My once-wealthy parents, after their public fall from grace, feared facing their enraged creditors. So, overnight, they shipped me off to a remote African village, a place so obscure it wasn’t even on the map. Later, a rare malaria outbreak hit the village, causing widespread death and devastation. Terrified, I called my parents, begging them to bring me home, but only received a cold reply: “You’re not the pampered princess you once were. What, can’t you manage on your own?” “We spent so much money sending you away precisely because we didn’t want you harassed by those creditors. Why can’t you understand our good intentions?” “Anyway, we don’t have money for your plane ticket now. You’re on your own!” Clinging to a final shred of hope, I called my fiancé. What I got was a torrent of accusations from him: “Skylar, why are you still so delicate? Do you even know what Tiffany is going through here?” “You’re living it up overseas, while Tiffany can’t even leave the house because of those debt collectors.” “If you call me again, I’m canceling our engagement immediately!” He blocked my number, completely severing my hope of returning home. From that day on, I endured the torment of illness, fighting tooth and nail for a scrap of food, often ending up bruised and bloody. Just as I was despairing enough to contemplate suicide, the international rescue team finally arrived. They brought me clean water and food, and gave me antibiotics and vaccines. Finally back home, I saw my fiancé and my adoptive sister flaunting their lavish wedding on Ins. That’s when I found out the “bankruptcy” was a sham. My parents just wanted to get rid of me, to clear the way for my fiancé and my adoptive sister to be together.

After leaving the wedding venue, I went straight to the hospital. Malaria is somewhat contagious, and even though the virus was completely cleared, I still needed to check into the hospital daily for a while, reporting my physical condition. Dr. Liam Smith, my attending physician who returned with me, saw my constant silence and thought I was homesick. He comforted me, saying I could go home after my blood was drawn. But he couldn’t have known that from today, I no longer had a home. As I stepped out of the blood draw room, my phone started ringing furiously. It was my dad, whom I hadn’t heard from in ages. The moment I answered, his furious roar filled my ears: “Skylar, what exactly did you mean by that comment under the video? Were you doing it on purpose?!” “Do you know that because of your comment, Tiffany has been crying her eyes out? She’s your sister, why are you so intent on seeing her unhappy?” I looked at my emaciated reflection in the mirror, then recalled the dazzling Tiffany at the wedding, and let out a bitter laugh: “What’s wrong with the comment? Didn’t I already wish them well? What? Do you want me to send them a lavish wedding gift too?” “Dad, just tell me the truth. Is Tiffany your biological daughter, and I’m the one you adopted, right?” He seemed surprised by my words, and the breathing on the other end of the line hitched. Immediately after, the phone was snatched away, and my mom’s voice came through: “Skylar, you’re misunderstanding your sister. That wedding was just to make her happy, they didn’t even get a marriage license, so it doesn’t count.” “After all, your sister stayed behind to help you hold off the creditors, that’s why she couldn’t come with you. You should be thanking her!” At this very moment, my biological parents were still lying to themselves. Thinking of the truth I’d witnessed at the hotel entrance just moments ago, my heart felt like it was being squeezed, making it hard to breathe. After a long while, I spoke with self-mockery: “Thank her for stealing my family’s affection and my love?” Hearing my sarcasm, my dad’s angry growl erupted again: “You ungrateful wretch! Everything your mother and I do is for your own good, and you dare speak to us like that?!” “I’m telling you, if you don’t apologize to Tiffany, you can stay in Africa forever and never come back! I’ll pretend I never had a daughter like you!” With that, the phone was slammed down. Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. Before, I always thought my parents didn’t know my true plight in Africa, which was why they were so cold and heartless. But when I got off the plane today, I learned that news of the malaria epidemic in Africa had long reached home. Even a five-year-old knows how terrifying malaria is. They simply didn’t care if I lived or died. As long as their favorite daughter was safe and sound, that was enough for them. Ever since Tiffany came into their lives, my dad’s company crisis not only resolved smoothly but also thrived. From then on, my dad became convinced she was the Stone family’s lucky charm, and his affection for her far surpassed what he showed me, his biological daughter. Anything Tiffany set her sights on, I had to give up unconditionally. When we were little, it was rooms, dolls, and princess dresses. When we grew up, it became my fiancé. They were willing to trick me with an absurd lie about bankruptcy and send me far away, all to prevent me from ruining Tiffany’s romance. Africa’s environment was harsh, with scarce food and drinking water. But even more terrifying was the omnipresent virus. It wasn’t until I contracted malaria and had several near-death experiences that I truly understood what fear was. Recalling the moments when I desperately fought for survival, only to be repeatedly rejected by my closest relatives, a surge of intense rage filled my heart. Even if it killed me, I would never apologize to Tiffany!

Because one of my blood indicators was high, I needed to be temporarily isolated and couldn’t leave the hospital. To put my mind at ease, Dr. Liam Smith offered to go home in my stead and reassure my parents. I wanted to tell him not to bother, that no one cared if I lived or died. But meeting his earnest gaze, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse. After all, if it weren’t for Dr. Smith, I probably would have died in a foreign land. Sighing lightly, I sent him the address. Because the call remained connected, I could clearly hear my parents’ voices. Upon hearing Dr. Smith’s purpose, my dad’s furious voice immediately flared: “What new stunt is Skylar pulling now?! She went to Africa and still can’t behave? No wonder even her own fiancé doesn’t like her!” “And she got malaria? Wouldn’t it be better if you just said she died?” “I don’t care how much money Skylar spent to hire you for this performance, please tell that ungrateful child that if she insists on not apologizing to Tiffany, she can forget about ever leaving Africa!” Listening to my dad’s angry roar, my heart ached, yet I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. He probably forgot how long it had been since he last gave me any allowance. Hire an actor? If I truly had that kind of spare cash, I wouldn’t have had to fight someone over half a dry pancake, ending up with a clump of my hair pulled out. Dr. Smith was completely unprepared for such a response. He stood stunned for a long moment before speaking again: “I… I truly am a doctor from the Central Hospital, and a member of the medical team that aided Africa this time. Your daughter…” “That’s enough! Haven’t you performed enough?” “Forget about malaria, even if she truly died out there, her mother and I wouldn’t shed a single tear for her!” With that, without waiting for Dr. Smith to respond, the door was slammed shut. Dr. Smith instinctively covered the phone’s microphone. He then belatedly remembered his still-connected phone and quickly hung up. But everything that needed to be heard, and everything that shouldn’t have, I had heard crystal clear. Although I had told myself a thousand times to completely give up on this couple, at that moment, my eyes still burned with tears, and my hand beneath the covers gripped the bedsheet tightly. The parental love that was so easily accessible to others was an untouchable luxury for me. Perhaps, I should have given up on this false family affection long ago. [Skylar, are you… okay?] Even though it was just a text message, I could feel Dr. Smith’s concern and worry. See? A stranger I’d known for less than a month could care for me so much, yet my parents, whom I’d spent over twenty years with, treated me like dirt. Skylar, how ridiculous you are! My trembling hand typed out a line: [I’m fine. I already knew this would be the outcome, I’m used to it…]

There were three other people isolated with me. Each of them had family concern and companionship, while I was all alone. I often saw pity and sympathy in their eyes. But compared to that sympathy, what chilled me more was the balance in my bank account. My illness wasn’t difficult to treat, but it required an expensive imported medication. And the price of this imported medication was something I couldn’t afford. Because Tiffany once claimed, “Skylar might go astray if she has too much money,” my dad only gave me about $70 a month for living expenses. Tiffany, meanwhile, received a staggering $14,000 a month. So, while Tiffany was on a wild shopping spree, I could barely make ends meet by working part-time handing out flyers. Fresh out of college, I hadn’t even had a chance to submit my resume before my parents tricked me into going to Africa. Now, my bank account balance was only three digits. How could that amount possibly buy imported medicine? Dr. Smith noticed my predicament and proactively covered all my medical expenses. After being discharged, I still chose to go home. Because I really didn’t want to trouble Dr. Smith anymore; I already owed him too much. Upon arriving home, I was greeted not by my parents’ warm concern, but by my dad’s teacup. Since it happened so suddenly, I couldn’t dodge in time, and the scalding tea splashed onto my exposed arm, instantly turning my skin bright red. But my dad wasn’t satisfied; he pointed at my nose and yelled: “Who allowed you to come back to the country without permission? And who bought your plane ticket?” “Was it that actor you hired earlier? He even lied to me that you had malaria, but you look perfectly fine!” “You’re full of lies, Skylar. How could I have given birth to such a morally corrupt daughter!” “If only Tiffany were my biological daughter, how wonderful that would be!” That last sentence made me sharply lift my head and stare intently at my dad: “Dad, aren’t you the one full of lies? You used bankruptcy as an excuse to send me to Africa, leaving me to fend for myself.” “If I could, I’d rather not be your biological daughter…” Before I could finish, a clear slap mark appeared on my left cheek. My dad’s eyes were bloodshot, looking at me as if I were his enemy: “You wretch, you have no gratitude at all! Get out, just get out!” If it weren’t for needing to gather money to pay back Dr. Smith, I wouldn’t have wanted to step foot in this house. Just as the atmosphere grew tense, Tiffany hypocritically walked up to me, took my hand, and said: “Skylar, Dad lying about bankruptcy and sending you to Africa was also for your own good. He just wanted to train you to be a capable successor.” Her tone was sincere, but her fingernails dug deeply into my palm. Without thinking, I immediately shook her hand off. I hadn’t used much force, but Tiffany stumbled backward and fell. She sat on the floor, eyes wide, her face full of hurt: “Skylar, you misunderstood me! I really didn’t mean to steal Brandon from you.” “Even though you’ve always looked down on me and thought I wasn’t worthy of being your sister, in my heart, you’ll always be my big sister.” As she spoke, tears streamed down her face like broken pearls. My dad slapped me twice more. The sharp sound of the slaps echoed in the empty living room. I distinctly saw Tiffany’s triumphant smirk hidden beneath her tear-filled eyes. “You wretch! If I had known you were so malicious, I should have strangled you the moment you were born!”

The farce ended with my dad giving Tiffany an unlimited black card as compensation. I didn’t care; I just wanted to go back to my room as quickly as possible to see if I had any jewelry or valuables left to sell. But opening the door, the sight before me made my breathing stop. In my own bedroom, my personal belongings were piled in a corner like trash, and my favorite white dress had several distinct footprints on it. And on my bed, a litter of stray cats lounged, cat hair flying everywhere, coating every corner of the room. The largest stray cat saw me and immediately arched its back defensively. It seemed as if it would attack me if I took another step inside. The memory of being attacked by stray cats as a child resurfaced in my mind, and my whole body involuntarily trembled. “Skylar, I’m so sorry, you came back so suddenly, I didn’t even have time to clean your room.” “My black cat is pregnant, so I had to bring her home. Your room is big and airy, perfect for cats. Dad said you wouldn’t be back anytime soon, so I didn’t tell you about it.” “Skylar, you’re not going to be petty about this, are you?” Tiffany’s voice held a challenging tone, and the malice in her eyes was unconcealed. Seeing my pale face, she walked closer, in excellent spirits, and whispered to me: “Skylar, I heard you’re terrified of cats. Do you like this gift I gave you?” “If I were you, I’d just stay in Africa and not come back. Anyway, no one in this family loves you!” “I advise you to leave willingly, or don’t blame me for doing it myself!” When we were little, Tiffany secretly put several stray cats in my room to attack me while I slept. Now, she was using the same trick to try and drive me away. At this moment, I could no longer suppress the rage in my heart and grabbed her by the neck. Tiffany froze for a second, then immediately screamed: “Dad, Mom, come save me! Skylar suddenly went crazy, she’s trying to kill me!” “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I won’t dare do it again, Skylar, please let me go!” “Skylar, I really didn’t know you were afraid of cats, I won’t ever just use your room again!” Even with my hands around her neck, Tiffany didn’t forget to act. Just as I was about to slap her again, my hair was violently yanked. The sudden sharp pain made me instantly release Tiffany. My dad violently threw me to the ground. “You little wretch! You’ve been home for less than half an hour and you’ve already thrown the house into chaos.” “Get out! From now on, I’ll pretend I don’t have a daughter like you.” My mom, even, rushed over and shielded Tiffany with her own body. “Skylar! How did you become like this?! What did your sister ever do wrong that you have to bully her again and again?” “I gave her permission to use your room to keep cats. If you’re angry, take it out on me!” My biological parents fiercely protected their adopted daughter, yet looked at me, their own flesh and blood, with hatred. At that moment, the light in my eyes completely died. I had truly become an orphan. My hair was disheveled, and both sides of my face bore clear slap marks, but I didn’t hesitate, trembling as I leaned against the wall to stand up. Now, I just wanted to leave this place forever and never come back. I said nothing, slowly making my way down the stairs, leaning on the railing. “Wait!” My mom’s voice, filled with a hint of concern, spoke up: “Skylar, why are you so thin? And why do you have so many needle marks on your arm?”

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For five years into our marriage, Kevin and I still kept our finances strictly separate. We split the mortgage down the middle, meticulously divided utility bills down to the last cent, and even took turns buying condoms. Our friends used to joke we were more like roommates than a married couple. I always defended him: “Economic independence keeps our feelings pure.” On New Year’s Eve, Kevin’s old phone, left at home, suddenly chimed. Curious, I checked it. It was a notification for his company’s million-dollar annual bonus. I was about to call him with the good news when his call came in first: “Suzanne, the company’s performance wasn’t great this year, so no annual bonus. Could you cover the utility bills this month?” A cold dread settled in my chest. After hanging up, I quickly rushed to the bank to check his transaction history. In those five years, he had been sporadically transferring a total of a million dollars to my best friend, Vivian. I opened Vivian’s Ins. She had just updated her feed: The caption read: “My husband’s annual bonus just landed! Time to start a growth fund for our baby!”

The comments section was flooded with likes and remarks from our mutual friends. “Wow! A million-dollar bonus! When did you find such an amazing husband?” Vivian immediately replied: “We’re just dating for now, not married yet. I won’t say yes to his proposal that easily.” “He got promoted to director this year, and the company gave him the top bonus.” I remembered Kevin being promoted to director last month. The comments were full of envy, with two from our mutual friends tagging me. “Look at her husband! How much did yours get this year?” Vivian replied under that comment: “Suzanne’s household has that separate finances thing, they handle their own money, it’s different.” Another friend said: “Suzanne, you’re just too independent.” Vivian replied with a laughing emoji: “That’s right, Suzanne likes it that way, she thinks it’s fair.” Someone else asked Vivian: “When’s the baby due? So excited!” Vivian replied uniformly: “Thank you all! Once the baby arrives, I’ll definitely treat everyone to dinner!” My hands trembling, I scrolled through photos of Vivian’s ex-boyfriends on Ins. One back shot bore a striking resemblance to Kevin. Another photo showed her pregnant belly, and a hand with a scar was visible. Kevin had a scar in the same spot on his hand; it was from a lab accident during an experiment. I’d traced that scar countless times; there was no mistaking it. The caption beneath that photo read: *The baby’s father was overjoyed, holding her close and refusing to let go.* My phone slipped from my grasp, falling to the floor. The screen showed a photo of the three of us, and for the first time, it felt like a cruel mockery. Just a month ago, Vivian had told me she was pregnant. She said the father was her jerk ex-boyfriend, that they had broken up long ago, and she was planning to be a single mom. I had even heartbrokenly accompanied her to the hospital for check-ups, and covered her three thousand dollars in medical bills. “Suzanne, you’re the only one who’s ever been so good to me,” she had said, her eyes red-rimmed. Now, I realized those three thousand dollars were probably just a small part of me funding someone else’s child. I turned off my phone and closed my eyes, but countless images flashed before me. Last year, for Kevin’s birthday, I gave him a two-hundred-dollar fountain pen. He immediately reciprocated with an equally priced scarf. Vivian, standing nearby, had said enviously, “It’s so nice how you two are; you don’t even have to worry about the cost when giving gifts.” Now, I guessed she was laughing at my stupidity inside. The year before, my mother was hospitalized, and we were eighty thousand dollars short for her surgery. I was strapped for cash and asked Kevin if he could lend it to me. He replied: “Our principle is strictly separate finances. This will be a loan from me to you, with bank interest rates, to be repaid within three months.” I gritted my teeth and agreed. In the end, Vivian lent me fifty thousand dollars, interest-free. I was so grateful, I treated her to three expensive Japanese meals, each costing five hundred dollars per person. But now, I suspected that fifty thousand was just a fraction of the money Kevin had transferred to her. I dragged myself home, prepared a lavish dinner, and waited for him to come back so I could confront him. In our five years of marriage, Kevin and I had always been ‘respectful and formal,’ a couple admired by outsiders. I held a sliver of hope, wishing he’d tell me it was a coincidence, hoping he could give me an explanation. At midnight, Kevin’s call came in. “Suzanne, I have to work overtime tonight. I won’t be back for dinner.”

