I had no time for romantic daydreams of the past. “But you two still…” I forced a smile. “We’re just human. It was a physical thing.” “Once and only once. It won’t happen again.” I looked at the moon, thinking that this time, I really, truly would have nothing more to do with Jim. Until a few days later. I stared at the two lines on the test. My brain short-circuited. So… do I see him? Or do I not see him? 4 I was still debating, but fate had already made the decision for me. After taking care of my mother, I snuck off to the OB-GYN for a confirmation. I was waiting for my number to be called when a beautiful young doctor walked by, smiling and chatting with someone. And that someone… was none other than Jim. Our eyes met, and we both froze. The doctor called Jim’s name a few times before it dawned on her. “Jim, do you two know each other?” Jim looked at me, his voice flat. “Classmates.” The doctor looped her arm through Jim’s, an intimate gesture. An undeniable sourness churned in my stomach, but I kept my expression neutral. “Yes, we were classmates.” The doctor was open and friendly, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Classmates, huh?” “Hi, I’m Jim’s fiancée, Valerie. Valerie Bell.” She extended her hand with a bright, confident smile. The appointment slip in my hand suddenly felt incredibly heavy. I managed a friendly smile, shook her hand, and just wanted to get away as fast as possible. But Jim suddenly called out to me, his eyes dark, his thoughts unreadable. “Old classmate, aren’t you going to wish us well?” He put a strange emphasis on the words “old classmate.” I nodded stiffly. “I wish you a long and happy life together…” “And may you have a child soon.” A few minutes later. In the exam room, Valerie looked at my test results, her face beaming. “Congratulations, old classmate.” “You’re pregnant!” I wanted to die of embarrassment. This was really… not the time for congratulations. 5 Valerie was still chattering away, giving me instructions. “You need to be very careful now. Avoid cold foods and alcohol, be careful with exercise, the first three months are the most critical…” I gave a weak smile and cut her off. “Um, old classmate’s fiancée.” “I have a lot of cravings. I can’t give up alcohol.” “I want an abortion.” 6 Between adults, some things don’t need to be spelled out. A flash of understanding crossed Valerie’s face. She nodded, her expression still kind. “Okay.” “I’ll arrange it for you.” She typed away at her computer, then glanced at me with a casual, knowing smile. “You know, the way our Jim looks at you is… pretty intense.” “This abortion… it wouldn’t have anything to do with him, would it?” In that moment, my heart stopped beating. My mind went blank. I just stared at her. She held my gaze, and just as the air in the room was about to solidify, she tapped my forehead playfully. “Just kidding!” “I scared you, didn’t I?” She stuck out her tongue. I forced my lips into a stiff smile. “No, no, you didn’t scare me.” “I have a clear conscience.” We… we had nothing to do with each other. 7 That night, on the way to the Sterling family estate. Valerie was pouting. “Can’t you just call off the engagement?” “You don’t even like me! Why are you listening to your parents?” Jim glanced at her, his cool eyes seemingly untouched by worldly concerns. He was concise. “It’s a hassle.” Defying his family was something Jim was perfectly capable of. But it would take effort, and it was too much of a hassle. He turned the steering wheel, speaking as if it wasn’t his own marriage. “In three years, when the business partnership between our families is over, we can get a divorce.” “You don’t have to fulfill any marital duties. You’ll be free.” “You can be with whoever you want.” As he spoke, he casually adjusted the charm hanging from his rearview mirror. His younger brother, Jasper’s, wild and handsome face was now turned toward Valerie. Valerie’s face instantly turned bright red. She muttered under her breath, “Well, what’s that supposed to mean?” “Ugh, this is so annoying.” She slumped back in her seat, then suddenly remembered something. Her tone changed, becoming meaningful. “Your old classmate came in for a check-up today.” In the darkness, Valerie clearly saw Jim’s hand tighten on the steering wheel, the veins standing out. His voice, however, remained calm. “And?” “She wished us a son soon,” Valerie said cheerfully. Suddenly, the car accelerated. Valerie’s grin widened. Jim shot her a look, knowing she was making fun of him. He suppressed the rising anger and retorted smoothly, “If we had a son, someone else would go crazy.” Valerie pouted, not to be outdone. “Someone else might not go crazy, but the little life in her belly certainly will.” “Getting terminated at such a young age.” Screech! The car slammed to a halt. Jim turned to Valerie, who was scared out of her wits, with an expression she had never seen before. It was dead serious. “What did you say?” “What little life?” Valerie had heard that ever since his high school breakup, Jim had been unpredictable. She didn’t dare provoke him further. She meekly confessed. “Your old classmate.” “She’s pregnant. Six weeks.” 8 That evening, I had just finished feeding my mother when I received a friend request. The username was “Speechless,” and the profile picture was completely black. For some reason, my heart lurched. I looked at the simple introduction below. Just two words: Jim Sterling. My heart was pounding. I resisted the urge to accept and instead typed in the request box: 【Do you need something?】 After a while, just when I thought he wouldn’t reply, a message popped up. Speechless: 【Aurora, what do you think of my username?】 The night was quiet, the moonlight slanting in, casting a silver frost across the room. His strange question made it feel like… we were just chatting. I didn’t reply. I figured I would just let it go. A few moments later, another message came through: 【Why aren’t you talking?】 Me: … 【It’s nice.】 Speechless: 【Aren’t you going to ask what it means?】 