My nephew, Leo, used a nail to draw on a car, and the owner demanded compensation. My mom said, “He’s just a kid! What does he know? Why did she park there anyway? She deserved it!” When I tried to tell them they needed to discipline him seriously, they kicked me out of the house. On New Year’s Day, my nephew flipped over a boiling hot pot, and his actions finally led to a horrific tragedy. 1 I had just finished up at work and was planning to go see a movie. My mom called me. “Chloe! You’re friends with that lawyer guy, right? Hurry up and bring him to the parking lot at our apartment complex! I need to sue someone!” I could feel a vein throbbing in my forehead. “What happened?” It was chaotic on my mom’s end of the line, like she was in the middle of a screaming match. “Leo scratched a car, and this woman has the nerve to demand a thousand dollars from us! It’s just a tiny scratch, how could it cost a thousand dollars? This is extortion!” I rushed home as fast as I could. A crowd had gathered in the parking lot. My mom was standing right in the center, hands on her hips, occupying the most prominent spot. Beside her stood my nine-year-old nephew, Leo, looking completely unbothered and sporting a cheeky grin. When Leo saw me, he rolled his eyes. I took a deep breath and swallowed my annoyance. I pulled out my phone and asked the car owner for her payment app handle. “Miss, I’m so sorry. My nephew misbehaved, and I apologize for wasting your time. It was a thousand dollars, right? I’ll transfer it to you now…” The car owner was a young woman in her twenties, and she had already been reduced to tears by my mother’s screaming. Seeing a reasonable person finally arrive, she hurriedly pulled up her QR code. “I’m really not trying to extort you. The scratch might be small, but it goes right across two different panels. I asked the auto body shop, and to blend the paint properly, it really will cost over a thousand dollars.” I nodded and typed $1,500 into the payment screen. “The extra money is for your trouble and lost time.” Just as I was about to enter my PIN, my mom lunged forward and grabbed my hand. Her grip was like an iron vise, clamping down so hard I couldn’t move. “You stupid girl, do you have too much money burning a hole in your pocket?!” She then turned to threaten the young woman again. “If you want money, we don’t have any! Go ahead and sue us! But let me tell you something right now—this old lady lives in this complex. If a little girl like you wants to start trouble, I have all the time in the world to make your life a living hell!” The young woman clearly backed down. She was afraid that getting involved with someone like my mom would bring her endless, inescapable trouble. Her eyes darted around nervously, clearly wanting to just drop the issue and leave. I forcefully yanked my hand free from my mom’s grip and quickly typed in my PIN. Ding— The transfer went through. The young woman looked incredibly relieved, gave me a quick, grateful smile, hopped into her car, and sped off. Smack. A heavy slap landed on the back of my hand. “Do you have too much money to burn?! I never see you being this generous at home! You ungrateful brat!” During our struggle just now, she had scratched the back of my hand. Now, with the added slap, my entire hand was swollen and throbbing. “Mom! Leo scratched someone’s car. It’s only right that we pay for the damages. Can we please just be reasonable for once?” I was exhausted. The onlookers in the crowd also started chiming in. “Mrs. Miller, your daughter is right. When a kid makes a mistake, you have to apologize and pay for it. That’s just how it works.” My mom snapped back sharply. “He’s just a kid! What does he know? Who told her to park her car there? She deserved to get it scratched!” People started voicing their disagreement. “You can’t say that. The woman parked her car perfectly within the lines of the parking space. How is that parking illegally? Even if she was parked illegally, you call the towing company or the police. You don’t go and vandalize the car! What kind of behavior is that?” … My mom was clearly in the wrong, and she couldn’t out-argue a whole crowd of people. Her face turned pale with anger. She shot me a vicious glare. “I’ll deal with you when we get home!” With that, she turned and stormed off. Leo stuck his tongue out at me and made a face, then hopped and skipped after my mom as if nothing had happened. Seeing me walking in the direction of our apartment, Leo spread his arms and blocked my path. “My house is that way. You’re not allowed to go any further!” I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him, so I changed direction and kept walking. Seeing this, he stomped his foot down hard on my white sneakers. “I said you can’t go! I told you to listen to me! I’ll stomp on you!” My brand-new shoes instantly had ugly, dirty footprints all over them. “Leo! Do you want a spanking?!” I was furious. I grabbed him by the collar. “Apologize to me, and then wipe my shoes clean!” Leo scratched my hand viciously. I gasped in pain and let go of his collar. “Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah…” He made another ugly face at me. He didn’t show an ounce of remorse. My mom pulled Leo into her arms and praised him, “Kids are smart when they’re playful!” My temples throbbed. “Mom, get it straight. What is being playful, and what is being malicious?!” 2 My mom exploded instantly. “What do you mean, malicious?! You never have a good word to say! He’s just a little boy, how could he have any bad intentions?” “He’s nine years old! He’s not going to be a kid forever! If you don’t discipline him now, when he enters the real world, he’s going to cause an even bigger disaster and suffer much worse consequences!” “I don’t want to hear your twisted logic! Every time you see him, all you do is scold him, always saying he’s doing this wrong or that wrong. There is no aunt in the world like you.” Every time I brought up the issue of Leo’s discipline, my mom always twisted it into me being biased against him. Seeing me silenced, a smug snort escaped from Leo’s nose. My temper flared up. I lifted my foot and started walking toward the apartment. “I paid for part of this house too. Why shouldn’t I go in?” Leo flew into a helpless rage. He threw himself onto the ground, kicking and screaming, throwing a massive tantrum. “Don’t let her go! Don’t let her go! My mom said she’s coming to steal our house! Steal our house!” My mom hurriedly tried to coax him. “Leo, my sweet grandson, Grandma won’t let her go, I won’t let her go!” After she finished, she looked a bit awkward. “Don’t take what a kid says to heart. Your sister-in-law didn’t mean it like that. Leo is throwing a fit, so why don’t you just leave for now?” In that moment, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t hurt. Since I was little, because I was a girl, my parents didn’t value me. They dumped me with my grandparents to be raised. They always said daughters would eventually marry into other families, and they would have to rely on their son to take care of them in their old age. So, I worked twice as hard, trying to win their approval. After starting my career, my salary kept increasing. Last year, I married Liam, who came from a good family, which finally made my parents happy. Meanwhile, my brother lounged around all day doing nothing. He had zero income all year and relied entirely on my parents. My parents’ food and expenses for the entire year were all paid for by me. But even so, in their eyes, I was still inferior to the “male heir.” After being hurt time and time again, even I get tired. I remained silent for a long time. I don’t know what I finally gave up on, but suddenly, my body and mind felt incredibly light. I didn’t want to deal with this anymore, and I didn’t care anymore. My mom seemed to sense something was different. She said in a slightly fawning tone, “Chloe, in a few days Mom will make your favorite pickled vegetable pancakes, and I’ll call you to come home.” Actually, I didn’t like pickled vegetable pancakes. When I was little, I was often hungry. The elderly neighbor, Mrs. Smith, would occasionally give me a pickled vegetable pancake to eat. My mom just assumed I was greedy and asked for them myself. I gave her one look and said flatly. “I don’t like pickled vegetables. I like king crab. If there’s no emergency in the future, you don’t need to call me to come over. I’m busy with work.” After saying that, I didn’t care what she thought, I just turned and left. The $40,000 I provided to buy this apartment could be considered compensation for my parents raising me for the first twenty years of my life. Didn’t they want to rely on their son for their old age? Then for the rest of their lives, I won’t be participating. After that unpleasant parting, I actually enjoyed a period of peace and quiet. The next time I heard news about Leo, it was that he had been beaten and sent to the hospital. My mom choked back sobs. “Leo got beaten up, he’s in the hospital!” Me: “Oh.” My mom wailed, “That goddamn monster, a six-foot-tall grown man! One slap, and the kid got a concussion.” Me: “…What did Leo do?” Over the phone, my mom hemmed and hawed, refusing to say. I was a bit curious, so I went to the hospital. 3 When I got there, my mom grabbed my hand, crying and snotting all over it. “Hurry up and call your lawyer friend! We have to sue that goddamn son of a b***h until he’s bankrupt!” “If anything happens to Leo, I’ll fight him to the death!” “As his aunt, you have to get justice for him!” I calmly pulled my hand back. “First, tell me exactly what Leo did. I don’t believe someone would just hit him for no reason.” My mom mumbled, “Today at a restaurant, when a guy wasn’t looking, Leo peed in his beer bottle. The guy took a drink, thought it tasted weird, and Leo, that silly boy, laughed at him for drinking pee. The guy went crazy, jumped up, and hit the kid.” I was stunned. I asked in disbelief, “Did you not stop him?” My mom slapped her thigh, looking miserable. “How could I not try to stop him?! When Leo was getting hit, I risked my old life trying to grab him back!” I was furious. “I meant when he was peeing in the beer bottle! Why didn’t you stop him then?!” My mom looked completely unapologetic. “Why would I stop him?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “He peed in someone’s beer bottle! Pee!!! And you’re asking me why you should stop him?!” My mom’s expression hardened. “That guy wasn’t a good person anyway! He doesn’t own the restaurant, what right did he have to tell a kid not to run and jump around? Minding other people’s business, he deserved to drink pee.” My scalp tingled. I completely failed to comprehend her moral compass. Was she insane?! Seeing my reaction, my mom quickly said, “Go ask around, what kid isn’t mischievous like this? You can’t blame Leo for this! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and call your lawyer friend, ask him how much money we can get in compensation!” I felt my very soul trembling. “He deserved to get hit! Compensation my ass!” My mom got anxious. “What’s wrong with drinking a little boy’s pee? It’s not dirty! Some people even specially use little boys’ pee to boil tea eggs, it’s very nourishing.” I threw up right then and there. “Blegh!” It was too disgusting. Once I started throwing up, I couldn’t stop. My mom tried to help me up, but I swatted her hand away, backed away from her, and went to find a doctor to prescribe some medicine. The doctor suggested I take a test. After the test, I found out I was pregnant! No one could understand how wildly ecstatic I was in that moment. Having grown up starved for love, my greatest wish in life was to have my own family, a complete family. I quickly called my husband, Liam, who was away on a business trip. “Honey, I’m pregnant!” Liam was even more excited than I was. He gave me a ton of advice for pregnant women, told me to rest well, and promised over and over that he would finish his work as quickly as possible and come home to be with me. I nodded continuously, not caring that he couldn’t see me. During this time, my mom called me countless times. I didn’t answer a single one, just left the hospital and went straight home. What I didn’t expect was that my mom, unable to reach me, reached out her demonic claws to Liam instead. She opened her mouth and demanded that Liam, as the uncle, give her two thousand dollars for Leo’s “nutritional recovery.” I was furious and called her back immediately. “How can you be a mother like this? Do you think my husband’s family is your personal ATM? How could you even open your mouth to ask for two thousand dollars?” “You rotten girl, I wasted my time raising you! That day at the hospital, you left without saying a word, not a single word of concern for your nephew. Your heart has been eaten by dogs! Do you know how much Leo has suffered, and we haven’t gotten a single cent in medical bills?!” I felt a surge of vicious satisfaction. “That’s because he deserved to get hit! If you keep spoiling him like this, he’s going to suffer a lot more in the future.” My mom threatened me. “If you don’t care about Leo, I’ll go get the money from your husband. If he doesn’t give it to me, I’ll go make a scene at his workplace!” I was so angry I was grinding my teeth, tears shooting from my eyes. “If you have the guts, go right ahead and make a scene! Your daughter is pregnant now. If you cause me to divorce Liam over this, I’ll just move back into my maiden home with the baby. Don’t even try to kick me out; I paid for that apartment, so I own a piece of it. If you don’t let me live there, I’ll take you to court. We’ll see who has a harder time!” 4 My hand gripping the phone was shaking. I was genuinely afraid my mom would actually go cause a scene at Liam’s workplace. Some people have no shame, they don’t care about their reputation. If she did that, how would Liam ever show his face at work again? “You’re pregnant?” My mom was shocked. “That’s right.” After a long silence, she backed down. “Then come back home in a couple of days during the New Year holiday. I’ll make a little red blessing charm for the baby.” Giving a little red blessing charm to an unborn child is a tradition in my mom’s hometown. It symbolizes bringing peace and health to the baby. Even though I really didn’t want to see them, I truly wanted my unborn baby to receive the little red blessing charm, which represented good fortune. I emphasized, “I can come over, but I won’t be giving you any money.” My mom hung up the phone with a beep. Originally, we had agreed I would go pick up the charm on the afternoon of New Year’s Day. But Liam texted me early, saying he’d be home by the afternoon. So, I made a last-minute decision to go to my parents’ house in the morning, finish up quickly, and head home. Because of this, I eavesdropped on a shocking conspiracy at my parents’ house! On the morning of New Year’s Day, I went back to my parents’ house. After taking out my key and unlocking the door, I heard my mom and my sister-in-law, Jenna, talking through a slightly ajar bedroom door. Unlike their usual tone, this time, they kept their voices very low. Possessed by some strange urge, I crept closer and hid behind the door to eavesdrop. My Mom: “Dammit, that family refuses to pay! I heard that guy has been to prison, and when he goes crazy, he’ll hack people with a meat cleaver!” Sister-in-law: “Don’t mess with that guy. If he hurts Leo, we’ll regret it forever. Let Chloe’s husband pay for it; his family has money, might as well spend it. That ‘uncle’ title shouldn’t come for free.” My Mom: “I’m just afraid if we push too hard, he’ll divorce Chloe. What if Chloe comes running back here pregnant? Not only did we not get any money, but we’ll be stuck with that bad luck!” Sister-in-law: “I actually have an idea… it just depends on if you’re willing to be ruthless with your daughter.” My Mom: “Tell me.” Sister-in-law: “Give Chloe some abortion medicine. If she loses her own kid, she’ll definitely focus all her energy on raising her nephew. She’s still young, if she loses this one, she can always have another one later.” My Mom: “…” Sister-in-law: “In a couple of years, Leo will be in middle school, and there will be a lot of expenses. His dad is useless, we need to squeeze more out of the Hayes family. If Chloe has her own kid, why would she be willing to subsidize her maiden family? Only if her own seed is gone will she look at Leo and feel a connection. Who knows, she might even raise Leo like her own son.” My Mom: “…Alright, when Chloe comes over this afternoon, you boil her a bowl of saffron water. That stuff promotes blood circulation and removes blood stasis, it can cause a miscarriage. Later, if she asks about it, we can easily explain it away, just say we didn’t know the effects of that herb.” … I felt like a drowning fish. Even though I was surrounded by air, it felt thin, and breathing was difficult. I should thank my twenty-plus years of building willpower. It allowed me, in a state of out-of-body shock, to leave that hellhole silently, without making a single sound. Once I was out of the apartment complex, I practically ran, as if demons were chasing me. I quickly called Liam and burst into loud sobs. “Hurry home, hurry home.” Liam was frantic. “I’m almost home! Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.” When I saw him, I told him exactly what I had heard, not caring if he would be disgusted by my family. I was too broken! I knew my birth wasn’t welcomed, but I thought at least they still treated me like a human being! They didn’t. When they discussed eliminating my precious baby, it sounded as casual as talking about killing a chicken. The veins on Liam’s forehead bulged. He asked me if I wanted to vent this awful frustration. “Yes!” I nodded vigorously. “I don’t have a maiden family anymore. They’re gone. I only have enemies!” I let him hold me, crying uncontrollably. Liam moved quickly. Through some friends, he found a few experienced gamblers to get close to my brother, Richard, planning to set up a trap that would bankrupt him. 5 That afternoon, my mom called to complain. “We agreed you’d come home for lunch, where did you go? We made a whole table of food, and it’s all cold.” I could faintly hear Leo screaming in the background: “Don’t let her come to my house! If she dares to come, I’ll beat her out!” My emotions had stabilized. I played along with my mom. “I suddenly felt a little discomfort in my stomach, so I ran to the hospital. I can’t make it.” Her focus predictably shifted to my stomach. “Is there something wrong with the baby?” I fought down the surging hatred and, with infinite guilt toward my unborn child, said, “It’s not developing very well. I’m planning to find some time to abort it.” When I said those words, it felt like my heart was being stabbed a hundred times. I apologized to my baby over and over again in my mind. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, my precious baby. Please don’t blame Mommy for saying this. There are many ways to harm a pregnant woman. A push on the stairs, a trip on the street—both can be fatal. There’s a saying: “You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can’t guard against a thief for a thousand days.” I had to use this lie to temporarily dispel their malicious intentions. My mom faked it perfectly. “Oh my, what a pity. Well, if that’s the case, you should go get the surgery done early. Waiting too long is bad for your health.” I tried my best to ignore the hint of joy in her voice and asked, “How’s my brother doing lately?” My mom sounded delighted. “Your brother went to play cards and won’t be back for lunch. He had a lucky streak today. He even called back earlier to say he won a few thousand dollars.” I smiled silently. “That’s good. Put Leo on the phone, I have a few words for him.” My mom didn’t suspect a thing and handed the phone over. “Leo, your aunt wants to talk to you.” “Hey!” Leo yelled. “If you have something to say, say it fast, if you have a fart, let it out!” Leo’s personality was incredibly egocentric. He wouldn’t even allow others to disobey him. If someone made him lose face, they really poked the hornet’s nest. I deliberately told him, “Auntie just wanted to advise you not to be so impulsive in the future. I ran into Mia from your class today. She heard you got slapped into the hospital and asked me if it was true. You see, your classmates care about you so much…” He violently spat out a curse: “You stupid b***h!” Then, the phone on the other end was heavily thrown. The sound of shattering plates and bowls echoed endlessly. My mom and sister-in-law’s panicked voices came through: “My sweet grandson, what are you doing?” “Quick, put the vase down, you can’t smash that, you can’t smash that…” I smiled and hung up the phone. Would a furious, humiliated Leo go looking for trouble with that big guy? Given his petty, vindictive nature, the answer was definitely yes. I waited to see him bring about his own destruction. That night, Liam and I had already fallen asleep when our phones suddenly started ringing jarringly. It wasn’t just my phone; even Liam’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing. My phone showed an incoming call from my mom, while his showed an unknown number. The relentless ringing seemed to foretell that something terrible had happened. We sat up, exchanged a glance, and he answered the unknown number. “Hello, who is this?” “Is this Mr. Hayes? This is the Spice Fire Hot Pot Restaurant! Someone in your family is severely injured, the ambulance is on its way right now. Please hurry over here immediately!” “What’s going on? Explain clearly.” “Beep, beep, beep—” The other side, perhaps because the scene was too chaotic or for some other reason, abruptly hung up. Seeing this, I answered my mom’s call and put it on speaker. “What happened? What exactly happened?” Judging from the previous phone call, something definitely happened over there, and it wasn’t a small thing. I just didn’t know who exactly was severely injured.