In the background, I could faintly hear fireworks exploding. “It might end late, so I’ll just stay at a hotel near the office. I have an early meeting tomorrow.” I gripped my phone, my fingers tightening. “The company is so heartless, making you work overtime on New Year’s Eve. Which hotel are you at? Maybe I can bring you some late-night snacks.” Kevin’s panic was palpable. “No!” Realizing he sounded too harsh, his tone instantly softened. “No need, it’s too cold out. I couldn’t bear to let you go out in the cold.” “Alright then. Don’t drink too much.” The moment he hung up, my heart completely froze over. Outside, scattered fireworks burst, and the elaborate dinner on the table had grown cold. I scrolled aimlessly through Ins. Kevin’s mother, Martha, had posted a photo: a huge, delicious spread, all my favorite dishes. The caption read: “Dinner for my daughter-in-law.” Someone commented in the comments section. My heart warmed. No matter what Kevin was doing, Martha was always on my side. I remembered when Kevin and I first got married, Martha held my hand, her eyes red, saying: “Suzanne, Kevin was a sickly child growing up, and I spoiled him, making him stubborn and difficult. If he does anything wrong, you tell me, and I’ll scold him.” The next morning, I drove to Kevin’s parents’ house. My in-laws lived in an older suburban neighborhood. Kevin had bought the house two years ago, putting it in his parents’ names. He said it was for his mother’s retirement, and I even split half the down payment with him. Before leaving, I took out my treasured health supplements and bought my father-in-law, David, his favorite whiskey. For the past five years, my in-laws had treated me better than their own son. The first New Year after we got married, Martha secretly slipped me an envelope with cash: “Kevin, that boy, is so hung up on appearances, insisting on splitting everything. Don’t mind him. In life, you can’t always just talk about fairness.” One time Kevin and I argued, and in a fit of pique, I didn’t go to his parents’ place for the holidays. David called, not asking for the reason, just saying: “Suzanne, I sent you some dessert, from that shop you love.” I cried when I received the package that day. I carried the gifts upstairs, about to knock on the door. From inside, I heard a familiar voice, “Mom, don’t fuss so much. She’s not picky.” My hand, holding the gifts, paused. Didn’t he say he was working overtime yesterday? But I still smiled faintly, a little relieved, thinking, *As long as he’s not with Vivian, it’s fine.* Just as I was about to push the door open, the next sentence froze me to the spot. “These cherries are so sweet,” Vivian’s voice was cloyingly sweet. “Eat more if they’re sweet. You’re pregnant, you need to nourish yourself properly.” Martha’s face was full of loving kindness. I peered through the crack in the door. Vivian was sprawled on the couch, legs crossed. Martha sat beside her, gently feeding her cherries with a toothpick. David was kneeling by the coffee table, tidying up baby clothes scattered everywhere, grinning from ear to ear. My stomach lurched. The gifts in my hand clattered to the floor, and everyone in the living room turned at once. Vivian saw me, immediately stood up, then cried out in pain, clutching her stomach and sitting back down. Kevin smoothly put down his teacup and went to steady her. Vivian wrapped her arms around me, feigning intimacy: “Suzanne, I fell on the way here today. Kevin just happened to be passing by and gave me a ride. Otherwise, I don’t know what I would have done.” I pulled away from Vivian, my eyes fixed on Kevin: “Kevin, weren’t you supposed to be working overtime? How did you end up visiting your parents?” He paused, then looked away. “It was canceled at the last minute.” Martha quickly jumped in to smooth things over: “Yes, Kevin just arrived too. Vivian just had a little fall on the road, and Kevin happened to see her, so he brought her here to rest…”

I looked at Vivian. She was wearing plush wool slippers, and there wasn’t a speck of dust on her legs. I struggled to control my emotions. “Mom, Dad, I just remembered I have something else to do, so I’ll be leaving now.” No one followed me out. I slid down the wall, tears streaming down my face. “She’s so clueless, she’d never figure out what I’ve been doing. Her dad might have been impressive back then, but she’s completely useless, didn’t inherit an ounce of his intelligence.” There was a hint of smugness in Kevin’s voice. I leaned against the cold wall, my heart pounding faster and faster. “Speaking of which, her dad really was good to you back then,” Martha suddenly said. “If it weren’t for her dad, could you have gotten into such a good company? Would you be where you are today?” Kevin’s voice turned sharply cold. “Even without her dad, with my own capabilities, I would have still made a name for myself.” “Because of her dad’s connections, people whispered that I was just a kept man, both openly and behind my back.” “Enough,” Vivian said softly. “The man’s dead, why bring all that up now?” “Kevin’s doing just as well as her dad, if not better. By the way, you mentioned our old family house last time…” Martha’s voice dropped. “I had someone look into it. There are buyers for that area, offering over two million dollars. We need to transfer that money quickly so she can’t get a single cent.” “Then transfer it into Vivian’s name,” Kevin said. David, after a long silence, murmured, “Suzanne isn’t a bad kid, really. It’s just… she can’t have children.” Martha sighed. “Exactly! Five years of marriage and not a single child. Kevin is our only son, we can’t let our family line end with him.” My heart sank to rock bottom. All these years, I’d undergone countless tests, taken so many medications, yet I couldn’t conceive a child. Martha, always so ‘understanding,’ used to console me, “Children are a gift from above, it’s all predetermined, just let nature take its course.” Martha patted Vivian’s hand. “You’re the one who really came through, getting pregnant with a boy right away. All my life, I’ve just wanted a grandson.” Kevin said, “Mom, once the baby is born, you can move in with us. The preschool is right across the street, making it easy to care for Vivian and the child.” “What about her?” Martha asked. Kevin paused. “We’ll tell her everything once Vivian’s baby is born. Besides, after five years of marriage with no kids, making her leave with nothing wouldn’t be unreasonable. And with her personality, so obsessed with appearances, she’d never air our dirty laundry.” “I’m just afraid she’ll get desperate and cause a scene,” David chimed in. “If she wants to make a scene, then we’ll divorce. I’ve already transferred all the money anyway,” Kevin interrupted him. “All these years of separate finances, she chose it herself, I never forced her. She thinks she’s so noble, but she’s just a fool.” That night, after returning from Martha’s house, I developed a high fever. In a hazy daze, I drifted into a dream. My father was still alive, sitting in the wicker chair in our old house, peeling an orange for me. He said, “Suzanne, the biggest regret of my life is that I taught you too well. So well that you’d rather be wronged than hurt anyone.” I woke to find my pillow soaked. Outside, the sky hadn’t brightened yet. Kevin hadn’t returned all night. I opened my phone. Vivian posted on Ins at three in the morning. The photo showed two hands clasped together, with the caption: “Thank you for waiting for the sunrise with me.”

I turned off my phone, rose, and went to the study. In our five years of marriage, all of Kevin’s personal belongings had stayed here, in this room. I had never looked through them before. I opened the drawer, and my eyes fell upon a collection of utterly indecent photos. Vivian, stark naked, straddling Kevin’s abs. Vivian, scantily clad, lounging in our marital bed. My hands trembled as I took pictures. At the very bottom of the drawer, I found an old, faded manila envelope. The brown paper was already yellowed. I opened it. Inside was a traffic accident report. The date was the day before my father’s funeral. My father’s accident happened while I was away on a business trip. Kevin had told me that my father ran a red light, crashed into a guardrail, and died instantly. By the time I rushed back, my father had already been buried. Martha held my hand, weeping as she told me to “restrain my sorrow.” I fainted several times from crying, and Kevin handled all the funeral arrangements. At the time, I was so grateful for his help. But now, a vague unease settled in my heart. Scrolling down, under the “At-Fault Party” section of the report, Vivian’s name appeared. Vivian had killed my father! I continued flipping through. At the very bottom of the envelope was another paper. It was a Letter of Leniency. Kevin, acting as my father’s son-in-law, had signed it on behalf of the at-fault party. The reason stated: “The party at fault is a young girl with a promising future; it shouldn’t be ruined.” I immediately went to the traffic police department. There was only a young officer at the night shift window. I handed him the photocopy. “I need to check the original case file for the Evergreen Avenue accident from three years ago.” He glanced at it, frowning. “It’s a closed case.” As a family member, I pleaded relentlessly. From the traffic officer’s words, I slowly pieced together the truth of the last five years. My father wasn’t even driving that day. He was crossing the street at a green light when Vivian, drunk driving, hit him and sent him flying seventeen meters. Not only did Kevin keep it from me, but he personally signed the Letter of Leniency in my name, as my father’s child. He forgave my father’s killer for me. While I was mourning over my father’s coffin, he was texting Vivian, comforting her, “Don’t be afraid.” By the time I received the call and rushed to the hospital, my father had already been cremated. There was no time for an autopsy. The traffic officer sighed. “The car broke three of his ribs, ruptured his spleen, and caused intracranial bleeding. He was gone before the ambulance even arrived! I can’t understand how your family could have signed that Letter of Leniency. It’s incredibly unfilial!” The traffic officer continued to babble, but my heart had already sunk to rock bottom. I stumbled out of the traffic police department, utterly devastated, and ran straight into Vivian. She looked at me, her face filled with terror. “Kevin, I told you she’d definitely find out. Why else would she come to the traffic department?” Kevin stared at me, his face wary. Now, he wasn’t even bothering to pretend. “Suzanne, you found out?” I didn’t answer, just swept my gaze coldly over both of them. “Kevin, my dad was so good to you, and you helped his killer…” “Vivian, I treated you like my best friend. My father even paid for your tuition back then. Is this how you repay me?” Vivian froze for a moment, then a grin spread across her face. “Repay? Suzanne, you have no idea how much I hated your holier-than-thou act, always expecting gratitude, always pretending to be so good to me.” “I wanted to destroy everything you had! Let me tell you, Kevin and I have been together since college. All these years, every time I saw you foolishly kept in the dark, I almost burst out laughing!” I was trembling with rage, raising my hand to slap Vivian. Before my hand could fall, a sharp pain shot through my abdomen. I was kicked three meters backward. Kevin protectively pulled Vivian behind him. “Since you found out, then you might as well not live.” Vivian lunged at me, pushing me into the ocean. A second before my mouth and nose were submerged by the seawater, I heard Kevin’s comforting voice to Vivian: “Vivian, don’t worry. I’ll cooperate with the police to make it look like a legitimate death for her.” The next day, Kevin called the police. He knelt at the entrance of the police station, desperately pleading with the officers: “Officer, please help me. My wife, Suzanne, went missing yesterday.” “She suffers from severe depression and delusional disorder; her mental state is very unstable. I’m really worried about her, please, help me.” Vivian stood by, live-streaming, her face streaked with tears. “It’s all our fault for not taking better care of her, which is why she left alone. If any kind stranger sees her, please contact us immediately.” The comments section of the live stream was filled with messages of comfort for both of them. The next second, a police officer appeared, looking at Kevin with a puzzled expression. “Your wife was giving a statement at the police station yesterday. Didn’t she tell you?”

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My mother gave Georgina, my wife, an heirloom jade bracelet. She wore it once, then gave it to her assistant’s dog. The assistant posted a photo bragging: “My little buddy has his master’s mark now. He’ll be loyal forever.” My secretary, Sarah, sent me a screenshot. The photo showed the assistant and his dog. The jade bracelet was shattered into two pieces. One piece was on the dog. The other piece was made into a necklace and worn by the assistant. I messaged my wife, demanding an explanation, but she didn’t reply. Ten minutes later, I posted something on Ins: “Turns out haute couture fabric is amazing. Even animals look a little more human in it.” The photo showed all of Georgina’s designer clothes from her closet, cut up and draped over a pig. After posting, I silenced my phone and put it in my pocket. Then I grabbed my keys, got in my car, and drove to her fashion studio. This morning, Georgina told me she was going out of town for a business trip. Now I knew her “business trip” was actually a date with her assistant. I called a locksmith to break the door open, then I walked straight to the display cabinets on the second floor with a pair of scissors. All the clothes inside were her life’s work for the past decade. Next Saturday, she was supposed to take these designs to the fashion design finals. If everything went as planned, she’d win the championship and finally achieve her dream, one she’d worked ten years for. I smirked, then punched the glass display case without hesitation. It shattered instantly. In less than ten minutes, all the clothes inside were shredded beyond recognition. Looking at the empty studio, I finally sat down, satisfied, and pulled out my phone. My phone was flooded with missed calls. In our five years of marriage, this had never happened before. As soon as I clicked on a voicemail, Georgina’s call came in again. The moment I answered, Georgina launched into a furious rant: “Bradley, have you lost your mind?! Do you have any idea how much money I spent on those clothes?!” I slowly settled into my seat, a slight curve on my lips: “What? You’re mad over a few pieces of clothing?” “Why were you so generous when you gave the bracelet my parents gave me to your assistant?” “That heirloom jade bracelet from my parents was worth millions. Is it worth less than your clothes?” Georgina was speechless. After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke softly: “That wasn’t the one your parents gave me. I bought a new one as a reward for his hard work.” “Bradley, I’m still wearing your parents’ bracelet. It’s perfectly fine. I didn’t give it to anyone.” Then she sent me a photo of herself wearing a bracelet. But I knew, no matter how similar it looked, it wasn’t the one my parents gave me. That one was custom-made, with our initials engraved. McCaw had scratched off my name and put that piece around the dog’s neck. The piece with Georgina’s name was around his own neck. It was almost impressive how much effort she put into lying to me. I smirked: “Is that so? Well, I’m sorry to say your clothes really were worn by a pig.” “I’m at your studio now. Get the bracelet back here in thirty minutes.” “Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what will happen to the rest of the things in your display cases.” Hearing my threat, Georgina’s voice was filled with boundless fury: “Bradley!! Don’t you dare!! If you destroy my designs, I swear I’ll never forgive you!” I calmly replied: “I’ll be waiting. Just a friendly reminder, it’ll take you at least three hours to get back here. It’ll take me less than five minutes to destroy everything.” Hearing my harsh words, Georgina hung up. Two minutes later, Georgina sent me two photos. One was the shattered pieces of the jade bracelet, the other was a shipping tracking number. “Satisfied? I got it back! It’s a pile of junk now. If you still want it, I’ll send it to you!” I casually flipped my phone over, took a picture of the messy floor, and sent it to her. “Satisfied, very satisfied. But unfortunately, your clothes are also ruined. Looks like you won’t be making it to next week’s fashion show.” The moment the message sent, a hysterical roar came through: “Bradley! Have you lost your mind?! That was my dream! I spent ten years preparing, ten years!” I slowly fiddled with a design sketch in my hand, a smirk playing on my lips: “How much is your dream worth? Making me unhappy is the price you pay!” With that, I hung up the phone, no longer bothering with her impotent rage. Georgina and I had an arranged marriage. Our parents were business partners. On our engagement day, my mother gave Georgina my family’s ancestral daughter-in-law’s bracelet. Our names were engraved inside the jade, a wish for us to be united in heart and support each other always. After we got married, our feelings grew over time, and we spent a few sweet, happy years together. Later, the initial passion faded, but we still treated each other with mutual respect. I thought we could continue to support each other forever. But I never imagined that in just five years, my partner would develop other intentions. I understood that love doesn’t come with a ‘best before’ date, and eternal devotion is a tall order. But I would never allow my spouse to betray me so openly within our marriage. And I certainly wouldn’t allow my parents’ keepsakes to be trampled on like that.

The next day, Georgina took the earliest flight back. She stormed into my company, ignoring Sarah’s attempts to stop her. She kicked my office door open and threw a pile of shredded papers onto my desk. “Bradley, ruining my clothes wasn’t enough? Why did you have to destroy my design sketches? Do you know how much work went into those? I worked overtime for two months, drawing every single one!” Her arrival didn’t surprise me at all. I looked up, glancing at Sarah, who understood immediately and left, closing the door behind her. “You’re so generous, so talented, are you really going to fuss over these two sketches?” “Bradley! Are you insane? You’re retaliating against me like this, all for a bracelet!” she roared. Watching her unravel hysterically, I smiled: “Georgina, you’re married, do I need to remind you? Are you really that fond of dogs? Should I buy your assistant a leash so you can walk him around all the time?” Georgina was speechless for a long moment, then fumed: “Bradley! You… you’re crazy! A pervert! I told you, there’s nothing going on between us!” “McCaw is a diligent worker. I was rewarding an employee, what’s wrong with giving a gift? Your unreasonable outburst ruined two months of preparation.” Listening to her accusations, I let out a humorless laugh: “My unreasonable outburst?” “Fine, assume I’m being unreasonable! Don’t forget, your design team and studio were all arranged by me. I can give you the chance to pursue your dreams. And I can also crush your dreams in an instant!” This was the first time I’d ever lost my temper so badly since we got married. She froze for a moment, her eyes filled with disappointment: “Bradley, I never knew you were this kind of person before? Someone who casually abuses power. I don’t want your studio anymore! And from now on, you stay out of my business.” With that, she turned and slammed the door shut. I walked out of my office and saw her assistant standing by the door. When he saw Georgina come out, he eagerly went to her side to support her as they left. Before leaving, he glanced at me, a flicker of triumph in his eyes.

