Julian came to the orphanage to pick a sister. All the girls crowded around, praying they would be the lucky one chosen. I was the only one hiding in a closet, fast asleep. I thought that by doing this, I could escape the miserable fate of my past life—becoming the Sterling family’s adopted daughter, and eventually, Julian’s wife. I thought I could finally live a free, happy life this time around. But when I woke up, Julian was standing right in front of the closet doors. He smiled and asked, “Luna, come home with me. Okay?” 01 When Julian’s face appeared in front of me, I honestly thought I was still stuck in my nightmare. It wasn’t until the orphanage director called my name sternly, “Luna, what are you doing sleeping in here?” I snapped back to reality and realized this wasn’t a dream. Seeing me frozen in shock, the director reached in and pulled me out of the closet. She smoothed my collar and pushed me toward Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. “You fell asleep, and Young Master Julian insisted we shouldn’t wake you.” “We’ve all been waiting for you.” Julian, the young master in question, was standing in front of his parents. He looked at me with a faint smile playing on his lips. The Julian standing before me right now was very different from the cold, distant Julian etched into my memory. He initiated the greeting: “Hello, Luna.” I didn’t know why, but hearing my name coming from his mouth felt incredibly bizarre. I frowned and quickly averted my gaze. My mind was racing. They had so many other girls to choose from. Why did they insist on waiting for me? “Waiting for me? For what?” The director bent down to explain: “They want to adopt you. Luna is finally going to have a home, with a mom, a dad, and a big brother.” The normally strict, unsmiling director was actually smiling at me. I guess she was genuinely happy for me. For an orphan, being adopted is the ultimate stroke of luck. But the director didn’t know: I had been reborn. I knew Julian was coming to the orphanage today to pick a sister, which is exactly why I deliberately hid in the closet. “Luna, come home with us, okay?” Mrs. Sterling took my hand, her voice gentle: “Julian has always wanted a little sister. From now on, you’ll be his sister.” This scene was playing out exactly like my past life. Memories from that life flashed through my mind like a slideshow. I immediately yanked my hand back and looked up at the director. “Director, I don’t want them to adopt me.” My words shocked everyone in the room. The most intense reaction came from Julian. His brows furrowed as he asked, “Why not?” “Because I don’t want to be your sister.” Even though I flatly rejected him, Julian didn’t show a single trace of anger. Instead, his tone grew even softer, laced with an almost imperceptible indulgence. “Then you don’t have to be my sister. Just come back to the Sterling estate with me and live with us. How about that?” The director discreetly tugged on my sleeve, but she couldn’t stop me from rejecting Julian a second time. “No.” I thought Julian would just give up. But when the director tentatively asked the Sterlings if they wanted to choose a different girl, Julian suddenly spoke up, his voice loud and clear: “Mom, I only want her.” He said, “She is the only one who looks exactly like my sister.” 02 In my past life, the reason Julian chose me out of all the girls was also because I looked a bit like his deceased younger sister. Back then, when I found out I was chosen, I thought the heavens were finally blessing me. I was taken to the Sterling estate and renamed Luna Sterling. I was given my very own room in their massive, luxurious mansion. Even though I knew that room didn’t truly belong to me, I was still incredibly content. Mrs. Sterling told me, “Children from orphanages naturally have a certain… lower-class demeanor. The way they speak and act simply isn’t presentable.” So, I worked tirelessly to erase all my old habits, becoming less and less like my true self. Mrs. Sterling was incredibly strict with me. I was forced to practice the piano for over twelve hours every single day. Even when my instructor explicitly told her I had absolutely no natural talent for it, Mrs. Sterling still stood over me, forcing me to practice daily. But some things just can’t be forced. “I’m sorry, Mom. I still can’t play it right.” Every time I apologized, Mrs. Sterling would look at me with even more affection and comfort me. “It’s okay. As long as my Luna keeps trying, you’ll definitely be able to play it perfectly one day.” I only found out later that playing the piano was her deceased daughter’s favorite hobby. Mrs. Sterling wasn’t nurturing me; she was just using me to find the shadow of someone else. But I didn’t care about any of that. A dying fish doesn’t care if the water it’s given