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Just as Dominic and I were about to finalize our divorce, he got into a car accident and lost his memory. His mind is stuck eight years in the past. Eight years ago—back when he loved me most. 1 Dominic stared at me with a heavy, searching gaze. “Elena,” he asked, his voice low, “tell me the truth. Do you want this divorce because you’ve fallen for someone else?” I let out a tired sigh. Faced with his interrogation, I could only meet him with silence. He had forgotten. The one who had spent every waking hour scheming for a divorce wasn’t me. The one who had fallen for someone else wasn’t me either. It was him. But the Dominic sitting in that hospital bed couldn’t believe he was capable of such a thing. To him, the idea was a bad joke, a piece of nonsensical fiction. He sat there, eyes shifting from Caleb—his best friend standing beside me—back to me. He let out a cold, cynical laugh. “Are you two in this together? Is this some kind of twisted prank to mess with my head?” The accident had caused a hematoma that pressed against his nerves, resulting in transient retrograde amnesia. He had lost every single memory of the last eight years. Eight years ago, we had just graduated. I had stayed by his side while he built his startup from nothing, sharing every hardship. Back then, his world began and ended with me. If you had told the Dominic of eight years ago that he would eventually love another woman, he wouldn’t have believed you. To be honest, the Elena of eight years ago wouldn’t have believed it either. 2 Seraphina Brooks, who was sitting on the edge of his bed with tear-streaked cheeks, reached out to grab his hand. Dominic flinched away as if she were a hot coal. His brow furrowed with a suppressed, icy impatience. “Stay away from me,” he snapped, his tone freezing. Seraphina froze. She sat there as the tears began to roll down her face, one by one. Even in her state of “damsel in distress,” she didn’t forget to look up and shoot me a venomous glare, as if I were the mastermind behind her misery. Watching this scene, I felt a hysterical urge to laugh, but the sound wouldn’t come. Dominic and I truly had nothing left to say to one another. I stood at the far end of the room, keeping a physical distance from his bed. My face was a mask of cold indifference. “The divorce settlement was drafted by your own legal team, Dominic. Your lead counsel weighed every word. You reviewed it yourself before the accident.” I paused, letting out a breath. “Once you’re discharged, you can ask anyone around you. You’ll see that I’m not the one lying.” He looked up, his eyes locking onto mine. He looked like he had been physically struck by my coldness. For a moment, his face showed a rare flicker of vulnerability—a mixture of confusion and a silent, pleading desperation. He had spent the last several years being the golden boy of the tech world, arrogant and certain of everything. I hadn’t seen him look this lost in a very long time. But my heart was a stagnant pool of dead water. No amount of confusion on his part could ripple it now. I turned and walked out. 3 Dominic’s accident happened about a month ago, but he only woke up a few days ago. The board at Vance Tech had kept the news under a total media blackout, terrified of what it would do to the stock price. I suspect that if he hadn’t experienced “complications”—namely, forgetting the last decade—his chief of staff wouldn’t have called me at all. He crashed the night I finally agreed to the divorce. It wasn’t because he was distraught over losing me. It was because it was raining in the city, and he was speeding back from a conference in San Francisco, trying to make it home before midnight for Seraphina’s birthday. He hit a semi-truck that had blown a red light. Tragic, really. Almost poetic. His memory had reverted to a point before Seraphina Brooks even existed in his world. In his mind, there was only me. Dominic had always been a brilliant man—calculated, composed, and efficient. Even in this bizarre situation, he managed to grasp the basic facts of his current life with startling speed. But there was one thing he refused to accept. He could not believe he would stop loving me, choose Seraphina, and demand a divorce. His inner circle tried to convince him. They showed him photos, messages, and details of his life with Seraphina as “evidence.” He didn’t believe a word of it. He insisted on seeing me. That was why they called. They brought me into that hospital room like a piece of evidence in a cold case, a witness to a dead relationship. They wanted me to prove to him that it wasn’t eight years ago anymore. In the eight years he had deleted, we hadn’t been “happily ever after.” We had lived through a slow-motion car crash of resentment and hatred. How he chose to process that was his problem, not mine. 4 I didn’t see Dominic again until two weeks later. He must have snuck out of the hospital. He was leaning against my front door, still wearing his blue hospital scrubs under a thin jacket, his head wrapped in bandages. He looked disheveled and exhausted, sitting right there on the hallway floor. I hadn’t seen him look this unpolished in years. He was the “Man of the Year,” the titan of A-City, a man who lived in bespoke suits with creases sharp enough to cut paper. The older and more powerful he got, the more he hid his edge behind a mask of stoic professionalism. Everyone called him “Mr. Vance” with a bow in their voice. The last time I’d seen him look this raw was probably the day we graduated. He heard my footsteps and snapped his head up. I had just picked up our son, Leo, from school. Dominic’s eyes moved from me to the little boy at my side. His expression shifted instantly, his gaze becoming intensely focused. He was a smart man; he knew the timeline. Even without the memories, he had been told the facts: He was a success. We were married. He had cheated. I had asked for the divorce. I held Leo’s hand and stopped several feet away from him. My voice was like ice. “What are you doing here?” He swallowed hard. “He’s… he’s our son?” Leo wasn’t close to him. He stood by my leg, looking at Dominic with a quiet, detached curiosity. Then he looked up at me. “Mom, who is that?” I rubbed Leo’s head gently. “Go inside and start your homework, honey.” Leo looked at me, then back at the man on the floor. He gave a small nod and walked past him into the apartment, his backpack bouncing against his small frame. 5 Dominic’s eyes followed the boy until the door closed. Then he turned back to me, his brow knitted in a permanent frown. “I don’t understand, Elena. Since college, my only dream was to marry you and have a family. Now, that dream has come true, but…” He trailed off. I knew what he was going to say. Why was the reality so different from the dream? He had married me, yes. But I treated him like a stranger, and our son looked at him like he was a ghost. He tried to force himself to remember, but the injury wouldn’t allow it. He winced, clutching his temples as if his head were about to explode. When he looked up again, his eyes were full of a profound, hollow sadness—like a stray dog that had been kicked one too many times. “Elena, I really don’t get it,” he said, his voice cracking with pain. “How did we get to this point?” “I read the settlement. They said I dictated it myself. It’s cruel. It’s heartless. Why would I ever want to do that to you?” Why? Because the Dominic of eight years ago wanted nothing more than to marry me. But the Dominic of eight months ago wanted nothing more than to marry Seraphina Brooks. He wanted to give her the “official” title he thought she deserved. 6 Our story was a cliché. We were college sweethearts. He was the student body president, a star. I remember him filming a campus PSA about “Self-Respect and Values.” He was playing the role of a “jerk” who breaks a girl’s heart. I had wandered onto the set, not realizing they were filming. I saw a girl clinging to his arm, sobbing, “I’m pregnant, you can’t leave me, please!” He had looked down at her with a scowl and said, “Go to the clinic and handle it. Stop bothering me.” I was livid. I walked right up to him and smashed my half-eaten ice cream cone into his face. Then I grabbed the girl’s hand and said, “Honey, a guy like this isn’t worth a single tear.” The girl stopped crying and stared at me in shock. Dominic wiped the chocolate ice cream from his eyes, looking at me with a half-smirk. He turned to the bewildered film crew hiding in the bushes and said, “See? That’s the kind of values we’re trying to promote.” I turned bright red and apologized a thousand times. He was a good sport about it, waving it off with a laugh. Later, I took him to dinner to make up for it. After that, we were inseparable. Dominic was a perfect boyfriend back then. We had so many sweet memories. Even when we fought, he was always the first to apologize. I remember a hike we took during our junior year. We got into a huge argument over something stupid. He was so frustrated he just stomped ahead, leaving me behind. I couldn’t keep up and eventually lost sight of him. But after a few hundred yards, I found him leaning against a crooked oak tree, waiting. He was still fuming, but he muttered, “I’m still mad at you. I just didn’t want you to get lost.” When we graduated, most couples broke up. He held my hand and promised me we would make it. My parents had found me a great job back in our hometown, and my degree was from a top-tier school, but I chose to stay with him in the city. The early days of his startup were brutal. We lived in a basement apartment that never saw the sun. We shared one order of takeout noodles for dinner. He would always push the few pieces of chicken and greens to my side of the container. He told me he would never let me suffer forever. And he kept that promise. Everything got better. And then, he met Seraphina. Time changes hearts more easily than it changes seasons. The last eight years happened so fast I couldn’t keep up. And eventually, he stopped waiting for me to catch up. 7 I had heard Seraphina’s name long before I ever saw her face. If I recall correctly, it was seven years ago. He had just closed his Series A funding. He came home one night, buzzing with energy, telling me he’d hired someone extraordinary. “She’s an Ivy League grad, Elena. Brilliant, driven, and she sees the vision. She had offers from three Fortune 500 companies, but she chose us.” He was so genuinely happy. “She’s going to be my right hand.” I had smiled and watched him, saying nothing. I wondered if he’d forgotten that when he first started, everyone called him a fraud, and I was the one who kept him going. I never doubted him, even when he doubted himself. I never could have guessed that Seraphina Brooks would become a shadow over our lives for so long, a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. 8 My first encounter with her was also seven years ago. Vance Tech didn’t have its own building yet; they were crammed into a small office in a tech park. It was a night of torrential rain, and I went to pick him up. Caleb, his co-founder, saw me and laughed. “Hey, Elena! Hang on a sec, Dominic’s in a meeting.” I nodded and looked through the glass of the conference room. There were about six people inside. Dominic was at the whiteboard, covered in complex formulas. The air was thick with tension; they were arguing over a technical algorithm. Then I saw Seraphina. She stood up, walked to the board with total composure, and added a single line to the equation. The room went dead silent. In that silence, I saw Dominic look down at her, and they shared a small, knowing smile. The chemistry was effortless. When Dominic came out and saw me, he looked surprised and happy. He looked at the rain lashing against the window. “It’s a monsoon out there. Why did you come out in this?” I didn’t answer him. My gaze moved past his shoulder to Seraphina. She was standing there, a polite smile on her lips, letting me look her over while she coolly observed me. It was that sixth sense only a woman has. Her presence was an invasion. I smiled back, keeping it subtle. “Hi. I’m Elena, Dominic’s girlfriend.” She smiled. “Seraphina. Dominic’s assistant.” Our first battle was fought in total silence. Dominic stood there, oblivious, worrying about me being out in the rain. He asked me what I wanted for dinner. Back then, I felt like I had won. 9 Of course, looking back, none of it mattered. Over the years, Seraphina and I traded blows. I won some; I lost some. Now, the tally doesn’t matter. It just feels pathetic. I reached a point where I was just… tired. I didn’t want to be the third person in their drama anymore. So, I asked for the divorce. The day I told him was a completely ordinary evening. I was standing on the balcony, watching the sunset fade behind the skyscrapers. I sent him a text: Dominic, let’s get a divorce. He didn’t reply for hours. He was busy. At midnight, he sent back a single character: ? I stared at the screen and didn’t reply. He called me later that night. We shared a heavy, mutual silence. He didn’t ask why. He didn’t try to save us. After a long time, he just said, “I’ll have the lawyers draft the papers.” I said “Okay” and hung up. For some reason, I thought about college. Back then, we had an 11 PM curfew at the dorms, and we would stay on the phone for hours, talking until the sun came up as if we’d never run out of things to say. Now, we had nothing. Shortly after that call, he crashed while rushing to Seraphina’s party. It felt like the universe was finally stepping in to settle the score. 10 I think he was surprised I finally asked. We had been entangled in this mess for so long. In the moment I said it, I think he felt a sense of relief. Dominic is a man burdened by a twisted sense of responsibility. Even though he loved Seraphina, he would never have been the one to walk away first. The day I decided was nothing special. Leo’s teacher had called me to the school because he’d gotten into a fight. When I arrived, Leo was standing against the wall next to a larger boy. The other boy’s father was already there—a massive, aggressive man. He sneered at me as I walked in. “How do you raise a kid like this? Look what he did to my son…” Leo looked up at me. He was covered in dirt and grass, his face smudged. He looked at me with a stubborn, silent defiance. I knelt down and started wiping the dirt from his cheek with my thumb. “Why were you fighting?” I whispered. He pressed his lips together. The other father, seeing me ignore him, stepped forward and shoved my shoulder. I wasn’t prepared. I pitched forward, nearly hitting the floor. Before I could even steady myself, Leo let out a low, animal-like growl and lunged at the man, biting his leg with everything he had. The office descended into chaos. By the time we left, the streetlights were on. We were both a mess. I held his small hand and pointed at a shop window. “Do you want some ice cream?” He looked at his shoes and nodded. Kids are easy to soothe. By the time we got to the car, he seemed better. But right before we reached the apartment, he looked at me. “Mom? Where’s Dad?” His eyes were red. He rarely cried; he was a stubborn kid. But seeing me get pushed by that man had broken him. He had burst into tears in the office after the bite. I knew what he was thinking. He wished his dad was there. If his dad had been there, his mom wouldn’t have been bullied, she wouldn’t have had to apologize to a jerk, and the teacher wouldn’t have yelled at her. I gripped the steering wheel, unable to find the words. In the six years Leo had been alive, Dominic hadn’t spent a cumulative two weeks actually being a father. In that moment, I felt a bone-deep exhaustion. I realized it was over. I looked at the Dominic sitting in my living room—the one who thought it was still eight years ago. “There are a thousand ways for you to find out the truth, Dominic. You just don’t want to believe it.” 11 Dominic stayed at my door. The autumn air was turning cold. He wasn’t fully recovered, and he had lost weight. He sat there in his thin scrubs, stubborn and unmoving. I watched him through the window. It was almost funny. How many times had I waited outside his office like that? His secretary would eventually come out and “kindly” ask me to leave. “Mrs. Vance, he’s in a meeting, and you don’t have an appointment.” Eventually, I had to call his office just to schedule a time to talk to my own husband. And then, I stopped calling altogether. I looked away and left him out there in the cold. After I finished helping Leo with his homework, I looked again. He had collapsed on the steps. He’d fainted. I sighed and called his assistant. Not out of pity, but because I didn’t want a dead billionaire on my doorstep. That would be a legal nightmare. The ambulance came. Not long after they left, Dominic’s mother showed up. I could lock Dominic and Seraphina out, but I couldn’t ignore his mother. Back when he was starting out, I was the “perfect” daughter-in-law. Dominic wasn’t making much money then. Every time we visited her, she would hold my hand and look at me with such warmth. “You’re a good girl, Elena. You’ve suffered with him. Our family is lucky to have you. If he ever treats you wrong, you come to me.” But once Vance Tech became a billion-dollar empire, she changed. She told me with a thin, polite smile, “Elena, it’s not that I don’t care for you. It’s just that… Seraphina is a better fit for Dominic’s new life. Surely you understand a mother’s concern?” Seraphina. Yes, she had the pedigree, the Ivy League degree, and the look. Birds of a feather. I didn’t blame his mother for her coldness, but I couldn’t sit and have tea with her either. She was uncomfortable too. She skipped the small talk. “Elena, you’re a good person. I know the divorce is in progress. But Dominic’s condition… the doctors say he shouldn’t be stressed. He only recognizes you right now.” “He fainted again. I want you to look after him when he’s discharged. It won’t be forever. Just until he gets his memories back.” Her “request” was perfectly polished, right up until the threat at the end. “You know,” she added, “we weren’t planning on fighting you for custody of Leo.” Of course they weren’t. She was waiting for Seraphina to give her a “better” grandchild with “better” genes. But now, she was using Leo to keep me in line. I clenched my jaw so hard it ached. These years had taught me one thing: no matter how much you’re hurting, you smile. So I smiled. “I’ll take care of him.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “415134”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

I kicked my boyfriend to the curb right after graduation. Who would have thought he’d end up becoming a mega-famous, award-winning movie star? When a reporter asked him in an interview if he had ever been in love, he didn’t hold back at all. “Yes. In college.” The reporter, clearly surprised, quickly followed up, “And… what happened between you two?” Liam paused. His eyes darkened. Just as the reporter was about to nervously change the subject, he spoke. “She dumped me.” His tone was dripping with resentment. “And… what was the reason for the breakup?” The reporter seemed to forget she was on the job and started asking personal questions. “She said I’m blood type B, and she’s blood type B, so she was afraid we’d give birth to a 2B [idiot].” 1 It was painfully obvious Liam was grinding his teeth as he said it, his face like a thundercloud. The reporter’s expression was indescribable; I swear I thought he was going to burst out laughing the very next second. Suddenly, my phone lagged, and Twitter completely crashed. [WHO IS SHE?! WHO EXACTLY IS SHE?!] [I need to know what kind of fairy goddess actually dumped Liam Hayes.] [LMAO afraid of having a 2B baby???] [The ultimate 2B.] [With a face like his, I’d sell my kidney to provide for him!] [Why does our movie star actually sound… wronged?] [Wouldn’t you feel wronged getting dumped for THAT reason?] [You gotta admit, the ex-girlfriend has a great sense of humor.] In no time, everyone was speculating about who could have possibly dumped me. What I didn’t expect was that people actually started pointing fingers at me, simply because Liam and I went to the same university. [I have a feeling it’s Chloe! They went to the same college, but more importantly, their visuals are a perfect match! My biggest regret is that we’ve never seen these two gorgeous people in the same frame!!] However, it wasn’t just Liam’s fans; my fans rushed to the comment sections to control the narrative. [Our queen shines on her own!] [They don’t even know each other, but thanks to this friend for praising our girl’s looks. You won’t regret stanning her!] Suddenly, a newly registered account started blowing up out of nowhere. The account posted a bunch of photos—campus pictures of the currently trending starlet, Mia, and Liam. In almost every photo, Mia was looking at Liam with eyes full of love, while Liam was usually photographed from behind so you couldn’t see his face. Mia was smiling gently, looking exactly like someone in love. Instantly, the internet thought they had found the truth. [I knew it! Our sweet, beautiful Mia is exactly the kind of perfect girl even a movie star would fall for!] [Girl, please. Does she even deserve him?] [Get out of here, keep our boy’s name out of your mouth.] [Is that even possible? He’s been in the industry for so long, and we’ve never even seen them interact.] [That’s because you don’t get it. It’s called keeping a low profile.] There are always starlets trying to piggyback off a famous actor’s clout. Usually, Liam’s studio would issue a denial immediately, but this time, there was absolute silence. This made people think the relationship was actually confirmed. Even Liam’s fans lost a bit of confidence when denying the rumors. Does he really like that starlet? Her vibe, her looks… they don’t match him at all. But soon enough, Liam’s studio released a statement clarifying that they had no idea those photos existed and requested the original poster delete them immediately. Liam himself also posted on Twitter. “Don’t know her.” Three short words completely destroyed Mia’s credibility. Now, Liam’s fans had their confidence back. [The clarification might be late, but it never fails to arrive.] [LMAO I’m dying. He literally doesn’t even know who she is.] [Just another clout-chaser. It’s because our boy is too excellent, every dog wants a bite.] [Why are you being so sarcastic up there??? Our Mia never said she liked Liam.] [Then why didn’t she clarify things herself?] The internet was in an uproar, but I turned a deaf ear to it all. I was busy building my brand. I had recently signed on for a travel reality show. I was just thinking about how I wanted to travel the world, so this fell right into my lap. There were six guests in total. When I saw Ethan chatting with me familiarly, I couldn’t help but frown. I didn’t know him well at all. 2 Ethan and I had co-starred in a drama once, playing a couple. Our sweet interactions garnered quite a few shippers, but my agent never told me we were supposed to push a “showmance” for this reality show. I remembered that Ethan’s career had been pretty stagnant lately; he was kind of a B-lister. He probably wanted to use this show to generate some buzz. If seeing Ethan made me uncomfortable, then seeing Liam made me want to flee the country immediately. What kind of sick joke was this? “Chloe, it’s been a long time.” As soon as Liam arrived, he wore a polite smile and greeted me. I looked at his outstretched hand, not wanting to show weakness. I offered a slight smile and lightly squeezed his fingertips. “Long time no see.” He took that as an invitation to stand right next to me, making my heart race with anxiety. Honestly, I still felt a bit guilty about how we broke up. Under the setting sun, he stubbornly held my hand, his eyes filled with unwillingness and hurt… [Do they know each other? Why do they seem so familiar with each other??] [They’ve both been in the industry for years and haven’t co-starred in a single project. Or did I miss some detail??] [Is Liam looking at her a little too intensely?] [They went to the same college, so it’s possible they knew each other back then, but they’re definitely not close now.] Clearly, only the last explanation sounded plausible. I originally thought this would be a relaxing, fun getaway. Little did I know, not only did I have to deal with those two, but they threw in someone else I absolutely did not want to see: Mia. And she was obviously here for Liam. It wasn’t that I disliked Mia because of Liam; I just genuinely disliked her as a person. Talking to her always felt fake and insincere. It was exhausting. Sure enough, Mia kept sneaking glances in Liam’s direction. After she finished greeting everyone else, she walked toward us, her eyes curving into a smile. I had to admit, she was pretty. “Liam, long time no see!” “Mhm.” Liam gave a slight nod, a polite but distant response. [Are you telling me they don’t know each other? Is Liam two-faced or something?] [LMAO, when a dog comes begging for attention, of course you have to humor it a little.] [Dogs are innocent, don’t insult them.] I didn’t know why, but even though Liam was standing behind me to my right and I couldn’t see his face, I felt like his gaze was constantly lingering on me. “Hi, Chloe!” Mia was being very polite right now. Was I judging her too harshly? Suddenly, my hand resting by my side was lightly bumped. A sharp chill startled my nerves. I turned my head to find Liam looking at his phone, acting as if nothing happened. It was probably an accident. His hands had always been like that—freezing cold all year round, impossible to warm up no matter how hard you tried. He used to always cling to me, begging me to hold his hand, saying he was cold. “All six guests have arrived. We will be taking a flight at 8 AM tomorrow to City F. For now, please feel free to rest and have dinner. A gentle reminder: tonight’s dinner must be arranged by the guests themselves.” “I’ll do it. I know how to cook,” Ethan spoke up. Everyone quickly thanked him. Feeling bad about letting him do all the work alone, Mia immediately offered to help prep the ingredients. Hmm… this little girl is actually quite proactive and considerate. 3 Liam was quiet and didn’t say much, fitting perfectly with his aloof persona. I knew very well he could never be like he was before—chattering endlessly, sharing every detail of his life and his day with me. I would never again get to eat the meals he cooked, the steak he seared, or the ribs he braised. Ethan cooked a whole table of food. His culinary skills weren’t masterful, but it felt very homey. Liam sat next to me, which surprised me. I thought he would want to stay as far away from me as possible. [Is it just me, or is the vibe between them super weird?] [Even though you didn’t say which two, I think I know exactly who you mean.] [Could Liam’s first love actually be…] I have a heavy palate and love spicy food. Liam was the exact opposite; his palate was incredibly bland. To him, my food tasted like chewing wax. Back in the day, I once tried to make him eat a relatively mild piece of spicy buckwheat noodle. Probably because I was the one feeding it to him, he obediently swallowed it. Almost the very next second, tears sprang to his eyes from the spice. Drinking three glasses of water didn’t help. It was only then that I found out he had stomach issues and couldn’t eat spicy food. He held onto me, suffering in my arms for a long time. He was quiet and very well-behaved. “Chloe, you like spicy food too?” Ethan noticed me reaching for a dish and smiled. “I love spicy food too. We have quite a bit in common.” Any goodwill I had for him cooking instantly vanished. There are millions of people who eat spicy food; forcing a connection like this was painfully obvious. Since we were playing the showmance game, I couldn’t just brush him off. I looked at him with feigned surprise. “Really? Then we definitely need to get hot pot together sometime if we have the chance.” I wore a relaxed, joyful smile. Even I couldn’t tell I was faking it. [OMG!! My ship is sailing!!] [So sweet~ I feel like Chloe wants to eat with Ethan, that’s why she said that!!] [It’s definitely mutual!] [Holy crap, what is he doing?!] [Stop him! Oh my god! Has Liam lost his mind?!] “Does Liam eat spicy food too?” Ethan asked, trying to act friendly. But I instinctively looked at Liam. I watched him slowly pick up a piece of spicy shrimp, put it in his mouth, and swallow. His face was completely blank. He had a whole pile of shrimp shells on his plate. He had been eating spicy crawfish?! He mechanically, almost numbly, placed a peeled shrimp into his mouth. “Are you crazy?!” I suddenly snapped. I snatched the shrimp he was about to eat, ripped off my plastic glove, and pinched his cheek. “Spit it out!” My tone was harsh. I must have yelled at him, because the corners of his eyes suddenly turned red. He obediently opened his mouth and spit out the unchewed shrimp. Everyone looked at us, totally bewildered. I finally realized I had lost my composure. I adjusted my attitude and explained to them. “He can’t eat spicy food, and he has a bad stomach.” As I spoke, I poured a glass of water and pushed it in front of Liam. He obediently drank it. [I think I know something…] [It’s hard to accept, but…] [Even if it’s true, they’ve been broken up for ages. Let our queen shine alone, okay?] [Yeah, anyone with eyes can see Liam did that on purpose. Chloe was just worried he’d end up in the hospital.] [Ugh, I was so scared! Thank god Chloe stopped him!!] After that, Liam behaved himself and didn’t cause any more trouble. The others clearly noticed something was up, but I had nothing to explain. Who hasn’t had a college romance? While I was out on the balcony smoking, Liam came out too, claiming he needed some fresh air. He coughed lightly. I couldn’t help but frown. I stubbed out the cigarette I had just lit, only to see a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on his lips. Was he just laughing? [Chloe actually put out her cigarette for him?!] [Can these two just get married already??] [Welcome to “The Actor’s Scheming.”] Liam seemed really unwell. His face was pale, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Tsk. This is what he gets for recklessly eating spicy food! Serves him right! “Where’s your medicine?” Ugh, so annoying! I was just worried he’d ruin the mood for everyone else! Exactly! “Didn’t bring it…” he rasped weakly, as if those three words took all his energy. This guy never knew how to take care of himself, and now he was suffering. “I’ll have the production team take you to the hospital.” “No.” I ignored him. “It hurts…” He couldn’t help but groan as his stomach cramped. “Drink some hot water,” I said coldly, fighting the urge to hug him. “My hands are cold.” “Drink hot water.” Liam pressed his lips together and stopped talking. He clearly wasn’t in a good mood. [ “Drink hot water.” ] [Look how wronged he looks! But I seriously want to laugh, hahaha.] [Chloe, just comfort him a little!] [I don’t think she has any intention of getting back together.] [But she put out her cigarette for him!] It’s common knowledge that I have a pretty heavy smoking habit. I’ve been criticized for it plenty of times. Now, without a cigarette, I felt an itch. I really wanted a smoke. Before, because of Liam, I actually managed to quit smoking. During that time, whenever I wanted a cigarette, I would kiss him instead. Because compared to cigarettes, he was far more addictive. Even though he had a stoic face, he still sat next to me on the plane. [ “I’m very wronged, but I can’t be without my wife.” ] [Are you the tapeworm in Liam’s stomach or something?] Let me tell you, Liam has a lot of issues. He gets carsick, airsick, has stomach problems, and… he’s afraid of ghosts. He wanted to get back together, but I didn’t. If we did, people would definitely say I dumped him when he was a nobody and only came crawling back now that he’s at the top of the A-list. “Chloe, I feel dizzy.” Liam said weakly, turning to look at me. His eyes were full of vulnerability and discomfort. “Oh,” I replied dismissively, forcing myself not to look into his eyes. [Wifey, dizzy, lean.] [You guys really understand Liam.] [I wasn’t going to laugh, but seeing Chloe roll her eyes broke me.] “Chloe, can I rest on your shoulder for a bit? I’ll be very quiet, and I won’t drool.” It was obvious that speaking was painful for him right now. His voice was much softer than usual. Liam just kept looking at me, stubborn and persistent, exactly like he was in college. “Tsk.” I felt a surge of annoyance in my chest. I couldn’t help clicking my tongue and giving him an exasperated look. [The moment I heard that “tsk,” I knew she was going to cave.] [10/10 for capitalizing on a moment of weakness.] [Liam fans need to chill. My wife is just too kind!] I glanced at him, didn’t say a word, and closed my eyes to rest. He knew that meant a tacit “yes,” and gently rested his head on my shoulder. [AHHHHH I’M DEAD!!!] [Liam fans are so hypocritical. When it’s our girl doing it, it’s unacceptable, but when it’s Chloe, it’s fine?? So toxic.] [Did you forget to brush your teeth before coming online to spew garbage?] [Pestering a guy vs. a guy pestering you—how is that the same?] [Stop making excuses, you hypocrites!] [Yeah, I feel so bad for our precious Mia.] [LOL, Mia is cheap and goes with anyone. Does she really think she’s high-class?] Liam was genuinely suffering. His slightly furrowed brow revealed his pain, his eyelashes fluttered, and his lips were pale. It was very different from before. 