From that day on, we entered a cold war. Georgina never came back. I was busy with work and didn’t contact her either. But a week later, Sarah sent me a screenshot. It was McCaw’s SnapChat post: “Even though we missed the championship, we still got a great ranking. Georgina is truly excellent~” “Thanks to Georgina for taking me to the auction to experience it! She said she’s going to bid on the most expensive collector’s item for me today!” The post included two photos. One was of them both on the awards stage, holding a design award. The other was Georgina and McCaw sitting at an auction. Both were smiling brightly, their body language subtly suggestive. I had thought that after the last lesson and warning, Georgina would be more discreet. I didn’t expect her to be pushing her luck like this. I’d like to see how she’s going to buy the most expensive collector’s item with me around! I immediately asked Sarah for the auction’s address and drove over. As soon as I entered, the auction house manager’s eyes lit up when he saw me. “Mr. Bradley, what brings you here?” He enthusiastically walked over to greet me. I exchanged a few pleasantries, then scanned the audience. I instantly spotted Georgina and McCaw next to her. Georgina was happily chatting with McCaw. Seeing me, the smile on her face froze instantly. She looked up at me, confused: “Why are you here? What do you want?” A flicker of guilt crossed her face, but she still tried to maintain her composure. The assistant, being observant, greeted me: “Mr. Bradley, hello.” I raised an eyebrow, glanced at him, and ignored him. My gaze quickly returned to Georgina. “Then what are *you* doing here?” Georgina’s tone was impatient: “Last time, you ruined McCaw’s things.” “He didn’t complain one bit, and he even helped me turn things around for this fashion design competition.” “Even though we didn’t win the championship, we still placed.” “Can’t I buy him a gift as a thank you?” As if afraid I’d stop her again, she deliberately emphasized: “Bradley, I didn’t use a single penny of your money. This is from my competition prize money.” “So, you can’t control me this time.” I calmly swept my gaze over her, a fake smile on my face: “Is that so? Well, it seems Georgina is very good to her assistant.” “Like Georgina, I also want to buy some gifts for my employees.” “Georgina, you don’t mind, do you?” Our confrontation in the grand hall was witnessed by everyone. Georgina’s face was extremely mortified. But this was an auction, a place where industry bigwigs gathered, so she had to maintain a polite smile. McCaw spoke up, trying to smooth things over: “Mr. Bradley, if there’s any gift you want, just have Georgina buy it for you. Why bother coming all this way?” I looked at him, sneering: “What? Did losing your leash make you yapping so loudly?” “Who do you think you are? Do I need *your* guidance on what to do?” McCaw was publicly humiliated, his face turning instantly ashen. Georgina stood in front of him, displeased, and warned me: “Bradley, watch your mouth!”

The commotion finally subsided with the intervention of the organizers. After the brief argument, the auction officially began. The first item was a famous French watch, with a starting bid of two hundred thousand dollars. McCaw’s eyes lit up, and he tugged on Georgina’s sleeve. Georgina immediately understood. When the bidding reached three hundred thousand, she decisively raised her number paddle. “One million dollars.” At that, nearly half the audience gave up. Just as the item was about to be hammered down, I raised my paddle and countered: “Plus one dollar.” The price was raised to one million and one dollars. Georgina frowned, showing her displeasure, but continued to bid: “One million five hundred thousand.” “One million five hundred thousand and one.” Whenever Georgina raised the price, I always added one dollar more. After several rounds, Georgina, her face dark, asked me what I was trying to do. I slowly said: “Nothing, just normal bidding. Is there a problem, Georgina?” The guests present held their breath, watching our tense standoff. Our family was the wealthiest in Phoenix City, with businesses across various industries, so no one dared to easily offend us. And Georgina, as my wife, was naturally someone they also wouldn’t dare to offend. So, whenever Georgina placed a high bid, they would involuntarily put down their paddles. Then they watched us, husband and wife, bidding against each other. Ultimately, McCaw stepped in to mediate: “Georgina, Mr. Bradley likes this watch, just let him have it.” “I wasn’t really that keen on it anyway.” With the actual person speaking up, Georgina had no choice but to give up bidding against me. The watch was yielded to me. Georgina shot me a dark look. It seemed to tell me she was furious and that I should know better and stop. But when the second collection item came out. As Georgina was about to pick up her paddle to bid, I continued to bid in the same manner. Georgina finally exploded: “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Are you sick?” Seeing her publicly defy me and get angry for another man. I didn’t want to waste any more time playing cat and mouse with her. A slight curve on my lips: “Well, if that’s the case, I won’t pretend anymore.” I raised my hand, looking at the host: “Any collection item Georgina bids on. I will add one dollar to her price, with no upper limit.” At these words, Georgina was furious, looking at me with rage: “Bradley, what exactly do you want?” I slowly, unhurriedly, replied: “I said, I came to buy some gifts for my employees. Georgina, your taste is always excellent, you don’t mind if I buy the same style, do you?” Georgina’s face turned beet red. People around us were whispering and gossiping. Feeling the strange looks thrown her way. Georgina’s reputation was in tatters. In the end, she could only drag McCaw away in a huff.

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Everyone in New York knew I loved Liam. Loved him for ten years. When I was adopted at seven, I followed him everywhere. Everyone just assumed I’d be his wife. But that man… he killed me once. Reborn to the night he drugged me, I didn’t cry and give myself to him again. Instead, I picked up my phone and called his precious first love, Stella. Ten minutes later, I watched Stella rush into the room and turned to leave. The shredder devoured ten years of love letters. A music box shattered at his feet. A platinum necklace disappeared down the drain. One by one, I destroyed every gift he’d ever given me. Until on his wedding day, I left a note. “Wishing you happiness, and goodbye..” He thought I was just throwing a tantrum. But when he returned from his honeymoon, he found out. I’d canceled my phone number, blocked him on all my accounts, and vanished without a trace. A year later, he knelt before me, eyes red, begging me to come back. I looked at him and smiled. “Liam, what makes you think I’d want a man who killed me once?”

Clara POV Everyone in New York knew I loved Liam Sterling. For ten years. When his family adopted me at seven, I started following him everywhere. Everyone just assumed I’d be his wife. But Liam, the very man I loved, killed me once. “Quick, say hi to Stella.” His hot breath on my neck, his voice rasping close to my ear. I opened my eyes. In my vision, Liam’s eyes were bloodshot, his desire fueled by drugs, spiraling out of control. He gripped my wrist so hard I thought my bones might shatter. The familiar hotel room. The familiar man. The familiar opening line. I was reborn. Memories of my gruesome death flashed back instantly. The suffocatingly cold basement. The oxygen slowly draining. The searing pain in my lungs. My fingernails scraping against the walls in desperation. Until finally, complete suffocation. The icy grip of death crept from my spine to the top of my head, leaving me cold all over. Liam pulled me harder into his embrace, his body scorching hot, muttering incoherently. “I feel awful…” In my past life, I pitied him. I cried and offered myself to him, becoming his desperate release. In this life… I looked at his dazed face, but I felt nothing. With my other hand, I picked up my phone from the nightstand. Stella was the first contact in my phone book. I tapped “dial.” The call was answered almost instantly. “Hello?” There was a flicker of hidden tension in Stella’s voice. I wasted no words, directly stating the address. “Cloud Nine Hotel, Room 1808.” With that, I hung up. Liam seemed to sense my withdrawal. His grip tightened, trying to pin me completely beneath him. I pulled away from his hand, rolled off the bed, and stood up. I straightened my slightly disheveled collar, then turned to face the man on the bed, tormented by desire. “Liam, your woman will be here in ten minutes.” I said, then walked towards the door. “Clara!” From behind me, his name ripped through his clenched teeth, filled with uncontrolled fury. I didn’t look back. My hand found the doorknob, twisted it, and pulled the door open. The door slammed shut, cutting off that consuming gaze. I didn’t leave. Instead, I leaned against the wall next to the door, waiting quietly. Ten minutes, precisely. The elevator doors opened, and Stella, dressed in a white dress, hurried out. Seeing me standing at the door, she paused, then her eyes, like searchlights, scanned me from head to toe. She stopped in front of the door, then turned her head to look at me. It was the scrutiny of a woman claiming her territory, laced with contempt and dismissal. “You can go now.” Stella’s voice was soft, filled with disdain. “You’re not needed here.” She finished speaking and pushed open the door to Room 1808. Inside, the man’s heavy breathing and a woman’s stifled gasp immediately reached my ears. The door closed again. I turned and walked to my own room. Room 1809, right next door. I didn’t turn on the lights, sitting down in the darkness. The muffled sounds from next door came intermittently, suppressed and unleashed, intertwined, announcing the start of their affair. I listened quietly, my mind calmly replaying the events of my past life. In my past life, I had become Liam’s desperate release. A month later, I was pregnant. Liam gave me a grand wedding. But on our wedding day, he received news of Stella’s death in a car accident. From then on, I became a sinner in his eyes. He believed I had used the child to drive Stella away and caused her death. He started drinking heavily, staying out all night. Each time he returned, reeking of alcohol and longing for another woman, he would look at me coldly, his eyes filled with a hatred that could kill me. Even so, I endured. I thought, once the baby was born, everything would get better. But I never saw that day. On the eve of giving birth, Liam locked me in the basement of the Liam family’s old estate. That place I feared most since childhood – dark, damp, windowless. Through the door, he said to me in a sinister tone. “Clara, Stella is terrified of the dark. Go keep her company.” Then, he drained the oxygen from the basement. I suffocated to death in endless darkness, along with the unborn child. The sounds from next door had stopped at some point. Footsteps echoed in the hallway, the click of heels, then the opening and closing of the elevator doors. Everything returned to silence. I let out a long breath. The suffocating tightness in my chest finally eased. I knew that in this life, everything would be different.

Clara POV The next morning at breakfast, when I came downstairs, Stella was already sitting next to Liam. My seat was now Stella’s. The atmosphere at the dining table was pleasant; the staff served with smiles. Liam took a sip of coffee, tapped his fork against his glass. The sound wasn’t loud, but everyone fell silent. His gaze swept across the room, finally resting on me. His tone was casual, as if announcing a minor detail. “From now on, Stella is my girlfriend.” He paused, then added, “I’m going to marry her.” My hands, holding the fork and knife, didn’t stop. I continued to cut my fried egg. He pointed his fork in my direction, his voice sharpening with a warning. “Especially you, Clara. Be polite to my future wife. Don’t cause me any trouble.” Future wife. My knife scraped the plate, a sharp, grating sound. I looked up and nodded. “I understand, Liam.” I finished everything on my plate, put down my fork and knife, and prepared to leave. “Liam…” Stella, beside him, suddenly had tears welling up in her eyes. Her voice was soft, a tearful sob filled with grievance. “Clara… she… she doesn’t welcome me, does she? If she doesn’t like me, maybe I should just leave…” As she spoke, tears clung to her lashes, as if she’d suffered some great injustice. This, of course, infuriated Liam. “Sit down!” He barked at me, his voice dripping with undisguised fury. “Who told you to leave?” I sat back down as ordered. “Is that how you behave?” He stared at me as if inspecting a flawed product. “Is this how I taught you? Stella will be the lady of this house from now on. Don’t you even know basic etiquette?” I lowered my eyes, saying nothing. I ate this breakfast slower than ever. Half an hour later, my room door was abruptly thrown open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. Liam stormed in, carrying a chill. He slammed the door shut behind him, approaching me step by step, his eyes dark. “Why are you avoiding me?” He stood before me, looking down, “What was that attitude at the breakfast table?” I looked up. “I wasn’t.” He let out a humorless laugh, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up. “Are you upset? Because of Stella?” His tone held a hint of pathological pleasure, as if my jealousy satisfied some secret vanity of his. I remained silent. My silence completely infuriated him. He let go of my chin, turned to my desk, and roughly pulled open a drawer. He pulled out a thick stack of letters, scattering them across the floor with a flick of his wrist. They were love letters I had written for ten years but never sent. His leather shoe stepped on a letter, the sole grinding over my handwriting. “Clara, you truly disgust me.” He humiliated me word by word, his voice cold as ice. “You know Stella is the only one in my heart, yet you secretly write these things. Do you think I don’t know your intentions? Your secret, hidden love disgusts me!” I looked at the letter under his foot. I had written it when I was sixteen, with a crude drawing of a small figure and “Happy Birthday, Liam” beside it. Liam bent down, leaning close to my ear. His breath brushed my ear, his voice barely a whisper, meant only for us to hear. “Luckily,” he said, “It’s a good thing you didn’t offer yourself to me as an antidote yesterday, or I’d be disgusted for life.” He straightened up, giving me one last look, his eyes filled with undisguised contempt. “You’re not worthy.” He slammed the door shut. I stood there for a long time. Then, I picked up the scattered letters from the floor, one by one. I didn’t read them. I just neatly stacked them and fed them into the shredder under my desk. The shredder hummed, turning ten years of my love into unrecognizable confetti. After doing all that, I reached under my bed and pulled out a dusty handbag. It opened to reveal seven items lying silently inside. I took out the first one. It was a pen, engraved with my initials, his sixteenth birthday gift to me. I gripped both ends of the pen, using all my strength. Snap. I snapped the pen cleanly in two. I let go, and the two broken pieces dropped into the nearby trash can.

Clara POV I started preparing to leave. I turned off all the lights in my room, leaving only a desk lamp, and quietly looked up procedures for studying abroad and transferring assets on my tablet. The trust fund my parents left me was my only security. I needed to disappear completely, and quickly, before Liam and Stella got married. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I started coming home late. I would stay at the school library until closing time, then take the last bus home. That day, I returned to the villa and walked towards my room as usual. Pushing open the door, I stopped short. Someone had moved things around in the room. There was an unfamiliar perfume in the air. I took out my phone and saw that Stella had posted an update an hour ago. It was a selfie. In the photo, she lay on a bed, a blanket pulled up to her collarbone, her face flushed. The bedside lamp and wallpaper in the background were all too familiar. It was my room. The caption read: “A million-dollar mattress really is something. I mentioned I wasn’t sleeping well, and he had it replaced for me right away.” I turned off my phone and stood still. Liam emerged from the shadows of the hallway. He seemed to have been waiting for a long time. “You’re back?” His tone was flat, as if speaking of something insignificant. “Stella’s a light sleeper, so I gave her your mattress.” I’d injured my back, and it ached on rainy days. This mattress, he had specially ordered for a million dollars from Germany last year when my back pain flared up. “Anyway, your back pain is gone,” He added lightly. “Anyway, your back doesn’t hurt anymore.” I looked up at him and said nothing. “Mm.” After a long pause, I simply acknowledged him. He took a step closer, his tall figure looming over me, his gaze scrutinizing and suspicious. “You’re suddenly so well-behaved?” He looked down at me. “Don’t you hate it when I’m good to other people? Are you secretly plotting something?” I didn’t back away. I just looked at him. “No.” “I’m warning you, Clara.” He reached out, his index finger almost poking my forehead. “If you dare cause Stella any trouble, I won’t go easy on you!” I looked at him and smiled. Liam snorted coldly and turned to leave. I walked into my room and sat on the bed. The mattress beneath me was cheap; I could clearly feel the uncomfortable springs. I sat there in silence for a long time. Then, I took out a crystal music box. One year, Liam brought it back for me from a business trip to Athens. He said Athens was the city of music, and he hoped my world would always have music. I took the music box, walked to the window, and pushed it open. Below, on the cobblestone path, Liam was walking towards the garage. I let go. The crystal music box arced briefly through the air, then plummeted. A sharp crack echoed in the night. From downstairs, Liam’s angry roar. “Who the hell is throwing things!”