is clean; it just wants to survive. Water to a fish was like love to me. As long as I had it, I was happy. I practiced the piano even harder. I tried even harder to please Mrs. Sterling. We began to look more and more like a real mother and daughter. Until the night of Julian’s engagement party. He was drugged, and I just happened to accidentally walk into his room. When Mr. Sterling saw Julian and me, he was so furious he passed out. Mrs. Sterling slapped me hard across the face. “I never should have brought you into this family.” Julian stared at me in silence. I couldn’t read the emotion in his eyes. But I assumed he was regretting it too. Regretting that he had ever chosen me to be his sister. “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t drug my brother.” I tried desperately to defend myself, but no one believed me. So much so that later, when Julian cheated on me and betrayed our marriage countless times, he would always say: “You were willing to use drugs just to force your own brother to marry you. Everything happening now is just your karma.” Julian hated me. That’s why, after we got married, he loved humiliating me in public. Many people in our social circle took bets on how long our marriage would last. “A year, tops. Once she has the kid, Julian will kick her to the curb.” Unfortunately, the outcome shocked everyone. Julian and I were entangled in a toxic, agonizing marriage for nineteen years. Even after I died, the words Wife of Julian Sterling were carved into my tombstone. “Luna, tell me the truth. Why don’t you want to be adopted by the Sterling family?” After Julian and his parents left, the director called me into her office. I stayed silent for a long time before throwing out a random excuse: “I don’t want to leave you and everyone else.” The director sighed and urged me to reconsider. I knew she meant well. She just wanted me to have a better life. But I refused to repeat the nightmare of my past life. I didn’t want anything to do with Julian ever again. However, a massive fire that night destroyed all my plans. 03 “Did you start the fire?” In the hospital, I glared coldly at Julian and interrogated him. “No,” Julian quickly explained. “The fire department already confirmed it was caused by faulty, aging electrical wiring.” After saying that, he let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Luna, you think entirely too poorly of me.” In this life, I had only met him two or three times, yet his attitude toward me carried a bizarre, inexplicable familiarity. “I just want to help you.” “If you agree to come home with me, I’ll pay for all of the director’s medical bills.” During the fire last night, the director suffered severe, third-degree burns while trying to save us. I scoffed coldly, mocking him: “Taking advantage of someone’s tragedy. Do you consider yourself a good person?” Julian didn’t try to defend himself. He simply said, “Luna, if you don’t want to be my sister, that’s fine.” “You can just be fostered by the Sterling family.” He was coaxing me, compromising step by step. But that only made me more suspicious. “Why are you so obsessed with bringing me back to the Sterling house?” Julian replied, “Because my mom has been missing my sister terribly lately, and you look a lot like her.” “I just want to bring you home to keep her company.” I was highly skeptical of his excuse. After all, his behavior toward me was completely abnormal. I asked him, “Is that really it?” Julian hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. “That’s really it.” Even though I desperately wanted to avoid Julian, the director was still lying critically ill in a hospital bed. On the ride to the Sterling estate, Julian kept trying to talk to me, but I remained stubbornly silent. He probably realized he was being annoying, so he softened his tone, trying to justify himself. “The Sterling family can provide you with a much better life. No matter how you look at it, it’s better than the orphanage.” “Luna, don’t blame me. I’m doing this for your own good.” I’m doing this for your own good… The Julian from my past life used to say that exact same phrase. Julian hated me for the vast majority of my life. It wasn’t until I was dying that his attitude toward me finally softened slightly. But by then, I was beyond medical help. My only companion every day was a small cat. One day, on a whim, Julian returned to the villa to see me and ordered someone to throw away the cat I had been raising for six months. I asked him, “Why?” He looked down at me and said, “I’m doing this for your own good.” I knew then that when he said “for your own good,” he didn’t actually mean it. It was just a convenient excuse to satisfy his own selfish desires and need for control. Or perhaps it was just another method of torturing me. After all, that was his