4 In the past, whenever he was hurt or sick, he never told me and never let it show. He tried to be “mature” and make me feel sorry for him. I told him countless times not to hold it in, to just tell me. But he never learned. He was still the same. He had to wait until I got angry before he’d weakly lean in and say he wouldn’t do it again, but he never actually changed. So this time, when he showed weakness and told me he was in pain, I actually felt a slight sense of relief. When we arrived in City F, we quickly received our first mission: “Visit famous local landmarks or trending attractions.” [OMG!! The Roberto Safari Park!!] [If you go to City F and don’t go to the Alpha Horror Theme Park, you’re missing out!!] The production team stated they would not provide transportation or cover entertainment costs. We had to figure it out ourselves. “Please split into pairs and begin your journey!” Split into pairs? I have to say, this director knows exactly how to drive engagement. Given how entangled Liam and I look right now, I can only imagine what the internet is saying about us. Liam stayed glued to my side. Ethan and Mia subconsciously looked our way, but seeing us together, they didn’t bother inviting us to join them. Everyone seemed to accept our relationship as a given and didn’t want to intrude. I originally wanted to just go to the closest attraction, but I glanced at Liam and saw him staring at the Horror Park on the map, seemingly deep in thought. I highly doubted he actually wanted to go there, because he’s terrified of ghosts. I didn’t want to seem like a dictator, plus we were on a live broadcast, so I made a show of asking for his opinion. “Any ideas, Liam?” “I kind of want to go here, is that okay? If it’s not, that’s totally fine. I’ll do whatever you want.” I felt three metaphorical dark lines drop down my forehead. If you put it like that, how can I say no? [Ding dong! Your white lotus tea has arrived! Please sign for it!] [Liam really understands the art of being a white lotus.] [ “If it’s not okay, that’s totally fine.” ] [I can’t. This guy named Hayes is so manipulative. My wife can’t even say no. So annoying. He loves making things difficult for people, huh?] I shot him a look. “Fine, let’s go to the Horror Park.” I originally planned to take a taxi, but he didn’t seem keen on the idea. “I get carsick and feel awful. Can we take the bus? Of course, if it’s not okay, that’s totally fine.” [Damn it, don’t stop me. Let me go strangle this little white lotus!] [ “If it’s not okay, that’s totally fine.” ] [As long as your skin is thick enough, you can get close to your wife.] We ended up taking the bus. After nodding a good morning to the driver, we stood there waiting for our stop. There were quite a few people, so it was a bit crowded. Liam stumbled slightly and ended up pressed right against me. He stayed plastered to me until we got off. I noticed his ears were completely red the entire time. It was actually kind of cute. [He got what he wanted.] [He got what he wanted +1] When we arrived at the haunted house, we saw a crowd gathered around a small table, seemingly doing some sort of promotion. “Couples who participate and take a promotional photo get 90% off and a free movie ticket!” The bold French text on the billboard looked incredibly enticing. “Chloe…” [He’s making his move! He’s making his move! He’s starting again!] [Can Chloe withstand the white lotus attack this time?? Let’s keep watching…] “Get lost.” [Hahahaha, instantly interrupting the white lotus casting her spell.] “But… we don’t have enough money…” Liam looked completely innocent, as if he were just thoughtfully reminding us of our current financial situation. I looked at the single bill the production team had given us, then looked at the price for two people at the haunted house… Plus, we still needed bus fare to get back… [He succeeded!] I caved again. “But… if we don’t hold hands, won’t they suspect we aren’t a couple?” He gestured for me to look at the other couples signing up. Every single one of them was either holding hands or linking arms, and occasionally sharing a kiss. Liam got his wish and slipped his hand into mine. It was freezing, bone-chillingly cold. I couldn’t help but squeeze it tighter, wanting to warm it up a bit. [She’s gone soft!] [Wifey just cares about the money!!] [The haunted house is the most expensive attraction. Plus, honestly, I’ve been there, it’s pretty boring.] [Are we here to watch the haunted house? We’re here to watch a certain couple act all lovey-dovey!] [Watch your wording up there. We’re watching a white lotus try to win back his wife.] He held my hand tightly, a faint smile playing on his lips, quietly following me. But when everything went pitch black around us, he couldn’t help but press closer to me, his hand trembling slightly. “Don’t be scared. I’m here.” I comfortingly rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb. [I thought Liam wanted to wait for Chloe to get scared so she’d hide in his arms. I was wrong.] [LOL, he’s scared but still insists on going to a haunted house??] [Liam: For my wife, this sacrifice is nothing.] [Wifey, sob, scared, hug.] [Shut up up there!] Honestly, the haunted house in City F wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. In fact, it was a bit boring. But Liam was terrified, which slowed me down considerably. Suddenly, a bloody head flew out in the darkness, followed by an actor lunging out with witch-like claws, screaming “RAWR!” The next second, I was enveloped in a tight embrace. 5 Liam was trembling, his hot breath puffing against my neck, tickling me. His breathing was heavy, and his heart was hammering against my chest. I stiffened, thinking the cameras probably couldn’t see us in the dark, so I reached up and stroked his back. “There, there… don’t be scared.” [Does she think we can’t see them?] [All we can see is night vision green.] [That still doesn’t stop the pink bubbles from popping out between them. Hiss…] [Liam doesn’t look like he’s faking it.] [??? What are you talking about?? He was never faking it.] We hugged for about three minutes before continuing. We finally made it out and got our movie tickets. He stared at the movie tickets over and over, then solemnly and carefully tucked them into his shirt pocket. Then, he reverted back to his sickly, lethargic state. “Chloe, I feel so sick. I don’t want to get back on a bus just yet. Can we walk around for a bit? If that’s not okay, that’s totally fine.” This was the third time I had heard this line today. It was a nightmare! [ “If that’s not okay, that’s totally fine.” ] [They’re so cute, what do I do?!] [I’ve already created a fan page. You won’t regret stanning them.] [What? Are you still frowning over the lack of content for the ship you’re currently sailing? Then come ship the “White Thirst” (Liam/Chloe) ship! The stars themselves are force-feeding us the romance!] Since the tickets were 90% off, we actually had quite a bit of money left. Liam followed happily behind me, holding a bunch of snacks. For some reason, seeing him happy made a sliver of joy rise in my own chest. When I realized my lips were curving upward, I knew I was falling for him all over again. “I want this one too!” “No potatoes. They cause gas. Did you forget about your stomach issues?” I said coldly. “Oh. Okay.” His tone was thick with disappointment, but my scolding seemed to make him incredibly smug. His mood improved significantly for the rest of the day. [This dog just wants to see if his wife still cares about him.] [Oh~ A new trick to stay glued to your wife every day.] [He got what he wanted! He got what he wanted! (?O?)] I thought Liam would behave himself, but not long after we got back to the villa, he started acting up again. “Chloe, I was really terrified today. Thank you for the hug.” He looked incredibly pure and innocent, but his words were a bombshell. I could feel the curious, shocked stares of the other four guests sweeping back and forth between us. “Ha… haha… you’re welcome.” [I feel like Chloe’s fist is going to land on Liam’s face any second now.] [Liam: Yeah, my wife hugged me today. Did she hug you? No, she didn’t!] [Liam might as well just write the word “Show-off” on his forehead.] For the next two days, I mostly ignored him, but he kept trying to stick to my side. [LMAO, played too hard, now the wife is gone.] [Look how wronged our little milk boy looks.] [That nickname is so gross.] He caught a fish and excitedly ran over to me. “Chloe, I caught a fish.” “Mhm.” I replied flatly. “Chloe, look at the flower basket I wove!” “Mhm.” Despite my repeated coldness, his enthusiasm never waned. Eventually, my heart softened again. 6 [Couldn’t she have held out for two more days?] [I knew it.] [Who can resist a well-behaved, handsome Liam Hayes who is 6’2″ with a six-pack?] When we were buying ice cream, he was quick to pay. Seeing I was about to pay him back, he said, “I already paid. If you wouldn’t mind taking me off your block list, you can just Venmo me.” [Is Liam holding a masterclass? I’ll listen on my knees!!!] [+1 Our goddess is really hard to pursue.] He watched happily as I unblocked him on my phone. His contact name was still saved as “Good Boy Liam.” I expressionlessly changed the contact name to his actual name, completely unaware that the camera was right behind my shoulder, capturing the entire process. [Liam actually calls her “Sister” in private!! AHHHH so sweet so sweet!!!] [Real couples are definitely the best to ship.] [Calling her “Sister” is hitting me right in the feels!!! What kind of perfect, obedient boy is this?!] [Look at Liam’s goofy face. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve been a fan of his for four years.] [You don’t sound embarrassed at all. You actually sound kind of proud.] Under Liam’s relentless “harassment,” our relationship grew closer and closer. I slowly started agreeing to talk to him on the phone at night, started reporting my schedule to him. We were just waiting for the right moment to officially announce we were back together. One day, my agent called me early in the morning, saying I was trending. I thought the promotional photos for my new drama were just too stunning and had set a new trend. I only found out after opening Twitter that it was all thanks to Liam. The top comment on the post: Liam Hayes: [WOW!!! Wifey looks so beautiful!! Love you the most, Wifey!!!] This idiot! Very quickly, his alt account was dug up. @ChloesGoodBoyLiam, one of the head admins of our couple fan page, was actually Liam himself??? [HAHAHA Liam’s public unmasking.] [He definitely forgot to switch accounts HAHAHAHA.] [Is it possible he did it on purpose? Is a fan page admin account really that easy to find? Think about it, really think about it.] The #1 trending topic: “Chloe and Liam Suspected to be Married!! Actor Publicly Calls Her Wifey!!” gave me a headache. Just then, Liam called me.

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My son was ruined by his grandmother. By sixteen, he refused to study and spent every waking moment hooked on League of Legends. I finally forced the issue with my husband and asked my son who he’d live with if we divorced. “Dad, obviously,” he sneered, without looking up from his screen. “Why would I live with you? You nag me 24/7 about nothing. You’re exhausting.” He actually smiled, then added, “As soon as you’re gone, Auntie Melissa can move in. She’s a thousand times better than you, a million times better. Just divorce already, don’t chicken out!” I nodded, feeling the last bit of attachment break. “Fine. I hope you don’t regret it.” 1 Back when Leo was just starting elementary school, I was swamped starting my own consulting firm. My mother-in-law, Martha, took him back to her quiet town to help us out. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to step back, become a full-time stay-at-home mom, and bring Martha and Leo to live with us. I never imagined those few years would completely warp Leo’s character. His grandma spoiled him rotten, and now, at sixteen, he had zero self-discipline and felt entitled to everything. This wasn’t the first time my son had compared me to this “Auntie Melissa.” The first time I heard him say that, it felt like my heart was being twisted in my chest. I thought all those years of sacrifice, of stepping back from my career, were wasted. The woman he loved so much was Melissa Jenkins. She was my husband Mark’s college sweetheart. Mark had been hopelessly in love with her back in the day, but she had used him as a backup plan. She was obsessed with a “golden boy” from their class and actually moved to London just to chase him. Years later, she returned, penniless, with her looks fading, and suddenly realized my husband was the perfect “safety net.” She’d been working her way into our lives ever since. For the past few months, she’d been at our house every single day, rain or shine. She bought Leo a new smartphone, an iPad, a gaming console. She knew I limited Leo’s sweets, so she always had chocolate and premium candy bar stuffed in her purse for him. The day we finalized the divorce, Mark and I walked out of the courthouse with the papers. He’s usually pretty spineless, but he looked at me and asked, “We can still be friends, right? Want to come back to the house for a drink?” I gave him a long, hard look. “Sure. Why not?” I wanted to see the reality he had created. As soon as I opened the door, I heard laughter. My son was sitting close to Melissa on the couch, two massive KFC buckets between them. A sixteen-year-old in a growth spurt, and he’s eating this for lunch? I felt my temple throb. But I forced a casual smile, walked over, grabbed a handful of fries from their bucket, and ate them deliberately. Leo looked at me, a confused glint in his eye, which he quickly replaced with defiance. “Aren’t you going to yell at me? I’m eating ‘junk food,’ remember?” He emphasized the words, smugly taking a massive bite of his burger while watching for my reaction. I didn’t even bother to roll my eyes. “Nope. When you were my son, I cared about your health. I limited the junk because I know you’re self-conscious about your height and you have no self-control. But now you’re her problem.” I smiled sweetly. “Not my circus, not my monkey.” He was stunned. He hadn’t expected that. For a second, a flicker of hurt crossed his face, but he quickly covered it with a cold smirk and turned back to Melissa, laughing loudly at something she said, pretending I was a stranger. I didn’t care. From the moment he said, “Auntie Melissa is a million times better than you, why haven’t you divorced yet?” to the moment he stood there while Mark screamed at me, “Your low-class family raised a useless daughter, you don’t deserve this house!” I was done. As of today, he wasn’t my son. When he saw I wasn’t engaging, his booming laughter gradually faded to a whisper. Melissa shot me a cool glance, then addressed me directly. “Since you’re here… I also have a son, Tyler. He’s fifteen. I’m bringing him over tomorrow to live here and go to school with Leo. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” She would never have dared to speak to me like that before. I deliberately took my time wiping the grease off my fingers, smiling. “Are you asking me? You’re the lady of the house now. You make the rules.” Her eyes widened in surprise, and then her face immediately filled with the smug satisfaction of a woman who had won. “Then it’s settled. Leo, you’re the older brother, you have to take good care of Tyler, okay?” My son cheered. “Awesome! Finally, someone to play CoD with!” I sneered internally. You idiot. Once her biological son arrives, your easy life is over. How did I raise such a fool? I must not have taken enough prenatal vitamins. 2 When our family’s finances first turned around years ago, I had bought the adjacent apartment. The plan was to bring my parents over when they got older, so they could live right next door and I could take care of them. That wasn’t happening now. During the divorce settlement, I hadn’t pushed for much, but I fought for that adjacent unit. It was mine. After the courthouse and the KFC “lunch,” I went back to my new apartment. As I was about to close the door, Mark caught it, looking hesitant. “Melissa and I… we haven’t actually, you know, ‘done it’ yet. I didn’t cheat on you during the marriage. If you hadn’t been so stubborn about the divorce—” “You didn’t cheat? I saw you kissing her in your office, and she looked like she was trying to suck the soul out of your body. What was that? A commercial shoot?” I sneered, slamming the door in his face. If he truly respected me, or this marriage, he would have rejected her the moment she started trying to worm her way in. But Mark enjoyed it. He loved having his college “goddess” worshiping him. He let her humiliate me and turned our home into a war zone. So I gave him the divorce. Now he could enjoy her without the guilt. What was the problem? I didn’t see a problem. I locked the door, shutting out those toxic people. The world was finally quiet. I pulled out my phone and listed the apartment on Zillow. My parents had only stayed here a few times, so it was basically new. Those few times were enough. My son was constantly screaming at my parents, actually calling them “old geezers” to their faces. My parents, bless them, didn’t have the heart to get angry at a child, but I refused to let them be treated that way. I was the one who stopped them from moving in. I had actually slapped the little brat for it back then, but Melissa had held me back, saying he was just a child, and I shouldn’t take it seriously. I should have slapped her too. The memory made my blood boil. I suddenly remembered that my son’s debit card was still linked to my bank account. I was transferring $500 a month to him… Not anymore. My thumb swiped across the screen. Unlinked. Cancelled. Instant relief. When I woke up the next morning, I saw an offer on Zillow. Some investor wanted to buy the place, cash, and close fast. I got dressed up before leaving. In the past, I was so busy serving my husband and son that I didn’t even have time to look in the mirror. Now, I had nothing but time. I sat at my vanity, did a full skincare routine, applied light makeup, and spent time on my hair and picking a dress. I stared at myself for a long time. My features were good. With some concealer and foundation, the exhaustion was gone, and I looked elegant, nothing like the tired, disheveled housewife I had become. My figure still needed work, though. I picked up my phone and booked a $1,000 personal training package. Now that I wasn’t spending money on that little brat, I had plenty of disposable income for myself. I hummed as I walked downstairs, and bumped into Melissa and her biological son, Tyler, on the sidewalk. One look and you knew they were related. Melissa raised him exactly the same way Martha raised Leo—one glance and you wanted to slap him. Tyler was kicking and screaming on the pavement, refusing to let go of a bike rack. Melissa was trying to cajole him. “Forget that bike! Martha and I have money now, I’ll buy you a brand new, custom-ordered mountain bike, the latest model!” She finally convinced him. I watched from the shadows as Tyler went back a minute later and used a key to scratch the bike that had caused the tantrum. He absolutely ruined the paint job. By the way, that bike belonged to my little brat. He had worked odd jobs for me for six months just to save up for it, and he loved it. No matter. Melissa has money now. She’ll buy him a new one. It was her son who broke it, after all. I went to meet the buyer and handle the closing. When I got back, the investor had already sent a crew to change the locks, but they called me to the adjacent unit. My new front door had been hacked and keyed. I assumed it was Tyler, but when the building manager pulled the surveillance footage, I saw my son’s face, filled with rage, gouging my door with a metal tool. My numb, distant heart felt another sharp twist. 3 I didn’t need to ask to know what happened. My son discovered his bike was ruined. Melissa probably mentioned, casually, that she had seen me downstairs early that morning… This wasn’t her first time using that tactic. I didn’t go confront them. I called the cops and gave them the video footage. When the police arrived to take my son in for vandalism, Martha and Melissa both rushed over to shield him. Martha glared at me, screaming, “Is this what a mother does? You’re sending your own son to the police station?” I crossed my arms. “Why not? What, should I wait until he moves from vandalism to assault? Or arson?” My son was staring at me coldly. “You’re a real piece of work. Just ruthless. I hope you don’t regret it.” Then he turned to the cop, shouting furiously, “I want to file a counter-complaint! She’s mad my dad dumped her for a younger model, so she ruined my bike this morning!” My jaw almost dropped. Melissa’s eyes were darting around, looking nervous. I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity. I calmly addressed the cop. “Here’s the deal. If I’m the one who ruined his bike, I’ll pay him ten times what it’s worth. But if I didn’t, he has to pay me ten times what it costs to replace my door.” The little brat froze. He instinctively looked at Melissa. I smiled sweetly at her, waiting. Melissa panicked. “Let’s not do that. We’re all family here. Don’t say things you don’t mean. Mark will just pay for the door.” I smirked coldly. Before I could speak, the little brat snapped, “Melissa, stop! If you give an inch, she takes a mile! Don’t protect her!” He actually called her Melissa. I wasn’t surprised. He’d already accepted the enemy. Melissa, however, looked annoyed when he used her name, not happy. Her expression went dark. The fool didn’t notice; he was too busy glaring at me. Martha was starting to get suspicious, looking back and forth between me and Melissa. Melissa bit her lip, then adopted a meek tone. “Since there aren’t any other cameras down there, it’s just your word against ours. There’s no way to prove anything.” I smiled sweetly. “All you need to do is agree to the ten times compensation. If I can’t prove it, I lose.” Melissa’s pupils constricted. She glanced at me, and I deliberately shifted my gaze away as if I were nervous. She took the bait. A smug smile touched her lips. “Fine. But Leo is furious, and as his mother figure, I don’t want him to feel cheated.” I smiled internally, ignoring her pathetic attempt to hurt me by calling herself his “mother figure.” “So, it’s a deal?” I casually pulled out my phone and tapped on the video I had already prepared. You should have seen Melissa’s face. It was priceless. The video on my phone clearly showed Tyler, Melissa’s biological son, smirking as he scratched Leo’s bike, and then using a key on my door while muttering, “This is all going to be mine eventually anyway, loser.” My son watched the video, stunned, his mouth hanging open. Then he furiously slammed his bag onto the ground and screamed a profanity at Tyler. The cop had to interject. “Hey! Cut that out! What’s with the language? You parents need to be watching what your kids are doing.” Martha was about to open her mouth to blame me—I could see it. I wasn’t letting her get away with it again. She wasn’t my family anymore. I addressed the cop directly. “I apologize, officer. The boy is raised without any discipline. I’ve tried to correct him, but my mother-in-law here fought me every step of the way, insisted on raising him herself, and brought him back a complete brat. When I finally brought him back to try and fix him, you can see the result. My home was turned into a battlefield and I was forced into a divorce.” I affected a weary, sad sigh. “I’m sorry you have to see this family drama.” The cop gave me a sympathetic look. Martha looked like a fish on land, her eyes wide, but she couldn’t say a single word. “The compensation goes to my account. You know the number. Don’t make me call your father.” I smiled coldly at my son, whose face was purple with rage. I ignored the rest of them and casually walked away. I didn’t care what the neighbors watching the drama were thinking. 4 My week was fantastic. I received the ten-times compensation, paid out of the brat’s savings and allowance, and the apartment closing went smoothly. When I told my parents I was selling, they hesitated. “What about Leo? If you aren’t there to watch him, won’t his stepmother treat him badly?” I smiled. “What happens to him isn’t my concern anymore.” I wasn’t being dramatic. The hurt ran too deep. I had dedicated my life to him, and for what? To be abused? Melissa only spent a year grooming him, and she had already eclipsed the decade of devotion I’d given him. It was time to move on. As I was happily packing up, Martha suddenly showed up with the little brat in tow. “I heard you sold the other apartment. You must have over a million dollars in cash now. Leo needs to get married one day. I found a great house in a gated community, I think you should buy it for him as a wedding gift.” My eyes widened in genuine disbelief. “Are you serious? Are you telling me that a mother is legally obligated to buy a house for a useless, ungrateful son who doesn’t even want to study? I don’t have that obligation. Do you want to see the court’s decision? The judge ruled I only have to pay $500 a month in child support until he’s eighteen.” My son looked at me in disbelief, which immediately turned to disgust. “I am not your son from this day on. If you won’t buy me a house, don’t ever expect me to support you when you’re old!” I chuckled. “I haven’t considered you my son for a while now, you call Melissa ‘Mom’ anyway, don’t you? Ask Melissa to buy you a house. And I never expected you to support me. You treat your grandparents like dirt, and they adore you. I can already see what my old age would look like with you in charge. Buy you a house? I’d rather buy a dog and buy it a golden doghouse.” My son was left speechless, his face bright red. He turned to his grandmother and screamed, “Why did you bring me here to talk to this bitch? She isn’t my mom, I don’t have a mom like her!” He actually called me that. The vein in my temple throbbed. Melissa appeared from around the corner, a smile on her face. “Leo is still a child, don’t take it personally.” Martha screamed at me, “You’re the mother! You’re actually holding a grudge against your own child? How can you show your face?” I smiled sweetly. “He’s calling me a bitch now. Eventually, he’ll start calling you one too. When that happens, remember, don’t take it personally.” I slammed the door. I put my hands over my eyes, taking a deep breath. It still hurt. It’s impossible to remain indifferent when someone you once loved more than life itself abuses you like that. But I wasn’t going to take it anymore. I knew Melissa was the one filling his head with this nonsense. Martha wasn’t smart enough to come up with the “wedding gift” plan on her own. They wanted a wedding gift? Fine. I’ll give them what they want. I called Mark. “Your mom just came by, demanding I buy Leo a wedding gift in a gated community. What’s your take?” Mark was confused. “Leo is sixteen. Isn’t that a little early?” I smirked. “Mark, you know Melissa brought her own son, Tyler. Tyler is also going to grow up and need a house. When the time comes, who gets your money? Tyler isn’t your son. Leo is your only heir.” I knew Mark well. He was obsessed with his legacy. He hesitated, then said, “Maybe I should buy something in Leo’s name, just in case?” “That’s your decision. Oh, and Mark, I’d suggest you keep this from Melissa. You know how she gets.” … I finished packing and moved into a new apartment across town, then immediately started looking for a job. I didn’t have much experience, but I was motivated. I eventually landed an executive assistant position. I hadn’t worked in years, and I was determined to succeed. I put in the hours, got along with my colleagues, and my boss, the CEO, seemed to like me. The following weekend, I was working overtime. My boss, Mr. Harris, a senior executive in his fifties, felt bad, and invited me to his house for lunch. When I arrived at his upscale community, I ran into Melissa and my son walking out of Mr. Harris’s neighbor’s house. “Melissa, you’re the best! You convinced Dad to buy me such an amazing place.” The little brat was hugging Melissa, beaming, and actually kissed her cheek. It was a scene of perfect mother-son affection. I was stunned. Mark had bought Leo the house, but Melissa had managed to take all the credit? I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely happy or just acting. Then my son saw me. His face immediately darkened. He smirked smugly. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t give me money for a house? My mom bought me one.” I smiled sweetly. “That’s wonderful. You should make sure you’re extra good to her.” He sneered. “Obviously. But what about you? You have no kids, nobody is going to care about you when you’re old. You’re going to die alone in your house.” I shrugged. “I’m okay with that. I was actually thinking of getting a dog. I’ll let the dog take care of me.” My son’s face shifted. He probably felt I was implying something, but he couldn’t think of a comeback. He just glared at me darkly. I ignored him and walked into Mr. Harris’s house. As I walked in the door, I glanced back and saw Melissa and my son staring at me with a strange, ominous look. The lunch with Mr. Harris and his wife was lovely. Mrs. Harris actually said, “You haven’t worked in years? You have fantastic business acumen. What a waste to have been a stay-at-home mom.” I smiled sweetly. “Well, isn’t that why they say behind every successful man is a supportive woman? But I’m glad to have a chance to succeed on my own.” They both laughed. I was thinking about the house Melissa and my son were in. I was curious. It looked like Melissa was genuinely excited, not just pretending. If it were an act, she was a world-class actress. Was there something else going on I didn’t know about? 5 I remembered they were coming from the house next to Harris’s, so I casually asked Mrs. Harris, “I noticed the adjacent house seems to be occupied. Do you know the neighbors?” Mrs. Harris said, “The investors who owned it sold it just a few days ago. We haven’t met them yet.” What a coincidence. My heart skipped a beat. I showed her a picture of Melissa. “Was it this woman who bought it?” “Yes, that’s her.” “Did she buy it alone?” “No, she had a boy with her.” I showed her a picture of my son. “This boy?” Mrs. Harris shook her head. “No, the boy was younger and… not as well-behaved. The boy down there was actually quite handsome.” I showed her Tyler’s photo. Mrs. Harris’s face immediately darkened. “Yes, that’s him. So rude. He came over here asking for snacks and just made a mess, didn’t even say thank you.” He left a memorable impression. I was confused. Was the house in Melissa’s name? Mark bought it for Leo, but Melissa had gone with Tyler to finalize everything? My son was being played, and he was thanking her for it. Just then, my phone rang. It was Martha, my ex-mother-in-law. Melissa and Mark were hosting an engagement party, and they wanted me to come. She probably expected me to refuse, so I immediately agreed. “Sure. I’ll be there. Can I sit at the family table? I am family, after all.” Martha was speechless. “If you have the balls to show up, I’ll find a seat for you.” Oh, I had the balls. I had a wonderful gift for them. … The day of the engagement party, I woke up early and spent time on myself. I looked great. When I arrived, many guests didn’t even recognize me. I realized how much I had changed. housewife, housewife… when you’re dedicated to serving your husband and son and you’re not taking care of yourself, what else are you going to be? Now that I wasn’t serving anyone, I was an elegant, successful woman. I felt pretty good about myself. Melissa and Mark began their rounds, greeting guests. Mark looked revitalized, and my son was right beside them, looking closer to Melissa than to his own grandmother. Someone commented, “Melissa is a fantastic stepmother. I used to think the ‘evil stepmother’ cliché was true, but she proves it wrong.” The person realized I was sitting right there and blushed. I smiled. “It’s fine. If she’s treating my son well, I’m thrilled.” They continued chatting with me. Then Martha walked over, a fake smile on her face. “Thrilled? You are the mother. How can you have the audacity to be so detached from your own child?” The happy family scene Martha was trying to project immediately shattered. Martha was looking for a fight; she’d probably spent all night coming up with insults. “Hmph, you actually have the nerve to show your face here. You refused to buy your own son a wedding gift, claiming you didn’t have to. But Melissa? The moment she heard, she bought him one immediately.” I looked shocked. “She bought it with her own money? Mark, I didn’t think you’d do that. You make so much money, and you let your new wife buy a house for your son?” Martha was immediately speechless. Melissa looked panicked, not smug. She waved her hand. “Let’s not talk about that on such a happy day. Elena, let me buy you a drink.” I took the glass from her hand, smiling sweetly. “Oh, no need to be polite. It was so generous of you to buy my son a house. How much did it cost? I can reimburse you for some of it.” Melissa was stunned. Before she could speak, Tyler, her biological son, was screaming from across the room. “What? Mom, you didn’t buy me a house, you bought one for him? I’m your son!” I was enjoying this. Go on, Tyler. Melissa’s face was turning purple. Mark was annoyed. “She didn’t buy it. I did. It came from my account. Right, Melissa?” Melissa blushed. “Yes, Mark bought it. I just went with him to help with the paperwork.” But Tyler wasn’t backing down. “Why did you buy him a house? You promised you’d make Mark buy me one, and I’d call him ‘Dad’!” The room went silent. Melissa froze. She furiously slapped Tyler. “What are you talking about? I never said that!” Mark looked awkward. I knew his finances; he was successful, but a gated community house in this city was a massive expense. He wouldn’t have much left, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be thrilled about buying a house for Melissa’s son. Melissa tried to recover with a tight smile. “It’s fine. I can buy my own son a house one day. Let’s not bring this up again. Engagement toast, everyone!” Everyone was ready to move past it, but I wasn’t letting them. I chuckled softly, comforting Tyler. “Tyler, don’t be mad. Leo doesn’t actually have a house. They’re both just sixteen, they can’t own property.” My son exploded. He screamed at me, “You’re full of shit! Dad and Mom bought it, and it’s mine! I won’t let you lie about them!” I deliberately rolled my eyes to provoke him. “I don’t believe you. If you can show me the deed, I’ll apologize. What do you say?” Hearing that I would apologize, my son’s eyes flashed with triumph. He snarled, “Wait right here,” and ran back toward the master bedroom to grab the deed. Melissa panicked. She grabbed my son, screaming, “Don’t go! This is so embarrassing! She’s your mother, give her some respect!” I sneered. “No need. He doesn’t have it.” My son was furious. He broke free from Melissa’s grasp, ran back, and slammed the folder onto the table. “Look at this! The deed!” I looked down, smiled, and then it confirmed my suspicions. I sighed. “You poor child. Have you ever seen a deed that doesn’t have the official seal from the recording office?” Everyone froze. Mark was the first to react. He snatched the deed and examined it closely. Then, his face twisted in rage, and he glared at Melissa. Melissa desperately grabbed Mark’s arm. “We’ll talk later, I can explain!” Mark hesitated, looking at me. I sneered. “Your family genes are pathetic. How could you possibly win against someone like her? It’s not my fault. Your whole family is just too stupid.” I ran before they could redirect their rage at me. Martha was screaming behind me, “The deed… the deed needs an official seal?” And my son’s voice, broken and confused: “Mom… Melissa, what’s going on? Is there a mistake?” I didn’t have the patience to listen. I needed to get a DNA test for my son. I didn’t believe he was mine.