Clara POV A month later, Stella was pregnant. Liam was overjoyed, and the entire Liam household was abuzz with celebration. The staff moved with an air of cheer, their faces beaming with eager smiles. Liam hired the best nutritionist and family doctor, on call 24/7. I left for school and returned on time each day, trying to minimize my encounters with them. That day, I left class early and came home. As soon as I entered the living room, I saw Stella directing the staff to decorate the nursery. “Move that cabinet a little to the left… yes, just like that.” Stella, her belly not yet noticeably large, was bossily giving orders. Her gaze swept over the cabinet in the entryway, where a photo frame sat. “Oh dear.” She gasped. The photo frame slid off the cabinet, falling to the floor, the glass shattering. My steps halted. It was the only photo I had of my parents together. When Liam picked me up from the orphanage at age seven, I was clutching this photo frame. I walked over to pick up the frame. Stella saw me and immediately adopted a startled expression, her eyes instantly reddening. Just then, the front door opened, and Liam walked in. “Liam!” Stella, as if seeing a savior, threw herself into his arms, tearfully accusing Clara. “I… I didn’t mean to… Clara, she deliberately put the photo there to be in the way. I just glanced at it, and it fell on its own… It scared me, and it scared the baby too…” Liam gently soothed Stella in his arms, then looked up at me, his eyes icy cold. He didn’t ask what happened, nor did he look at the shattered photo frame on the floor. His eyes only held anxiety for Stella and the child in her belly. “Stella is pregnant, don’t you know that?” He chastised me sharply. “Apologize to her now!” My fingers tightened around the frame, shards of glass digging into my skin, drawing beads of blood. I looked at Liam. The man who, in this moment, would condemn me without question for another woman and her unborn child, despite my loving him for fifteen years. I nodded. “I’m sorry.” I said to Stella in his arms. “I scared you.” Liam seemed not to have expected me to apologize so easily and froze for a moment. Stella, in his arms, flashed a subtly triumphant smirk. I didn’t look at them again, turning and taking the damaged photo frame upstairs. Back in my room, I tended to the wound on my hand. Then I took out some tape and sat at my desk, meticulously, little by little, repairing my parents’ photo. The man and woman in the photo smiled gently, as if looking at me. Once repaired, I placed the frame back on my nightstand. After doing all that, I opened the handbag and took out the third gift. It was a platinum necklace, with a tiny four-leaf clover pendant. On my eighteenth birthday, Liam had personally put it on me, saying he hoped I’d always be lucky. I took the necklace and walked into the bathroom. Standing by the toilet, I let go of the necklace and pressed the flush button. The swirling water carried the necklace away, deep into the pipes.

Clara POV My preparations for studying abroad went smoothly. I used the trust fund my parents left me as a deposit for my overseas education. I thought I had done everything perfectly. Liam pushed open my room door without warning, a document in his hand, his face somber as he stood in the doorway. “You touched the money your parents left you?” He slammed the document onto my desk. It was a screenshot of an email from a lawyer. My heart sank. I had forgotten that Liam was the trustee for the fund. “A deposit for studying abroad?” Liam stared at me, his eyes sharp. I said nothing. Seeing my silence, Liam suddenly snorted, his tone full of arrogance and mockery. “What, I’m getting married, and you’re so upset you’re running off to ‘clear your head’ abroad?” Liam never once considered that I might be leaving permanently. In his world, I couldn’t live without him. Seeing that I still wouldn’t speak, the mockery slowly faded from Liam’s face, replaced by a softer expression. He walked over, pulled out the chair next to me, and sat down, playing the role of the benevolent guardian. “Clara, stop being difficult.” His tone softened, even carrying a hint of imperceptible coaxing. “Ever since Stella arrived, you’ve been so cold to me. But she’s the woman I love, the wife I’m going to marry.” Liam paused, reaching out to touch my head, but I subtly avoided his hand. His hand froze in mid-air, then he awkwardly withdrew it. “If you truly love me,” He looked at me, saying something that made me feel utterly disgusted. “You should love my wife too.” My stomach churned. Liam’s gaze fell on my desk, where a few small gifts he had given me were displayed. He walked over, as if surveying his spoils of war. He picked up a doll, the first gift he had given me when I first arrived at the Liam household. “See? You’ve kept all these things so well.” He held up the doll, shaking it at me as if showing off. “And you still say you don’t love me?” I looked at the object in his hand, saying nothing. His tone suddenly shifted, the warmth on his face instantly vanishing, becoming cold and stern. “You should put all these things away.” He tossed the doll back onto the desk, his voice impatient. “Stella is pregnant now, her emotions are sensitive. Seeing these things might make her overthink, might upset her.” He looked at me, word by word. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my wife and son.” I finally looked up at him. “Mm.” I acknowledged him. Then, right in front of him, I picked up the gifts he had given me that were still on the desk, the doll, the remains of the music box, and other odds and ends, one by one, and, without a trace of hesitation, threw them into a storage box in the corner. My movements were decisive. Not a hint of reluctance.

Clara POV Seeing me treat those gifts so roughly, Liam, instead, got anxious. He lunged forward, grabbed my wrist, and snatched a little rabbit hairpin from the storage box. “Clara!” He growled, a tension in his voice he didn’t even realize. “Can’t you be gentler? You broke the little rabbit!” That hairpin was a gift from him on my tenth birthday. I’d cherished it for years. I even still wore it sometimes. I looked at him, at his absurdly angry expression, and found it utterly laughable. He himself told me to put them away. I did exactly that. And now he was furious. Liam seemed to realize his own irrational behavior. He lashed out in embarrassment, letting go of my hand, and began to attack me with even more venomous words. “Are you a drama queen?” He sneered, his eyes full of contempt. “You’re clearly crazy about me. Who are you putting on this act for now?” He stared at me, as if trying to find a single crack in my composure. “Clara, I’m telling you, if you actually manage to forget me, I’ll change my name!” I ignored him. To prove how generous he was, and to remind me who was in control, Liam pulled out his phone and transferred a hundred thousand dollars to me. “Take the money and visit a few countries.” He shoved his phone screen in my face, his voice dripping with condescension. “Come back in a month. By then, Stella’s pregnancy will be stable.” I looked at the “transfer successful” notification on my phone and said nothing. Liam seemed to have finally regained some sense of control. He even thoughtfully gave me a few tips for traveling abroad, which areas had poor security, which seasons had unpredictable weather. Finally, Liam looked at me and said meaningfully, “Have a good time abroad. Don’t miss me too much.” He paused, as if emphasizing his new status. “I’ll be a married man now. You’ll have to adjust.” With that, he turned and left the room. After Liam left, I looked at the storage box. Inside, piled up, were the gifts I had discarded, the ones Liam had then “rescued.” It felt incredibly ironic. I took out the fourth gift. It was a rare poetry collection, with Liam’s signed dedication on the flyleaf: To my love, Clara. I carried the book to the window. Page by page, I tore out the leaves, then let them go. The pages drifted out the window, scattering across the garden below. Next, I took out the fifth gift. It was a brass compass. Liam gave it to me, saying he hoped I’d always find my way home. I took a small hammer from my desk drawer. I placed the compass on the floor, raised the hammer, and smashed down. Again and again. The glass cover cracked. The needle bent. The brass casing was battered beyond recognition. Until it became a pile of unrecognizable pieces. I no longer needed to find my way back to this home. This was never my home.

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I loved Brandon for ten years. Loved him so much I was willing to let him personally remove my memories. He said, “Alice, forget the things that hurt you. Let’s start fresh.” The surgery was a success. I forgot who Scarlett was, forgot why I cried myself to sleep every night. Until I found a hidden compartment in his study. Inside, an entire wall of surveillance screens, all focused on my hospital room. And Scarlett, wearing my nightgown, leaned into his arms, laughing softly. “Brandon, once she’s completely gone, those shares from the Brown family will be ours.” At that moment, my excised hippocampus throbbed violently. I remembered. I was never sick. He was driving me insane, little by little! Brandon pushed the door open. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Does your head still hurt today?” I shook my head, instinctively leaning into his embrace. In the three months since the surgery, Brandon had been unbelievably good to me. He’d cancel all his business meetings to be there for my rehab, and he’d hold my hand all night when I had nightmares. But there was always this empty void inside me, just a dull ache. “Brandon, did I used to love you a lot?” I suddenly looked up at him. Brandon’s fingers, which were tidying my hair, paused. “Of course.” He smiled, gripping my hand. “You loved me so much you’d do anything for me.” It sounded like a declaration of love. But I inexplicably shivered. Just then, the sound of an engine drifted in from outside the window. A car door opened, and a woman took off her sunglasses, looking up. A sharp pain suddenly stabbed my temple. “Who is she?” I clutched my head in agony. Brandon drew the curtains, his voice flat. “Just someone unimportant. Don’t worry about it.” But that night, I dreamt again. The dream was full of fragmented scenes. A woman’s laughter, Brandon’s cold profile, and my own hysterical crying. I woke up covered in cold sweat. Brandon wasn’t in bed. Against my better judgment, I found myself walking into his study – the one place he never let me enter. The password for the lock was my birthday. I paused, a faint warmth spreading through me. Until I opened the hidden compartment behind the bookshelf. An entire wall of screens lit up. Sixteen feeds, from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the living room to the garden. Three hundred and sixty degrees, no blind spots. And in one of the feeds, Brandon was sitting in a hospital monitoring room, staring expressionlessly at me on the screen. Beside him stood the red-lipped woman from earlier that day. She leaned on his shoulder, her fingers suggestively tracing his Adam’s apple. “How much longer until she completely loses her memory?” The woman asked curiously. Brandon stared at the confused me on the screen, his voice detached. “Soon.” “Once she signs the share transfer agreement, we can send her to a mental institution.” I stumbled backward, knocking over a photo frame on the bookshelf. Inside the frame was a picture of Brandon and me. I was smiling brightly in the photo, but Brandon’s eyes were looking off-camera. I picked up the photo from the floor and instinctively flipped it over. “Scarlett Jensen” was written on the back. When Brandon rushed into the study, I had already turned off the screens. “Alice?” He tried to take my hand. I sharply pulled it back, staring at him warily. “Those cameras… what do they mean?” My voice trembled uncontrollably. Brandon’s face froze. He was silent for a few seconds, then his tone changed when he spoke again. “For your safety. You’ve been prone to self-harm after your surgery. I was worried.” What a perfect excuse. If I hadn’t overheard his conversation with Scarlett, I almost would have believed him. “Who is Scarlett?” I demanded, staring into his eyes. Brandon’s pupils constricted almost imperceptibly. “A business partner.” He shifted his gaze, his voice turning cold. “You don’t need to know.” “But I feel like I know her!” I insisted. “My head hurts so much when I see her.” “That’s a normal post-surgery reaction.” Brandon put on his gentle facade again, reaching out to rub my temple. “Don’t overthink it, Alice. Your most important task right now is to recover.”

After that day, Brandon assigned more people to look after me. Nominally for protection, but in reality, it was surveillance. Even when I went for a walk in the garden, two bodyguards followed me every step of the way. The next time Scarlett came, I didn’t hide. She carried a fruit basket, smiling innocently. “Miss Brown, I heard you were ill, so I came to visit.” I stared at her face, trying to recall any memory. “Did we know each other before?” Scarlett paused in peeling an orange. She looked up at Brandon behind me, her eyes subtly shifting. “Didn’t Brandon tell you? We were college classmates.” Brandon frowned, sharply rebuking her. “Scarlett!” “Oops, I guess I let that slip.” Scarlett covered her mouth with a light laugh, but there was no apology in her eyes. “But Miss Brown is like this now, she probably won’t remember anyway, right?” My nails dug into my palms. At dinner, Brandon tried to feed me soup. I turned my head away, not wanting to look at him. “Throwing a tantrum?” Brandon put down the bowl, a hint of impatience in his voice. I looked at him, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Brandon, if I never remember anything, will you always be this good to me?” He paused. Then he took my hand, kissing it to his lips. “Yes, I’ll take care of you forever.” That night, I dreamt again. This time, a boy appeared in my dream. He stood under a sycamore tree, waving at me. I wanted to walk over, but a pair of large hands gripped me tightly. I turned to see Brandon’s sullen face. “Alice, you shouldn’t remember him.” I woke up, my pillow soaked with tears. Such sweet words. But I knew that his “taking care” was just a pretty way of saying “imprisonment.” Scarlett started coming to the villa frequently. She always chose to come when Brandon wasn’t around. Today, she brought a bottle of perfume, claiming it was Brandon’s favorite scent. Tomorrow, she’d deliver a nightgown, impossibly sexy. “Brandon picked these out.” She didn’t hide anything, smiling as she looked at me. “He was too shy to give them to you directly, so he asked me to.” I looked at the almost transparent lace nightgown in her hand. My stomach churned. “Take it away.” My voice was flat. Scarlett placed the nightgown on the sofa, leaning close to me and lowering her voice. “Alice, is faking amnesia fun?” My breath hitched. “I know you’ve remembered.” She stared into my eyes, triumph sparkling within them. “But what good is remembering? Brandon trusts me now.” She stood up, looking down at me. “Those shares your parents left you, they’ll be ours eventually. As for you?” She paused, her smile brilliant. “I’ve already picked out a mental institution for you. It has a wonderful view.” I grabbed the glass of water from the table and threw it at her. Scarlett shrieked, dodging, but the water splashed her skirt. Just then, Brandon pushed the door open. He saw me holding the glass and Scarlett retreating in disarray. “Alice!” Brandon rushed over, snatched the glass, and smashed it on the floor. Glass shards scattered, cutting my ankle. But he didn’t even look. He turned to help Scarlett. “Are you alright?” Scarlett shook her head, her eyes red-rimmed, but deliberately showed her reddened hand. Brandon’s gaze suddenly turned cold. He looked at me as if I were a strange lunatic. “Apologize!” I stood still, blood dripping from my ankle onto the floor. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” I heard my voice trembling. “She provoked me first.” Brandon released Scarlett, stepping closer to me, one by one. He grabbed my chin, his grip so strong it felt like he might crush my bones. “Alice, you’ve been increasingly disobedient lately.” He leaned close to my ear, his voice so low only I could hear it. “Isn’t it time for a follow-up check-up?”

Hearing those words, I felt an instant chill throughout my body. “I was wrong.” I heard my own voice surrender. “I’m sorry, Miss Jensen.” Scarlett, behind Brandon, gave me a victorious smile. That night, Brandon didn’t return to the bedroom. I stood on the balcony and saw the light in the guest room across the way stay on all night. The curtains weren’t fully closed. Through the gap, I saw two overlapping figures. Scarlett’s nightgown slipped from her shoulder. Brandon’s hand was around her waist. I turned around, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. Moonlight fell on the floor. I suddenly remembered many years ago, Brandon confessing his love to me under the moonlight. He said, “Alice, I’ll love you forever.” The next morning at the breakfast table, Scarlett sat in my usual seat. She was wearing my slippers, using my favorite coffee cup. “Alice, you don’t mind, do you?” She tilted her head, her eyes full of provocation. I looked at Brandon. He was looking down at financial news, as if everything before him had nothing to do with him. “I don’t mind.” I heard my own voice. The housekeeper gave me a new set of cutlery. Halfway through eating, Scarlett suddenly covered her mouth and rushed into the bathroom. I heard retching sounds. Brandon finally put down his newspaper and followed her inside. I sat at the table, continuing to drink my porridge. After a long time, Brandon helped Scarlett out. Scarlett’s face was pale, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. Leaning into his embrace, her voice was delicate. “Brandon, I think I’m pregnant.” The spoon in my hand clattered into my bowl. Brandon looked at me, his eyes complex. “Alice, Scarlett needs rest. For now, please move to the guest room.” Listening to his words, I suddenly laughed. “Brandon, do you still remember why I lost my memory?” He frowned, clearly not expecting me to ask that. “What are you trying to say?” “Three years ago, Scarlett hit me with her car.” I stared into his eyes, speaking each word distinctly. “When I was lying in a pool of blood, where were you?” Brandon’s face changed. “You were celebrating her birthday.” I answered for him, my eyes full of scorn. “You said there was an emergency at work, but you were actually celebrating her birthday.” “I lost my first child in that car accident, but you didn’t even come to the hospital because Scarlett said she was scared and needed you to stay with her.” Scarlett shrieked. “You’re lying! Brandon, she’s crazy, she’s hallucinating again!” Brandon closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was only cold indifference. “Alice, let the past be the past. What you need now is treatment, not dragging up the past.” “Treatment?” I stood up and walked towards him. “Brandon, tell me, what kind of treatment requires removing the hippocampus? What kind of treatment requires twenty-four-hour surveillance?” “Are you trying to cure me, or are you trying to shut me up forever?” Brandon seized my wrist, his grip so hard it felt like he was crushing my bones. “Enough!” He suddenly roared, his eyes terrifyingly cold. “Look at yourself! Suspicious, aggressive, what’s the difference between you and a crazy person?” I looked at the face of the man I had loved for ten years. Suddenly, he seemed terrifyingly unfamiliar. “You’re right, I am crazy.” “Otherwise, how could I believe that someone who personally sent me into surgery loved me?” Brandon let go. He took a step back, as if he couldn’t bear to look into my eyes. Scarlett seized the opportunity to cling to him, linking her arm through his. “Brandon, my stomach hurts!” Brandon gave me one last look, then helped her turn and go upstairs.