Me: 【What does it mean?】 Silence from his end for a moment. Speechless: 【Nothing. People say I’m like a mute.】 People? Who were these “people”? I stared at the word, a sudden, inexplicable wave of sadness washing over me. There was a time when I knew all of Jim’s friends. We grew up together, inseparable. And now, I knew nothing about his life. Oh. No, that’s not right. My fingers paused. The image of a smiling, cheerful girl flashed in my mind. I knew Valerie. His fiancée. Instantly, a wave of guilt and shame flooded my brain. I felt more and more that this conversation was wrong. That it shouldn’t be happening. My fingers moved, and I began to end the chat. 【Do you need anything else? I’m going to bed.】 The subtext was clear: I wasn’t going to add him. Speechless: 【Is there nothing you need to tell me?】 Almost subconsciously, my eyes drifted down to my stomach. A moment later, I came back to my senses. I replied: 【Valerie is beautiful. I wish you both a long and happy life together, and a son soon.】 Speechless went completely silent. A true mute. And I stared out at the moon, unable to sleep for a long, long time. 9 The conversation that night was like a lit fuse. I felt an urgent need to get the abortion. Especially after running into Valerie that morning. Valerie was surprised. “You want to jump the queue?” “Why are you in such a hurry?” “He can’t come until this afternoon.” My eye twitched. “Who?” Valerie stuck out her tongue and muttered something under her breath. She turned back, looking completely innocent. “Oh, nothing.” “I meant the doctor who’s doing your procedure. He, uh, he’s off this morning.” “He’ll be in this afternoon.” I frowned. I felt more and more guilty standing in front of this sweet, innocent girl. After all, I was carrying her fiancé’s child. “Are there no other doctors?” “I’m really in a hurry.” Valerie pouted and thought for a moment. “Okay, wait here. I’ll see what I can arrange.” I relaxed as Valerie went into her office. On a whim, I stood outside her door. Quietly, I strained my ears. I could hear Valerie’s slightly anxious voice. “I don’t have time for your games! Put your brother on the phone!” “I’m telling you, you’re messing up something important, and I won’t be responsible.” “What business is it of yours? What are we, little brother? You need to have some boundaries!” It didn’t sound like she was talking to Jim. But if you listened closely, underneath her annoyed tone, there was a hint of sweetness. “So what if I’m older than you? Hah, I’m higher up in the family tree.” “Don’t you dare try to take advantage of me!” I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end was saying. Valerie’s voice was now a mix of anger and annoyance, almost a pout. “Don’t you talk nonsense!” “That night was an accident!” “I’m your sister-in-law now!” Accident? Sister-in-law? Oh. My. God. My brain exploded. It was like… I had just discovered some dark, forbidden secret.

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It was the fifth year of my sentence. My mother came to visit me for the first time. She was a legendary defense attorney, a name known across the country. She was also the key witness who had personally put me behind bars. We picked up the phones, separated by a thick pane of shatterproof glass. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she asked how I’d been all these years. I told her calmly that everything was fine. Just as the visit was ending, she suddenly said, “Anya, Mom bought you a house in Seacliff. When you get out in three days, we can start over.” I managed a small smile but didn’t answer. There was no starting over for us. She didn’t know that to grant a final wish for a cellmate dying of cancer, I had helped her end the pain. The price for that mercy was my own life. I’d been sentenced to death. The execution was in three days. 1 A bitter draft snaked through the bars of the window, chilling the visitor’s room. The only sound was the low hum of the fluorescent lights overhead. My mother pulled a sheaf of documents from her bag and pressed them against the glass. “Anya Macqueen, this is the deed to the house. It’s in your name.” “And this,” she added, her finger tapping another paper, “is a letter of recommendation for the art school you always dreamed of. I’ve already taken care of everything.” She glanced at me, her expression a familiar mix of authority and expectation. It was her habit to arrange my life. “When you get out, you should go abroad for a while, lay low until people forget about… that incident. Then you can come back…” I nodded, offering a few polite, empty words. Seeing that our time was almost up, I hung up the phone and stood to leave. As I turned, my mother shot up from her chair, her hands slapping against the glass. “Anya, are you still angry with me?” “It doesn’t matter anymore.” I took a few steps back, putting more distance between us. My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “Ms. Macqueen, you’re a public figure. You should mind your image.” I let a cool smile touch my lips. “We wouldn’t want your colleagues to get the wrong idea.” As I walked away, I thought I heard her cry out, but the soundproofing was too good. I couldn’t make out the words. A cold sweat had soaked through my prison uniform, making the fabric cling unpleasantly to my skin. I casually rolled up the damp sleeve. Under the dim, flickering lights, the network of pale scars on my wrist stood out in stark relief—souvenirs from a time I had tried to end it all myself. I paused, a strange thought occurring to me. Seeing my mother today, on the fifth anniversary of my incarceration, I felt none of the burning hatred I’d expected, none of the hysterical rage that had consumed me in the beginning. I just felt… nothing. As if I were looking at a stranger. Back in my cell block, the guard had already unlocked the heavy iron door. I pulled my sleeve down and walked toward my bunk. Brenda, the convicted murderer who slept below me, gave me a complicated look. “You’re back, kid? I helped pack