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Five years ago, I got pregnant with Elias Sterling’s child. Using that pregnancy as leverage, I married into the Sterling family and became his wife in name only. For those five years, Elias treated me and our child with nothing but chilling indifference. Three days ago, our son died in a tragic car accident. Meanwhile, Elias was miles away in Aspen with his first love, fulfilling a promise they had made to each other in their youth. On the third day after Leo’s death, Elias Sterling finally showed his face. 1 The funeral home was a revolving door of people coming and going. Each face wore a practiced mask of grief and pity. Only I knew it was all a performance. I stood in the kitchenette, pouring a glass of water. Just as I was about to take a sip, I heard the hushed giggles of two women behind me. “The kid’s been dead for days, and the father is still a no-show?” “Didn’t you hear?” The voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper. “Elias is up in the mountains near Aspen with Elena Vance. Those high peaks have zero cell service. The Sterling family has been calling him like crazy, but not a single call went through.” “Maybe he’s just not answering on purpose,” the other woman sneered. “Everyone knows she trapped him with that pregnancy. If it weren’t for her, Elias and Elena would have been married years ago.” The noise, the whispers, the judgment—it all became too much. My world tilted, and I collapsed on the floor of the funeral home. When I finally woke up, someone was pressing medicine into my hand. My head felt like it was being split open with an axe. I buried my face in the pillow, trying to hide from reality. The fabric was damp and smelled of salt—the scent of the tears I had cried for days. Leo was gone, and Elias still hadn’t come home. Suddenly, the heavy sound of footsteps cut through the chatter. A voice murmured, “Elias, you’re finally back.” Elias… Elias Sterling? No. It couldn’t be. He was in Aspen with Elena. Why would he come back now? Even if he wanted to, would Elena let him? She had deliberately chosen Leo’s birthday to take Elias on that flight. That night, Leo had sat at the table with his head bowed. The candles on his cake were melting away, the flickering light reflecting the devastating disappointment on his small, round face. He was a child who loved sweets, yet he didn’t take a single bite. He just asked in that tiny, innocent voice, “Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?” He didn’t cry. He didn’t throw a fit. He was far too mature for his age, knowing full well that his father didn’t love him—and certainly didn’t love his mother. In those five years, Leo’s only wish was for his father to spend one birthday with him. He died before that wish could ever come true. A chair scraped across the floor next to my bed. Someone sat down. I knew that scent. I knew the rhythm of his breathing. After five years of sharing a life, I could sense his presence through a single look or a shift in the air. Once, I had lived for his touch. Now, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him. “I’m sorry,” Elias said. His voice was flat. I’m sorry. Always the same words. When he was leaving for Aspen with Elena, I had blocked his path. I had grabbed his sleeve, begging him. “Can’t you go tomorrow? Today is Leo’s fifth birthday. He just wants his dad.” I knew I had no right to ask him for anything. I knew he never wanted this marriage. But for Leo, I had to try. Elias had simply brushed my hand away, his face like stone. “I’m sorry, Nora. Elena is waiting for me.” But his son had been waiting too. Only this time, Leo got tired of waiting. He wouldn’t be waiting ever again. “You’re awake?” Elias’s voice held no sorrow, only a sense of clinical urgency. “The guests are gone. You should get up and eat something.” How could he be so calm? It was as if the child who died wasn’t his own. But then again, he never treated Leo like his son. He never treated me like his wife. If it hadn’t been for my mother’s schemes to get me into his bed, I never would have become Mrs. Sterling. Elias hated me. He hated my mother. He once called us “The Farmer and the Snake.” Thinking of Leo, my nose stung again. I pressed my face into the wet pillow, my voice hoarse and broken by sobs. “Did you… did you go see him?” “Yes.” “Good. At least you did that.” I fought to keep my voice steady. “Now, get out.” His voice remained cool, like a breeze. “I didn’t get the calls. The equipment failed in the mountains… really.” Really? Was he emphasizing the truth, or just trying to absolve himself of guilt? It didn’t matter anymore. I didn’t care. “Fine. Just leave.” But Elias didn’t move. He sounded annoyed now. “Nora, the boy was only five. How could you let him go out by himself? I’m his father. I deserve an explanation.” An explanation? I let out a sharp, jagged laugh and sat up. I must have looked horrific. My face was a map of tear stains and pillow creases. My eyes were sunken, my skin deathly pale. I looked like a ghost inhabiting a living body. Elias, meanwhile, was the picture of perfection. Tailored suit, perfectly groomed, his face a mask of icy composure. No sorrow. No tears. He looked like a detective interrogating a suspect. And I, the grieving mother, was the criminal. “What are you laughing at?” he asked, frowning. “I’m laughing at you.” I leaned against the headboard. I felt as fragile as paper, yet my words were blades. “Do you know where Leo was going when he stepped outside?” Elias stared at me, waiting. “He was going to find you.” “He called you dozens of times. You never picked up.” “He told me, ‘Maybe Daddy is lost and can’t find his way home. I have to go help him.’” Elias hesitated. “And you didn’t stop him?” “I lied to him once. I lied to him twice. But he was so worried about you that he slipped out while I was…” I stopped. Why was I explaining this to him? I took a deep breath. “It was my fault.” The silence in the room turned into a storm. Elias’s eyes turned sharp, scrutinizing me. “It was my fault for being foolish enough to love you,” I said, each word deliberate. “It was my fault for ending up in this marriage and bringing Leo into a world where his father hated him. I failed to protect him from the loneliness you gave him.” Elias’s expression went blank. He was speechless. Suddenly, the door burst open. A hand flew through the air and slapped me across the face before either of us could react. “You couldn’t even keep an eye on a five-year-old! Do you even deserve to be a mother?!” It was Elias’s aunt, Catherine. She was a loud, arrogant woman who had always despised me and Leo. She was the one who once pushed Leo, gave him rotten fruit to eat, and whispered in his ear that his father hated him. Her theatrical grief now was nothing but a show for Elias. I sat there, numb, as she slapped me again. My lip bled. Elias, my husband, watched the whole thing with total indifference. He didn’t move a muscle. Throughout the years, whenever Leo and I needed him, he had never once reached out his hand. My hair was being yanked, the pain sharp. Through the insults, I locked eyes with Elias’s cold gaze. Once, years ago, I had tripped and scraped my knee. He had been so panicked, asking me over and over if it hurt. How times change. Now, he could watch me be beaten and feel absolutely nothing. The string inside me finally snapped. I lunged forward, grabbed Catherine’s arm, and slapped her back with everything I had. She froze, her eyes wide with shock, clutching her red cheek. In this house, I owed no one anything except Elias. And Leo owed no one anything at all. I was done being the victim. 2 The day we went to the cemetery, I was still wearing the marks of that fight. My left cheek was swollen, and there were scratches along my jaw. If Elias hadn’t eventually stepped in to pull us apart, it might have been worse. But when he stepped in, the person he pushed away was me. Sitting in the car, a cold front was sweeping through the city. I didn’t feel the chill. I just stared hollowly out the window. Elias sat beside me, answering a call. It was Elena. On the day of his son’s burial, he still found the time to be patient with another woman. His voice had that low, rhythmic cadence he only used for her. “Yes. I’ll be busy for a few more days.” “…You should go back first.” “Her?” I felt Elias’s gaze drift toward me. He handed me the phone. “Elena wants to talk to you.” In the past, I would have thrown the phone out the window. But after losing Leo, what was the point of a scene? Under Elias’s surprised gaze, I took the phone and pressed it to my ear. It still carried the warmth of his skin. I used to crave that warmth. Now, it just made me sick. Elena’s voice was clear, bright, and utterly fake. “Nora, are you okay?” I said nothing. The man beside me was a suffocating presence. I knew that if I said one harsh word to Elena, he would kick me out of the car. He had done it before. One snowy night, I had called Elena in front of him, telling her to stop destroying a family. Elias had flown into a rage, smashed my phone, and ordered me out into the cold. I had walked for two hours in the blizzard. I was bedridden with a fever for a week after. He never checked on me once. It was Leo who sat by my bed, pressing his tiny, warm hands to my forehead, calling “Mommy” until I woke up. I had stayed alive for Leo. I thought he needed me to survive the Sterlings. But now, he was gone, and the very air was being sucked out of my lungs. “Nora,” Elena whispered, her voice too low for Elias to hear. “You must be devastated. You lost your only leverage.” Leo. My son. My “leverage” for marrying into this family. I looked at the gray sky. “Then I’m giving it back to you.” Elena faltered. “What?” “I’m giving him back to you,” I said. “I’m sorry. He was always yours anyway.” Elias snatched the phone back and ended the call. His face was twisted with sudden violence. “What kind of nonsense are you feeding her now?” What does a mother who lost her child say to her husband’s mistress? There were no warnings left. No curses. Only a clean break. I was letting go. Let the “star-crossed lovers” have their happy ending. I had no strength left to fight for this marriage. Honestly, I didn’t even have the strength left to live. Under a light, drizzling rain, we buried Leo. The photo on the headstone was from when he was three. We had planned to take a family portrait that day. Leo and I had arrived early, waiting from dawn until dusk. All around us were happy families, laughing and posing for the camera. In the middle of that joy, Leo and I were a tragic joke. I could handle the coldness, but Leo… The rain washed over the cold marble. The boy in the photo wasn’t smiling. He had been trying so hard to hide his disappointment that day because he didn’t want me to be sad. Someone held an umbrella over me. I bowed my head, praying to Leo’s soul. I prayed that in his next life, he would have parents who loved him, not a life of cold shoulders and empty hallways. A shadow moved across the grass. It was Elias. I opened my heavy eyes. He was wearing a long black overcoat. He bent down and placed something at the base of the headstone. It was a race car Lego set. My heart turned to ice. “What is that?” I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm. Elias looked back at the grave. “A birthday gift for Leo. He asked me for it a while ago. I didn’t have time before…” “He asked you for it?” “We had a deal.” Looking at the utter desolation on my face, Elias reached out and grabbed my wrist. “What’s wrong?” My legs gave out. A sharp, searing pain twisted in my gut. I collapsed to my knees in front of Leo’s grave. My son… on the last birthday of his life, I had given him a fake gift. I told him it was from his father. He had smiled, even though he knew I was lying. He knew his father didn’t love him. He knew Elias hadn’t even remembered his birthday. And now, the gift was here. But it was too late. It was so, so much too late. 3 The atmosphere at the Sterling estate was heavy. Elias’s father, Thomas Sterling, was waiting for us. He gripped his mahogany cane, his brow furrowed. “Nora, go upstairs,” he said gently. I knew what was coming. Thomas was going to take his anger out on Elias. Thomas was the only person in this family who liked me. He was the one who had insisted I marry Elias, all because my father had saved his life years ago. When my father died, leaving us with nothing, the Sterlings took us in. They gave my mother a job as a housekeeper and sent me to the best schools alongside Elias. Elias had been told to treat me like a sister. He did, at first. Until I was foolish enough to fall in love with him. Thomas had found out that Elias missed the funeral. He had sent the others away so he could deliver “family discipline.” The housekeeper ran to me, her voice shrill and desperate. “Nora, please! Go talk to the Master! He’ll listen to you! Elias is getting beaten!” Why should I go? I used to love Elias with everything I had. If he were hurt, I would have been in more pain than him. But that Nora died with Leo. All that was left was guilt and a hollow chest. I took off my jewelry. I stripped off the expensive clothes. I packed a single suitcase with nothing but Leo’s things. Nothing in this room belonged to me. I placed my earrings on the vanity. After making sure I wasn’t taking anything that wasn’t mine, I walked downstairs. Elias was already on his knees, his hands braced on the floor, teeth grit in pain. He looked up, his bloodshot eyes meeting mine, but I didn’t spare him a second glance. Thomas dropped the cane and walked toward me. He was the man I respected most. He had provided for me and my mother, given us a home, and supported me even when the rest of the family sneered. “…Thomas.” I called him by his name, not “Dad.” I remembered the day I married into the family. Thomas had taken my hand and placed it on Elias’s. “Nora is a good girl,” he had told his son. “Treat her right.” It was just like the day my mother and I first arrived at the Sterling mansion. “Nora is your sister now,” Thomas had said to a young Elias. “Take care of her.” And back then, Elias had smiled at me. He had taken me to the cafeteria, waited for me after school, and made me watch him play basketball. There were hundreds of girls screaming for him on the sidelines, but he always insisted I be there. He was the golden boy. I was the shy, plain girl in a ponytail and a hand-me-down uniform. I was too timid to even look him in the eye. Everyone in school knew Elias only hung out with me because his father owed mine a life. He didn’t mind my silence or my awkwardness. He took me everywhere. Until Elena Vance appeared. Suddenly, the girl on the sidelines was Elena. The person eating lunch with him was Elena. I don’t remember exactly how she pushed me out of his life. I just remember the sudden coldness. I remember overhearing a classmate in the restroom: “Nora is so clueless. Elias is dating Elena now, and she’s still following him around like a lost puppy.” A lost puppy. I had backed away after that. I made excuses to stop eating with him. I avoided him at home. But one day, he found me in the cafeteria with another boy. He stood over our table, looking down at me with that aristocratic disdain. “So, you stopped eating with me because you found a boyfriend?” I didn’t understand. I just didn’t want to be the third wheel. But later, through a series of accidents and my mother’s desperation, I broke Elias and Elena apart. It was time to give Elena her place back. Elias stood up from the floor. The blows hadn’t seemed to bother him. He stared at me as I spoke to Thomas. “Thomas, I’ve left everything in the bedroom. I’m leaving today.” “Nora…” Thomas tried to stop me, just as he had many times over the years. But he knew that without Leo, there was nothing left to keep me in this prison my mother had built for me. Elias looked like an outsider, confused by the conversation. “Leaving? Where are you going?” Thomas snapped, “Shut your damn mouth!” Elias frowned. “Nora is my wife. I have a right to know where she’s going.” So now he remembered I was his wife? Too bad I was never acknowledged until I decided to leave. Thomas was clutching his chest, his face pale. I hurried to support him. “Thomas, please, don’t get worked up.” “Nora… this is my fault,” Thomas wheezed. “I didn’t raise him right. I let you and Leo suffer. If your mother knew…” “It’s okay, Thomas. Don’t worry about it anymore.” I walked past Elias. He grabbed my wrist. “Tell me the truth. Where are you going? Why are you doing this?” “The heart dies before the body, Elias,” I said. “You wouldn’t understand.” I shook off his hand and walked out. Three days after leaving the Sterling house, I collapsed in my small rental. It wasn’t a surprise. Stomach cancer. I had been diagnosed two months ago. Back then, Leo was still alive, and I was fighting to stay for him. I had even tried to tell Elias the day I got the diagnosis. All I got was a cold glare. He hated me so much that I had stopped trying to reach him. I had planned to get treated and then take Leo away. But now, I was going to find Leo instead. The irony of life is that at the very end, the person I saw when I opened my eyes was Arthur Miller. Arthur had been in my class in high school. He was a poor kid with brilliant grades, always buried in his books. He was the opposite of the wealthy, arrogant Elias. Back then, Elias had called him a “pretentious loser” and told me to stay away from him. I had defended Arthur, and Elias had accused me of taking sides against him. I knew Arthur wanted to be a doctor. I knew he would succeed. But I never expected to be his first patient after his residency abroad. He looked imposing in his white coat. It made me feel even more pathetic. He looked at me with that same look of disapproval he had in high school. “Nora, you’re failing so badly, how can you sleep so soundly?” Back then, I would have teased him. “Elias is taking me to study abroad. He said I don’t need to work that hard.” Whenever I said that, Arthur’s expression would turn complex. Now, I finally understood what he was thinking. Relying on a man who doesn’t love you is a one-way ticket to a tragedy. I was the living proof. Still, Dr. Miller had saved my life. I lifted my hand, heavy with IV tubes, and offered a weak smile. “Hi.” Arthur didn’t seem interested in chatting. He sent a nurse to look after me instead. I was brought in by a neighbor. The bills weren’t paid. When the nurse asked for a family contact, I just smiled. “No parents. No family.” The nurse gave me a look of pure pity. “Dr. Miller wants to take you for some scans and a full workup.” I struggled into my old coat. When I left the Sterlings, I took nothing. I was afraid Elias would sue me to get it back. I never wanted to see him again. The coat was years old. It didn’t keep out the cold, and the sleeves were pilling. I looked a mess. I stood up shakily. “No need. I’m just tired. I’m fine.” In the Sterling house, no one respected me except Thomas. I was the parasite who crawled into Elias’s bed to become a trophy wife. I had spent years hardening my heart and my body. The nurse was skeptical. My face was probably the same color as the patients in the hospice wing. Well, I was a terminal cancer patient. It was just a secret. When Leo was alive, I spent my time secretly visiting hospitals, looking for a cure while doubled over in pain, vomiting until there was nothing left. I went to the billing window and paid with what little money I had. I clutched my stomach, stumbling out of the line. My vision was blurred, but I thought I saw Elias. He was wearing the overcoat I had bought him, his arm wrapped around another woman. In that moment, I wished my consciousness would just fade. Then I wouldn’t have to see the scarf around Elena Vance’s neck—the one I had hand-knitted for Elias. When I gave it to him, I had asked where it was dozens of times. He had always said he lost it. He could have thrown it away. But instead, he used it to humiliate me. I wasn’t even surprised. I felt a strange sense of peace. That was the moment Elias Sterling finally used up the last bit of love and guilt I had for him. Along with Leo’s death, it was all buried. The dream was over. I was a childless divorcee with nothing. He had his new life and his heart’s desire. Standing in the crowded hospital, I remembered all the times I bought him ties, only for Elena to use them as rags. I remembered waiting up on his mother’s death anniversary, only to see Elena post a photo of him with the caption: “You always make my heart ache.” My mother had taught me to knit. It was my first project. I had been so nervous, hoping for a single smile. He had taken it and said, “Don’t waste your time on this again.” He was trying to tell me that my efforts were futile. But I just wanted to be a good wife. Back then, Leo had tugged on my sleeve to comfort me. “Don’t be sad, Mommy. Daddy is just acting tough.” Silly boy. When a man doesn’t love you, he isn’t acting. 5 Two weeks after Leo died. I was surviving on painkillers. The cancer was spreading, and the pain was becoming a physical weight I couldn’t carry. Every time I got sick, I felt like a hollow shell. Even a glass of water was painful to swallow. I took the pills and hugged Leo’s favorite teddy bear. In the haze of the drugs, I wondered if Leo’s death had been this painful. He didn’t have painkillers. He must have been so scared. It was my fault. I didn’t protect him. My Leo… Before I slipped into unconsciousness, I heard a steady knocking at the door. If it weren’t for the pain, I would have thought it was the grim reaper. It was Arthur Miller. He wasn’t the type to be persistent. Back in high school, I’d beg him to explain a math problem and he’d give me the cold shoulder. What changed? “Nora, you’re in bad shape. You need to be in a hospital.” He was a doctor. A good one. He could see the truth written on my face. Arthur hadn’t changed much. He was still tall, still carried that air of intellectual arrogance. Like Elias said, he was “too proud.” And proud people don’t like to be insulted. I didn’t want to offend him before I died. “Dr. Miller, are you out of patients?” I tried to sound as petty as possible. “How much of a commission do you get for these extra tests?” Arthur’s eye twitched. “Nora…” “Here, take some money and leave me alone.” I went inside and threw some cash at him. Arthur left. Good. No one should have to put up with a difficult patient. Dying alone was the best ending for me. I swallowed my pills and pulled the curtains. But as I looked down, I saw two figures. Arthur Miller and Elias Sterling. Why was he here? Shouldn’t he be with Elena? They were arguing, almost coming to blows. I ignored the pain and rushed downstairs, blocking the space between them. “What the hell are you doing here?” I rasped. Elias looked the same as always. Standing in the night wind, his coat fluttering, the moonlight sharp on his features. He looked at Arthur with the same venom he had in high school whenever Arthur helped me with my books. “Nora, don’t you have hands? Why do you need him to help you?” he used to say. He wouldn’t let other men help me, yet he gave all his kindness to Elena. I used to love him. I used to push people away for him. Not anymore. I stepped in front of Arthur and pulled on his sleeve, urging him to go. He locked eyes with Elias, the tension thick enough to burn. He only left because I asked him to. Elias watched him go, his face a storm. “Tired of the good life? You ran here to be with your little pet?” The good life? Being neglected by a husband and loathed by a family? That was Elias’s definition of a “good life.” He hated me for ruining his future with Elena. Well, I was dying now. He should be happy. “I’m done with that life. Give it to Elena. I hope you both live long, happy lives with lots of children.” I said it calmly. No screaming. No breakdown. It was just like the day I left the Sterlings. Like I was deciding what to have for dinner. Elias looked stunned. He probably thought my request for divorce was just a reaction to Leo’s death—a tantrum I’d eventually get over. “Nora, have you really thought this through?” “My leaving was your dream for years, wasn’t it?” Silence. Elias nodded, a mocking smile on his face. “Fine. It’s your choice. Don’t come crawling back when you regret it.” I watched him walk away. Regret? I didn’t even have a future to regret. That night, I saw Elena’s Instagram post: “Dreams do come true.” The photo was of a massive diamond ring on her finger. 