Brandon still made me move to the guest room. The housekeeper carelessly stuffed my belongings into a suitcase. The guest room rarely saw sunlight, and the air was thick with a musty smell. “What, reluctant to leave?” Scarlett leaned against the doorframe. She wore a silk robe, the neckline plunged low, and a suggestive red mark adorned her collarbone. I turned to leave. “What’s the rush?” She blocked my path, lowering her voice. “Alice, guess what Brandon told me last night?” I didn’t answer, just looked at her. “He said once you sign the share transfer agreement, you’ll have an ‘accident’ and fall down the stairs.” My fingers clenched fiercely. “You think I’ll believe that?” “Believe it or not, it’s up to you.” She chuckled, her eyes sparkling with triumph. “But do you know why your surgery was scheduled at St. Mary’s Hospital?” “Because Brandon has controlling shares there. They can write your medical records however they want.” She turned, smiling sweetly at me. “The car accident three years ago? I personally arranged it. Brandon knew all about it, he even helped me delete the dash cam footage.” “You’re lying!” I heard my voice tremble. “Whether I’m lying or not, you know the truth deep down.” She walked back to me, her eyes filled with pity. “Alice, the man you loved for ten years, from beginning to end, only loved your money and the shares your parents left you.” “His pursuit, his marriage, his tenderness – it was all an act.” I staggered backward. A sharp pain shot through my hippocampus. Fragmented images flooded my mind uncontrollably. The necklace Brandon gave me on our anniversary, with a miniature listening device hidden in its pendant. The “vitamins” he gently coaxed me to take, which were actually drugs slowly damaging my nerves. … “Remembered now?” Scarlett’s voice pulled me back to reality. “Too bad, remembering won’t help. In everyone’s eyes now, you’re just a lunatic. Who would believe anything you say?” The sound of a car engine drifted up from downstairs. Brandon was back. Scarlett immediately put on a fragile expression. She quickly walked to the top of the stairs, then suddenly “slipped.” “Ah!” With a shriek, she tumbled down the stairs. “Scarlett!” Brandon rushed through the door, his eyes bloodshot at the sight. He ran over, scooped up Scarlett, and looked up at me, glaring. “It wasn’t me. She fell by herself.” “Enough!” Brandon roared, taking the stairs in a few strides and grabbing my throat. “Alice, I really regret not letting you die on the operating table!” He gritted his teeth, his fingers tightening. From behind, Scarlett’s wail pierced the air. He hastily let me go and rushed her to the hospital. Watching his anxious departure, my heart was suddenly devoid of any love. I walked back to the bedroom and locked the door. Then, from the bottom of my closet, I pulled out a metal box. I had hidden it before my surgery. Inside was an old phone, a bank card, and a photo. The photo was of me and the boy under the sycamore tree. On the back was a small line of text: “Alice, if you ever get lost, remember to come home — Liam!” Seeing the name, I trembled all over. I remembered everything. He was the only one who reached out to me when Brandon abandoned me. I turned on the old phone; the battery was on its last bar. There was only one number in the contacts. My trembling fingers pressed the dial button. The waiting tone rang three times, then connected. “Hello?” I covered my mouth, afraid I would cry out. “Liam, come get me.” Silence on the other end for two seconds. Then, an urgent voice. “Send me your location. Wait for me!”

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Ever since I was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder three years ago, no one in my family had smiled. My dad, David, was always on the go. After his office job, he’d pick up odd shifts on construction sites to save money for my treatment. My mom, Sarah, not only took care of me but also went to the hospital every day to look after my grandma, who was paralyzed. My five-year-old sister, Chloe, already did most of the chores at home and always watched my mood nervously. Today was Chloe’s sixth birthday. I’d started taking my medication on time a week ago, hoping to be in good spirits to celebrate her birthday. But the moment Mom brought out the cake, my head suddenly began to throb intensely. It was the warning sign of an alter switch. I tugged at Mom’s sleeve, telling her I felt terrible. My usually gentle mom suddenly slapped me hard and locked me in the bathroom. “If you feel so bad, then just die!” “Have I not been good to you? Why do you have to steal Chloe’s attention at a time like this?” “You’re crazy! You’re a lunatic!” Mom screamed hysterically at me, slamming the bathroom door shut. The moment she closed the door, the alter switch began. The part of me that was desperate to die, my alter, One, finally took control.

I was like an observer, only able to watch as One controlled my body. For the past three years, every time One took over, my body would try to die in various ways. Jumping from a window, that was when I was eight. One climbed onto the balcony while Mom and Dad were at the hospital with Grandma. Luckily, Dad came home early and grabbed me, but he fell to the ground, spraining his ankle, and couldn’t get out of bed for half a month. Cutting my wrist, that was last winter. One found a piece of broken glass and made a gash on my wrist. When Mom found me, she cried hysterically, rushing me to the hospital that very night and stayed by my bedside for three days and three nights without closing her eyes. Drowning, that was in the bathtub. One filled it with water and submerged my head. Chloe noticed something was wrong and frantically called Mom, which saved me. One had tried most ways to commit suicide, but my parents always managed to save me. When I opened my eyes, I would often see my parents’ and Chloe’s tear-streaked faces. “Lily, I’m begging you, please don’t try to die again.” “Are you going to harm our whole family until you’re satisfied?” “Are you okay? Dad and Mom are so worried about you.” From then on, every time I felt an alter switch coming, I would take a lot of medication to stay normal. Even if the pills made me dizzy and nauseous, I didn’t want to see my family’s tears again. But this time, I had no more medication. One could finally fulfill his wish. One looked at the eyebrow razor on the vanity, carefully tucking it away. In my mind, I screamed and struggled, trying to regain control of my body. But One’s strength was too great. I was trapped, like in a cage, unable to do anything. Outside, Dad’s confused voice suddenly came through. “Sarah, where’s Lily? Isn’t she coming to celebrate Chloe’s birthday?” Mom’s voice, almost breaking, full of long-suppressed resentment, answered. “She’s pretending to be sick again. Usually, I’d let it slide, but today is Chloe’s birthday.” “I don’t want Chloe’s birthday to be ruined again. She’s never had a proper birthday.” Dad sighed, his voice full of weariness. He told Mom, “Let her cool off then. Her temper needs to be curbed.” “You and I will celebrate Chloe’s birthday. The child has never had a proper birthday since she was little, let’s not disappoint her again.” One laughed at me mockingly in my mind. “See? Mom and Dad don’t love us anymore. Why should we live?” “After that incident, I told you, death is the only escape. But you insisted on enduring for the family until now. Is this the result you wanted?” I wanted to deny him. Mom and Dad clearly loved me! They had sacrificed almost everything for me! But then I remembered Dad’s shoulder injury, Mom’s dark circles under her eyes, and Chloe’s ingratiating smile. To pay for my therapy fees, Dad often worked on construction sites until his lower back gave out, and on rainy days, the pain would almost keep him from getting out of bed. Mom had to take care of Grandma and then come back to care for me, her sick child. She only slept three or four hours a day. To avoid upsetting me, Chloe was always well-behaved and gentle around me. Even at just five years old, she’d learned to wash dishes and do chores. If I died, maybe everyone would be happier. I gave up struggling, letting One turn on the faucet, fill the tub with hot water, and then climb in. Without a moment of hesitation, One used the eyebrow razor to cut my wrist. The wound was deep enough to see bone, and blood instantly flowed out. The water in the tub gradually turned crimson, and my soul felt lighter. This was finally coming to an end. Dad wouldn’t have to put on pain patches every night; he could get a good night’s sleep. Mom wouldn’t have to rush around every day, taking me to doctors. Chloe could finally have a normal childhood. My family would finally be free of me, this “lunatic.” In the last moment before my consciousness completely faded, my original personality switched back. Looking towards the door, I whispered my last words. Mom, Dad, Chloe, I’m sorry. If there’s a next life, I’ll never be a burden to you again.

When I opened my eyes again, I was floating near the dining table at home. Dad was covering Chloe’s eyes, and Mom carefully carried a fruit cake. “Happy 6th Birthday to our darling Chloe!” Chloe opened her eyes and smiled in surprise. “Mom, Dad, I’ve never seen such a beautiful cake!” My eyes welled up instantly. Chloe was still young when I got sick. Because of me, she’d never had a proper birthday growing up. Every birthday, I would have an episode, then be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Mom and Dad had no time to spare for her. Come to think of it, this might be the first time Chloe had ever seen a cake. Mom turned her head to wipe away a tear, then cut Chloe a large slice of cake. “Eat more if you like it, Chloe.” But Chloe took the cake and ran straight to the bathroom. She raised her hand and gently knocked on the door, whispering, “Come out and eat cake, Lily! I remember you love sweets the most!” I wrapped my arms around her small body, wanting to tell her. I’m sorry, Chloe. I can’t eat cake anymore. It’s my fault. I’ve brought bad luck to your birthday. But my hand passed right through her body, unable to touch anything. Chloe didn’t get a response for a long time. She walked back dejectedly. “Mom, is Lily mad? She won’t talk to me.” Mom hugged her, a hint of anger in her voice. “Don’t mind her. She just loves to act up and pretend. Haven’t we always saved her from suicide attempts? This time must be fake too.” “Today is your birthday, don’t worry about her.” As Mom spoke, she caught sight of the food Chloe had saved for me on the table. It was food Chloe had specifically asked Mom to make extra for me. Her temper flared up again. She swept the plate of food into the trash can with a clang, and the plate shattered on the floor. “If she doesn’t eat, she doesn’t eat! Don’t let her act like everyone owes her something every day. Haven’t we sacrificed enough already?” I wanted to shout at her, Mom, I wasn’t pretending! I was in so much pain and misery every day, with two voices constantly fighting in my head! I only lived this long for you! I know you sacrificed a lot, that’s why I died, so you wouldn’t have to sacrifice anymore! Chloe looked anxious and flustered, contradicting Mom. “Mom, don’t talk about Lily like that! She’s just sick! She’s always so nice to me.” Dad patted Chloe’s back and told her, “Chloe, your sister can be quite selfish sometimes.” “She’s always thinking about how miserable she is, never caring about what the rest of the family thinks.” “Mom and Dad work so hard to earn money, but Lily just stays immersed in her own world all day.” “Mom and Dad are so tired they can barely straighten their backs, but she just keeps trying to kill herself.” He seemed to have forgotten that I was just a ten-year-old child. Floating in the air, I looked incredulously at Dad, the dad who used to dote on me the most. When I was seven, Mom and Dad left me to play at a neighbor’s house, but the neighbor’s elderly relative did something terrible to me. During those most painful days, my body activated a protective mechanism. Whenever I thought about that day, my consciousness would blur, and One would emerge to re-experience those scenes over and over again. Since then, I developed Dissociative Identity Disorder, and One’s constant desire to die stemmed from that very reason. Dad had knelt beside me back then, crying and saying he was sorry, promising to take care of me for life. Dad, didn’t you say you’d love me forever? Even though I was now a spirit, my heart still ached. Their guilt and love had been worn away by daily exhaustion, leaving only impatience and resentment. I became the sinner who burdened the whole family. I kept Mom and Dad tied down to me every day. My pain, in their eyes, had become an act, a show. Even my death became a means to gain sympathy.

Mom angrily pushed Dad, her voice filled with a mix of anger and pain. “What are you saying? Lily might be a bit delicate, but she’s a poor child too.” As she spoke, Mom’s eyes reddened. “She was only seven back then, and that old pervert… My heart aches, I wanted to tear that bastard apart.” “Later, Lily kept trying to die. I knew she was hurting inside. But today is Chloe’s birthday, we can’t let her act out.” Mom wiped away her tears and lovingly stroked Chloe’s head. “Chloe, you didn’t make a wish when you went to give Lily the cake. Make one now.” Chloe’s childlike face lit up with joy. She closed her eyes and made a sincere wish. “Chloe wants to be with Mom, Dad, and Lily forever.” This sentence pierced Mom’s heart like a needle. Mom suddenly covered her mouth and rushed into the bedroom. I faintly heard her muffled sobs. In those sobs, there was guilt, heartache, and an indescribable helplessness. Dad’s eyes also reddened. He silently put a crown on Chloe’s head and stroked her hair. “Dad promises you, our family will always be together.” I hugged Dad and Chloe, thinking silently to myself. I’m sorry, Chloe, your wish can never come true. But without me, you, Mom, and Dad will be happier. No more worrying about medical bills, no more living in fear, no more living such a tired life. After tucking Chloe into bed, Dad gently called my name from the bathroom door. “Lily, please come out. It’s cold in there. Come out and Dad will make you dinner.” “Don’t you love Dad’s steak the most? Dad will make you a big plate, just for you.” But the only answer was dead silence. Dad, I’m okay. Lily can’t feel the cold anymore. I can’t eat your steak either. Seeing that I didn’t make a sound, Dad went back to the bedroom and quietly asked Mom. “Why did you lock Lily in the bathroom for so long?” “Her mental state is unstable. Maybe we should go check on her?” Mom was silent for a moment, then shook her head. “I didn’t even lock the door. She can come out whenever she wants.” “There’s only an eyebrow razor in the bathroom. How much force would she need to cut her wrist? She’s just a kid, she wouldn’t do it.” “Lily is sick, but we’ve also spoiled her a bit too much. Let her think about it herself.” I stomped my feet in frustration, wanting so badly to tell Mom that I really did cut my wrist with that eyebrow razor. And I wasn’t spoiled, One did it! I was Mom’s good child! Dad finally sighed, no longer insisting. He started discussing the month’s expenses with Mom. This month, my therapy with a private specialist cost almost ten thousand, and Grandma’s medical bills at the hospital were astronomical. Mom covered her face, her sobs escaping her throat in low bursts. “Honey, when will this life end?” “Lily still can’t go to school normally. We’ll have to support her for life. I’m afraid we won’t be able to bear it.” Dad patted Mom’s hand and pulled her into a hug, comforting her. “Since we brought her into this world, we have to be responsible. No matter what, Lily is our child. We didn’t protect her well, so supporting her for life is fine.” “After I finish my shifts at the construction site, I’ll drive for Uber to earn more money. We have to cure Lily, and things will slowly get better.” I looked at Dad’s graying temples and Mom’s tears, and suddenly felt that I shouldn’t have died. Mom and Dad had already included my life in their future. They had planned to support me for life. Mom and Dad loved me, after all. I reached out to wipe away Mom’s tears, but my hand passed through her. Mom, don’t cry. Lily left quietly on her own. You won’t have to worry about me anymore.

That night, Dad stayed up half the night in the living room, constantly glancing towards the bathroom, hoping I would come out. Mom tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep all night. By dawn, the dark circles under her eyes were even heavier. I floated beside them, watching over them all night, my heart a mix of sorrow and bitterness, filled with unspeakable guilt. As dawn just broke, a faint clatter of dishes and forks came from the kitchen. Mom, with bloodshot eyes, stood in front of the stove, making breakfast. It was my favorite bacon and eggs. When I was little and sick, Mom always made this to cheer me up. But since I got sick, Mom hadn’t made it for me in a long time. She made it with extra care. Two strips of bacon, one egg. Just the way I’d mentioned wanting it so many times. It smelled so good. I wished I could eat Mom’s cooking, but I never would again. Carrying a plate of bacon and eggs to the bathroom door, Mom’s voice was hoarse, tinged with compromise. “Lily, stop acting up.” “Mom made you bacon and eggs, it’s hot. Come out and eat before you take your medicine.” “Yesterday, Mom was wrong. I shouldn’t have hit you, shouldn’t have said harsh words.” “Chloe is waiting to play with you. Come out, let’s be good.” Inside the door, there was dead silence, not even a breath. Mom’s patience ran out. Her brows furrowed, and her tone hardened. “Lily, don’t be ungrateful!” “Do you think pretending to be dead will get you sympathy? Haven’t we suffered enough for you?” “Come out now, or I’ll dump this food out and starve you for a day!” She waited for a moment, only the faint sound of wind through the door crack. “This child is really disobedient. After making her food, I still have to take Chloe to kindergarten and go to the hospital to take care of Grandma.” Mom muttered to herself. Just as she was about to turn around, a dull thud came from the living room. Immediately followed by Dad’s muffled groan: “Sarah… my chest… hurts…” Mom’s face changed drastically. She dropped the plate with a clatter at the door and rushed out. I floated over to see Dad clutching his chest, squatting on the floor. His face was pale, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. I was frantic, but I couldn’t help at all. “David! What’s wrong!” Mom’s voice trembled with panic as she rushed to help him. Dad swayed, almost falling. His fingers dug desperately into his chest. “Pain… can’t breathe…” Mom screamed for Chloe like crazy. “Chloe, quickly call the neighbors! Call 911! Hurry!” Chloe, terrified, cried and stumbled out to knock on the neighbors’ door. The neighbors quickly arrived, helping Dad and frantically dialing 911. Mom stayed by Dad’s side, tears streaming down her face, but she forced herself to remain calm. She pulled out her phone, wanting to call a contact at the hospital first, but her hand was shaking too much to dial accurately. She kept muttering, “Don’t let anything happen, please don’t let anything happen. We still have to raise Lily and Chloe, you can’t be gone…” Within minutes, the ambulance sirens wailed closer. Paramedics rushed in with a stretcher, quickly checking Dad’s blood pressure and attaching electrodes. “Preliminary diagnosis is acute arrhythmia, caused by long-term overwork. He needs to be taken to the hospital immediately!” Hearing that, my heart felt like it was being tightly squeezed by a hand. It’s all my fault! If it weren’t for earning money for my treatment, Dad wouldn’t be working two jobs every day, he wouldn’t be sick. Even in death, I’m still causing them trouble. I’m such a useless child! The paramedics quickly loaded Dad onto the stretcher and pushed him out. Mom stumbled, wanting to follow, but then looked back towards the bathroom. She paused, her mind a mix of urgency and confusion. On one side was her critically ill husband, on the other, her sulking daughter. She gritted her teeth, asked the neighbors to help look after Dad, and turned to run back home. She still couldn’t stop worrying about me, afraid I was hungry, afraid something really happened. Even though she was angry with me just moments ago, what she worried about most was still me. When she got home, it was already bright. Chloe was squatting by the bathroom door. Seeing Mom return, she immediately rushed over. Her small hands tightly clutched Mom’s clothes, her voice choked with tears. “Mom, Lily fell asleep in the bathtub.” “I called her so many times, but she won’t wake up, no matter how much I call.” “She listens to you the most, Mom. Please make her wake up and eat birthday cake with me.”