modus operandi. Whatever I loved, he destroyed. … As soon as the car pulled up to the Sterling estate, I saw Mrs. Sterling already waiting by the front door. Julian had told her in advance that he was bringing me back. So she had instructed the staff to prepare a room on the second floor early on. “Luna, this will be your room from now on.” Mrs. Sterling affectionately took my hand. “Do you like it?” I lowered my eyes, staring at my hand enveloped in hers for a moment, then gently pulled it away. I was no longer the Luna from my past life, desperately starving for a mother’s love. “Mrs. Sterling, this is your biological daughter’s room, isn’t it?” “There are so many of her old things in here, and you’ve kept them all perfectly preserved.” “It’s obvious you cherish these things deeply.” “If I stay in this room and accidentally break something, it would definitely break your heart.” “I noticed there are guest rooms downstairs. I’ll just stay in one of those.” Mrs. Sterling looked at me, clearly wanting to argue. “But…” Julian cut her off. “Mom.” “If Luna wants to stay downstairs, have the maids prepare a room for her.” I glanced at Julian, who was unexpectedly speaking up for me. He probably didn’t know that my main reason for refusing the second-floor room was because his bedroom was right next door. In my past life, before Julian’s engagement, we actually got along fairly well. During my teenage years, Mrs. Sterling even asked me, “Luna, what kind of boys do you like?” I looked at Julian, who had just returned from a run, and joked, “I like boys like my big brother.” That innocent, offhand joke eventually became the “proof” that I drugged him years later. Every time I tried to defend myself: “I didn’t drug you.” Julian would grab me by the throat and counter: “You said you liked me when you were sixteen.” “You loved me for all those years, and eventually you even stooped to drugging me to force me to marry you. Why don’t you have the guts to admit it now?” 04 Probably because I was back in this same villa, that night I dreamt about things from my past life. During the final days of my life, my doctor told me, “Being alone all day like this isn’t good for you. Call your family or friends to come keep you company.” “I don’t have any family.” As for friends… My best friend in the past used to be Julian’s fiancée, Chloe Evans. It wasn’t until the fifth year of my marriage to Julian that Chloe finally returned from abroad. Julian personally picked her up from the airport and threw a massive welcome-back party for her. Someone intentionally recorded a video at the party and sent it to me—the two of them sitting in a dimly lit corner, kissing passionately. A video that was only a few seconds long. I watched it on loop for an entire night. It was also that night that I made my final decision. I aborted what would have been my second child with Julian and handed him divorce papers. He asked me, “What’s your reason?” I showed him the video on my phone. “Julian, I know you were forced to marry me.” “But now that Chloe is back, and it looks like she’s forgiven you, let’s get a divorce. We can both move on and live our own lives.” Actually, I had brought up divorce multiple times before that. But he rejected me every single time. I thought that with Chloe back, he would finally agree. But Julian still ripped my carefully prepared divorce papers to shreds and deleted the video from my phone. … “Luna? Luna?” I jolted awake in a panic and instinctively slapped the face leaning over me. The teenage Julian looked down at me, his eyes filled with grievance. “I heard you crying from the hallway, so I came in to check on you.” With that, he turned and walked toward the door. He paused at the doorway, looking back over his shoulder. “Hurry up and get ready for breakfast. We’re going to be late for school.” Just like in my past life, the Sterling family transferred me to Julian’s elite high school. Seeing me following behind him into the classroom, someone asked, “Julian, who is she?” Julian introduced me: “Her name is Luna. She’s currently staying with my family.” In a daze, I remembered my past life. Before the drugging incident ruined everything, Julian always introduced me by saying, “This is my little sister, Luna.” I looked at Julian, who was standing just a step away. I suddenly realized that he seemed very different from the Julian in my memories. He didn’t act like the teenage Julian from my past life, nor did he act like the older Julian who was constantly seeking revenge and torturing me. My heart skipped a beat as a sudden thought struck me. “Julian.” “Julian.” Just as I called his name, preparing to voice my suspicions, someone else called him at the exact same time. Julian glanced at me, then looked past me toward the door. I turned around as well. The person