6 The cancer was moving fast. I didn’t know how much time I had left, but I found myself welcoming the end. I’d see Leo soon. It had been over two weeks since I’d seen him. I missed him. But it had been days since I thought of Elias. I used to spend my life around him. Packing his bags, managing the house, dealing with the relatives. I was his nurse when he was sick and his maid when he was drunk. And he spent his life with Elena. He wouldn’t even take my calls when he was away. The only times he answered were when Elena picked up the phone. “Elias is sleeping,” she’d purr. “No wonder he hates you. You’re such a nuisance.” “Take care of him,” I’d say. “I don’t need you to tell me that. Do you really think you’re his wife? You’re just a parasite who trapped him.” I had no comeback for that. Life was easier now. I went to the hospital to get more meds. I just wanted to make it to Christmas. Leo loved Christmas. If I could see him then, he’d be so happy. I waddled through the crowds. I must have looked like a walking corpse, wrapped in layers of scarves to hide my skeletal frame. As I left with my prescription, Arthur caught up to me. I looked back, and his eyes were glued to my face. I pulled my scarf tighter. Extreme weight loss is hard to hide. “Nora…” Arthur started to speak, then just sighed. “Where are you going?” “The station.” “I’ll drive you.” Suddenly, my eyes burned. I tried to say no, but Arthur was already walking toward his car. The street was full of people. I wasn’t the only one suffering. “Did Elias say anything after I left?” Arthur asked as we drove. “He used to get so worked up about us.” “No. We’re divorced.” “I was shocked when I heard you two got married. He came to see me before I left for my residency. He threatened me… told me to stay away from you.” Arthur let out a dry laugh. “Elias is a contradiction. He wouldn’t let me love you, but he only called you a sister.” I froze. “When did he say that?” “After Elena showed up.” I remembered. Before Elena, Elias would steal my soda, drink from my cup, and kiss my cheek. He’d laugh and say, “The ice is bad for you. This is mine now.” But that was a lifetime ago. People saw the sparks between us. Elias didn’t deny it. One day, under the golden light of the setting sun, I followed him. “Why aren’t you explaining things?” I asked. “Explain what?” He had been about to say something, his eyes soft, when the driver arrived to take us home. Elias went into his father’s study and stayed there for a long time. After that, he turned cold. He stopped taking me to lunch. He told me to stop bothering him. I tried everything to win him back, but nothing worked. Then Elena appeared. He stopped sharing my drinks. He stopped kissing me. When a friend asked if we were together, he sneered. “Nora is just a sister. If it weren’t for her dad, she wouldn’t even be that.” He told me I was only in the house because of my father. He told me to know my place. My mother told me the same. She told me to be careful, to remember we were just guests. I had buried my love for him. Then, right as those feelings were dying, my mother pushed me into his bed. The rest of my life was spent in a cycle of regret. I looked at Arthur. “There is nothing between me and Elias Sterling.” Elias heard about it within hours. He was waiting by his car in the dark, smoking. The smoke curled around his expensive suit, making him look like a phantom. “Nothing between us? Nora, you bore my son.” He still remembered he had a son. Arthur must have told him. I didn’t care to investigate. I just smiled. “The son is dead. So the connection is dead, too.” Elias choked on his smoke. He dropped the cigarette right before it burned his fingers. “Nora… we can have another child.” No. There was only one Leo. “I’m sure you will,” I said. “You and Elena will have plenty.” I just wanted a quiet corner to spend my last days. “What about you?” Elias asked, his voice dripping with jealousy. “You and Arthur Miller will have children?” I was too tired to argue. I just wanted to be rid of him. If he wanted to believe I was with Arthur, let him. “Believe what you want.” I turned to go, but Elias grabbed my arm. “Did you forget? You’re still my wife.” “Not for long.” The wind was harsh, bringing the taste of copper to my mouth. Elias searched my face for a lie. “Nora, this game is getting old. You can’t survive without me.” A game? No one plays games with their own life. To force me back, Elias stalled the divorce settlement. He froze the accounts. He even took back the apartment I was living in. He left me homeless while he planned his wedding. Nobody gets remarried a month after their son dies. But Elias did. The news of his wedding to Elena was everywhere. I heard about Thomas’s rage and the family gossip. I didn’t care. I wasn’t part of the story anymore. Elena called me while I was trying to choke down my meds. “Nora, we’re getting married at the end of the month.” “Congratulations,” I said, and hung up. I went to the train station. Elias called me. “Nora, I’ll give you one more chance. Come home.” His voice sounded like a dream. Maybe he was finally feeling guilty. But where was that guilt when Leo was alive? “Elias… I’m never coming back. Ever.” I looked at the teddy bear in my hand. “I apologized for my mother. I apologized for everything. I’m sorry I stayed in the way of you and Elena for so long.” I hung up.

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I turned into a ghost and wandered for ten years. An internet streamer found my treasured, half-burnt photo, and started a viral campaign: “Finding Liam.” When I finally saw him again, he was about to get married. I just wanted to disappear… But when I actually disappeared, he ended up dying alone. Right before he died, he was still holding that half-burnt photo. 1 The night I died, a sudden fire broke out at the psychiatric hospital. Because of the hospital’s special design, many patients couldn’t escape and perished in the flames. After I died, I just wandered around the hospital. At first, I had a few companions. But as time went on, they gradually faded away. Leaving me here all alone. I couldn’t wander too far from the hospital, so I spent my days sitting by the window, letting time slip away. I watched the sunset so many times, way more than forty-four times. Ten years passed like this. The hospital slowly fell into ruin. The weeds outside grew taller and taller, thorns wrapped around the crumbling walls, and wild roses bloomed amidst the rubble. The locals said the place was haunted by a female ghost who ate people. They warned their children to stay away, saying the ghost would snatch them if they misbehaved. Absolute nonsense! I have never eaten a person! And I definitely wouldn’t snatch a child! … One day, a girl suddenly appeared, holding her phone and talking to herself: “Hey guys, it’s your girl Chloe! I’m here at the legendary haunted Greenview Psychiatric Hospital. It’s been abandoned for ten years. Rumor has it that a massive fire broke out here, killing twenty-seven people. They say the youngest victim was only eighteen. After the fire, the director was even arrested. Tonight, we’re going to explore this place and see if there are really ghosts here.” I floated over her shoulder and peeked at her phone. I got it! She was live-streaming! Some of the locals did that to make money too. She suddenly shrunk her neck and continued: “Even though it’s been ten years, you can still see how huge the fire was. The walls are all black, the scorch marks are everywhere…” She walked and talked, eventually making her way into my old room. She panned the camera around the pitch-black room, and her eyes landed on a corner of the wall. Chloe crouched down and pulled a blackened tin box from a crack in the wall. I was jumping up and down anxiously. “That’s mine!” “Mine!” “Don’t touch it!” But she couldn’t hear me, and she even opened my tin box. “Ah!” My secret was exposed just like that. She was so mean! She picked up the half-burnt photo inside and showed it to the camera: “Look guys! The girl in this photo is so pretty. She looks really young, I wonder if she was even an adult.” I snorted angrily: “Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because you called me pretty! And yes, I was an adult! Not little at all!” I even had a boyfriend! Comments started rolling across the screen— [Could she be the patient who died at eighteen?] [The spirits of minors who die tragically are super vengeful! Better not touch her stuff!] [What a shame, so young, and she’s gone.] [I heard this hospital had insanely strict security measures back then. Otherwise, when the fire started, so many patients wouldn’t have been trapped inside.] [Wait, look next to the photo. You can see a shoulder wearing a black jacket, looks like a guy.] [Is that the guy she liked?] [A mental patient can like someone?] [Being liked by a psycho… just thinking about it gives me the creeps.] I felt a little sad reading those comments. I wasn’t a psycho, I just… had autism. My dad said that as long as I got treated and got better, I could date. I was capable of liking someone. I wasn’t a psycho. Chloe frowned at her phone and said: “Whoever said that, get out of my stream. Calling someone a psycho… you think you’re so normal? Your whole family is ‘normal’.” I thought, maybe Chloe wasn’t so bad after all. She flipped the photo over and saw the two words written on the back. “Liam.” 2 Liam was my first love. Because I refused to go to school, he became my tutor starting my junior year of high school. He was nineteen that year. My dad said he was brilliant. They went to the same high school. He was the valedictorian of our city and a top student at Columbia University. He skipped three grades and secured a spot in grad school by his junior year of college. “How about we have him be your tutor?” I didn’t say anything. Whether I agreed or not, he was going to be my tutor anyway. Before Liam, my dad had hired a lot of tutors for me. But during lessons, I always preferred doing other things, like drawing or woodcarving, lost in my own world. Those tutors eventually all quit. When Liam first started, I ignored him too. I thought he would curse me out behind my back. Give me all sorts of mean nicknames. Those people thought I was stupid, that I couldn’t speak or complain, so that’s what they did. But he just kept explaining the math problems next to my ear, not caring if I was listening or not. Actually, I understood most of it. After the lesson, he pulled out a few worksheets. “These are worksheets based on what we covered today. Do them when you have time. We’ll go over them tomorrow.” I didn’t do them because I wasn’t interested. I scribbled all over his worksheets. He said: “That frog you drew looks pretty good.” That was clearly a tree frog! How could he call it a regular frog! So annoying. “Did I say something wrong?” I ignored him. He lowered his eyes and started explaining the problems. Liam had really long eyelashes. When he blinked, they fluttered like butterfly wings. Liam was always very calm, as if he didn’t care whether I responded to him or not. “Did you understand this problem? If not, you can tell me, and I’ll explain it again.” He tapped the desk with his fingertips. I ignored him. “Since you understand, let’s move on to the next one.” When I didn’t understand, I would turn my head and look at him, and he would explain it again. I thought it was fun, so I purposely looked at him again after he finished explaining. Even after explaining it five times, Liam remained completely unbothered. So weird, didn’t he ever get mad? A month later, I spoke my first sentence to him. “What’s a little monster?” Why did my classmates call me a little monster? Liam froze for a second, then asked me: “Who said that?” I didn’t tell him. He asked again: “Did someone call you that?” I nodded. Then he drew a picture for me. He asked me: “What is this?” “A snake that ate an elephant.” Liam gave a very faint smile and said: “But many people think it’s a hat.” So silly. He said: “People always reject perspectives that differ from their own. They think you’re different from them, so they have a prejudice against you. Prejudice is the real little monster. You are not.” “But I am indeed different from normal people.” “You are just… very special. Everyone is different, it’s no big deal.” No one had ever told me these things before. He asked me: “Do you want to know the story behind this drawing?” I nodded. “Finish this worksheet, and I’ll tell you.” Fine. Liam brought me a book. I felt I was as special as the Little Prince in the book. Liam was even more special. The Little Prince lived on a planet where he could see the sunset forty-four times a day. “Liam, I want to see the sunset forty-four times in one day too.” “If you get into a college in New York, I’ll take you to see it.” I hesitated. I didn’t like going to school, and I didn’t like people out there. But if Liam was there, maybe the outside world wouldn’t be so bad. 3 After the SATs, Liam took me to New York. In the university auditorium, I watched the sunset forty-four times. It was a visual effect he created using code and a 3D model. He said he wouldn’t be tutoring me anymore. “Why?” “High school is over.” “Liam, I like you.” High school was over, but my feelings wouldn’t end. “You’re still young, you haven’t seen the outside world.” I understood. Liam wouldn’t like a little monster either. “Liam, I’m not stupid. If you don’t like me, you can just say so, but don’t invalidate my feelings.” I rarely spoke so seriously. Just because I didn’t like talking didn’t mean I didn’t have my own thoughts. Liam was stunned. I knew a lot of people liked Liam. I could recognize that look in their eyes. But Liam couldn’t understand my look, and he even invalidated my feelings. He didn’t know that I only let him into my world. If he didn’t want to come in, then fine. I stopped talking to Liam. No matter what he said, I wouldn’t listen. As long as I wanted to, I could block out all outside noise and just live in my own world. When I was younger, I couldn’t understand what other people said, and I couldn’t step out of my own world. I didn’t understand why my mom cried when she looked at me. When she left, I didn’t feel anything special either. Later, after a long period of therapy, I finally learned how to step out of my world. Even though there were still many times I didn’t understand complex emotions. But I knew that tears meant sadness. My mom didn’t want me that much either. After meeting Liam, I finally understood what it meant to like someone. Liking someone meant wanting to share your world with them, wanting to be with them, and being happy even if you were doing nothing. When I told Liam my weird thoughts, he would think about them seriously before responding. Even though sometimes it wasn’t the answer I wanted, I liked his answers. He never brushed me off. After Liam rejected me, when he dropped me off at my door, he asked: “Are you really never going to talk to me again?” Since he didn’t like me anyway, why should he care what I thought. But I still nodded honestly. “Can’t we even be friends?” “But I like you, and you don’t like me. I’ll be sad.” “If you like someone else and are with someone else, I’ll be sad too.” “So, I can’t be friends with you.” He wasn’t my friend; he was the person I liked. I would put Liam in a secret corner of my heart, making my feelings for him my own private matter. If he ever wanted to visit my world again, I would invite him. But Liam remained silent. I didn’t know what he was thinking. Just as I was about to leave, Liam grabbed my wrist. He said: “I don’t want you to be sad.” Liam and I started dating. He was still the same as before; he texted and called me every day, told me stories, and took me out. We rode the Ferris wheel and watched the dolphins. When I was scared, he would hold my hand. He took up more and more space in my heart. I really wanted to be with Liam forever. I also wanted to smell the fresh laundry scent on him, hug him, kiss him… I really, really liked Liam. But my dad found out and forbade us from being together. My dad said he was poor and was only dating me to scam our family’s money. I didn’t know how to explain, I just kept repeating: “No, no, no…” Liam wasn’t that kind of person. “He likes me, and I like him too.” My dad said: “What do you know about liking someone? He’s a normal person, how could he possibly like you! He just thinks you’re easy to fool! I never should have hired him to be your tutor!” “No! No! No!” “Liam didn’t scam me!” “I know what it means to like someone!” “You don’t! You’re just being fooled by him!” “I know!” “I just know!” “Ah!” No one cared about my screams. My dad locked me in my room and wouldn’t let me see Liam. On a rainy day, Liam stood outside our villa, refusing to leave. I screamed so loudly in my room that my throat hurt, but my dad wouldn’t open the door. “Wait for Liam.” Just wait a little longer, give him some time, Liam would become very successful in the future. He wasn’t after our family’s money. He truly liked me. I retreated back into my own world. I stopped talking to my dad, stopped eating, and only wanted to see Liam. My dad said: “As long as you behave and get treated, once you’re better, I’ll let you see him.” “Be together.” Not just see him, I wanted to be with him. “Okay, when you’re better, I’ll let you be together.” I was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, taking medication and undergoing therapy every day. Most of the time, I could only look at the outside world through the window. I kept waiting, waiting until I was normal, then I could be with Liam. Even though I didn’t know what “normal” meant. I could finish all the SAT practice tests and get a very high score, but they wouldn’t ask me those questions. Instead, they asked me very difficult questions. “What do you think it means to like someone?” “Do you understand the concept of love or marriage?” I didn’t speak. That day, a new patient arrived at the hospital. The nurse said she hid her history of mental illness, but relapsed after getting married, and now her husband had committed her. The nurse said she harmed herself and others. Mental illness is hereditary; that poor man must really regret liking her and marrying her. I suddenly felt very scared. It turned out that just liking someone wasn’t enough to be together. Even if you are together, you might regret it. Maybe they were right, I didn’t understand anything. I’ve been dead for ten years, and I still don’t understand. Why was I locked in a psychiatric hospital for treatment just because I liked Liam? Why didn’t anyone believe that I truly liked Liam? 4 Chloe suddenly became very excited. She spoke into her phone: “Why don’t we start an event called ‘Finding Liam’! Let’s uncover the story behind this half photo!” She put the photo back into the tin box and then took the box, leaving the hospital. I was anxious, so I had to follow her. “Give it back to me!” “That’s my photo!” But she couldn’t hear me. Then I left the hospital and followed her all the way back to her house. I realized that it wasn’t the hospital that bound me, but that photo. I could only move around the photo. I watched helplessly as Chloe posted my photo online. she collected news, contacted various people, and asked around about Greenview Psychiatric Hospital. “The entire internet is searching for Liam” became a trending topic. I was a little scared, afraid that Liam would find out I was dead. He would be very sad. If Liam died, I would probably never step out of my world again. But I couldn’t stop Chloe. Because I was already dead. At this time. Chloe scrolled past a news article. Tech mogul Liam was returning to the US next week to attend an AI summit. “Liam!” She sat up abruptly from her bed, her face mask falling off. Then, she muttered to herself: “No way, no way.” I stared at the photo in the news article, afraid to blink. It was Liam. It was thirty-year-old Liam. It was my first love, Liam. So, he had been living abroad all this time? Did he forget about me? Why didn’t he ever visit me at the hospital? Was it because I wasn’t cured? Also, why wasn’t thirty-year-old Liam smiling? Was he unhappy? I really wanted to see him. I looked at Chloe, then at her house. Forget it, that would be too hard for her. Two days later, someone commented online saying they knew me. Chloe was ecstatic when she saw the message, dancing around. She really loved making a fuss over nothing; Liam was never like that. When she calmed down, I nervously looked at the phone with her. “The person in the photo was my high school classmate. She stopped coming to school much in her junior year, and after that, there was no news of her. Her name is Aria. She wasn’t quite normal, but she wouldn’t hurt anyone either. She just didn’t pay attention in class, always turned in blank tests, and acted like she couldn’t hear what anyone said. She never talked to anyone. Thinking back, she probably had autism.” Exactly, it was autism, not a mental illness. “Besides not studying, not talking, and ignoring people, she was pretty normal in other ways.” Chloe immediately contacted the person. “Then do you know Liam? What was his relationship with Aria?” “I don’t know him, Aria ignored everyone. But the name Liam sounds familiar, let me think.” I secretly prayed that he wouldn’t remember. But my prayers were useless. “I remember now! He was our senior in my junior year, the valedictorian of our city that year! If you search the news, you should be able to find his photo.” After Chloe searched, she let out a curse word. “Holy shit! Is this the Liam who is one of the top three internet moguls right now? This can’t be a coincidence!” Of course it’s not. Chloe, please, please, whatever you do, don’t ask Liam about the photo. The day Liam returned to the country, Chloe still managed to contact her journalist friend and went to ambush Liam. During those few days beside Chloe, I discovered something: the six degrees of separation theory didn’t apply to her. It seemed there was no one she didn’t know; two degrees were enough. I floated beside Chloe, super nervous. Although I was afraid Liam would find out I was dead, I finally got to see him secretly. And so, I got my wish to see thirty-year-old Liam. Only there was a woman beside him, holding his arm, walking very closely with him. I was a little angry and a little sad. I had never even held Liam’s arm. Would Liam like her the same way he liked me? Thinking about this, my heart felt like it was raining acid, corroding little by little. But I was also a little happy, because Liam seemed to be doing very well. Chloe rushed straight up and held up the half photo, asking: “Liam! Do you still recognize the person in the photo?” Help me! How could she be so reckless! Her question was very abrupt and inappropriate. But Liam stopped in his tracks. His gaze fell on the photo, and then he looked at Chloe coldly. Not only was Chloe scared. I was also scared into taking a step back. Liam’s look, it was as if he wanted to eat someone. “I don’t know her.” 5 My suspended expectations crashed heavily to the ground. Liam said he didn’t know me. Chloe sat in the car, holding the photo, puzzled: “Did I really get it wrong? But Liam’s reaction just now was very strange, it didn’t seem like he didn’t recognize her.” I didn’t understand how Liam could forget me. Was his past affection fake? I didn’t even mind that he liked someone else, but how could he forget me? Now, even if he knew I was dead, he probably wouldn’t be sad anymore. Suddenly, someone knocked on Chloe’s car window. It was the woman who had been standing with Liam. She said: “Hello, my name is Mia. I can pay you for that photo in your hand. Name your price.” “I’m sorry, it’s not for sale at any price. But if you can tell me whether Liam recognizes the person in this photo, I might just give it to you.” “I can tell you, the person in the photo almost ruined Liam.” “What?” “Owning this photo isn’t a good thing.” Mia looked at the photo and said: “Everything related to this woman is a minefield for Liam. You better be careful.” “Is that so?” Chloe gave the photo to Mia. I heard her mutter behind her back: “Things are getting interesting.” “Whether it’s a minefield or what, I have to step on it to find out.” ? I thought Mia would destroy the photo, but I didn’t expect… She actually took the photo to the hotel and gave it to Liam. “You still haven’t let her go, have you?” Liam took the photo, didn’t even glance at it, and threw it straight into the trash can. He said: “I’ve long forgotten who she is.” “Heh.” I felt Mia’s attitude was a bit strange. I sat at Liam’s feet, looking at the photo in the trash can, unable to describe how terrible I felt. That was the only photo Liam and I had together. I took it with a camera when we went to the amusement park together. I still remember he was holding pink cotton candy in his hand, and it was so sweet. He also said he would always like me. He changed his mind. But I didn’t. When I went back that day, I developed two copies of the photo. One was torn up by my dad. It was also because of the photo that he found out about Liam and me dating. I secretly brought the remaining photo into the psychiatric hospital. During the fire, I hid the photo in a tin box that used to hold candy. There was a mouse hole behind the peeling wallpaper, I put the tin box inside and blocked it with my body. By some miracle, half of the photo survived. After becoming a ghost, I drew Liam’s face in my mind every day. Even though the photo was ruined, I never forgot what he looked like. Every word he said to me, I remembered. It was all in my head. But, Liam forgot.