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I was abandoned five days after I was born. But for some reason, my biological mother left me on the doorstep of a local criminal organization in Ravenwood City. To survive, even while still in my swaddling clothes, I instinctively cried “Dad” when a group of hardened criminals glared down at me. The rough men instantly frowned. “Maybe… maybe we should keep this kid?” From then on, I gained 108 dads. But our home was truly a den of outlaws—every single one of them was on the most wanted list. So, to avoid causing trouble for my dads, I lived a low-key life for over a decade. That was until high school, when I encountered school bullying. Tiffany, the queen bee, and her cronies cornered me in the restroom, splashing me with cold water, tearing my clothes, and even filming me with her phone. “Why are you staring, you scholarship student? How dare you glare at me?!” But they hit me so hard that I grabbed her and we fell from the third floor. When I woke up, the teacher in the nurse’s office was scolding me. “She hit you, so you tried to kill her? Is that it? You’re absolutely vicious! Call your parents immediately! I want to see how your parents raised you!” My hair stood on end. I meekly asked, “Ms. Davison, are you sure you want to call my parents?” 1 As soon as the words left my mouth, a sharp slap echoed. Mr. Albright, Tiffany’s father, struck me across the face, his eyes burning with menacing fury. “You brat! You will call your parents to apologize to me!” I was instantly knocked to the ground, half my face throbbing with pain. Ms. Davison, however, acted as if she hadn’t seen a thing. She immediately fawned over Mr. Albright, nodding and bowing. “Mr. Albright, please rest assured, the school will handle this very seriously and show no leniency!” She turned to me, yelling directly into my face. “Stella! Look what you’ve done to Tiffany! Call your parents right away to pay for her medical expenses!” I hung my head, my nails digging deep into my palms. A metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth. “No, it was Tiffany. She was the one who first cornered me in the restroom, splashed me with cold water, and tore my clothes. I just…” But I couldn’t finish my sentence. Tiffany started to cry weakly from her hospital bed. “Dad! She’s lying! I was just passing by, and Stella suddenly went crazy and pushed me down the stairs… She’s just a scholarship student, jealous that our family has money. She’s always hated me!” “It was clearly you…” I immediately retorted. But Ms. Davison didn’t give me a chance to speak. “Shut up, Stella! The facts are clear—you deliberately hurt her!” She grabbed me and dragged me out of the medical room. Roughly pulling out my phone, Ms. Davison slapped it against my face. “I don’t want to hear your nonsense! Now, immediately! Call your parents! Tell them to get over here and pay up!” Suddenly, the gaze of various teachers and students in the hallway focused on me, a mix of curiosity and schadenfreude. But I clutched the cold phone, staring at the bustling contact list, yet I couldn’t bring myself to make the call. I had 108 dads. But Dad 1 was a syndicate boss, Dad 3 smuggled weapons, Dad 15 lent out high-interest loans, and Dad 78 ran an illegal casino… Though they always loved to give me black cards and then pat my head, saying: “Stella, don’t stir up trouble out there, but if anything happens, always come to us. If anyone lays a finger on you, Dad 1 will make their whole family disappear from the face of the earth.” “Right, anyone who dares to make you suffer, Dad 3 will come for them with a pair of knives!” But they were all Ravenwood City’s most wanted criminals. A shiver ran through me. I remembered them always leaving early and coming home late, their bodies covered in knife scars and the smell of blood, grumbling about running into the cops again that day. I remembered the news channels constantly featuring their wanted posters. I couldn’t risk putting them in danger. Looking up again, I tried one last struggle. “Ms. Davison, my dads… they’re all working out of town, very far away, they can’t come.” “Could we… I’ll write an apology, I’ll apologize publicly, I’ll accept a disciplinary record, anything. Just please don’t call them, okay?” Ms. Davison let out a sneer. “Working out of town? No wonder you turned out to be such a shameless child! And they can’t come?” “Tiffany’s medical exams, her emotional distress compensation—that’s a lot of money. Can a kid like you pay for it? Call them quickly, don’t waste my time!” She looked at me with utter contempt. “How much money? I can…” I was about to say I could pay for it myself, as my dads had given me black cards I hadn’t even touched. But Mr. Albright emerged and immediately handed Ms. Davison a bank card. “Ms. Davison, here’s fifty thousand. It’s a donation for the school.” “My demand is simple: get her parents here to compensate us and admit guilt.” “Otherwise, I’ll just call the police! I’ll charge her with aggravated assault! Once she has a criminal record, she can forget about ever going to college!” Upon seeing the bank card, Ms. Davison’s eyes instantly lit up. She turned to me, her tone becoming incredibly stern. “Stella, did you hear that? This is your last chance!” “Either call your working-class parents now to pay and apologize!” “Or get a criminal record and forget about ever going to college for the rest of your life!” Criminal record… Those two words felt like needles piercing my mind. I couldn’t have a criminal record. I still wanted to go to college, to earn money and support my dads in their old age. Looking at that bank card, looking at Ms. Davison’s snobbish, ugly face. Tears instantly welled up in my eyes. My trembling fingers finally lit up my phone screen. “Ms. Davison, please don’t! Don’t call the police. I’ll call my parents.” 2 My hand trembled as I tapped “Dad 1” at the top of my contacts. Although he was a syndicate boss, he was still the most “normal” among all my dads. I hoped, I hoped he could pretend to be an ordinary person and get through this. “Beep beep…” The call was answered the moment it went through. Dad 1’s warm, smiling voice came from the receiver: “Stella?” “Dad 1,” I said, pressing my lips together. “The teacher wants me to ask you to come to school. I…” “Go to school?” He instantly sounded excited. “Oh, is my daughter winning another award? This is the first time you’ve asked me to come get a certificate! Wait up, I’m coming now!” “No…” A pang of sadness hit me. I was about to say no. But then, a clear gunshot suddenly rang out from the other end of the line. Followed by a strange man’s scream and a series of dull thuds. I froze instantly. I faintly heard a very soft “clean it up.” Childhood memories flooded back. Dad 1 always came home with blood on him, but he would lie and say it was ketchup. His breathing seemed a little unsteady, but when he spoke to me again, his voice was still gentle. “No… what, sweetie?” Thinking about whether he was doing something dangerous, whether he was hurt, my heart pounded. The words on the tip of my tongue hardened into: “N-nothing… it’s fine. I can get the award myself. You’re busy, I’m hanging up.” “Hey! You didn’t even say anything, why are you hanging up!” Hearing this, Ms. Davison shouted and reached for my phone. I instinctively dodged, quickly ending the call. But the next second: “Slap!” Another harsh slap landed on my face. Ms. Davison’s face was distorted with rage. “You’ve caused such big trouble and you’re still trying to hide it from your parents!” Mr. Albright slammed his hand against the wall, pointing at my nose and yelling: “Don’t think you’re getting away with this by hiding it from adults! I’m telling you, in this part of Ravenwood City, I’m the local big shot! I have connections at the police department! If you dare touch my daughter, I’ll make your whole family of working-class nobodies disappear in a minute!” Tiffany limped out, mocking me: “You’re so pathetic you don’t even dare call your parents. I bet your family is too poor to put food on the table, right? So where did you get the guts to push me? So ridiculous!” I lowered my head, my voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum: “My dads really can’t come… I’m sorry, Tiffany. It was my fault, I shouldn’t have pushed you.” “I can bow down and apologize to you in front of the whole school, be your errand girl for a year, or you can hit me back. Just please don’t call the police, okay? I don’t want to get expelled…” Tiffany scoffed contemptuously, but Mr. Albright roared and reached for my phone. “You’re trying to negotiate now?” “Give me your parents’ number—I’ll talk to them myself!” Ms. Davison immediately chimed in: “Stella, give Mr. Albright your phone to call! Don’t resist, you need to show an attitude of wanting to solve the problem!” The man lunged forward to snatch it, but I clung to my phone, backing away repeatedly. Finally, I stumbled and fell awkwardly to my knees. My knees hit the cold tile floor, making tears stream down my face from the pain. But I kept bowing, begging: “…Please, please don’t involve my dads. Tiffany, please, I’ll do all the apologizing and making amends I just mentioned, you can hit me back, just please don’t call my parents, okay?!” Dull thuds echoed on the floor as I bowed repeatedly until blood smeared my forehead. Only then did a look of triumphant pleasure appear on Tiffany’s face. Stopping her dad, she raised her voice: “Alright then, just apologizing in public isn’t enough. Tomorrow, you’ll have to bow one hundred times, touching your forehead to the ground, until I’m satisfied! Only then will I not call the police.” “Okay.” Clenching my fists, I agreed to all her conditions. My heart bled with humiliation, but I felt it was worth it, as long as my dads weren’t implicated. But that evening, when I returned to the small apartment Dad 2 rented for me, wearing a baseball cap and feeling exhausted. I saw three men bustling around in the kitchen, cooking. It was Dad 66, Dad 79, and Dad 93. Seeing me return, they immediately gathered around me happily. “Stella’s home!” At the dining table, Dad 66 smiled and pinched my cheek. “Stella, I heard you’re getting an award at school? Why didn’t you let one of us go get it for you? By my calculations, it should be my turn, right?” Dad 79 skillfully massaged my shoulders, refuting him: “Nonsense, it’s my turn!” Dad 93 pushed a bowl of soup in front of me: “Drink up, it’s good for your brain. You’ll get into a great college.” My nose stung, and I almost cried. But I forced a smile and explained: “It’s just a small award, no need to trouble yourselves. I’ll call you for the big awards next time.” “Alright, we won’t argue. You eat first, sweetie.” They excitedly served me food. As I was eating, Dad 66 suddenly looked serious and answered a phone call. I faintly heard a few words. “That shipment… being watched again… jumped into the river… damn, this money is really hard to earn…” Instantly, my heart tightened again. Fearing they would be arrested, I took a deep breath and put down my fork. “Dads, could you… in the future… stop doing that kind of work? I’m grown up now—I’ll get into a good college and support you.” “So, could you get some stable jobs?” The three big men froze simultaneously, then, overcome with emotion, they hugged each other and cried, promising they would. Two hours later, the three of them gave me a few more instructions, left me three black cards, and then left in a hurry. I stood at the door, watching them disappear down the hallway, my eyes stinging. “Remember to change jobs!” “We know!” But the moment the door closed, Dad 66 looked at his brothers beside him, puzzled. “Strange, our daughter doesn’t like my nuclear submarine development…?” The other two also looked bewildered. And as I closed the door, I looked at the “My Family (108)” group chat on my phone. The messages were already 999+. My dads were all asking: “Is Stella tired from studying today?” “Do you have enough money? Don’t skimp—I have plenty of money!” My eyes welled up again. I sniffed and finally typed a line in the chat box. “I’m fine, everyone. Don’t worry. Dads, you’re busy with work, please also pay attention to safety.” Send. The next second, staring at the constantly popping up messages of concern on the screen, I made up my mind. I would never cause my dads any more trouble. Stella, you must hold on. Everything will be fine after the SAT. 3 At the school assembly on Monday, a sea of students filled the field below. I knelt on the ground, mechanically confessing. “It was because I harbored resentment that I pushed Tiffany down the stairs… I was jealous of her, I am a wicked person…” My voice echoed across the sports field, but every word felt like a knife slicing my throat. Tiffany sat in a wheelchair, pushed to the very front by several classmates, watching me triumphantly. Her eyes were filled with excitement as I knelt, bowing repeatedly and apologizing. Below, the murmurs converged into a buzzing noise. “I heard her family is really poor, she’s here on a scholarship.” “Such a wicked mind, jealous of rich people, I guess.” “Look at her pathetic, poor self, she deserves it.” “A kid with a mother who didn’t raise her, no upbringing at all.” All the malicious words felt like needles pricking my flesh, a bone-chilling pain. But I was already numb. After finishing, I slowly bent at the waist. “Thud.” The first bow, my forehead hitting the cold podium. … Fifty bows, one hundred bows, I bowed again and again, my forehead going from numb to agonizing pain, then to a warm stickiness. Blood streamed down my brow, blurring my vision, plunging everything into darkness. The ground was covered in crimson blood. The confession finished, I walked off the stage, my face covered in blood. The crowd parted for me as if I were carrying a plague. Tiffany, surrounded by her cronies, deliberately walked past me. She spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft: “Ugh, some people are just born pathetic. Just an apology won’t cut it, will it? From now on, when you see me, call me ‘Grandma,’ got it?” Clenching my fists, my nails dug deep into my flesh. I said nothing. I just silently returned to my seat, took out a wet wipe, and tried hard to wipe the red words off my desk. But the paint had already seeped into the wood grain, making it more smudged with every wipe, like ugly scars. The entire day, I was surrounded by malice. Until the dismissal bell rang, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and rushed out of the classroom. Afraid to use the main entrance, I took a detour through the secluded alley behind the school. But after only a few steps, Tiffany and her three cronies were blocking the alley entrance. She stood up from her wheelchair, stretched her limbs, and walked toward me step by step. “Didn’t you say you’d be my errand girl? The boss hasn’t left yet, and you’re running off so fast. Are you playing games with me, Stella?” “Sorry, you didn’t call me…” “Whether I call you or not, you’re supposed to be my dog!” Tiffany took out her phone, aiming the camera at my disheveled face. “Come on, apologize again. Say, ‘I, Stella, am a worthless piece of trash, I shouldn’t have forgotten to be Tiffany Albright’s dog.’” I bit my lip, motionless. Tiffany became more energized, directly starting a new round of torment. Cold mineral water poured over my head, my soaked school uniform was torn, and lipstick was smeared haphazardly across my face. Tiffany held up her phone, laughing wildly. “Come on, smile. Say ‘Thank you, Tiffany, for the lesson,’ otherwise I’ll call the police and let your disgraceful dads have a good chat at the police station, hmm?” My mind buzzed. I stared at her, disbelieving. Did Tiffany know about their situation? But I couldn’t risk it. I could only endure my constant trembling, repeating her words in a hoarse voice. “Thank you, Tiffany, for the lesson.” It wasn’t until I had said it dozens of times that Tiffany finally smiled, satisfied, kicked me, and left. “Wouldn’t it have been easier if you were this obedient earlier? From now on, come here every day after school and wait for me, got it? Whatever I want you to do, you have to do it!” “Okay.” She left with her cronies. Instantly, I was alone in the alley. I don’t know how long passed, but I slowly crouched down. On the ground, a soaked math test, with a bright red “100” score, was particularly glaring. Desperately fighting back the welling tears, I reached out to pick up my mud-stained books and test papers. However, just as I looked up. At the alley entrance, four or five men had appeared. Leading them was Dad