your things.” She gestured to a small cardboard box. “See if there’s anything you wanna keep. The rest you can just toss. Start fresh, you know?” I opened the box. Lying right on top was a fountain pen my mother had given me before I was sent away. Engraved on its side were the words: To my beloved daughter, Anya. Brenda’s interest was piqued. She leaned over for a closer look. “Hey, from your mom? Looks expensive. She must’ve really doted on you.” Her eyes scanned the inscription. When she saw the familiar signature engraved below it, she froze. Her voice trembled. “Eleanor Macqueen?” “You mean the Eleanor Macqueen? The Iron Lady of the courtroom?” Her voice rose with each question, a crescendo of disbelief. “The top lawyer who never lost a case, who put countless powerful men behind bars?!” Brenda’s gaze shifted to me, now filled with utter shock and confusion. “Anya… with a mom that powerful, how in the hell did you end up in here?” I tossed the pen into the trash bin. My voice was quiet. “Because I am her daughter.” The daughter she had framed with false testimony to protect her own immaculate reputation. 2 As Brenda kept pressing, I sank onto the cold concrete floor and told her the story of my mother and me. In the beginning, my mother wasn’t a legal legend. She was just an intern at a law firm, a single mother with a child in tow, fetching coffee and making copies. No connections, no husband. The man who was my father had thrown us out like trash. The northern winters were brutal, the cold sharp enough to cut skin. I remember my mother in a thin blazer, holding me as we shivered under a concrete overpass. I knew she was starving, so I went and begged for a piece of bread, pushing it into her mouth. From that rock bottom, an astonishing strength ignited within her. My mother was reborn. At thirty, she won the industry’s most prestigious award. By thirty-five, she was a partner at her firm. At forty, a case she handled became a national sensation, and accolades poured in. The same man who had kicked us out came crawling back, begging for a reconciliation. She stood before him, her expression like ice, and slapped a lawsuit into his hands. “I keep a perfect record of who was good to me and who kicked me when I was down,” she said, her voice dangerously low. “From this day on, Anya and I have nothing to do with you. I will give my daughter the best life imaginable, and no one will ever hurt her again.” From then on, her career skyrocketed, but she never left me behind. No matter how busy she was, she always carved out time for me. When I was applying to college, she turned down a multi-million dollar case to help me study. When I was looking for a job, she called in every favor to pave my way. I worried I was holding her back, that I was a burden. But she would just look at me and say, “Anya, back in that snowstorm, if it wasn’t for that half a bagel you gave me, I would have given up. From that moment, I swore I would give you the world. You are my life, Anya. No matter how high I fly, you will always be my only weakness.” That was the kind of person she was. Her principles were ironclad. Once she made up her mind, she saw it through to the end. It was true in the courtroom. It was true in how she raised me. And it was true when she sacrificed her own daughter for the sake of her so-called “justice.” “Sacrificed you?” Brenda’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You two were all each other had. With a bond that deep, she’d still send you to prison? What in God’s name did you do? Kill someone? Burn down a building? Were you running a drug cartel like in the movies?” None of the above. The crime that put me here was aggravated assault. The year I turned twenty-two, my mother was an unshakeable titan in the legal world. She was no longer satisfied with winning corporate cases. She began pouring her energy into what she called “social justice.” She didn’t care for money or power. What she craved, with an almost fanatical devotion, was her reputation. It didn’t matter if you were a billionaire or a politician. If you broke the law, my mother would take you on and send you to jail. Her proudest achievement was her carefully crafted image of absolute impartiality. “This integrity is what put me at the top of my field,” she’d often say. “The law is blind. Everyone is equal before it. Even my own family must face punishment if they do wrong. There can be no exceptions, not a single grain of sand in the gears of justice.” She said she loved the law. But I think she loved the feeling of holding people’s fates in her hands even more. In the theater of the courtroom, she was God. Guilty or innocent, life or death. She decided. I never really understood her grand speeches. But one day, Kevin, a scholarship student my mother was mentoring, looked up from his books with shining eyes. “Ms. Macqueen is right. I admire that kind of spirit,” he said. “Justice shouldn’t depend on who you know. It’s about having a clear conscience. Look how well I did in the mock trial today. It’s all thanks to her guidance.” That summer, under the incessant drone of cicadas, my fate began to turn. 3 After that, my mother started bringing Kevin home often. She’d tutor him, run him through debate simulations. Our sprawling villa practically became his second home. Their bond grew closer and closer, almost like that of a mother and son. Then one day, she suggested he move in with us. “His family has no money, and the dorms are a terrible environment for studying. Let him stay here while he prepares for the bar exam.” Kevin nervously fiddled with the cheap ballpoint pen in his hands. He forced a strained, eager smile onto his dark, earnest face. “Anya, I promise I’ll be quiet. I’m a good student, and I swear I’ll repay Ms. Macqueen for her kindness. If you’ll just give me a chance, I’ll do anything to thank you both!” Looking into his seemingly sincere eyes, I was suddenly reminded of my mother holding me under that overpass all those years ago. Helpless. Desperate. My heart