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Five years ago, my fiancé died in the line of duty. His body was never found. But this year, on August 20th at 8:17 PM, Captain Miller called me personally. He said they found Ethan Wright. He wasn’t dead. He was alive and well. But he was getting married. 1 On the way to that coastal town, Captain Miller and the other officers kept trying to console me. But I refused to give up hope. I had chased him for two years, and we had loved each other deeply for five. He had proposed to me twice. How could he possibly forget me? I rubbed the simple silver band on my finger. He had clearly proposed to me. How could he marry someone else? We took a flight, then a bus. The five-hour bus ride made me violently carsick, but after ten grueling hours, the four of us finally arrived at the small town. “Over there.” Captain Miller pointed to a bed and breakfast called Sunny Days. It was an obscure little inn that had suddenly gone viral because of a set of photos posted by a tourist. In those photos, the owner had accidentally stepped into the frame and gained countless fans. Even though it was just his side profile, it was enough to drive people crazy. Captain Miller glanced at me. “He doesn’t remember anything. You have to be prepared…” I stared intently at that door, my senses completely shutting down. When Captain Miller pushed the door open, a wind chime made of seashells let out a crisp, clear sound. Before us was a massive courtyard. A cobblestone path led straight to the house. There was a huge swing set, a Golden Retriever, and several cats. I stared at the little animals in surprise. Suddenly, a figure emerged from behind a curtain of strung seashells. He was tall, with long legs. The muscles of his arms flexed smoothly under a black t-shirt. The sharp contours of his profile were striking. The moment I laid eyes on him, my body froze uncontrollably. My back went numb, and my head buzzed. It felt like all my bodily functions had shut down simultaneously. I could only use every ounce of strength I had to stare at the man standing in front of me. I had seen people who looked 80% like Ethan Wright before, even down to the exact placement of a beauty mark under their eye. But one look was always enough to know they weren’t him. The man before me looked vastly different from the young man I knew. His features were more mature, sharper, and colder than the Ethan of my youth. I couldn’t stop myself from moving closer, and closer, until I clearly saw the beauty mark under his eye and the red string around his neck… “Ethan… Wright…” I choked back a sob, calling his name softly, terrified I might scare him away. He looked up at me, his eyes incredibly, utterly unfamiliar. “Excuse me?” “Ethan… Wright…” I could barely articulate his name. The man looked at me with cold indifference. “I’m sorry, Miss. You have the wrong person.” I could mistake anything in this world, but I would never, ever mistake Ethan Wright. He was half of my very soul. Captain Miller quickly pulled me back. “Sorry about that. Do you still have vacant rooms?” Ethan crossed his arms and scrutinized us closely. “Yes. How many?” “Two.” “Come on in.” He turned and walked straight into the house, not sparing me another glance. I had naively thought that as long as he saw me, he would definitely remember me. If he just saw me! Everything would change… But the way he looked at me was so unfamiliar and sharp, carrying a hint of annoyance at being disturbed by a stranger. When I heard he was alive, I didn’t cry. When I heard he was getting married, I didn’t cry either. But thinking about the look in his eyes just now, my heart felt like it was being crushed in someone’s fist, aching so badly it felt like it would explode. The tears fell uncontrollably. 2 “IDs.” Captain Miller handed over our IDs. When the man took them, I saw it clearly: the tip of his left pinky finger was missing. As he walked toward the counter, he walked with a slight limp in his right leg. I covered my mouth with my hand. Captain Miller grabbed the room keys and quickly had someone lead me outside. I sat in my room for a long time before I found my voice. “How did he end up like this?” On the way here, I swore to myself that when we met, I would slap him hard across the face. That heartless jerk, how could he forget me and marry another woman?! But the moment I saw him, I suddenly couldn’t bear to do it. I just wanted to hug him… I stayed in the room for a long time. So long that Sarah, one of the officers, dragged me out, afraid I might do something drastic. Everyone was having a barbecue in the backyard. I immediately spotted Ethan grilling skewers. Captain Miller stood next to him, and the two seemed to be having a good conversation. “Chloe, feeling better?” I nodded. “Ethan, let me introduce you. This is Chloe.” I slowly reached out my hand, fighting to keep it from shaking. “Chloe Adams. Nice to meet you.” A broad, warm palm gave my hand a brief, polite shake. “Ethan. Nice to meet you.” It was the greeting of absolute strangers. In that instant, my nose stung. I remembered right after he proposed; he held me so gently, practically melting, and whispered tenderly, “Mrs. Wright, nice to meet you.” We had lost each other after all. Looking at the man in front of me, I had a million questions. But in the end, I only asked one: “It’s beautiful here. Have you been doing well?” He skillfully flipped the skewers on the grill and answered casually, “Pretty well.” That’s good, then. As we spoke, a chicken wing accidentally dropped. He looked toward the door. “Potato, come here.” Potato was the name of the orange tabby we had adopted together. He even picked the name. He had said, “He’s fat and round. If we don’t call him Potato, what else would we call him?” Watching a large Golden Retriever bounding over, my throat tightened. “His name is Potato?” “Yeah, he’s fat and round. What else would I call him?” I turned away and discreetly wiped my tears. Only he could come up with such a tacky name. The skewers were done, and everyone gathered around to eat. Seeing the beer on the table, I grabbed a can and poured it down my throat. The bitter taste spread through my mouth. I looked at the man across from me. The beauty mark I used to tease him about was still by his eye, and the red string still hung around his neck. I just didn’t know if it was the one I gave him. None of this felt real. Sarah handed out the skewers. Just as she placed a mushroom on his plate, he reached out before her. “No, he can’t eat mushrooms.” Suddenly, everyone at the table was staring at me. Just as I was feeling awkward, a figure ran over and jumped onto Ethan’s back, affectionately nuzzling his neck. “Ethan, I missed you so much!” Ethan quickly bent down, putting a hand behind him to support her. “Get down.” It sounded like a scolding, but all I heard was pure adoration. He pulled the person on his back into his arms, smiling as he introduced her. “This is my wife, Lily.” 3 I still held the mushroom skewer. I stared blankly at the girl whose smile was as bright as the sun. My chest trembled. It felt like I had been struck by a heavy hammer, the pain stealing my breath. “Hi everyone, I’m Lily, Ethan’s wife. Welcome to Ocean City.” Captain Miller and the others took turns greeting her. Lily was very talkative. She complimented everyone. She complimented me: “Chloe, you’re so pretty! And so skinny, I’m so jealous! You have such great hair too. Not like me, I’m going bald soon.” As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and turned to look at the man behind her. “It’s definitely because you have a problem with how you blow-dry my hair. Be careful, or I’ll be a bald bride at our wedding next week.” Ethan ruffled her hair, letting out a helpless chuckle. “Okay.” Looking at her clear eyes, unclouded by a single speck of dust, filled with anticipation for her wedding, she looked exactly like I once did. “A wedding?” Sarah asked. “Yes! Our wedding is next Wednesday. I hope you can all make it!” I cracked open another can of beer. Lily grabbed one too, but it was snatched away by the man before she could even hold it properly. “No drinking.” Lily whined, “Just one sip.” Without caring that we were there, she sneaked a quick kiss on his cheek. “Please, Ethan, just one sip. Just one!” “Drink this.” It was a white mug with rose petals floating inside. When he opened the lid, the scent of rose tea drifted out. Lily frowned. “Rose? Ethan! I’ve told you eight hundred times, I don’t like floral teas. How do you forget every single time?!” “I don’t know… I just make it out of habit.” Hearing his words, I turned my head and finished the last drop of my beer. I hated drinking water. In high school, I spent so much time reciting texts that my throat was always strained. When it got really bad, I couldn’t even speak. To get me to drink more water, Ethan would try everything, constantly rotating between floral teas, fruit teas, and oolong tea. In the winter, he would even boil apple and pear water for me. Every time I drank an extra glass, the usually arrogant young master Ethan acted like he wanted to build a shrine for my pink thermos. Seeing me drink beer, Lily tried to negotiate again. “Look, Chloe has already finished a can. Maybe her hair is so nice because she drinks beer.” “Quiet.” I looked at the beer next to me, offering a bitter smile. “My ex-boyfriend wouldn’t let me drink either. He knew I was a lightweight, so he was super strict about it.” Lily looked at me. “Then aren’t you worried he’ll get mad if you drink like this now?” I glanced behind her and shook my head. “He stopped caring a long time ago.” Realizing she had probably said the wrong thing, Lily looked at me apologetically and stopped fussing. She obediently held Ethan’s mug and drank it all. I only ate that one mushroom skewer, but I drank quite a bit. My head felt a bit dizzy, so I headed back to my room early. As I walked down the steps, I heard Lily’s bright laughter. I looked back and saw Lily clinging to Ethan’s back like a sloth, waving her arms and chattering endlessly. Ethan stumbled slightly under her weight, but he maintained his good temper, looking down to clear the table, as if he were entirely used to it. Ethan Wright was not a man with a good temper. I used to think he only had a good temper for me. I used to think he would only love me in this lifetime… Looking at Lily, whose face overflowed with happiness, I clutched my violently aching heart, feeling so much pain I wanted to die. That was supposed to be me! I was the one who was supposed to be spoiled rotten by Ethan Wright! I fought the urge to tear them apart and forced myself back to my room. I dumped everything out of my bag onto the floor until I found my pills and swallowed them. Only then did the tidal wave of my emotions slowly begin to recede. By the time Sarah came in, I had returned to normal. “I thought you were going to make a huge scene.” I looked out the window. “I planned to. But suddenly, I couldn’t bear to.” “I saw you brought so many things. Were you hoping to help Ethan regain his memory?” That suitcase held ten years of our lives. It had the first note he ever passed me, his first love letter, and every gift he gave me from my 18th to my 28th birthday. It had our first photo together and our first wedding portrait. I shook my head. “Never thought about it.” Sarah looked at me in shock. “Why… why not?” Thinking of the tragic death of Ethan’s parents, I closed my eyes, steadying my emotions. “The pain of losing family… I don’t want him to have to endure it twice.” 4 I woke up very late the next day. By the time I got ready and went outside with my sketchbook, it was past lunchtime. Sarah waved at me. “Chloe, I saved you some food.” Everyone was chatting at the wooden table in the courtyard. When Lily saw me, she practically sprinted into the house and came back out holding an orange envelope. She handed it to me like she was presenting a treasure. “Chloe, we don’t have much family. We’d like to formally invite you to our wedding.” It was a very formal invitation. I took the envelope, lacking the courage to pull out the invitation card inside. Lily kept urging me, “Chloe, you studied art, right? Can you tell us how the design looks?” That thin piece of paper felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. “Here, let me see. Wow, the color is gorgeous,” Sarah quickly interjected. “I know, right?! Ethan picked this orange. I wanted purple, but the orange looks so much better. What’s your favorite color, Chloe?” I put down my sketchbook and pointed to my orange sweater. Before high school, I didn’t have a favorite color. Until one day, I wore an orange jacket, and Ethan told me I looked really good in orange. From then on, orange became my favorite color. “Chloe, you and my Ethan have such similar taste!” My Ethan. Hearing those two words was incredibly jarring. Once upon a time, Ethan’s favorite thing to call me in front of others was “My Chloe.” Seeing my expression, Sarah immediately took the invitation from my hand. “The cartoon inside looks like you. It’s very cute. But wait, is this sunset? The wedding is in the evening?” Lily rubbed her cheeks. “Ethan insisted on it! Because he said…” “Because someone couldn’t wake up in time.” Lily stared at me blankly. “Chloe! How did you know?! That’s exactly what Ethan said! But the main reason is that Ethan really loves the sunset.” Ethan had said that out of the entire day, he loved the evening most, because in the evening, Sleeping Beauty woke up and became his girlfriend. I’m naturally a heavy sleeper. Waking up at 5:30 AM in high school was basically the ultimate form of torture. For those three years, every single morning, I would sit on the back of Ethan’s bike, close my eyes, hug him, and keep sleeping. During our ten-minute breaks between classes, I could manage to squeeze in three separate dreams. Every time I woke up, his school jacket was always draped over my shoulders. I remember one time when I was half-asleep, someone sighed in my ear. “Sigh, you sleep so much. What am I going to do with you on the day I marry you?” Fast forward to my 24th birthday. I woke up to the scratch of his stubble against my face in the morning. I pushed him away to go back to sleep. He pulled me into his arms, gently patted my back, and said in a husky voice, “Chloe, let’s have our wedding in the evening!” I grunted in agreement. He kissed my forehead and let out a contented sigh. “I have to make sure my little sleepyhead gets enough rest. What if you throw a tantrum and refuse to marry me? Who would I complain to then?” And now… it wasn’t that I wouldn’t marry him, but that he wasn’t marrying me. I really had no one to complain to. I stood up and picked up my sketchbook. In that split second, Lily saw the ring on my ring finger. Seeing her gaze, I wiggled my hand. “Because he said the exact same thing.” “Are you married, Chloe?” “Yes. I’ve been married for five years.” Lily looked surprised. “What about your husband? Didn’t he come with you?” I looked at the man walking towards us in the distance and gave a slight shake of my head. 5 As I walked out the main gate of the inn, Lily’s laughter followed me. She was telling Sarah the story of how Ethan proposed. I walked faster, feeling as if a demon were chasing me. I found an empty spot, set up my easel, and just as I picked up my palette, a wave of dizziness hit me. I took my pillbox out of my pocket. After swallowing the medicine, the discomfort slowly faded. I hadn’t been a lucky person since childhood. I had no parents, no friends, and never even won a “free drink” under a bottle cap. I thought Lady Luck hated me. Until that day. I won the stuffed animal I had wanted for ages from a claw machine, got a free bubble tea, and won a $5,000 cash prize from a promotional event at the supermarket. Even the soda I bought for my friend Maya had a “free drink” under the cap. Maya looked at me, grinning. “Lady Luck must be watching over you today.” I couldn’t believe it. How could someone as unlucky as me suddenly be so fortunate? Just as our car was turning a corner, it suddenly lost control and accelerated forward. Seeing the wall getting closer and closer, I screamed in terror. Crash! The car smashed through the wall. Surprisingly, there was almost zero impact. Through the gaps in my fingers, I faintly saw orange lights and the scent of flowers spreading through the air, landing on a man in a suit standing in the center. Ethan stood in a sea of flowers, wearing an impeccably tailored suit. All our friends and family were dressed to the nines. Even Potato was sitting next to him wearing a tiny, handsome tuxedo. I stared in shock at the scene before me until Ethan walked over and opened the door. I still remember the first thing he said to me. He said, “Miss Adams, it’s time.” That was our secret code. Time to eat, time for school to end, time to kiss, time for you to marry me and for me to marry you. He carried me out of the car. Applause erupted around us. Ethan, a man who had faced life-and-death situations for years, was actually so nervous he stumbled over his words. “Chloe, did you have a good day today?” I was so choked up I couldn’t speak; I could only nod vigorously. He smiled, looking impossibly mischievous. “Chloe, there’s something very, very important I need you to help me with. And you’re the only one who can do it.” I looked at him. “What?” “Be my wife.” “Marry me, and I’ll make sure you’re this lucky every single day.” “Plus, it’s a buy-one-get-two deal right now. Maybe even get-three!” It was strange. So many things with Ethan happened so naturally, without any need for buildup or “what-ifs.” It was just like how I knew he would definitely marry me, and he knew I would marry no one else but him. On the way back after he proposed that day, he bought a lottery ticket. He told me, “If we win, the three million is all yours.” “And if we don’t?” I asked him. He looked completely serene. “It means marrying you used up all my luck.” I laughed so hard. I looked at him dead seriously and said, “I’ve always felt like I had terrible luck. Turns out I was saving it all up just to meet you!” “Damn straight! You saved up eighteen years of luck to meet me. I hope you cherish me properly.” I leaned over, kissed him, and said very solemnly, “I will.” When the sun began to set, I stared greedily at the fiery red sky. The words still echoed in my ears, but the person who said them was no longer mine. By the time I packed up my easel and headed back, the lights outside the inn were already on. As I got closer, I saw a figure standing by the door. A fiery red spark floated in the air, and the smell of nicotine drifted over. I frowned at the man standing there. When he heard me approach and turned his head, I actually saw a flash of panic in his eyes. He quickly stubbed out the cigarette and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, looking exactly like he used to every time he got caught smoking. I stood frozen in place, using every ounce of self-control to ignore him. But just as we brushed past each other, I heard him say: “Chloe Adams, I remember you.” 6 With a massive boom, I felt all the blood in my body rush straight to my head. Did my Ethan come back? I turned around stiffly. My shoulders and calves trembled involuntarily, and my heart quivered along with them. His name was right on the tip of my tongue, but it died there when I met his flat, emotionless gaze. Ethan never looked at me with those eyes. When he looked at me, there was always a smile, his eyes filled with a tenderness that wrapped heavily around me. The sudden, extreme swing from joy to despair made my heart ache sharply. I lowered my head, hiding my reddened eyes from him. “Captain Miller told me, but he didn’t mention you.” He analyzed the situation slowly. “I feel like you’re very familiar, but not in a ‘colleague’ way. Every time I see you, I feel this weird sense of guilt, and maybe even a little fear of you. You knew I was allergic to mushrooms, and the red string around your neck is exactly like mine.” The red string was from when we went to a temple together to pray for blessings. I prayed for his safety, and he prayed that I would get everything I wished for. The string had two silver tags with our initials. I forgot. Ethan used to be a recon soldier. Even without his memory, it was in his bones. He was sharp. Captain Miller and the others had been acting uncharacteristically enthusiastic, which he obviously noticed. It only took him a day or two to guess that something was up. And my identity… he probably either couldn’t guess it, or he guessed it but refused to believe it. I slowly lifted my head, meeting his assessing gaze. But he looked down at my ring. “Lily said you’re married, you… me.” Even though his hands were in his pockets, I knew his fists were clenched tight. His mind must have been a chaotic mess. Of course. A man blindly in love, ready to marry the girl of his dreams, suddenly confronted with a woman who might have a complicated past with him—he was definitely in turmoil. My throat was so dry and tight I could barely make a sound. After several attempts, I slowly opened my mouth. “I am indeed married, but… it has nothing to do with you.” I could visibly see him let out a sigh of relief. That second was the most painful second of my life. I never, ever imagined a day would come when Ethan Wright would feel relieved that he had nothing to do with me. I still remember high school. When I caught him sneaking glances at me, the tips of his ears turned red, and he looked so flustered. And when I agreed to be his girlfriend, he was so happy it seemed like he had won the world. I had only ever seen him smile that deeply, that fulfillingly, twice in my life. “Then what about him?” I looked at the man in front of me, and the tears just wouldn’t stay back. He looked at me, panicked, and apologized. “I’m sorry, I…” I bent down and raised a hand, stopping his movements. “Your parents pitied me and raised me like a daughter. I don’t really have a relationship with you. I’m mainly just here to check on you for them. As for the red string.” I gave it a hard yank, and the string fell. “Your parents prayed for your safety, and they just happened to get one for me too.” Ethan looked at me in silence. But I had no strength left to keep lying. Those few sentences should be enough to let him marry in peace. I don’t know how I made it back to my room. I thought I had kept it together pretty well, but the moment I turned around, the tears flowed like a broken dam. Tears ruined my makeup. Staring at my exhausted, sickly reflection in the mirror, I covered my face, crouched in the corner of the bathroom, and cried for a long time. Five years! I dreamed of Ethan coming back to me! But the moment he appeared, I had to push him away! Why was this happening to me?! Why did it have to be me?! Because of the massive emotional swing, my stomach started churning, and the taste of blood rose in my throat. “Chloe, are you okay? Open the door.” I braced myself against the wall and stood up, mechanically flushing the toilet. I quickly touched up my tear-streaked makeup and walked out, trying to act as if everything was normal. “I’m fine, just slipped and fell.” The pity in Sarah’s eyes made my heart ache. “You don’t have to hold it in around me.” I turned my face away. “I’m fine.” Sarah looked at me, hesitating, but ultimately just patted me and told me to get back in bed. The moment I turned around, I saw the item on the table again. An orange invitation. An evening wedding. That was supposed to be mine! In that moment, I felt so incredibly, overwhelmingly bitter. My emotions took over. I rushed out the door, heading straight for the lobby. I was going to tell him that I was his fiancée!