And behind him followed four or five other dads. At this moment, their faces were dark and grim, all staring intently at me without saying a word. The air in the alley seemed to solidify. 4 After a long silence, Dad 1 crouched down, his rough fingers wiping away the bloodstains on my face. “Who did this?” I turned my face away, not daring to meet the anger in his eyes, and whispered, “No… I just fell.” “Fell?” Dad 5 snatched the mud-stained math textbook from the ground, pointing at the dirty shoe prints on it, and roared: “This is ‘fell’? This is being stomped to death!” Dad 3 adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as sharp as a knife. “Stella, speak. Just tell us to blow up Ravenwood City and kill those people, and it’s done?” But I bit my lip hard. I couldn’t say anything. Mr. Albright was rich and powerful—Tiffany even said the Ravenwood City police listened to her family. My dads were all wanted criminals. I couldn’t risk putting them in jail. I stubbornly shook my head, but tears welled up in my eyes against my will. Time ticked by. Finally, Dad 1 sighed, gently holding my cold hand with an undeniable strength. “Stella, do you remember that year when you were five, the chubby kid from the next street stole your candy, and you cried all night when you came home?” “The next day, that chubby kid’s whole family moved out of Ravenwood City.” “We dads aren’t good people, but our family rule is: whoever touches you, dies!” The wind in the alley instantly stilled. Seeing my dads silently surrounding me, their eyes filled with suppressed rage and heartache. All the grievances, fear, and humiliation of these past days instantly broke through my taut nerves. “Dad—” I flung myself into Dad 1’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably, stammering out everything that had happened: “It was Tiffany… her dad is Mr. Albright, he owns mines… she said Ravenwood City was all her family’s territory… she bullies me every day… today she even took a video…” Dad 5’s brand new phone was crushed in his hand with a “snap,” the screen shattering! “A mine owner, how dare he!” “Damn that Mr. Albright! When I helped him get started back in the day, he was licking my boots!” “He’s lost his mind! How dare he touch our Stella!” My dads’ angry curses rose and fell, but I listened, stunned. Dad 1 simply patted my back gently, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number, his voice cold as ice. “Send out the word. All brothers, drop what you’re doing.” “One hour. Everyone to Ravenwood City.” “Our daughter was bullied!” The next morning, Dad 1 told me to go to school as usual. I nodded, and went alone. Sure enough, at the school gate, Tiffany was waiting beside that flashy luxury car. Seeing me, she deliberately raised her voice, her face full of sarcasm: “Oh, isn’t this the one who was on her knees bowing to me yesterday…” But before she finished, I walked straight past her, my eyes calm, as if she were just thin air. Tiffany froze instantly. “Stella!” She rushed forward in a fit of rage, grabbing my backpack tightly. “Did I tell you to leave? Didn’t learn your lesson yesterday, did you? You worthless piece of trash!” She raised her hand, ready to slap me. “I gave you a chance—” But remembering Dad 1’s words, I felt an unprecedented confidence inside me. The next second, her wrist was caught firmly in mid-air by my hand. Looking into her astonished eyes, I said each word coldly: “I said, let go.” “You little brat! You’ve lost your mind!” But Mr. Albright angrily got out of his car and shoved me hard! Staggering back a few steps, my back hit the school wall with a painful thud. “You pathetic pauper! Still refusing to learn, are you?” Mr. Albright grabbed my collar, spitting saliva on my face: “If I don’t finish you off today, I’ll take your damn name—” However, the next second. “Rumble rumble—” A tremendous roar filled the sky. One, two, dozens of helicopters instantly darkened the sky, circling above the school. Following that, came the heavy, dull thud of tracks grinding on asphalt. One, two, three olive-green tanks, their cannons aimed squarely at the school entrance. And countless media reporters, carrying long and short lenses, swarmed in, their camera flashes lighting up the scene. Mr. Albright was frozen in place. Then, countless armored vehicles appeared, and figures descended from the helicopters. One, two, ten, fifty… Exactly one hundred and eight men emerged from various corners, forming an impenetrable human wall that completely surrounded him. Then, in Mr. Albright’s terrified eyes, one hundred and eight voices, like thunder, boomed across Ravenwood City: “Dare to touch our daughter again—just try it!!!”

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On my wedding day, my best friend Marcus sent me a sex tape of him and my wife, Isla. Furious, I ignored Isla’s desperate pleas. I turned and left, moving to another city with my friend Clara. Isla, with her extreme and obsessive personality, was so enraged she put out a global manhunt for us both. In the end, unable to find work, I died sick in a basement apartment. On my deathbed, Marcus looked down at me from above. “Lucas, you’re such a fool. That video I sent you? AI-generated. And you actually believed it?” “Perfect. Now that you’re dead, Isla will only marry me!” He laughed triumphantly. Understanding everything at last, I wanted to slap him, but my arm fell weakly. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn! Seeing that intimate video in front of me again, I truly realized I had been reborn. The embarrassingly explicit sounds echoed in the room. I studied the video carefully and finally spotted what was wrong. Marcus had left too many flaws in his work—he’d even forgotten to remove the AI watermark in the bottom right corner. In my past life, I’d been too angry to notice this crucial detail. Isla thought I’d abandoned her and fallen for Clara. She went after us relentlessly, trying to make me give in. I was stubborn too. Even at death’s door, I refused to yield or even ask her about it. That’s how Marcus found his opening, successfully infiltrating high society and living the life of luxury he craved! Reborn, I would never let him manipulate me again! The wedding proceeded as planned. Under the officiant’s direction, Isla and I exchanged rings and kissed, becoming the focus of everyone’s attention. Below the stage, Marcus watched with such jealousy that his fists clenched tight, his nails digging into his flesh without him even noticing. Seeing the ceremony nearing its end, Marcus couldn’t sit still any longer. The moment I stepped off the stage, Marcus frantically pulled me aside. He said excitedly: “Lucas! You two can’t be together!” “She’s a cheater! You can’t marry her!” “You haven’t signed the marriage certificate yet—break up with her now! Or you’ll regret it later!” He put on a serious expression, acting like he had my best interests at heart. I straightened the hem of my suit jacket and said coolly: “Oh? You know my wife better than I do?” Marcus didn’t catch the sarcasm in my words and continued: “Of course! You’re my best friend. Anyone who wants to marry you has to pass my inspection first, right?” He leaned close and whispered in my ear: “Lucas! You have to believe me! She’s a bad woman!” “Did you watch the video I sent you earlier?” I shook my head with feigned surprise. “Huh? Video? What video?” “I was busy getting married to my wife. I didn’t have time to check my phone.” Hearing this, Marcus looked like he’d had an epiphany. He pulled out his phone from his bag, held it in front of me, and personally opened it for me to see. “Here, watch it now!” “After you see it, you’ll know I’m right!” Just as the video started playing, Isla called out from the doorway. “Honey, you two have been in there long enough, haven’t you?” “Today’s our wedding day. If you stay any longer, I’m going to get jealous!” Her tone was full of playful resentment. I smiled and replied: “Alright, I’ll be right out!” Then I looked at Marcus with a teasing smile and said: “Well, Marcus, I don’t need you recording these private moments for me.” “Isla and I are already quite familiar with each other.” With that, I winked at him and walked toward the door.

Marcus stood frozen in shock at my words. “Wait, how… how can he not tell that’s me and Isla?” He looked at the video again carefully, unable to understand why I could remain so calm after seeing my wife’s alleged cheating video. I walked slowly, reaching the door just in time to hear his words. Seeing his confused expression, I let a cold smile cross my face. Isla was already waiting impatiently at the door. The moment she saw me, she eagerly grabbed my arm and hurried toward the car. I felt her closeness, smelled the faint fragrance that belonged only to her, and said softly: “Isla, let’s go sign our marriage certificate right now, okay?” Marcus’s words had actually reminded me. Isla and I hadn’t officially married legally yet. It would be safer to complete the legal formalities. Isla’s face lit up with joy at these words. She’d asked me countless times to complete the legal registration. She knew I had a female friend I’d grown up with. But because of my friend’s words, I’d always refused her. This was the first time I’d actively suggested it to her. She immediately nodded in agreement. She pulled out her documents and dragged me to city hall, afraid I’d change my mind the next second. She said I was her most beloved treasure, now, in the future, in the next life, for all eternity! After signing the marriage certificate, Isla held the document, excited to post about it on social media. I immediately stopped her. “Don’t post yet. I’ve got a good show I’m waiting to watch!” Though Isla didn’t understand what I meant, she still did as I asked. “Okay, I’ll listen to my husband!” Seeing her obedient appearance, I couldn’t help but kiss her forehead. I must have been out of my mind in my past life! A woman whose heart and eyes were full of me—how could I not have trusted her? This lifetime, I would treat her well and make her the happiest woman in the world! After marriage, Isla treated me wonderfully. After our honeymoon, she went straight to the company to handle business while I slept at home until sunset. Marcus, who’d come by several times without finding me home, finally caught me on a day I woke up at noon. The moment he entered, he couldn’t help but look around the villa’s decorations, his eyes full of ambition. I saw through him but didn’t call him out. I adjusted my loungewear and said casually: “Marcus, married life is pretty comfortable, you know.” “You should hurry up and settle down with someone too.” At these words, Marcus laughed awkwardly, then frowned and scolded: “Lucas! You’re being way too careless!” “You only had a ceremony—you haven’t completed the legal registration yet! How can you move into her house?” “Listen to me! Rich people like Isla are just playing around with you! Don’t get in too deep!” I raised my hand slightly, revealing a large, dazzling diamond ring on my ring finger and a diamond-studded bracelet on my wrist. “Just playing around? She’s investing quite a lot for that, isn’t she?” Marcus’s eyes went straight, nearly drooling with jealousy. He grabbed my hand and urged desperately: “Lucas! I’m your closest friend!” “Would I ever hurt you?” “Listen to me—break up with her as soon as possible!” “Otherwise, when she divorces you and kicks you out with nothing, you’ll only have yourself to cry to!”

I tilted my head in confusion and asked: “Why do you keep badmouthing her?” “I’m very happy now. Shouldn’t you be happy for me?” “Why do you keep cursing me?” I looked at him coldly, and the atmosphere dropped to freezing. Seeing I wouldn’t break up, Marcus’s chest heaved violently with anger. His eyes reddened as he glared at me through gritted teeth. “Lucas! I’ll tell you the truth!” “Isla and I already knew each other! We were already at the point of discussing marriage!” “If I hadn’t fought with her and broken up, do you think you’d have had a chance?” “Isla only loves me. She married you just to make me jealous!” “Otherwise, why would she only have a wedding ceremony with you—making it known to everyone—but not complete the legal registration? Isn’t it just to make me jealous?” Marcus spoke with such vivid detail that if I hadn’t already signed the marriage certificate with Isla, I might have actually believed his lies. Seeing I remained unmoved, Marcus pulled out that intimate video again. He held it in front of me and said triumphantly: “Look! This is proof we were together before!” “We love each other so much. As long as I change my mind, she’ll immediately dump you and throw herself into my arms!” Hearing this, my expression instantly soured. Before, I just thought Marcus was stupid, but now I found him disgusting! I looked at him coldly and said flatly: “Who doesn’t have an embarrassing ex?” “As long as she has me in her heart now, that’s all that matters.” “Besides, if she’d really get back together with you over one sentence, then go ahead and find her yourself!” “Why waste so much effort here telling me all this?” I played along with his story, pretending I believed him. Seeing I believed him, Marcus’s expression softened somewhat. He raised his eyebrows smugly and said: “Fine! You said it yourself—don’t you dare regret it!” “Out of friendship, I wanted to convince you to bow out gracefully!” “Since you don’t know what’s good for you, just wait to be kicked to the curb!” With that, Marcus angrily turned and left. That evening when Isla came home, she heard from the butler about what happened during the day and hugged me with a wronged expression. “Baby~ I swear, from beginning to end, I’ve only had you. I only love you alone.” “I don’t know why your friend would say such things. I haven’t done anything to betray you!” She anxiously tried to prove her innocence, nearly in tears from frustration. I reached out and stroked her head, comforting her with a smile: “Of course I believe my wife~” “That guy just can’t stand seeing me happy. He deliberately wants to break us up.” I buried my head in her shoulder and said softly: “Isla, you have to promise me too—no matter what happens in the future, you’ll believe me, okay?” “Don’t get to know me through other people’s words. If there’s a problem, ask me directly, okay?” In my past life, I fell precisely because of the issue of trust. If I’d trusted Isla just a bit more, perhaps the ending wouldn’t have been like that. This time I didn’t fall for Marcus’s trap, but there’s no guarantee he won’t try to manipulate Isla instead. Hearing my words, Isla nodded firmly and raised her hand to swear to me. “I, Isla, swear to trust Lucas and cherish Lucas for a lifetime!”

I held her hand and said with a smile: “You don’t need to swear. I believe you!” The next day, my phone was blown up with calls. Looking at over a dozen missed calls, I was somewhat dazed and called back. “Mom? What happened?” I thought something had happened at home and immediately got nervous. An angry scolding voice came through the phone. “Lucas! You’ve really gotten bold, haven’t you?” “Breaking up other people’s relationships—I can’t believe you’d do such a thing!” “Having a son like you, I really…” I was completely confused and asked in bewilderment: “Mom, what are you talking about?” “I don’t understand.” My mother laughed coldly. “Hah, you don’t understand? If your friend Marcus hadn’t come crying at our door, I wouldn’t have known what kind of person you are!” Hearing the key word “Marcus,” I immediately understood what was going on. Marcus must have gone to my parents and added fuel to the fire with his version of events. I sighed, wanting to explain. I’d barely started to say “Mom” when I was cut off. “Come home right now. Before you’ve completed the legal procedures, break it off! Don’t go destroying other people’s relationships!” With that, Mom hung up directly, not even giving me a chance to explain. Left with no choice, I could only drive home to explain face-to-face. Just reaching the door, I heard Marcus’s crying coming from inside. “You have to help me!” “I treated Lucas like a real brother, and he stole my girlfriend!” My mother was comforting him nearby: “Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to Lucas.” “I’ll make them break up right away. He won’t compete with you!” When I walked in, this was the scene I saw. Marcus sat on the sofa crying his eyes out, snot and tears everywhere, while my parents handed him tissues and fruit. When he saw me return, a flash of triumph crossed his reddened eyes. My mother saw me and immediately pulled me into the kitchen for a stern lecture. “Lucas! You’re being foolish! Even if Isla is rich, you shouldn’t insert yourself into someone else’s relationship!” I frowned, looking displeased. “I didn’t insert myself. Isla and I had a wedding ceremony, and we married with both sets of parents as witnesses! How is that destroying someone’s relationship?” Seeing I showed no remorse, Mom raised her hand to hit me, but held it in mid-air before lowering it in frustration. “You… if I’d known you’d do this, I would never have agreed to your marriage!” She kept saying I was the third party. I knew Marcus must have brainwashed her. More words would be useless—she wouldn’t believe me anyway. I directly pulled out the marriage certificate from my bag. “Mom, look clearly! Isla and I have completed legal registration. We’re the legal married couple!” “Even if Marcus and Isla dated before, that’s all in the past! Isla’s legal spouse is me now. Stop siding with outsiders, will you?” I thought taking out the marriage certificate would make Mom settle down, but instead she got even angrier. Her face turned iron-blue as she pointed at me and said: “Break up! Break up right now!” I frowned in confusion, wanting to ask why. Mom took a deep breath and pulled out several photos from her pocket. “Marcus has shown proof! These photos… look at them! This is evidence that Isla was with him!”

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On the day of my wedding to Julia, her “best friend” Mike suddenly appeared before me. He held a marriage certificate, his eyes red-rimmed as he said, “Matthew, you have everything. Could you just let me have Julia? She… she’s already registered her marriage with me…” I tossed my wedding ring to the ground, my posture contemptuous. Turning around, I saw the panic in Julia’s eyes. I thought—she must have remembered our contract. If anything went wrong with this wedding, all her assets would become mine. Julia and I had known each other for five years, from a campus romance to marriage. Countless people envied our relationship. Coming from similar family backgrounds, we looked perfectly matched—the ideal couple… I’d heard this so many times I’d stopped counting, but I never took it to heart. Because I knew Julia had someone else in her heart. She and Mike had known each other for ten years—five years longer than me. Strangely, she and Mike always called themselves best friends, as if their bond was so pure it hadn’t been tainted by even a trace of romantic love. Later, they got into the same university, the same major. But for some reason, during her freshman year, Julia pursued me—someone from a completely different department. Back then, I still had some romantic notions about college love. Julia was beautiful, good-tempered, refined and polite. So, after two months of her pursuing me, I agreed. After a week of bliss, I noticed someone extremely suspicious around her. Mike—a decent-looking guy with a tall build. He’d call me “Matthew” while draping his arm over Julia’s shoulders, saying, “Julia, look at you! Finding such a handsome boyfriend so quickly. Got any tricks you could teach me?” Mike was a head taller than Julia. When he draped his arm over her shoulders, his chin naturally came close to the top of her head. The distance between them was intimate. Yet Julia seemed completely accustomed to it, not caring at all. I saw it once, then naturally there was a second time, a third time. I couldn’t understand why Julia would have such an intimate male friend even after getting a boyfriend. At first, I thought I was overthinking it. I brought it up with her privately a few times. What I didn’t expect was Julia’s response, which left me speechless. “Mike and I have been best friends for five or six years. We’ve always been like this. I can’t just distance myself from him because I got a boyfriend—that would be an insult to our pure friendship!” I also confronted Mike. His answer made him seem utterly unreasonable. “What are you talking about? Julia and I have been friends for so many years. How does that become a complicated relationship in your mind? That romantic relationship stuff is only suitable for Julia to have with guys like you!” Mike paused at the end of that statement. Tsk, fine. Your pure friendship—I’m staying out of it. I broke up with Julia soon after.