softened once again. For a long time, I treated Kevin like a little brother. I cooked for him, bought him books, and taught him how to navigate the city. He called me “big sis” and told me I was the kindest person in the world. He promised that when he became a great lawyer, he’d protect me for the rest of his life. And he didn’t disappoint my mother. He passed the bar exam with flying colors. On the stormy night we celebrated, he climbed into my bed. My mother was out of town on business. I’d bought wine and food to celebrate with him. By midnight, my head was spinning, and I passed out on the sofa. When I woke up, it was to his predatory face looming over me. And a tearing, searing pain through my body. In that instant, my world shattered. I fought back, clawing and screaming, grabbing the heavy ashtray from the nightstand and smashing it against his head. I sent the plates and glasses on the table crashing to the floor. Kevin clutched his bleeding forehead, his eyes cold as he watched me struggle. “Cut the act, Anya,” he sneered. “Your mom’s not home. Who are you trying to seduce, dressed like that?” Given the choice between his future and my innocence, he chose to destroy me without a second thought. I couldn’t bear it. I called the police. Then, sobbing, I called my mother. She rushed back overnight, her brow furrowed as she took in my disheveled state. “Anya, calm down. If this gets out, it will ruin your reputation.” Kevin immediately dropped to his knees in front of her. “Ms. Macqueen, I know I wronged Anya, but I was drunk! She was the one coming on to me, I just… I lost control for a moment. You’re the best lawyer there is! I have a bright future ahead of me, you can’t let a small thing like this ruin it! If you help me this one time, I’ll be like a real son to you for the rest of my life!” I was only twenty-two. Still young enough to believe in justice, to believe my mother would fight for me. I pressed charges. I wanted to see that monster locked away. But reality quickly taught me a brutal lesson. To demonstrate her unwavering impartiality, my mother recused herself from my case and became a witness… for the defense. In court, she stood on the witness stand, dressed in her sharp suit, her face an emotionless mask. “This is my daughter,” she stated to the court. “Her personal life has always been… promiscuous. I urge the members of the jury to look at the facts objectively. Kevin is a good, honest young man. On the night in question, to my knowledge, it was Anya who invited him to drink with her. I don’t deny that Kevin made a mistake, but in my view, this was a tragedy sparked by seduction, and instead of reflecting on her own actions, Anya grievously injured him.” She even testified that I had expressed a romantic interest in Kevin on multiple occasions. She knew her words were destroying me. She just didn’t care. All that mattered was preserving her saintly image in this high-profile case, even if it meant sacrificing her own flesh and blood. And what about me? What was I? Sitting at the plaintiff’s table, I wept in disbelief. My ears were ringing with the contemptuous whispers from the gallery.

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The ninth time my husband’s mistress had the audacity to change the locks on our front door, a flicker of genuine annoyance finally crossed his face. I, on the other hand, was the one to calmly soothe him. “She’s just a kid, Alastair. She doesn’t know any better. Don’t get worked up.” Alastair’s hand, poised to smash the lock, froze mid-air. He turned and stared at me, his eyes boring into mine. “You’re not angry?” I was almost at a loss for words. After five years of marriage, this kind of chaos was routine. If I got angry every time, I’d have died of a stroke long ago. Besides, my own young boyfriend could be a real handful himself. All I felt for my husband was a strange sort of commiseration. “No, not angry.” … I thought he’d be relieved, but his expression turned uglier. He grabbed my arm, his grip almost brutal, and pulled me inside. He stared at me for a long moment before lighting a cigarette. “I already told you, it’s over between us. You don’t have to act like this.” I watched the glowing tip of his cigarette pulse in the dim light and gave a weary nod, turning to change into my slippers. I’d heard those words a hundred times. Fought about it a hundred times. The worst was on our wedding anniversary. We were celebrating with family and friends when his little lover, sporting a prosthetic baby bump, burst in and turned our home into a war zone. In that moment, the mask I wore shattered completely. I lunged at her like a madwoman, ready to tear her apart. But Alastair pulled me back too hard, and I fell. A warm gush of blood pooled beneath me. In the end, her pregnancy was a lie, but my child was gone. My life had become a sick joke. “What are you smiling about?” Alastair straightened up, his hand clamping around my wrist. “You don’t believe me?” His mood was volatile, and to avoid an endless argument, I gave him a placating lie. “I believe you. Of course, I believe you.” I’d spent the whole day managing a temperamental young man; I had no energy left to deal with him. I just wanted peace. But my compliance only seemed to fuel the fire in his chest. He let out a cold laugh and suddenly seized my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re trying to piss me off. I hate that dead look on your face, so don’t even think you can manipulate me.” I wrenched my face from his grasp, about to spit back a sarcastic retort, when my phone vibrated. I glanced down. It was another photo from his mistress, Sierra. This time, a barely-there thong bikini. Doesn’t this look better on me than it does on you, Rowan? Alastair says he loves how young I am… he can never control himself when I dress like this… I wasn’t angry. I almost wanted to laugh. Her little tricks were child’s play compared to his first conquest. That one had made her debut at our wedding. A year of planning, our friends