standing in the doorway calling him was Chloe Evans. “Julian, wait for me after school. I need to talk to you.” After saying that, Chloe finally noticed me standing next to him. The look she gave me was anything but friendly. She looked me up and down like she was sizing up an opponent. “So you’re the girl staying at the Sterling house?” After all, she was my best friend in my past life. The second Chloe looked at me, I could feel a very obvious, palpable hostility radiating from her. This was completely different from my past life. In my past life, when Chloe found out I was Julian’s sister, she immediately linked her arm through mine, affectionately called me Luna, and dragged me into her elite social circle. But right now, her attitude toward me was remarkably similar to the very last time I saw her in my past life. Our final meeting had ended terribly. I had asked her, “The security footage showed that the only people who entered Julian’s room that day were you and me. I didn’t drug him. So it was you, wasn’t it?” Back then, I couldn’t figure it out. She loved Julian so much. Why would she intentionally ruin their own engagement party? “Her name is Luna,” Julian answered for me. Chloe looked at me, offered a tight, fake smile, and didn’t say anything else. Later, as I sat at my desk, I noticed Chloe constantly turning around to glare at me. Even though I found it bizarre, I forced myself to ignore her, focus on the blackboard, and pay attention to the lesson. 05 In my past life, I was a terrible student. But Mrs. Sterling never cared that my grades were awful. In fact, it seemed like the worse I did on exams, the happier she was. She always said, “Luna is becoming more and more like my Lily. She hated studying too.” A mother who truly loves her child plans for their future. What kind of mother actively wants her daughter to be a beautiful, useless idiot? Ultimately, she never truly viewed me as her daughter. To her, I was just a living toy to provide her with a little comfort. In this life, I refused to repeat the mistakes of the past. I refused to spend the first half of my life acting as a substitute for a dead girl, and the second half living as a useless caged bird, dying a miserable death. Studying was my only way out. But studying is incredibly difficult when you’re starting from the bottom. Realizing that I genuinely couldn’t understand a single word in the textbooks, I stood up in frustration. Julian, who had been chatting with someone, noticed my movement. He turned and asked, “Where are you going?” I replied impatiently, “Restroom.” In my memory, the girls’ restroom in high school always had a massive line between classes. But surprisingly, I didn’t see anyone there today. It wasn’t until I pushed open the main door that I realized something was wrong. Several girls inside all turned their heads simultaneously to look at me standing in the doorway. The girl closest to me was Chloe. She dropped her cigarette, glanced at the girl they had pinned to the wet floor—who was covered in dirty water—and then walked toward me. She smiled. “Just playing a little joke on her. Just messing around.” “You won’t tell Julian, right?” Looking at the cigarette butt on the floor, I suddenly realized I never truly knew Chloe at all. Otherwise, how could I not have known that in high school, she smoked and actively bullied her classmates? I thought for a moment and said, “I’m not that close with Julian anyway.” “Really?” Chloe asked, though her expression clearly relaxed. “Aren’t you living at his house?” I met her gaze. “I’m staying at his house, yes. But we aren’t close.” Chloe nodded. “Good.” With that, she quickly led her group out of the restroom. Once they were gone, I finally looked down at the girl on the floor. I quickly looked away and walked into a stall. When I came out, the girl was standing by the mop sink, her back to me. She was only wearing a camisole. She was rinsing the shirt she had been wearing under the faucet. Hearing the stall door open, she hurriedly wrung out the wet shirt, put it right back on, and kept her head down as she quickly tried to run out. As she passed me, I suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. The girl looked up at me in confusion, and I looked back at her. After a long, silent moment of eye contact, I finally remembered her name. Mia. I took off my uniform jacket and tossed it to her. “Your shirt is soaking wet. Wear mine.” Mia immediately lowered her head again and refused. “No thank you.” “Your wet shirt is practically transparent. You can see your undershirt.” My words caused Mia’s ears to flush a deep, burning red. She awkwardly raised her arms to cover her chest. She hesitated for a long time before finally accepting my jacket. Seeing Mia walk into a stall to change, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. I’m