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The night Liam’s company went public, he vanished. I called him all night, but couldn’t reach him. The next morning, news of the hotshot CEO spending the night at a hotel with a mystery woman was plastered everywhere. I didn’t cry. I didn’t make a scene. I packed my bags and left New York. Two months later, he finally called me. “Aria,” he said, his voice thick, “my head is splitting. I want that hangover tea you make.” Instead, a cold, unfamiliar male voice answered from my end of the line: “Mr. Sullivan, please don’t wake my wife. If you need hangover tea, call your secretary.” 1 At the IPO celebration party, a group of executives’ wives surrounded me, practically dripping with flattery. “Aria, you really played the long game. You locked down a blue-chip stock like Liam Sullivan back in high school!” “Everyone in our circle knows Mr. Sullivan only has eyes for you. You’re about to officially become Mrs. Sullivan!” “But Aria, you should really secure some shares while he’s still madly in love with you. Otherwise, if you end up with nothing, you’ll be the one crying.” The moment those last words left her mouth, the circle went dead silent. No one dared to speak. I tightened my grip on my clutch and looked at the woman who had spoken—Mrs. Hayes. Everyone in our circle knew her story. She and her husband, Robert Hayes, were childhood sweethearts. They got married right after college. Less than six months later, Robert’s affairs were common knowledge. Their “fairytale romance” became a running joke. She cried, she fought. At first, Robert dialed it back a little. But eventually, he got annoyed, got bored, and stopped giving her even a shred of respect in public. Mrs. Hayes’s cynical gaze drifted to a spot across the room. I followed her eyes. Liam stood tall and striking amidst the crowd, a champagne flute in his hand, quietly listening to the woman beside him. I couldn’t hear what she said, but Liam smiled silently, his eyes softening instantly. I knew that woman better than anyone. It was Chloe, his secretary for the past three years. She wore a simple, elegant white evening gown, standing gracefully by Liam’s side. They weren’t doing anything overtly physical, but they looked like a couple deeply in love, enclosed in a bubble no one else could pop. If I wasn’t Liam’s girlfriend, I would have looked at them and thought they were the picture-perfect couple. Chloe caught me staring. Her eyes flashed with contempt, and a mocking smirk played on her lips. She turned her back to me to say something to Liam. Liam looked over her shoulder, his gaze meeting mine. His eyes were completely blank, as if I were just an irrelevant stranger. It was that single look that made me finally realize: Liam didn’t love me anymore. 2 I had planned to break up with Liam after the party. When I walked out of the restroom, the crowd had thinned out, but Liam was nowhere to be found. I called him; no answer. I sent him texts; they stayed on “Delivered.” I remembered the gossip I’d overheard in the restroom stalls just moments before. “Did Liam and Aria break up?” “Not yet, but I bet it’s coming. Didn’t you see? Chloe said it was getting late and she was scared to go home alone, and Liam immediately offered to drive her.” It was 11:30 PM. The streets outside the venue were empty. I gave a self-deprecating laugh and hailed a cab home. The apartment was dark and painfully quiet. He hadn’t come home. A sudden, crushing wave of exhaustion hit me. I stumbled into the living room, collapsed onto the sofa, and fell into a deep sleep. In my hazy, feverish sleep, I dreamed of eighteen-year-old Liam. He was napping on his desk by the window, while I was desperately trying to solve the last question on a brutal AP Calculus practice test. The sunlight was blinding, making it hard to see the numbers. I frowned. Suddenly, the harsh light vanished. After I finished the problem, I rubbed my eyes and looked up. A pair of long, articulate fingers was holding a textbook, shielding my eyes from the sun. I stared blankly as he shook out his numb arm, then waved his hand in front of my face. His eyes were dancing with amusement, his tone teasing: “Aria, are you mesmerized by me?” Then the dream shifted to the day after graduation. He blocked my path, the tips of his ears bright red, trying desperately to look cool. “Aria, I like you. If you become my girlfriend, I’ll be good to you for the rest of my life. I won’t let anyone bully you.” I had asked him, What if you’re the one who bullies me? I still remember how his expression turned deadly serious. “I will never bully you, Aria. If that day ever comes, you just walk away from me. That would be the cruelest punishment you could ever give me.” Through the haze, I heard my phone ringing. I picked it up and heard that familiar voice say my name. “Aria.” Without a second thought, I spoke into the receiver. “Liam, you bullied me. I don’t want you anymore.” Without waiting for a response, I tossed the phone aside and fell back asleep. 3 The next morning, I was woken up by a phone call. The moment I answered, my best friend’s furious voice blasted through the speaker: “Did Liam not come home last night?!” I froze. Instinctively, I reached out to the other side of the bed. Nothing. The cold sheets sent a chill straight to my heart. “What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice incredibly raspy and exhausted from sleeping too long. My friend paused, then asked carefully, “Have you seen the news?” I knew instantly that something had happened, something involving Liam. I murmured a few reassurances to her, hung up, and opened my news app. Videos and photos of “Hotshot CEO Liam Sullivan Spending the Night with Mystery Woman at Luxury Hotel” were everywhere. In the video, Liam’s black suit jacket was draped over the woman’s shoulders. She was tucked into his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you could see Liam bend down, scoop her into his arms, and carry her straight into the hotel lobby. The next clip showed them walking out of the hotel this morning at 8:00 AM, one after the other, both wearing different clothes. I clenched my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms, but I couldn’t feel the pain. The sound of the electronic keypad chimed from the front door. I looked up as Liam walked in. He took off his jacket, loosened his tie, and finally looked at me. “Aria, about last night… something came up at the last minute…” Before he could finish, I tossed my phone onto the coffee table in front of him. It stopped him dead in his tracks. The screen displayed the photo of him carrying Chloe bridal-style. He pinched the bridge of his nose, handed the phone back to me, and gave an exhausted explanation: “She drank too much last night. She couldn’t get home by herself. I’d had a few drinks too, so I couldn’t drive her. I just got her a room at the hotel.” “When I dropped her off in the room, she grabbed my arm and started crying about how hard the last three years have been for us at the company. I listened to her until I fell asleep. Believe it or not, absolutely nothing happened between us.” Not a single word about her arms wrapped around him. Not a single word about him carrying her. I smiled. “I believe you.” Liam looked surprised, raising his eyebrows. The rest of his explanation died in his throat. “I’m glad you believe me. Aria, I’m exhausted. Please don’t act like Robert Hayes’s wife, crying and throwing tantrums.” I stood up, walked over to him, and locked my eyes on the faint lipstick smudge on his shirt collar. My smile was freezing. “Liam, if you don’t want me to act like Mrs. Hayes, then let’s break up.” 4 Liam frowned, his jaw tightening. He stared at me intently, then suddenly let out a sharp laugh. “Aria, the company just went public. There’s going to be a lot of this kind of baseless tabloid gossip from now on. Are you going to threaten me with a breakup every time?” Even though I knew he was no longer the eighteen-year-old Liam, my heart still seized with a dense, suffocating pain. I let out a soft laugh. “Is it a threat? Let’s find out.” “Don’t worry. After we break up, I’ll be the perfect ex. Unless the universe has a sick sense of humor, we probably won’t ever see each other again.” Without waiting for his reaction, I walked away and started packing my bags. I only packed the absolute essentials. I didn’t need anything else. I thought about leaving the rest, but knowing he might twist that into me “playing hard to get” and planning to come back, I bagged everything else up and threw it in the trash chute. Liam had left the apartment again while I was packing. I left a note on the counter: We bought this apartment together. Please calculate my half of the equity and wire the cash to my account. Keep the apartment. After handling everything, I booked a red-eye flight to Chicago. Chicago was my hometown. After graduation, Liam wanted to move to New York to start his company. He asked if I would go with him, and I agreed without hesitation. My only attachment to New York was Liam. Now that we were done, there was no reason to stay. 5 When I got home, my parents saw me standing there with my luggage. They didn’t ask a single question. They just took me to get my favorite deep-dish pizza, which I hadn’t had in ages. Nothing at home had changed. My childhood bedroom looked exactly as I had left it three years ago. It was as if time had reversed, and my mind and body were enveloped in a long-lost warmth. When my older brother, Ethan, heard I was back, he drove back from his office in the suburbs without a word. He got in at 2:00 AM, saw I was already fast asleep, and didn’t wake me. The next day, he mentioned he had a get-together with some old friends that evening. When they heard I was back in town, they all insisted he bring me along. I thought about it. I knew most of his friends, some of them quite well, so I agreed. When they saw me, the teasing started immediately. “Look at our little sister! She grew up! You get prettier every year, Aria.” “Don’t go back to New York this time! Chicago’s great. You’ve got all your big brothers here to protect you, nobody would dare mess with you.” “Exactly! I’ll set you up with a great guy next week, I promise he’ll… Ow! Who kicked me?!” He looked around, but no one answered. They were all trying to hold back laughter. Everyone except Julian. Julian looked past the guy and stared at me. His beautiful eyes were swirling with dark, unreadable emotions. Ethan cleared his throat loudly next to him. Only then did Julian seem to snap back to reality. “Aria,” he said, his voice crisp but carrying a faint, husky edge, “welcome home.” It felt like a feather lightly brushing against my heart, sending a shiver down my spine. I could feel my cheeks burning, completely out of my control. After a few rounds of drinks, I felt a bit bolder. I leaned over to Ethan and whispered, “Why does Julian look like a heartbreaker out of a movie now?” Ethan shot Julian a glare and snorted. “He’s a peacock strutting his feathers. Be careful, don’t let him seduce you.” Slightly tipsy, I looked over at Julian. He was wearing a simple, crisp white button-down. Under the cool, fluorescent lights of the bar, his handsome face looked almost aristocratic in its calm indifference. His long, elegant fingers rested against a white porcelain glass. His gaze, seemingly devoid of emotion, kept drifting over to me, stirring up an inexplicable feeling in my chest. Snapping back to reality, I patted my cheeks, trying to sober up. Towards the end of the night, Ethan’s phone rang. There was an emergency at his precinct, and he had to go help out. Before leaving, he tossed me his car keys and told me to drive myself home. I told him to take the car; I could easily grab an Uber. Just as he was about to argue, Julian suddenly spoke up. “I can drive Aria home.” I looked up at him in surprise. The strange part was, Ethan didn’t immediately agree. Instead, he frowned and stared at Julian. The two men locked eyes in silence for about ten solid seconds. Finally, Ethan looked away, grabbed his keys, and told me to text him when I got home. 6 Julian drove me home. It hadn’t been as obvious when we were with a group, but now that it was just the two of us in the confined space of his car, I felt completely enveloped by his scent. My throat suddenly felt dry. As we approached the entrance to my subdivision, I suddenly blurted out: “Julian, do you like me?” He didn’t say anything. He just looked down at me, his gaze incredibly intense. His dark eyes made absolutely no effort to hide the burning desire in them. My heart started racing. I was frantically trying to think of how to explain away my lack of filter. He had already parked the car. He unbuckled his seatbelt, looked down at me, and said: “Yes. I like you.” The darkness inside and outside the car gave me a surreal feeling of escaping reality. Or maybe it was the scent of cedarwood on him that relaxed me, combined with the alcohol going to my head. By the time I realized what was happening, we were kissing. Our heavy breathing mixed together; I couldn’t tell whose was whose. My head was spinning from the kiss. I let out a breathless “Mhm,” trying to end this blushing, heart-racing moment. Instead, his hand firmly cupped the back of my head. The sound of our breathing and heartbeats grew louder in the dark, eroding my sanity. The last string of logic in my brain snapped. “Julian,” I whispered, “let’s go to your place.” He buried his face in the crook of my neck, breathing hard, trying to calm himself down like an inexperienced kid. After a moment, his voice came out hoarse and dark. “Aria, you still have time to regret this.” My brain short-circuited, and I blurted out: “Whoever regrets it is a dog.” Hearing that, he suddenly laughed. A low, rumbling chuckle erupted from his throat, sending vibrations that made my ears tingle. I pushed him slightly. “Hey, how long are you going to keep laughing?” He lifted his head, looked right at me, and let out two soft “Woofs.” I instantly understood what he meant. In a split second, my face burned bright red. 7 For the next few days, I actively avoided seeing Julian. I remembered what he said when he dropped me off that night: he didn’t want me to regret a moment of impulse. He said he would give me time, but not much, because he had already waited ten years. Even though we didn’t see each other those few days, he was a constant presence. He called every morning and night to check in. If he found a good restaurant, he’d order delivery for me. If they didn’t deliver, he’d hire a courier to bring it. He knew I loved roses, so every day, a different variety arrived at my door. When Ethan found out about him, he was silent for a long time. Then he told me: Julian had liked me since I was in high school. But Ethan was afraid of distracting me from my studies, so he told Julian he had to wait until after I graduated to confess. But right after graduation, I brought Liam to meet them. Julian hadn’t had a single girlfriend in those ten years. Ethan thought he was waiting for me, but whenever he asked, Julian just said he wasn’t intentionally waiting, he just hadn’t met anyone who made his heart skip a beat. Ethan said that when someone harbors a secret crush for that long, once they finally get what they want, the thought of losing it is unbearable. He told me not to hurt him. If I didn’t love him, I needed to make it clear. Ethan didn’t need to tell me. I knew Julian was different from Liam. He spoke less and did more. His love was deep and restrained. If we were going to be together, I wanted him to have all of me—heart and soul. 8 Two days later, I was arranging the blue roses Julian had sent me. I received a call from a friend in New York. “Aria, you’ve been home for a while now. When are you coming back to the city?” I felt a bit suspicious. This guy was one of Liam’s buddies. We had never communicated privately. Still, I answered politely. “I probably won’t be coming back. Is there something you need?” “Oh, no, nothing specific. It’s just that Liam’s been showing up to our hangouts alone lately. We haven’t seen you in a long time, we miss you.” My suspicion grew. Did he hear that Liam and I broke up and decided he wanted to hit on me? With that thought, my tone instantly went ice cold. “Liam and I are broken up. We have no reason to stay in touch. Please don’t contact me again.” In a private club in New York, Liam heard that familiar voice on the other end of the line. It was a stark contrast to the cold, distant tone she had used with him recently. He suddenly remembered that Aria used to be like that before they got together. They had been together so long he had forgotten that, at her core, Aria was decisive and fiercely independent. His friends watched his face carefully. “Liam, just call Aria yourself. She loves you so much, she’d definitely be thrilled to hear from you.” Liam slammed his drink down and growled, “All I did was take Chloe to a hotel because she was drunk, and she runs away from home for weeks! Chloe is my secretary, we’re going to have a lot of opportunities to be alone together in the future. If she throws a tantrum every single time, who could stand it?” “If she wants to break up, fine. Let’s see who breaks first.” He stood up, his face dark, and slammed the door as he left. His friends were left staring at each other. After a long moment, someone sighed. They all saw the helplessness in each other’s eyes. 9 When Julian called, I was drawing my webcomic. I’ve loved drawing since I was a kid. My parents even enrolled me in art classes—watercolors, oils, sketching, I learned it all. But my absolute favorite was drawing comics. After college, I didn’t look for a corporate job. I drew comics full-time. I had been serializing the story of my long-term relationship with Liam, and I even had a contract with a publisher. Since breaking up with Liam, I hadn’t updated it in a long time. My fans were constantly messaging me, asking for new chapters. Every story has to have a beginning and an end. Regardless of the outcome, I owed my fans a proper conclusion. “Aria, let’s go get some deep-dish pizza.” After a long day of working, my eyes lit up at the mention of pizza. But the thought of seeing him alone made me a bit nervous. It was as if he could hear my thoughts. He added, “No relationship talk today. Just dinner.” “That pizza place… it’s the one I took you and your brother to when you were in high school. It’s an absolute classic, you’ll definitely love it.” Hearing him say that, my mouth started watering. “Okay, let’s do pizza.” “I’ll come pick you up.” “Okay.” The moment I saw Julian, my anxiety vanished. He was leaning against the car door, hands in his pockets. In the sunlight, his crisp white shirt looked pristine. The man looked as refreshing and pure as a glass of ice water. The pizza place was packed. He had me sit at a table, brought me a glass of iced tea, and went to stand in line to order. Thanks to his striking looks and athletic build, he caught the attention of many young women who kept glancing his way. A few brave ones even went over to ask for his Instagram. He pointed in my direction. I don’t know what he said to them, but I saw the girls look at me, lower their heads, and scurry away. When he came back, I couldn’t wait to ask him what he’d said. He casually handed me a slice and said, “I told them I have a girlfriend. I said she’s very strict and doesn’t allow me to give my Instagram to other women, otherwise she won’t let me eat.” I watched his effortless movements, listening to his loaded words. My heart felt like a calm lake that had just been hit by a boulder, sending ripples out, one after another.

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I transmigrated into a retro novel set in the late 1970s and 80s. Unfortunately, I didn’t become the beloved, golden-child protagonist, Lily Harper. Instead, I became the daughter of the “wicked stepmother” who was destined to be brutally slapped in the face by karma. In the original story, the stepmother targeted the darling protagonist at every turn. Ultimately, she destroyed herself and dragged her three children down to a miserable end. Everyone said she was pure evil, but in my eyes, she was the best mother one could ask for, and she absolutely didn’t deserve such a tragic fate. Besides, living in an era of rapid change, full of opportunities and challenges, who has the time to play petty games and fight over a man? No, no, no. Making money is obviously the top priority! 01 I woke up inside a historical fiction novel. The bad news: I wasn’t the universally adored protagonist, Lily Harper. I was the daughter of the “wicked stepmother” who was destined for a spectacular downfall. According to the original plot, shortly after the protagonist Lily was born, her mother died in a tragic accident. Because of this, the Harper family treated her like absolute royalty. From her grandmother, Mrs. Harper, to her father, and even her uncles, everyone spoiled her rotten. Lily’s father was in the military, stationed away from home year-round. To ensure his daughter was taken care of, he married the “wicked stepmother,” Martha Jenkins, to be Lily’s new mom. Martha was hardworking, quick on her feet, and ran the household with fiery efficiency. She even gave Mr. Harper twin boys and another daughter. Logically, this blended family should have lived a decent life. However, a wicked stepmother is a wicked stepmother for a reason. If she didn’t stir up trouble, she wouldn’t live up to the title. Martha became jealous that Lily was pampered by the entire family, while her own three children were treated like second-class citizens. Gradually, her resentment grew, and she began making life difficult for the young protagonist at every opportunity. But Lily, with her “golden child” plot armor, managed to turn every bad situation into a stroke of luck. Not only did Martha fail to gain any advantage, but her cruel stepmother antics were constantly exposed. She became infamous in their small town, despised by everyone. By extension, her three children became outcasts too. Years later, Mr. Harper returned from the military. He had risen rapidly through the ranks, becoming a high-ranking officer at a young age. And by his side was a beautiful, elegant woman. Shockingly, it was Lily’s biological mother, Evelyn Sterling, who was supposed to be dead! It turned out that Evelyn was the heiress to a powerful, old-money family on the East Coast. The Sterling family wielded immense political and financial power, and they looked down on a poor soldier like Mr. Harper. Shortly after Evelyn eloped with him, her family tracked her down. Right after giving birth to Lily, Evelyn was forcibly taken back by her family. To make Mr. Harper give up, the Sterlings even faked her accidental death. Over the years, Evelyn had never stopped thinking about her husband and daughter, living in constant depression. As Evelyn’s parents grew older, they softened. Seeing their daughter so heartbroken all these years, they eventually felt remorse. Later, when they heard that Mr. Harper had become a high-ranking officer with a limitless future, they finally agreed to let the two reunite. When they met again, it was like a match to gasoline; they were inseparable. Mr. Harper’s return was specifically to divorce Martha. But as soon as he arrived, the townsfolk bombarded him with stories of how the wicked stepmother Martha had abused Lily. Consumed by rage, Mr. Harper dragged Martha out of the house by her hair. In front of the entire town, he beat her mercilessly. He used the combat skills he learned in the military on the woman who had cared for his aging mother, managed his household, and borne him three children. Martha suffered four broken ribs, two fractured arms, and a permanently disabled right leg. Then, she was thrown out onto the street without a second thought. Her two sons and daughter were kicked out right alongside her. Lily was welcomed back to her wealthy East Coast family with great fanfare. Her golden-child aura continued to work its magic. The moment the Sterling family saw this soft, adorable little girl, they fell completely in love. Lily became the pampered princess of the Sterling dynasty. Mr. Harper, backed by the Sterling family’s resources, skyrocketed through the political and military ranks. Later on, Lily would encounter the heir to a massive financial empire, an A-list movie star, and a tech genius. All of these elite men were inevitably captivated by her innocent and pure nature, showering her with unconditional love and protection. In the end, Lily married the financial heir and had twins—a brilliant, cunning son and a sweet, adorable daughter who inherited her lucky charm… If you had to summarize Lily’s life in a few words, it would be: She had it all. And what about the wicked stepmother, Martha? After being beaten and thrown out, she didn’t receive medical attention in time, leaving her permanently disabled. With the Harper family dropping hints, no one in town dared to help her. To feed her three starving children, she had no choice but to turn to sex work in the slums. One day, while bringing a client home, she was accidentally discovered by her two sons, who had been let out of school early. Seeing someone mistreating their mother, the boys attacked the client. They were only teenagers, frail and malnourished. The client, however, was a massive, drunken brute. During the struggle, the client beat the two boys to death with his bare hands. Witnessing her sons die right in front of her, Martha completely lost her mind. To care for her disabled, mentally unstable mother, Martha’s daughter walked down the same dark path, becoming a sex worker out of desperation. Being so young and lacking any knowledge of safe practices, she soon contracted a severe STD and died in agonizing pain. On a stormy night, Martha, who had been insane for a long time, suddenly had a moment of clarity. The horrific memories of her children’s brutal deaths flooded back. In utter despair, Martha used a piece of coarse rope to hang herself. I still remember the comments section when the author released the chapter of the wicked stepmother’s death. It was a digital celebration. [Good riddance! She got what she deserved.] [That’s what she gets for bullying our precious Lily!] [Ahhh, the author finally killed off that bitch!] [Anyone who bullies our girl deserves this ending.] [That disgusting character is finally gone.] [You guys don’t even know, I wanted to jump into the book and slap her myself.] … Unfortunately, the character I transmigrated into was Martha’s daughter. The girl who was forced down a dark path at a young age. The girl who contracted a disease and died in agony. 02 I was still reeling from the original plot. Just then, a chubby, cherubic little girl toddled toward me. The moment I saw her, the gloom in my chest dissipated. Only one thought remained in my head: [Ahhh, she’s so cute! [She really is the perfect protagonist! [How could the stepmother bear to hurt such an adorable little girl?!] Needless to say, this was the protagonist, Lily Harper. She was holding a piece of candy—a rare treat in this era—and her innocent, pure smile was sweeter than the candy itself. My heart melted. I was just about to reach out and pinch her chubby cheeks. But at that exact moment, Lily tripped over a rock and fell hard onto the dirt. “Waaaah—!” She immediately burst into loud, heartbroken sobs. I scrambled forward to help her up. But my host body was just a child, three years younger than Lily. With these short little arms and legs, I couldn’t run fast even if I wanted to. Right then, Mrs. Harper beat me to it, rushing out of the main house like a gust of wind. “Oh, my sweet girl, don’t cry! Show Grandma where it hurts. “Don’t cry, don’t cry, Grandma will kiss it better.” Watching their tender interaction, I felt a warmth in my heart. In the original book, Mrs. Harper was the one who spoiled Lily the most. In an era that heavily favored boys over girls, she didn’t show favoritism to Martha’s twin sons. Instead, she devoted all her love to her granddaughter, Lily. Their heartwarming family moments had brought me to tears more than once while reading. Seeing such a cozy scene, I couldn’t help but step forward and say: “Grandma, don’t worry. Lily just…” Before I could finish, Mrs. Harper whipped her head around and glared at me viciously. In that instant, her expression went from warm and loving to fierce and terrifying. Before I could even process what was happening, a heavy slap landed on my face. The force was so strong that it knocked me straight to the ground. My vision went black, my ears rang, and I tasted the faint, metallic tang of blood in my mouth. The sudden slap left me completely stunned. The next second, a sharp pain shot through my scalp. Mrs. Harper grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up from the dirt. “You worthless little brat! What good are you?!” The Mrs. Harper I remembered as loving and kind was now a picture of vicious cruelty. “I told you to watch your sister! “And what do you do? You just play around and let her fall! “I’m going to teach you a lesson today, you useless waste of space!” As she yelled, she viciously pinched the flesh on my arms and thighs. My host body was only a five-year-old girl; her tender skin couldn’t withstand such brutal pinching. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes from the pain. I panicked and tried to defend myself: “It wasn’t my fault! “There was a rock on the ground, Lily didn’t see it and tripped.” But my defense only made Mrs. Harper angrier. “You dare talk back to me?!” Her eyes bulged as she shoved me hard back onto the ground. Then, she grabbed a nearby willow switch and lashed it down on me. Mrs. Harper put all her strength into every strike, leaving deep, long, bloody welts on my body. I rolled on the ground in agony, snot and tears smearing my face. I wanted to run, but this five-year-old body was paralyzed by pain after just two strikes. I couldn’t even move my legs. Lily, watching from the sidelines, opened her innocent eyes wide and asked: “Grandma, why are you hitting my sister?” When Mrs. Harper looked at her, her face instantly melted back into a loving smile. “Because your sister is a bad girl, that’s why Grandma is punishing her. “Don’t be scared, Lily. You’re a good girl, Grandma would never hit you.” “Oh.” Lily nodded, seemingly understanding. She toddled over on her short little legs and sat down on a small wooden stool. She pulled a new piece of candy from her pocket and popped it into her mouth. As she ate, she watched me getting beaten, clapping her hands and laughing: “Sister is bad! Grandma hit sister!” Her laugh was like silver bells, as sweet as ever. But this time, I couldn’t find her cute at all. Encouraged by her precious granddaughter, Mrs. Harper hit me even harder. My vision was blurring. I really thought I was going to die right there. Suddenly, a furious roar came from outside the yard: “You old hag! What the hell are you doing?!” 