and family waiting, and Alastair was nowhere to be found. After a frantic search, I finally found him in a dressing room. Beneath him, a naked woman. Seeing my ashen face, Alastair calmly pushed her away. He straightened his own clothes before reaching out to wipe the tears streaming down my face. “She seduced me,” he’d said. “I promise, it won’t happen again.” For the rest of the day, he held me, a hollow doll, and we went through the motions. I thought it was a one-time mistake. I never imagined it was the beginning of my own personal hell. Seeing that I wasn’t reacting, Alastair frowned and peered at my phone screen. A second later, he snatched it from my hand and deleted the message. “That girl is asking for it! I’ll teach her a lesson she won’t forget!” With that, he gave my cheek an apologetic caress and stormed out. It was one of his mistress’s classic moves. With Alastair gone, I knew he wouldn’t be back tonight. So I washed up and went to bed alone. But in the middle of the night, a pair of hot hands began to roam my body. Alastair’s lips were on me, his kisses urgent, but his voice was laced with complaint. “Why didn’t you wait for me? You used to always wait up, no matter how late I was.” I stiffened. The drowsiness I felt curdled into a wave of nausea. He reminded me of how pathetic I used to be. Soon after we were married, he started coming home late. I’d wait from ten to one, from midnight to dawn. He hated it when I called to check on him, so I’d just pace the house like a caged animal. On the lucky nights, he’d come home, bringing the scent and marks of other women with him. On the unlucky ones, I’d watch the sun rise alone. I had cried. I had thrown fits. He’d just watch me with cold eyes until I was exhausted, then drop a single, icy line. “Stop acting like a lunatic.” Annoyed by my distraction, Alastair pinched my cheek, his tone self-congratulatory. “I taught her a lesson. Canceled her credit cards. She’ll be here to apologize to you tomorrow.” I frowned, pushing away his wandering hands. I got out of bed and started for the guest room. “I’m on my period. It’s not a good time.” Alastair’s face tightened, a fire igniting in his chest. He stared at me, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You were on your period last week, and you’re on it again this week? Rowan, are you taking me for a fool?” I ignored him and tried to close the door, but he lunged forward, blocking it. “I know I was a bastard before, but I’ve changed, Rowan. Can’t you see that?” His voice was pleading. He took my hand and pressed it against his chest, over the tattoo there. Rowan. My name. For a moment, I was lost in a memory. We were eighteen, and we got them together. His family wanted him to go to a military academy, but all he wanted was to study abroad with me. In an act of rebellion, he went and got my name inked over his heart. When I found him, I burst into tears. He hadn’t used any anesthetic. His face was pale with pain, but his eyes were blazing. He touched my face, his voice full of a beautiful, wild arrogance. “No one is ever going to take you away from me.” Back then, I was naive enough to believe that was forever. So when another woman sent me a photo of her lips pressed against that same tattoo, I completely dissociated. I couldn’t feel sadness, couldn’t feel pain. The only thing that brought a sliver of relief, a gasp of air in the suffocating darkness, was the sight of my own blood. My fingers curled into a fist. I forced a gentle, understanding smile onto my face. “You’re overthinking it. I really don’t feel well. Let’s just forget the past. We don’t need to talk about it anymore.” Alastair faltered, a hint of guilt in his eyes. “Really…?” The silence stretched for a few seconds before he spoke again, his voice laced with disappointment. “Alright, then. Get some rest. If you’re not feeling better, you should see a doctor.” I nodded, ignoring the desperate longing in his eyes as I shut the door in his face. The moment it clicked shut, my phone lit up. A picture from Nico, showing off the championship trophy from his baseball game. He was like a proud puppy waiting for praise. Funnily enough, I had Alastair to thank for meeting him. Three years ago, Alastair was having a passionate affair with a college student. I tracked them down at her campus, ready for a confrontation. Instead, he shielded her, slapped me so hard I fell to the ground, and then walked away with his arm around her. A crowd of students gathered around me, their eyes filled with pity. That was the day something in me finally broke. I walked to the tallest building on campus and climbed to the roof. Just as I was about to jump, someone tackled me, slamming me back onto the concrete. Nico’s arms were like steel bands around my waist, his warm breath ghosting across my face. He seemed to be searching for the right words of comfort. After a long moment, he came up with a line, delivered with a reckless grin. “He can cheat, so why can’t you?” He was right. Why the hell couldn’t I? A young, athletic body, the clean, fresh scent of youth… wasn’t that a hundred times better than an old, stale man? From that day on, we began our secret affair. Amazing. Keep it up. After praising my puppy, I turned off my phone and went to sleep. The next morning, I was woken by the sound of laughter and playful whispers. I walked out of the guest room, a headache already forming, and saw Sierra pressed up against Alastair at the door of the master bedroom. “Don’t worry, Alastair,” she cooed. “I’ll be on my best behavior and apologize to Rowan.” While Sierra was a picture of nonchalance, Alastair seemed distracted, his brow furrowed. “Just stop causing trouble. And don’t do anything to make her angry.” “I know, I know. Now, can you kiss me?” Sierra stood on her toes, and Alastair didn’t pull away. The moment our eyes met, I thoughtfully closed their bedroom door for them. “Rowan!” I heard frantic footsteps behind me, and then Alastair’s hand was on my arm, gripping it tightly. A vein throbbed