not usually someone who likes to meddle in other people’s business. But in my past life, just a few days after I transferred to this school, Mia jumped off the school roof and died. The school claimed it was due to family issues and the overwhelming pressure of her studies. But looking at her now, the reason for her suicide was clearly much more complicated. It was a young life, after all… “Thank you.” Mia, now wearing my jacket, thanked me. “You’re welcome” was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it back down. After a moment of thought, I asked her, “Your grades must be really good, right?” I remembered that before Mia jumped, she was ranked number one in our entire grade. She froze for a second, then nodded. “They’re okay.” “Mia.” I glanced at my jacket she was wearing. “I’ll lend you my jacket, and you tutor me.” I didn’t give her a chance to refuse. I kept talking: “After the upcoming pop quiz, we get to pick new seats based on our rankings. We should sit together so it’s easier for you to tutor me.” Mia hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing. After school, Julian stubbornly insisted that I ride home in his car with him. But as soon as I got in the car, Chloe stopped him. “Julian, can we talk?” I wasn’t interested in their drama, and I certainly didn’t want to eavesdrop. But it was quiet around the cars, Chloe was highly emotional, and her voice was very loud. The wind carried their conversation straight into my ears. Chloe asked Julian, “Did you break up with me because of Luna?” “Julian, we’ve been together for so long. The second Luna shows up, you dump me. I can’t think of any other reason.” Julian’s tone was helpless. “It has nothing to do with anyone else.” “Chloe, I just realized that my feelings for you aren’t romantic. I’ve always just seen you as a sister.” In an instant, I understood why Chloe had been paying so much attention to me today, constantly turning around to glare at me during class. 06 During dinner, Mrs. Sterling suddenly announced, “Luna, I hired a piano teacher for you today. Starting tomorrow…” She was cut off by Julian before she could finish. “Mom, Luna doesn’t like playing the piano. Don’t force your own hobbies onto her.” Mrs. Sterling offered an awkward smile but didn’t argue further. I looked up at Julian, my previous suspicions now fully confirmed. In this life, I had never told Julian that I didn’t like playing the piano. The only person who knew I hated the piano was the Julian from my past life. It happened when my illness took a sharp turn for the worse after he threw away my cat. Julian, who mutually despised me, surprisingly dropped all his work and moved back into the villa to take care of me. It happened to coincide with our 19th wedding anniversary. Julian gifted me a custom Steinway piano, flown in from overseas. Even when I told him, “I don’t like the piano. The only reason I ever learned was because your mom liked it.” Julian simply bought me an extravagant set of jewelry later that same night to make up for it. He had suddenly transformed into a completely different person, treating me with meticulous care and patience. “How do you know Luna doesn’t like the piano?” Refusing to give up entirely, Mrs. Sterling asked me again, “Luna, do you want to learn to play?” I pulled myself back to the present and politely declined with a smile. “Mrs. Sterling, I really need to focus on my studies. I honestly don’t have the time to learn the piano right now.” After dinner, as I was heading back to my room to rest, Julian stopped me. “Luna.” “Tomorrow after the quiz, we get to pick our seats based on our rank. Where do you want to sit?” When I didn’t answer, Julian continued, “How about the fifth row by the window? Is that okay?” That was exactly the seat I occupied throughout high school in my past life. Julian stared at me intensely, desperately waiting for my response. I gave him a long, hard look before saying dismissively, “Whatever.” My brush-off seemed to make Julian incredibly happy. Until the next day. When he watched me walk right past him and take the empty seat next to Mia. “Luna,” Julian called out to me in front of the whole class. His lips twitched into a strained smile as he asked, “Did you… take the wrong seat?” “Nope.” Julian stood there awkwardly. It took him a long time before he silently sat down elsewhere. “You had the first pick for seats! Why did you choose this one?” I couldn’t help but complain to Mia. Mia had picked a terrible seat—dead center, right in the very first row. “I’m nearsighted. If I sit any further back, I can’t read the chalkboard.” She didn’t usually wear glasses. Seeing my skeptical look, Mia openly explained, “I don’t have any extra money, so I never got glasses made.” “Oh.” I pouted. “I thought you were just worried