03 I forced my head up and saw a woman charging toward us. She snatched the willow switch from Mrs. Harper’s hand and hurled it away. Then, she quickly gathered me up from the ground into her arms. I saw her eyes instantly turn red, and her voice choked up. The next second, she raised her head, looking like a lioness protecting her cub. “You vicious old witch! “My girl is just a baby, what could she possibly have done for you to beat her like this?!” The Harper children, except for Lily, weren’t given proper names right away. They were just called by nicknames, an old superstition that plain names made kids tougher to raise. The original owner of my body was just called “Girl,” and her twin older brothers were “Big Bear” and “Little Bear.” Seeing Martha’s ferocious demeanor, Mrs. Harper felt a flash of guilt. She knew exactly how fierce this daughter-in-law could be. If she didn’t need someone to do all the heavy lifting around the house, she would have told her son to divorce Martha years ago. Despite her guilt, Mrs. Harper kept a harsh face and said: “I told this useless brat to watch Lily. “Instead, she was just messing around, and Lily fell and scraped her knee.” Martha’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Because of that?! “Lily gets a scrape, and you beat my daughter half to death?! “Are you even human, Martha?! “You pamper your granddaughter, but what gives you the right to treat my daughter like dirt?!” As she spoke, she held me tightly, her voice breaking. “I carried her for nine months too! Why is Lily so high and mighty? “Was my daughter born just to be her servant and beast of burden?! “Girl is only five! Lily is eight! “You make a five-year-old watch an eight-year-old! “You have some nerve saying that out loud, you old hag!” In the original book, the Harper family favored Lily, and the other children were strictly ordered to give way to her at all times. If Lily went out to play, “Girl” had to follow behind and look after her. If Lily wanted to play horsey, Big Bear and Little Bear had to crawl on their hands and knees on the dirt floor all afternoon for her amusement. If Lily was unhappy, no one else was allowed to smile. The original novel didn’t describe this part in detail; it only said that Martha was jealous that Lily was more favored than her own children, leading to her growing disgust and eventual targeting of Lily. At the time, the comments section was full of people cursing Martha. [This woman is psychotic. [It’s just kids playing, does she have to be so dramatic?] [Lol, look at her own kids, they’re probably ugly and dirty. [Anyone would prefer our pale, chubby little Lily over them.] [This is why stepmothers are all trash. [My heart breaks for our baby Lily.] … Back then, I also thought Martha was being petty. It was just asking her kids to be a little more accommodating to Lily. Lily lost her biological mother when she was born; she naturally needed more love. What was the big deal if the other kids let her have her way? But the reality was completely different from what I imagined. This agonizing beating made me seriously doubt the views I had held all along. Was the seemingly kind and loving Mrs. Harper really a good person? Was the seemingly petty and narrow-minded Martha really a bad person? At least in the moment she fiercely protected me, I couldn’t make such an easy judgment. Taking a step back… To make a mother watch her own children act as “servants and beasts of burden” for someone else’s kid. Just because Lily wanted to play horsey, her boys had to crawl in the dirt all afternoon. Just because Lily got a scrape, her daughter was beaten within an inch of her life… Even the most generous, kind, and selfless person would find it hard to love Lily under those circumstances. For a moment, my complex emotions actually overpowered the physical pain. Meanwhile, Mrs. Harper had plopped down on the dirt and started wailing loudly. “Oh, the tragedy! Why did my son have to marry a woman like you?! “Lily lost her real mother the day she was born, I just love her a little more, that’s all. “And for that, I have to be cursed out by you, you wicked stepmother!” She hugged Lily as she cried: “We might as well just go jump in the river and end it all! “Oh, my poor, tragic Lily…” When people argue in the countryside, the winner is usually the one who screams the loudest and cries the hardest. The houses were close together, and Mrs. Harper’s wailing immediately drew a crowd of nosy neighbors. Hearing her tearful complaints, they started chattering: “Martha is going too far. “With an old woman and a young child, how could she be so harsh?” “Like they say, birds of a feather flock together. “There isn’t a single good stepmother in the world.” “Why did the Harper boy ever marry her…” Martha was livid, her face flushed red. She jumped up and yelled: “Martha Harper, you tell me right now, what did I do?! “My daughter was beaten half to death, I said a few words and suddenly I’m the wicked one?! “So I should just let you torture my Girl to death, is that what you call being a good wife?!” However, no matter how much Martha defended herself, Mrs. Harper just sat there wailing. She kept repeating how pitiful Lily was for losing her mother at birth. Lily, though she didn’t fully understand, saw her grandmother crying and started bawling too. Through her tears, she lisped: “Stepmom is bullying Grandma! Stepmom is bad! “Don’t cry, Grandma. Lily will take care of you when I grow up.” Many women with children wiped away tears hearing her words. Martha couldn’t defend herself and became the target of everyone’s anger. Just as the court of public opinion had completely sided with Mrs. Harper… I suddenly started wailing too, my voice even louder and more piercing than theirs. Everyone’s eyes immediately snapped to me. When they saw me covered in bloody welts, they gasped in shock. Crying loudly, I sobbed: “I’m sorry, Grandma, don’t yell at my mom anymore. “It’s all my fault I didn’t take good care of my sister and let her scrape her knee. “You have every right to beat me to death. “But my mom just got back from the fields, she didn’t know anything. “Please don’t yell at her anymore.” As soon as those words left my mouth, everyone was stunned. “Girl, did your grandmother give you all those injuries?!” Auntie Mary, usually the most helpful woman in town, stepped forward and asked. I nodded, sniffling: “Grandma said I was born to serve my sister. “When my sister tripped over a rock, it was all my fault. “So she slapped me, then she pinched me. “Then she hit me with a switch…” I added fuel to the fire, exaggerating how I was abused. Martha’s heart broke listening to me, tears streaming down her face. The neighbors standing around were dumbfounded. “Girl is only five, and she’s supposed to watch her eight-year-old sister?” “Lily falling down has nothing to do with Girl. “How could you beat a perfectly good child like this?” “No wonder Martha argued with her. “If my daughter was treated like this, I’d fight that old bat to the death.” The townsfolk immediately switched sides, turning their condemnation toward Mrs. Harper. Mrs. Harper forced a few more awkward wails, still trying to defend herself: “Lily hasn’t had a mother since she was born, what’s wrong with me loving her a little more?” This time, before Martha could retort, the helpful Auntie Mary beat her to it: “If you love Lily so much, you should take care of her yourself. “Making a five-year-old watch an eight-year-old, what kind of nonsense is that?!” Saying that, she grabbed Martha’s arm: “Come on, let’s get Girl to the clinic in town right now. “We can’t let the child suffer any lasting damage.” Hearing this, Martha lost all interest in arguing. She quickly hoisted me onto her back and hurried toward town. Leaving Mrs. Harper and Lily standing in the yard, being pointed at and gossiped about by the entire town. 04 After getting medicine from the clinic, I lay in bed for over a week before Martha finally let me get up. She specifically ordered Big Bear and Little Bear not to let me do any chores because I was still weak. During that week, I observed this family with my own eyes. The original novel stated: The protagonist, Lily, was a little foodie. But the wicked stepmother was so stingy she wouldn’t even let her have an extra egg. What I saw with my own eyes, however, was: Lily got to eat a boiled egg every single day. While Martha’s own children only got to taste one during holidays. While I was recovering, Martha wanted to build up my strength. She gritted her teeth, dug into her secret savings, and bought a small bag of eggs, boiling one for me every day. Big Bear and Little Bear drooled watching me, but could only stare longingly. And Lily, after finishing her own egg, would look innocent and say: “Grandma, I want more.” Then she would open her big, innocent eyes and look pitifully at the boiled egg in her stepmother’s hand. Martha would roll her eyes in exasperation: “If you want more, ask your grandmother to lay two for you. “Stop staring at the little bit of food Girl gets.” The original novel stated: Lily looked like a delicate, soft little princess. But she was forced to wear tacky, ugly clothes that couldn’t show off her beauty. The reality was: In this era, everything was scarce, especially fabric. The Harper family used their few fabric ration coupons to make pretty floral dresses for Lily. Martha and her three children hadn’t had new clothes in two or three years. The book also claimed Martha was inherently evil, petty, competed with a little girl, and only valued her sons… But what I saw was that while she disliked Lily, her attitude was merely to ignore her. She never actively harmed her, let alone competed with her. As for favoring boys over girls, that was complete nonsense. These past few days, her concern and care for me were absolute. Sometimes, she would look thoughtfully at Lily. Thinking I was envious that Lily was more liked than I was, she would tell me: “If they like her, that’s their business. “My Girl doesn’t need to compare herself to anyone. “In Mom’s eyes, you are the absolute best.” In those moments, I could no longer see her as just a standard “wicked stepmother.” She was my mother. The mother of “Girl.” I could no longer treat myself as a bystander, watching the original plot unfold from the sidelines. I couldn’t just watch the mother who loved me and my two brothers walk toward a dead end. “Mom,” I said, looking straight into her eyes. “Divorce my dad.” 05 Martha was shocked. For a woman in that era, especially a woman in a rural town, the word “divorce” was essentially a myth. “Did someone say something to you?” she asked instinctively. I shook my head and gently tried to persuade her: “Don’t you think this house is exactly the same whether Dad is here or not? “You’re already raising me and my brothers all by yourself. “If you divorce, your life will actually be easier.” It was the truth. At this time, Mr. Harper was just a poor enlisted soldier, sending a fixed six dollars home every month. And every cent of that six dollars went straight to Mrs. Harper to spend on herself and Lily. Martha and her children had never seen a dime of it. The only reason her kids had survived this long was because Martha worked her fingers to the bone. She woke up at four in the morning to feed the chickens and ducks, then cleaned the house and made breakfast for the whole family. After breakfast, she had to work in the Harper family’s private garden for half the day. Around noon, she went to the communal fields to earn work points, often not returning until late at night. Sometimes, when there was less work in the fields, she’d get off early. She would use that time before dark to go to the mountains behind the town to gather firewood, mushrooms, and wild vegetables. Even when she got home, she never rested. She cooked dinner, washed dishes, did laundry, mended clothes… Martha spun like a top every day, never getting a moment’s peace. If she divorced, she wouldn’t have to do chores for a whole family of ingrates. She wouldn’t have to work like a mule in the Harper family’s garden every day. I spent a long time reasoning with her. But Martha just furrowed her brow, hesitating: “I’ve never heard of a woman asking for a divorce. “And if we leave, we won’t have a house or land. “How are we supposed to survive just on the work points from the commune?” Martha’s concerns were purely practical. Her own family heavily favored boys; she was beaten and scolded constantly growing up. At sixteen, she was sold to the widowed Mr. Harper for a thirty-dollar bride price. After getting married, she cut all ties with her family, knowing she couldn’t rely on them for anything. Her fears were justified. Leaving the Harper family meant she and her children would face a grueling period of hardship. To convince her, I lied and said I had a dream, laying out the entire plot of the original book. Hearing that her two sons would be beaten to death and her daughter would die in agony from a disease… Martha broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. I seized the moment to deliver the final blow. “Even if the dream isn’t real… “Mom. “Do you really want to watch me and my brothers act as servants for Lily for the rest of our lives?” That sentence cemented her final decision. Martha wiped her tears, her eyes regaining their fierce determination. “We’re doing it! “I’m divorcing him!”

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The daughter I raised for sixteen years wasn’t my biological child. The nanny’s daughter had been spoiled like a little princess in our home, while my own flesh and blood suffered out in the country. After bringing my real daughter back, I insisted on sending the adopted daughter away. But my husband and son absolutely refused. My husband claimed the adopted daughter was poised and well-mannered, perfect for keeping up appearances in our social circle. My son complained that his biological sister was a tacky, uncultured hillbilly who would embarrass him in public. Watching the light fade from my real daughter’s eyes, I took her hand. “Then let’s get a divorce. I’ll raise my daughter on my own.” 01 “Is this the only reason you want to divorce me?” William stared at me in disbelief. “Victoria, have you lost your mind?” I shook my head. “I am perfectly serious. We are getting a divorce.” Our twelve-year-old son, Oliver, was completely stunned. When he finally found his voice, he looked at me with a mixture of shock and betrayal. “Mom, you’re leaving Dad, leaving my sister, and leaving me… all because of that country bumpkin?!” “Oliver Hawthorne!” I glanced anxiously toward the staircase, my brow furrowing in a stern reprimand. “Watch your mouth! That is your biological sister!” “I will never accept her as my sister!” Oliver’s face flushed bright red, his voice rising in anger. “She’s just an unpresentable hillbilly!” “She’s tacky, she’s uncultured, she has a rotten heart, and now she’s manipulating you into divorcing Dad!” “I hate her! I only have one sister, and that’s Isabella!” He bolted out the door in tears. William immediately called for the staff to chase after him, then turned to me with an accusing glare. “Are you happy now that you’ve caused this kind of scene?” “Can’t the two girls just coexist? Why do you insist on sending Isabella back? It’s not like our family can’t afford to raise her. She is your daughter too!” “I can no longer look at her as my daughter.” A wave of fury washed over me, followed quickly by an overwhelming, uncontrollable sorrow. “Did you not read Audrey’s medical reports? Do you have any idea how agonizing her life has been in that house?” “For the past sixteen years, we gave Isabella a life of absolute privilege, happiness, and joy. Meanwhile, our biological daughter was abused by her adoptive family for sixteen long years.” “After seeing the scars on Audrey’s body, I can never look at Isabella the same way again.” William’s face darkened, his frustration palpable. “Then we’ll just compensate Audrey moving forward! Isn’t that enough?” “The mistake was made by her biological parents! It has nothing to do with Isabella. She is innocent in all of this!” “Was all your love and affection for Isabella over the years fake?” My voice caught in my throat. “My love for Isabella over the past sixteen years was entirely predicated on the belief that she was my biological daughter.” “If Audrey had been treated kindly by that family, I wouldn’t feel this intense revulsion toward Isabella. But the reality is, even if Isabella didn’t know the truth, she still stole the life that rightfully belonged to Audrey.” I enunciated every word clearly: “She is not innocent.” William’s eyes flickered; he seemed momentarily swayed. But then, a tearful, trembling voice came from behind me: “Mom…” The half-open front door was pushed wide. Isabella walked in, wearing her school uniform and carrying her backpack. Her steps were heavy, her eyes red as she fought back tears. “Do you really not want me anymore?” The moment she spoke, William’s heart broke. He rushed over to her, his voice softening instantly. “Don’t listen to your mother’s nonsense. She’s just so worried about your sister that she’s not thinking straight. Right, Victoria?” He shot me a desperate look, silently begging me to play along. Isabella looked at me with those same pleading eyes, tears brimming, threatening to spill over at any second. If it were the old me, seeing her look so pitiful would have shattered my heart. But looking at her now, all I felt was profound, seething hatred. In my past life, it was only after my death that I learned the truth: the world I lived in was the setting of a “switched at birth” novel, where the fake daughter was the beloved protagonist. My biological daughter, Audrey, was the true heiress, but in the narrative, she was cast as the malicious secondary villain. Her identity had been maliciously swapped. She was raised in the countryside, suffering sixteen years of horrific abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents. One would think that returning to her rightful family would finally bring her happiness. But to everyone’s shock, whether it was her biological parents, the household staff, or even the teachers and students at her new school—everyone favored the fake daughter, Isabella. Everyone pitied Isabella for losing her status as the “true heiress,” yet no one ever bothered to ask Audrey how she had survived the past sixteen years. Including me. Her own biological mother. Under the insidious influence of the novel’s “plot,” every time I resolved to compensate my suffering biological daughter, the moment I laid eyes on Isabella, my mind and heart would be entirely consumed by her. Driven to extremes by this universal rejection, Audrey became radicalized, targeting Isabella at every turn. She died on her twenty-fourth birthday. It was the day of Isabella’s wedding to the male lead. Audrey had kidnapped Isabella, intending a murder-suicide, but was ultimately shot by a police sniper on the roof of a thirty-eight-story building. My physical body had held Isabella, weeping tears of joy for her safety, while my soul floated in the air, screaming in agony as I watched Audrey plummet thirty-eight stories to her death. “Victoria!” William’s harsh reprimand snapped me out of my memories. He frowned deeply, looking at me with a mix of anxiety and profound disappointment. “Are you truly willing to abandon the daughter you’ve raised for sixteen years for someone else?!” I instinctively looked up. The girl hiding near the staircase had a face ashen with despair, the light completely gone from her eyes. “Audrey is not ‘someone else’.” My breathing quickened, fueled by a potent mix of resentment and anger. “She is my precious daughter, carried in my womb for ten months! She is the one who should have been by my side for the past sixteen years!” I turned my glare toward Isabella, standing next to William, making absolutely no effort to hide my animosity: “If your biological parents hadn’t stolen my daughter, if you hadn’t usurped her place, Audrey would never have suffered all those years of torment!” Isabella’s face drained of color instantly. She murmured, “Mom…?” “Do not call me Mom!” I stared at her coldly. “I only have one daughter, and her name is Audrey.” Her tears spilled over instantly. She stumbled backward a few steps before turning and running out the door, sobbing. “Isabella!” William was both anxious and furious, his face dark as a thundercloud. “Did you have to speak to the child like that?!” “Victoria, when did you become so utterly unreasonable?” He threw that accusation at me and chased after her. I took a deep breath and looked toward the staircase. The space was empty; Audrey was gone. I walked straight upstairs and knocked on the door of the second-floor master bedroom. The door opened quickly. Audrey turned away in silence, walking back into the room. On the bed lay her backpack, packed and ready for reasons I couldn’t fathom. “You don’t need to do this. I know we are biologically mother and daughter, but in reality, we’re no different than strangers.” She kept her head down, her hands gripping the straps of her backpack tightly. “I’ll move out. It won’t disrupt your family’s life.” “But… could you perhaps lend me a little money? Just enough for a few months’ living expenses. Once school starts, I’ll find a part-time job near campus.” I choked back a sob for a long moment before I could finally say her name. “Audrey, everything Mom said downstairs was the absolute truth.” She froze. I took a deep breath and continued, “You saw everything just now, didn’t you?” “Then why are you afraid to believe what I said?” “I know it’s impossible for you to accept living under the same roof as Isabella and pretending to be loving sisters. Similarly, I find it impossible to continue playing mother and daughter with the thief who stole my biological daughter’s life.” I gently reached out and took her hand. “Can we live together from now on, just the two of us? Just you and me. You won’t have to worry about tuition or living expenses. Mom can provide for you.” I paused, my eyes growing hot. “Mom was always supposed to provide for you.” She didn’t answer, but her shoulders began to tremble. I leaned in closer and realized that, without me noticing, her face was covered in tears. She stopped pretending to be strong. She dropped the hardened shell she used to keep people at a distance. She turned and threw herself into my arms, choking out the two words with a raw, unfamiliar ache. “Mom.” I held her tight, my own tears flowing like a broken dam. 02 In my previous life, after Audrey’s death, Isabella and the male lead achieved their “happily ever after.” As the plot reached its conclusion, I gradually broke free from the narrative’s control and regained my sanity. Every night, I dreamt of Audrey’s final, desperate look before she died, and her body plummeting from the thirty-eighth floor. I developed severe insomnia, replaying the days after Audrey returned home over and over in my mind. We had all favored Isabella, ignoring Audrey, belittling her, looking down on her, and falsely accusing her. In the eight years she spent back in the Hawthorne family, she hadn’t experienced a single good day. In life, her reputation was destroyed; in death, she was despised and scorned by everyone. Her biological father had said, “If we had known she was going to hurt Isabella, we never would have brought her back!” Her biological brother had said, “Just thinking about having the same blood as that psycho makes me sick.” Her biological mother had said, “How could I have given birth to a monster like her?” The daughter I carried for ten months only experienced the treatment she deserved on the very first day she entered the world. Every day after that was filled with suffering. Once free from the plot’s control, I spent my days drowning in regret. By chance, I stumbled upon a conversation between Isabella and her biological parents. Only then did I discover that this seemingly fragile, kind-hearted adopted daughter had known her true identity since she was nine years old. She had incited her biological parents to abuse Audrey, even suggesting they sell her off to a remote mountain village to permanently bury the truth. Every single misfortune Audrey encountered after returning to the Hawthorne family had been orchestrated by Isabella. Her sole objective was to make everyone hate Audrey. I was paralyzed with shock. I burst out of hiding to confront Isabella, demanding to know why she did it. Whether under the plot’s control or through years of genuine interaction, I had always viewed her as my daughter. I hated that I couldn’t break free from the narrative sooner, and my heart bled for my biological daughter, Audrey. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to truly hate Isabella. I had raised her from a tiny infant into a beautiful young woman; she was my daughter too. I had always believed the gentle, kind persona she presented was her true self. Who could have imagined she was the mastermind behind my daughter’s tragic life? I was broken and despairing. But after a brief moment of panic, Isabella’s face contorted with hatred. “You forced me to do it!” “You all claimed you loved me the most! But the moment you found out I wasn’t your biological daughter, didn’t you immediately bring that bitch Audrey back?!” “And you, Mom! Didn’t you tell me I was your only daughter? So why did you look like you lost your soul when Audrey died?!” “And now, you’re here to accuse your favorite daughter over a dead person?! Why, Mom?! Why?!” We argued fiercely. In the ensuing struggle, she and her biological parents teamed up and pushed me off the second-floor balcony into an empty swimming pool. I died on impact. I thought my soul would descend to the underworld, where I might at least have the chance to beg Audrey for forgiveness. But to my shock, when I opened my eyes again, I had been sent back eight years in time. I was overjoyed to find that I was no longer under the plot’s control. My very first action was to bring Audrey back from the countryside. Ignoring William’s objections, I publicly announced Audrey’s true identity to the world. Then, I took Isabella’s biological parents to court. I was determined to give Audrey happiness. I would change her tragic fate, ensure she was happy every single day, and give her a completely new life. I refused to be the vicious supporting character in someone else’s script ever again. “Are you really… divorcing him for me?” As I helped Audrey pack her things to leave the Hawthorne mansion and move into a property under my name, she couldn’t hide her anxiety. “Will you regret it later? Giving all that up for me.” I told her with absolute certainty, “No.” “Your father and your brother chose Isabella, the girl they’ve lived with day in and day out. But I choose my biological daughter.” “I know this is incredibly unfair to you, but I want you to know: they abandoned you first. You don’t need to waste a single thought on them.” I looked deeply into her eyes. “You only need to know this: you are my daughter. We share the same blood. It is the closest bond in the world. You have nothing to worry about. Mom will prove it to you.” Her eyes reddened, and she nodded emphatically. Since I was going to change her tragic ending, this lifetime required cutting all ties with Isabella. I transferred Audrey to the top public high school in the city, explicitly avoiding the elite private academy Isabella attended. I also took her back to the Kensington family—my side of the family—to meet her grandfather, grandmother, uncle, and aunt. In my past life, the Kensington family had vastly preferred Audrey, the granddaughter who had suffered outside for over a decade, over Isabella. This time was no different. Compared to the spoiled, pampered Isabella, they clearly favored the sensible, obedient Audrey. Upon learning of my decision to divorce William, my parents and my brother were fully supportive. My marriage to William was a strategic business alliance. While we were fortunate enough to develop genuine feelings for each other after the wedding, those feelings had long since faded into a bland routine over the years. More importantly, he was keeping women on the side. Plural. In my past life, under the plot’s control, my sole imperative was to provide Isabella with a perfect, unbroken family, so I had tolerated it in silence. Free from those constraints in this life, I directly mailed him the evidence of his years of infidelity that I had gathered. Less than fifteen minutes later, he called. “What is the meaning of this?” I frowned. “Was I not clear enough?” “Honey,” William’s voice softened, adopting a placating tone. “We’ve been married for so many years. At our age, is this really necessary?” “I was just having some fun on the side. You know you’re the only official Mrs. Hawthorne. No one can change that.” “If you really don’t like it, I’ll spend more time at home with you and the kids. Audrey just got back; causing a scene like this right now isn’t a good look, is it?” “William Hawthorne,” I said, my tone hardening. “Let me reiterate this one more time. I am divorcing you. This is not a joke, and I am not playing games. I can no longer tolerate living with you.” “I find you repulsive. I find it repulsive that you are so blind you can’t even recognize your own biological daughter, choosing instead to treat a human trafficker’s child like a treasure. Do you understand me now?”

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