in his forehead; he was barely containing his rage. “What the hell was that?” His question baffled me. “What was what?” His grip tightened, and I winced, my face paling. “Are you crazy? Let go!” He didn’t loosen his hold, his face dark. “Are you blind? Didn’t you see her kissing me?” The words that had been simmering inside him for days finally boiled over. “Rowan, stop playing the part of the dutiful wife! I’d rather you scream and shout and tell me everything you’re feeling than look at me with that dead face!” Sierra’s eyes welled with tears. She approached me, her voice small and timid. “Rowan, it’s all my fault. I’m the one who won’t leave him alone. It has nothing to do with Alastair. Please don’t be angry with him.” She sounded so sincere, so heartbroken, as if she wasn’t the one who sent me photos from their bed, as if I was the one making a scene for no reason. I slowly turned to Alastair, my eyes filled with an exhaustion that went bone-deep. “What do you want from me?” You want me to fight with you, like before? To watch your every move, like before? To lose myself completely, turning into a ghost of a person, like before? Alastair was so damn selfish. Looking at his thunderous expression, I suddenly didn’t want to pretend anymore. “Let’s get a divorce.” The room fell into a dead, shocking silence. The sound of Alastair grinding his teeth was audible. A horrifying laugh escaped his throat. “A divorce?” He shook his head slowly. “In your dreams.” He studied me, a calculating look on his face, then let out a sharp, derisive laugh. “Rowan, I was wondering what your next move would be. So this is it? Trying to threaten me with a divorce? You picked the wrong guy.” With that, he shoved me away, wrapped his arm around Sierra, and slammed the door behind them. I rubbed my reddened wrist and, as if nothing had happened, got ready for work. After that day, Alastair resumed his old habit of staying out all night. It was as if he was deliberately trying to provoke me, with new rumors of his affairs popping up constantly. The mocking whispers from those around me started up again. “Mrs. Vance? Please. She’s just clinging on. It won’t be long before she’s kicked to the curb, hahaha…” “She was always a social climber. Now that she’s older and lost her looks, she can’t keep her man on a leash. It’s pathetic, really.” … I pretended not to hear any of it. At the office, I focused on my work. After work, I’d go to the secret apartment I shared with Nico. I thought we could continue in this quiet stalemate. But then Sierra had to go and drag my mother, whose health was already fragile, into her games. She sent my mother the intimate photos of her and Alastair. The shock sent her into a coma. Shaking with rage, I stormed over to Sierra’s apartment. She answered the door in a bathrobe, fresh from the shower. Seeing me, she flashed a triumphant smile. “Ms. Vance, what brings you here?” She covered her mouth in a parody of surprise, her eyes glinting with malice. “Oh, don’t tell me your mother passed away and you need Alastair to come home for the fun—AH!” My fury exploded. I grabbed a fistful of her hair and slapped her across the face with all my strength. “You bitch!” Sierra’s shriek quickly brought Alastair running. He yanked me off her, throwing me to the floor. “Rowan, have you lost your mind?” A dull ache spread through my limbs, but it was nothing compared to the agony in my heart. I fought back a surge of tears and pointed a trembling finger at Sierra, who was now playing the victim. “She sent our bed photos to my mother! My mom is in the ICU right now, in a coma!” Alastair froze, his gaze snapping to Sierra. Sierra was sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking. “My phone was hacked! I don’t know who sent them! Rowan, if you’re still angry, just hit me! Blame it all on me, I’ll take it!” She started slapping her own face, sharp, stinging sounds filling the air. Her cheeks were red in seconds. “That’s enough!” Alastair roared. He grabbed her hands, then turned to me. “What’s the point of bullying her? She’s with me all the time. When would she have had the time to bother your mother?” I struggled to control my shaking body and lunged for her. “If you have nothing to hide, then come with me to the police station.” “Ah!” Sierra cried out in pain as I grabbed her. CRACK. Alastair’s hand connected with my cheek. Time seemed to stop. My head buzzed. I slowly turned back to him, cupping my swollen face. A flicker of regret crossed his eyes. The hand that had struck me curled into a fist. But all he did was scoff, his voice laced with scorn. “If you weren’t so damn aggressive, I wouldn’t have had to hit you! You’re just jealous, so you’re looking for any excuse to blame Sierra.” I swallowed the metallic taste of blood in my throat. “Are you going to let me take her or not?” His voice was ice. “Never.” My fingernails dug into my palms. I smiled, though tears threatened to spill. All these years, whenever it came to his mistresses, I was always the one to be sacrificed. My child, my reputation, my dignity. All of it, gone. How many times had I gotten into fights with his lovers, only for him to pull me away, holding me back while their fists and nails rained down on my face? He would turn a blind eye to it all, only showing a flicker of concern when I spat blood. Then he would offer a few half-hearted rebukes. But now, I was done. I was so utterly sick of this disgusting relationship. Alastair was still lecturing me, his tone self-righteous. “Rowan, if you apologize nicely and stop giving me this attitude, maybe I’ll find it in my heart to take pity on you—” “Let’s get a divorce.” I cut him off coldly, throwing the divorce papers I’d had prepared onto his face. The smile on his face vanished. He stared at the documents scattered on the floor, then advanced, trapping me against the wall. “I told you, this little game of yours won’t work on me.” He looked so sure of himself, so certain that I was still the same Rowan who couldn’t live without him.