I’d thought we’d part amicably and never see each other again. Who knew this woman would refuse to accept the breakup no matter what. “Are you crazy? I said breakup—breakup, BREAKUP! Why are you still coming to my building to block me every day?!” “Ha! You blocking me alone would be one thing,” I pointed at Mike and voiced my genuine confusion, “but why are you bringing your so-called best friend? Are you brainless? Can’t think for yourself and need him to come up with ideas for you?” I said all this in one breath without a single pause, showing just how angry I was. Julia pretended to be innocent, scratching her head. “I… I thought since you’re both guys, he’d understand your emotions better, so I…” Mike stood behind her and spoke up: “Yeah, Matthew, please don’t misunderstand Julia…” “Misunderstand what!” I was in gym class at the time. My head got hot and I threw the basketball in my hand straight at Julia. Fate can be truly wonderful sometimes, and unfortunate encounters are no exception. When my parents brought me to apologize to Julia, what a coincidence—the two families actually knew each other. “Matthew! You’ve grown so much. I even held you when you were little. Do you remember me? Mr. Jones.” Turns out my dad and Julia’s dad had been old friends since college. If the Jones family hadn’t gone overseas to start their business, maybe our parents would have thought we might become in-laws! But my mom looked at Mr. Jones strangely. She moved to hide behind my dad, unusually silent. Yet my innocent, naive father didn’t notice at all. After some polite conversation, our parents quickly learned about my relationship with Julia. “Matthew, my daughter isn’t good at expressing herself and doesn’t really know how to maintain a relationship. If she does something that upsets you, you should tell her.” Mr. Jones gently touched Julia’s injured forehead. “Maybe this will teach her a lesson. But—” He changed his tone. “Don’t let anyone else affect your happiness!” I stood in that hospital room with its strong smell of disinfectant, my eyes full of irritation as I stared at Julia grinning foolishly at me. Was I blind back then? Actually thinking she was decent-looking. She really looked just like her dad! I looked at Mr. Jones again. He was dignified and polite, except for his gaze— Like a predator secretly eyeing my mother! That night, I went to my mom’s room to find her. She sat alone in the spacious luxury bedroom, gazing at the moon and silently crying. “Mom, what’s wrong? You didn’t say a word during dinner. That’s not like you.” My dad had gone out to socialize again. Now in this mansion, only I could have a heart-to-heart conversation with my mom. “I’m fine,” Mom wiped away her tears and smiled at me. “Just thinking about some sad things from the past. Don’t worry about me. Go back to bed early. Don’t you have an early class tomorrow?” I took my mother’s hand, my tone gentle. “Mom, I saw everything today. Jones—” The moment I mentioned the surname “Jones,” my mother’s whole body trembled. “Don’t… don’t say anymore!!!” Later, I only left after watching my mother fall asleep.

Julia and I got back together. Under the bizarrely enthusiastic matchmaking of her father. I don’t know if her father said something to her, but Mike started appearing around us less and less. Valentine’s Day arrived. Julia ordered me a huge bouquet of roses. “Thank you!” I naturally wrapped my arm around Julia, then gently kissed her cheek. In the corner of my peripheral vision, Mike was looking in our direction. His lips pressed tight, his eyes red-rimmed. Ha, was he feeling sad watching us from the shadows? My gaze fell on the roses in my hands. I’d told Julia I didn’t like roses. So who liked roses and suggested buying them? “Matthew, I bought two movie tickets for the latest sci-fi blockbuster. Want to go see it?” I cooperatively nodded, my tone gentle: “Sure, you arrange this date however you want.” Julia hugged me happily, smiling like a child. “Matthew, you’re so good to me!” I looked toward where Mike had been standing. He’d turned and left. In the dim theater, Julia went to buy popcorn. I checked the flowers at the front desk. Turning around, I ran into Mike at the corner. Ha, unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable. He was with a group of friends who usually hung out with Julia. “Is this Julia’s boyfriend? He’s gorgeous—like my dream guy!” The group stood opposite us, making a fuss. Mike casually brushed the hair from his forehead. “Matthew, you’re here to see a movie with Julia too? Which showing?” Just then, Julia came back. Both groups compared tickets. What a coincidence—same showing, and our seats were even adjacent. Mike casually took the popcorn from Julia’s hands, then distributed it to the other friends. “We’ll share this popcorn~ The movie’s about to start and we don’t have time to buy any.” The group laughed and walked into the screening room. Julia held the remaining box of popcorn, looking at me cautiously. “Why is Julia looking at me? Let’s go in too. The movie’s starting.” I took her hand and walked inside. The dim lighting hid my eye roll.

I don’t know if it was intentional or coincidence, but Mike’s seat was right next to Julia’s. Mike held the popcorn with a grin. “Hehe, perfect—we can all go to dinner together after the movie.” My gaze drifted vaguely forward. I didn’t want to talk to him. Maybe this movie was the type these people usually liked to watch. By the later part of the film, Julia had gathered with those friends, discussing quietly. And I was yawning from boredom. Seeing them chatting happily, I decided to take a quick nap. Who knew that when I opened my eyes again, even the ending credits had finished playing. Our group walked out. Mike was enthusiastically discussing the plot with Julia. The two got more and more absorbed in conversation, and soon walked far ahead of us. Leaving me with Julia’s friends awkwardly looking at each other behind them. Maybe my silence made everyone think I was upset. Someone searched for jokes to tell me, someone bought me drinks and snacks. “Matthew, don’t take offense. Mike and Julia have known each other so long, their interests and hobbies are pretty similar. Usually when they start talking, they can go on for ages. None of us dare interrupt.” I replied with understanding warmth: “I know. Old friends with a close relationship.” By the time Julia realized she’d left me alone with her friend group, half an hour had passed. She ran back quickly to sincerely apologize. “Matthew, I’m sorry, I—” I waved my hand, cutting off her excuse. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Julia and Mike haven’t seen each other in a while, right? Taking some time to chat is no big deal. I’m not that petty.” I handed the snacks and drinks to the friend group, then intimately linked arms with Julia. “Julia, I’m hungry. Let’s go eat!” I swear, in all my life I’d never used such a gentle tone with anyone. Of course, the effect was excellent! Julia’s face turned completely red. Her friend group was lively, each one quick-witted and never holding back their teasing. Only Mike stood to the side, fists clenched, looking away, not saying a word. Completely different from his talkative, lively demeanor just moments ago.

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After sleeping with my childhood sweetheart once, he insisted on taking responsibility for me. My best friend praised him as a good man. But only I knew that after marriage, he never had sex with me again. He wouldn’t even kiss me. I took the divorce agreement to him, wanting to set him free. Instead, I discovered the porn he kept treasured on his phone—it was footage from the night we first had sex. Turns out he had installed countless hidden cameras at home and was watching me all the time. I never imagined he was that kind of person! And I fucking love it! I immediately threw the divorce agreement into the trash! After sleeping with Ethan Reed once, he said he had to take responsibility for me. We got married. But after the wedding, he never touched me again. I knew he didn’t like me. The morning after, the first thing he did was rush into the bathroom and vomit violently. After throwing up, he showered several times. He thought I was still asleep, but I had woken up long before. He found me dirty—his disgust was plain in his eyes. The only reason he took responsibility… was out of consideration for our childhood-sweetheart history of growing up together. For half a year after marriage, he kept his distance and never touched me. But I have high emotional and physical needs. One time in six months, no kisses, no hugs—I really couldn’t stand it anymore. I didn’t want to make things hard for him, or for myself. There are plenty of men out there—why hang myself on one tree? I went into Ethan’s room and tossed the divorce agreement onto his bed. As I turned to leave, I noticed the phone I had given him. It wasn’t the one he usually used. Curious, I opened it. The screen showed a man and woman naked and tangled together in a highly explicit scene. At first I thought it was regular porn. Then I realized it was me and Ethan. I gasped. He had secretly recorded our first night. In the video, Ethan pinned me against the headboard, his muscles taut and powerful, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead—so damn sexy. I was moaning softly under his teasing, my sounds mixing with his heavy breathing. My face grew hotter, my body burning up. I quickly switched to the next video. It was me on a date with Jake Wade. I fed him food; he bent down to tie my shoelaces but sneaked glances at a big-chested woman behind me. There were also clips of me showering at home, sleeping, even using the toilet. I scrolled through a dozen more—all of them secretly filmed, tracking and watching me. Ethan had been spying on every aspect of my body and my life. I clenched my teeth, slammed the phone down, and picked up the divorce agreement again. I never expected Ethan to be this kind of person. And I fucking love it. Only someone like this can satisfy my high needs. Childhood sweethearts for so many years, yet he pretended to be restrained in front of me. Clearly obsessed with me. I threw the divorce agreement into the trash. I decided to personally peel back the other side of this twisted childhood sweetheart. … That evening, I changed into a black strapless dress, sprayed his cologne, and went to the restaurant. He had originally booked it to celebrate my birthday. At the time I was already planning divorce, so when he invited me out for my birthday, I refused. Ethan, rejected, remained expressionless as always. He stared straight at me for a few seconds, said “Okay,” and walked out. His attitude at that moment only strengthened my resolve to divorce. Who could have guessed that this usually restrained, calm, and rational man was secretly spying on me?

When I arrived at the restaurant, Ethan wasn’t there. Instead, I ran into my ex-boyfriend Jake Wade, Sophie Snow, and a bunch of his good buddies. Seeing me, Jake’s close friend Sam Shaw spoke first. “Lily, birthday with no Jake to keep you company, so you had to come eat all alone? That’s just too pitiful.” Jake glanced at me, then quickly looked away. It was obvious someone had reminded him that today was my birthday. “What’s so strange about it? She’s been on her own since school days. If Jake hadn’t taken pity on her and hung out with her, who would even bother? Always walking around with that cold face like someone owes her millions.” Sophie, arm looped through Jake’s, cut in. Back in school, Sophie had always harbored resentment toward me. She loved messing with people for fun—told Jake to pursue me, then dump me, just to watch me fall apart and enjoy the show. But when Jake actually ended up dating me, she was the one who broke down. After graduation, she became Jake’s secretary, and he couldn’t resist the temptation—he cheated. Jake still wore that same arrogant look. “Lily, you came here on purpose to wait for me, right? Last year for your birthday I brought you to this exact restaurant. Why are you so hung up on it?” He hesitated, then added in a patronizing tone: “Fine. Since it’s your birthday today, come join us and eat. But just this once—don’t wait for me anymore after this.” I ignored him. Seeing Ethan walking toward me from a distance, I smiled. “Who said I was waiting for you? I got tired of you ages ago. I was actually worried I wouldn’t be able to get rid of you—good thing someone else stepped in.” Back when I first realized Sophie and Jake were playing me, I actually felt excited. Getting played while turning the tables on them is way more interesting. I looked up what type Jake liked, acted pitiful and fragile, made him completely addicted to me. Once I had him, it felt boring. When I noticed him getting flirty with Sophie, I quickly broke things off. Afraid that if I waited too long, I wouldn’t be able to dump him. Jake frowned as he watched me walk arm-in-arm with Ethan into the private room. I hadn’t told Ethan I was coming to the dinner, yet he still showed up. While Ethan was ordering food, I deliberately tugged the strapless dress a little lower, making my figure stand out more. “I thought you’d be mad and not show up after I turned you down. Good thing you still came—we really are so in tune with each other.” Ethan’s gaze dropped to my chest for a split second before he awkwardly shifted it back to my face. For one brief moment, I caught a dark, churning shadow rise in the depths of his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. “I had an appointment to discuss work. I saw you here, so I rescheduled with the other person.” I pressed my lips together. Still pretending. Ethan handed me the birthday gift. It was a very delicate bracelet. I opened it right there and put it on. Ethan said quietly, “It suits you very well.” Then he lowered his head and continued eating. During the meal he mentioned that in two days he’d be going on a business trip for a week and wouldn’t be able to see me, so I should take good care of myself. I smiled inwardly. Isn’t he watching me every single moment already? Suddenly I felt curious—what would happen if I didn’t take good care of myself? After we finished eating and were about to head home, just as I was stepping out, Ethan pulled me back. He draped his suit jacket over me. “You’re dressed very inappropriately today.” I didn’t want to wear it, but his attitude was firm and left no room for argument. He covered up my exposed shoulders completely. Wrapped up tightly like that, I went home. I had thought being in the private room might finally make him show his true colors. Instead, the male waiter next to us looked at me with eyes far more blatant than Ethan’s ever were. Back in my room, I took off Ethan’s suit jacket and stomped on it twice in frustration to vent. Then I noticed my lace underwear fall out of his pocket. My face instantly flushed red-hot. He really knows how to play dangerously!

I stared wide-eyed, hardly able to believe it. Ethan wasn’t just secretly filming me—he was also stealing my intimate clothing. I grabbed his suit jacket along with the lace panties and went to find him. I wanted to see how he would explain this. When I reached his door, it wasn’t fully closed. I heard strange sounds coming from inside, and my name being called. “Lily… Lily…” The voice was deep, sexy, husky. I instantly realized what he was doing. I couldn’t resist peeking through the crack in the door. Ethan was sunk deep into the sofa, shirt unbuttoned and open. His skin flushed with a light pink sheen. My face burned and my heart raced—I didn’t know whether to go in or not. After hesitating for a while, I finally pushed the door open. Ethan saw me and was startled for a split second. Then, face still flushed, he hurriedly paused the video. When he turned to look at me, his usual calm, restrained, almost ascetic expression was back in place. He slowly buttoned his shirt back up perfectly neat. There wasn’t the slightest trace of shame or panic at being caught. “Why didn’t you knock before coming in?” His voice was calm and low. Completely different from how he’d sounded moments ago. “The door wasn’t closed. What were you watching just now? I want to see too.” “Nothing. Just a movie.” “I heard the sounds. It definitely wasn’t a normal movie. Let me watch and learn from it.” “No. It’s not something you should see.” I held the lace panties out in front of him. “Then is this something you should be carrying around in your pocket? If I’m not mistaken, these are mine.” Ethan’s face remained expressionless. “You washed them and they fell on the floor. I picked them up intending to return them to you. Since you’ve seen them, just take them.” “Return them? Then why carry them in your pocket all the time? Besides stealing my underwear, have you stolen anything else?” Ethan lowered his gaze to the floor. “Lily, don’t make trouble out of nothing. I didn’t steal them.” “You didn’t steal them, but you looked at them. These are a girl’s private things. So what’s wrong with me watching a video with you? I can learn from it—might come in handy later.” I sat down on Ethan’s bed, waiting for him to play it for me, while slowly peeling off my stockings. I’d heard men have zero resistance to black stockings. Ethan averted his eyes without a word, then suddenly scooped me up and pushed me out the door. I was so angry I wanted to kick the door down. I’d already sat on his bed and started taking off my stockings, and he still didn’t react. Yet he was willing to get hard watching videos of me. Was the problem with me, or with him? I stared at the closed door and seriously started doubting myself. … Ethan and I grew up as childhood sweethearts. He helped me chase after so many guys. Only after breaking up with Jake did I realize that over all these years, while the people around me kept changing, Ethan was the only one who never left. I wasn’t sure what his feelings for me were. So I told him about my breakup with Jake, wanting to test his reaction. When he heard Jake had cheated on me, he offered to cooperate and pretend to be my boyfriend to make Jake jealous— to make Jake realize my value and come back to win me over. I was furious that he wanted me to reconcile with another man. But I still agreed to his plan. Fake couple turning real isn’t impossible, right? In front of Jake, Ethan would hold my hand while walking, feed me food, wipe my mouth, even kiss the corner of my lips. The kind of nervous excitement I felt with him was something I’d never experienced with any other man. I found the feeling fresh and assumed Ethan liked me too. But the moment Jake was out of sight, he would immediately let go of me, put distance between us, and apologize. His tone was so sincere—it didn’t look like he had any improper thoughts toward me at all. Finally I couldn’t hold back anymore. I asked him to drink with me, planning to confess while drunk. I’d never been timid in front of other men. But with Ethan it was different—I was terrified of rejection. In the heat of the moment I kissed him, and he kissed me back. His voice was hoarse when he said, “I’m sorry.” Then he pressed me down onto the bed. The next day he insisted on taking responsibility, so we got married. After marriage, he treated me very well. He came home early from work. Grocery shopping and cooking were all on him. Whatever I wanted, he bought it. Even things I only glanced at twice and didn’t plan to buy would eventually appear at home. You could say he was extremely good to me. Except he refused to have sex with me. Not even the most basic hugs or kisses.

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