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To save me, my twenty-five-year-old boyfriend was thrown from a skyscraper by his captors. When he opened his eyes again, he was a stranger, cold and distant. He claimed he was from ten years in the future, sent back to fix everything. He said that the thirty-five-year-old version of himself, Liam, would cheat on me with his childhood friend in the third year of our marriage. He said that they had grown to despise each other, bound together for a decade only because of their child. He said that he and the other woman, Sophie, also had a child together. And his first demand, now that he was back in his twenty-five-year-old body, was that I abort our unborn twins and divorce him. 1 The next morning, Liam discharged himself from the hospital and brought Sophie straight to our home. I was summoned by my in-laws, and when I rushed back, I found him holding Sophie’s hand, declaring to his parents, “Sophie and I grew up together. She’s the one who truly understands me, the one I can spend my life with. I have to marry her!” He glanced at me, his voice devoid of emotion. “As for Thea, I’ve wronged her. I’ll compensate her after the divorce.” His parents were livid, their faces pale with rage, muttering about what a disgrace this was to the family. My husband, always so devoted to his parents, was now defying them for another woman. I looked at him, a bitter taste filling my mouth. “Liam, were you serious last night?” He had been in a coma for nearly a month. When he woke up, it was like he was a different person, insisting he was the Liam from ten years in the future. I thought it was amnesia, that he was talking nonsense. I didn’t believe him. But now, seeing his resolve, my hope faltered. Liam’s gaze was just as it had been the night before—no love, no warmth, only a chilling emptiness. “Thea, how many times do I have to say it? I don’t have amnesia. I remember everything. But I really, truly don’t love you anymore.” The revulsion in his eyes was a physical blow. “But we just got married three months ago. You said you only loved me…” Before Liam could reply, Sophie dropped to her knees before my in-laws and me. “Thea, I know your family is better off than mine, that you’re a better match for Liam. I never meant to compete with you. But he loves me now. Please, I’m begging you, let us be together!” I suddenly remembered what Liam had told me. He said he would meet Sophie three years from now during a vice squad raid. He’d learn that after college, her family’s poverty made her an easy target for a group of wealthy men who assaulted her, and she’d ended up working in seedy clubs. His sympathy for her would blossom into love. But by then, I would have already given birth to his child. Because of that, both our families would refuse to let us divorce. We would be trapped in a miserable marriage for a decade. In the end, Sophie, in despair, would take their child and jump from the eighteenth floor. He was back now to prevent all of that from ever happening. I could pity Sophie’s story, but I couldn’t bring myself to like her. Liam helped her up, his eyes filled with tenderness, and then turned to his parents. “Mom, Dad, if you still don’t agree, I’ll quit my job and kill myself right now.” He was using his own life as a weapon. His parents had no choice but to concede. Liam immediately took Sophie and left, heading to her parents’ house to propose. After they were gone, my in-laws unleashed their fury on me. They demanded to know why Liam had changed, why their son’s heart had turned cold only three months after his wedding. I had no answer. How could I tell them? How could I explain that the Liam who had walked with me from college classrooms to the wedding altar was gone, and that his body was now inhabited by his thirty-five-year-old soul? And the thirty-five-year-old Liam didn’t love me. I stumbled out of the house. The early winter wind bit at my face, but none of it felt real. How could Liam not love me? We met at eighteen, in our freshman year of college. After a painting competition, he approached me, his face flushed, and asked for my number. I remember looking at his handsome profile and feeling my own ears burn. He’d quoted a line from a movie then, “Some people are like a rainbow. You don’t know they exist until they appear.” We started dating at twenty. We traveled to countless cities, and in every single one, he proposed to me. He said he’d keep proposing until we were a hundred, until I finally said yes. At twenty-four, we were on a snow-capped mountain when I collapsed from hypothermia. He covered me with his own clothes. When the rescue team found us, he was barely breathing, but his arms were still wrapped tightly around me. I finally agreed to marry him. He was so happy he spun me around a dozen times. The very next day, he was on a plane to meet my parents. At our wedding, he promised to love only me for the rest of his life. Even in the moments before our fall, as the kidnappers pushed us, he shielded me with his body and whispered, “Thea, if there’s a next life, let’s be together then, too.” I had walked away without a scratch. He had suffered multiple fractures. I had sworn that when he woke up, I would spend the rest of my life repaying his profound love. I never imagined that one day, Liam would tell me he didn’t love me. I wiped away a tear and started walking toward Sophie’s house. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe the man who loved me that much could ever cheat. I was going to get the thirty-five-year-old Liam out of his body and bring my husband back. 2 I heard them before I even reached the front porch—sounds of intimacy, moans and whispers that made my blood run cold. “…Liam, be gentle.” The door was ajar. I shoved it open. Liam was holding Sophie, one hand caressing her breast, the other tangled in her hair as he kissed her deeply. My vision narrowed. “Liam, what are you doing?” I couldn’t believe it. The self-controlled, dignified man I knew would never lose himself to his desires like this. Was this really the man I had known and loved for seven years? At the sound of my voice, Liam’s passion vanished. He turned to me, his expression icy. “What I do is none of your business. Get out.” I fought down the pain in my chest, forcing myself to meet those familiar but chillingly cold eyes. “This body belongs to my husband, and we are not divorced!” He scoffed. “And isn’t your husband me?” I shook my head stubbornly. “You’re not him. Give him back to me.” He finally released a blushing Sophie, whispering a few soothing words in her ear before grabbing my arm and dragging me outside. His grip was rough. I never thought the man who had treated me with such tenderness, who wanted to give me the world, would ever handle me this way. Even the thirty-five-year-old version of him wouldn’t be this cruel. Once we were outside, I spoke before he could. “Tell me, what do I have to do to get you out of his body? If you’re worried about Sophie, I can give her a large sum of money, send her abroad. I can guarantee she’ll never end up in the situation you described…” He was unmoved. “I came back to marry her. I want to grow old with Sophie.” Grow old together. He had used those exact words in our wedding vows just three months ago. The person he had sworn them to was me. The pain was so sharp I could barely breathe. I remembered the blessed charm for our union he had sought for us before the wedding. “You’re not Liam…” I insisted, my voice trembling. “Liam swore an oath at Azure Peak Monastery! He swore to be with me in this life and the next, to love only me! Please, I’m begging you, just let my husband come back. I’ll do anything you ask…” For a moment, his expression seemed to soften. But in the next, his voice was even more brutal. “Thea, I hate it most when you get all weepy like this. You don’t actually believe that if the twenty-five-year-old Liam came back, he would love you forever, do you?” “Everything I told you is true. Three years from now, I will fall in love with Sophie. I am the future Liam. All that’s happened is you’ve gotten a preview of how this marriage ends. Cutting our losses now is the best thing for both of us.” His words left me speechless. I knew, logically, that if he really was the Liam from ten years in the future, my resistance was meaningless. But I couldn’t accept it. It was easier to believe that my husband’s body had been possessed. I took a deep breath. “If you can get the twenty-five-year-old Liam to tell me himself that he doesn’t love me, I will leave without a fight. Otherwise, there’s nothing to discuss.” Liam stared at me for a long moment, then let out a derisive laugh. “You’re dreaming.” He pulled out a set of divorce papers and shoved them into my hands. “Sign these if you know what’s good for you. If not, I don’t mind dragging you through a messy court battle.” 3 Liam didn’t come home that night. I tossed and turned for hours before finally drifting into a restless sleep. In my dreams, I remembered what the master at the monastery had said. When Liam had gone to ask Master Kaelen for a blessed charm for our union, the old master had shaken his head. “The thread of fate between you two is short and fraught with hardship. It is better not to ask for it.” I didn’t care much for such things, but Liam was insistent. Finally, the master said that if he was truly sincere, he would consider it, but only if Liam completed a pilgrimage of three thousand steps to the monastery’s peak, kneeling in prayer with every three. I couldn’t bear the thought of him doing that, so I persuaded him to leave. Love was in our everyday lives; I could see it. I didn’t need a ritual to prove it. But the next night, a disheveled but beaming Liam appeared, holding the charm. “Honey! I did it!” I could only laugh and call him a fool. I woke with a start and sat in bed for a long time before dressing and heading for Azure Peak Monastery. I had to ask the master if he had foreseen something, if there was any way to fix this. The old master simply asked, “What is so wrong with severing a calamitous bond sooner rather than later?” I was about to argue when he gestured for me to look across the courtyard. One glance, and my blood boiled. Amidst the crowd of worshipers, Liam stood with his arm around Sophie, bowing before the statues. I forced down the tightness in my chest, reminding myself I was here for guidance. Master Kaelen looked at my pale face, sighed, and handed me a slip of paper with a prayer written on it. “Go home. Place this by your bed and sleep. Tomorrow, you will have your answer.” I did as he said. I placed the paper on my nightstand and fell into a long, deep dream. I dreamed I was seven months pregnant, on my way home from a check-up. Liam got a call from work and had to leave me to get home on my own. On the way, I was in a car accident. I went into premature labor. One of the twins didn’t survive. In the hospital, Liam held our dead child, his eyes red as he demanded to know why I hadn’t been more careful. I was drowning in my own grief. The loss became a wound between us that never healed. Later, our surviving daughter was diagnosed with autism at age three. Liam’s work became more demanding, and he came home less and less. I became a version of myself I didn’t recognize. I would secretly check his phone, show up at his precinct unannounced during his late nights, and whisper to our daughter, “Daddy doesn’t want us anymore.” Nearly every time he came home, we fought. “If you hadn’t had her, we wouldn’t be so miserable!” he’d roar before slamming the door. A month after one such fight, I found a movie ticket stub in the pocket of his uniform. It was for a love seat. My eyes burned. He had told me he was pulling an all-nighter interrogating a suspect. Things like that started happening more often. The scent of another woman’s perfume, a smudge of lipstick on his collar, the unlisted number that appeared frequently in his call log. I watched, scene by scene, as our marriage rotted from the inside out. Sophie had a son, bright and healthy. On our daughter’s fifth birthday, Liam promised to take her to the amusement park. But he never showed up. He had to take Sophie’s son to the hospital instead. My daughter cried, asking, “Mommy, does Daddy not like us at all?” We despised each other, but we stayed together for our child. The dream ended with a final, horrific image: Sophie standing on the edge of a rooftop with her son. She smiled at a frantic Liam below. “Liam, in our next life, I want to meet you sooner.” Then she jumped. The dream-Liam turned to me, his eyes like daggers. “Are you satisfied now, Thea?” I woke up with a gasp, drenched in a cold sweat. I touched my still-flat stomach, my mind in turmoil. Before, I couldn’t imagine how our love could ever sour so completely. But after seeing it unfold, watching our marriage decay step by agonizing step… I closed my eyes and, just as he wished, signed the divorce papers. After calling my parents to explain, I went to the hospital and scheduled the abortion.

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