someone would want to sit next to you, so you intentionally picked the worst seat in the class to save it for me.” Mia looked up from her test paper and told me with absolute honesty, “You’re overthinking it.” Regardless of whether I was overthinking it or not. After school, I dragged Mia to an optometrist near the campus and forcefully bought her a pair of prescription glasses. I used the excuse: “If you can’t see the board and your grades drop, who’s going to tutor me?” “Consider these glasses your tutoring fee.” I was using Julian’s money anyway. He owed me so much; spending a little of his money was the least he could do. I originally just wanted to get Mia some glasses, but I never expected it to make her cry. When she was being bullied by Chloe and her gang, Mia hadn’t shed a single tear. But when I put the glasses on her face, she started sobbing uncontrollably. Mia kept choking out, “Luna, when I have money in the future, I will definitely pay you back.” It took forever to calm her down. When I got back to the classroom building, Julian cornered me in the stairwell. He interrogated me: “Why didn’t you pick the seat we agreed on?” “Who agreed to anything with you?” I retorted impatiently. “Julian, did I ever make a promise to you?” Julian was instantly silenced. He stared at me for a long time before finally saying, “Luna, why is everything so different?” “Are you also…” I smiled and looked right back at him. “Am I also what?” Unfortunately, Julian didn’t answer me. But the fact that he cornered me in the stairwell quickly reached Chloe’s ears. After class, Chloe came over specifically to warn me: “Stay away from Julian.” Out of concern, Mia also advised me: “Luna, you really should stay away from Julian. Try not to interact with him.” To convince me, she proactively brought up the real reason Chloe had been bullying her. “Julian only asked me for help with one math problem, and Chloe immediately accused me of trying to seduce him.” “Luna, Chloe is not someone you want to mess with. I’m worried she’s going to target you.” I would love nothing more than to stay as far away from Julian as possible, but the guy was like a clingy ghost. He would constantly appear right next to me when I least expected it. I let out a silent sigh. I put down my workbook, reached over, and hugged a very worried-looking Mia. “Don’t worry.” However, Mia’s worries quickly came true.

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1 I love money, but I hate men who have more of it than I do. That was why, when forced to choose between my highly successful first love and a bleached-blonde rebel who seemed to have no future, I ignored my parents’ furious objections and married the rebel. I chose him because he always knew how to make fast cash, and he always let me keep the lion’s share. Three years into our marriage, we closed another massive deal. While we were splitting the profits, Carter Hayes, my bleached-blonde husband, looked at me and asked: “The money, or me?” “The money.” He didn’t take a single cent from that deal. Instead, he looked at me and said, “Then let’s get a divorce.” My hands paused mid-count. I looked at Carter in surprise. He knew how much I loved money. In the past, we would playfully bicker over our cuts, but he would always ultimately yield, making sure I walked away just a little richer than he did. We never fought. During our entire relationship, he had never once even uttered the word “breakup.” Yet today, he was asking for a divorce. I stared at him blankly. “Why do you want a divorce?” He paused at the doorway, flashing me that same cynical, easygoing smirk he always wore. “Because you always take the bigger cut. It’s not fair.” His eyes drifted to the stacks of cash still sitting on the table. He raised an eyebrow. “It’s all yours. I’m out.” I shifted my feet slightly toward the door, but then stopped. This wasn’t the first time he had bluffed. He’d throw a little tantrum and then come right back. I looked at the money on the table and pulled my foot back. Our job was basically real estate speculation. We scouted old, run-down neighborhoods that were prime targets for commercial redevelopment and bought them out. For instance, this current payout came from a street we had calculated would be bought out by developers. Two years ago, we went door-to-door, buying up the properties. Today, the massive redevelopment funds for those old houses we had bought at a premium finally hit our accounts. But because we didn’t have a traditional storefront or a conventional 9-to-5 job, in my parents’ eyes, we were just a pair of jobless drifters. The next evening, I did something rare: I cooked a full dinner. I called him. “Stop messing around. I made dinner. Come home.” On the other end of the line, he said he wasn’t coming back. I twirled the ends of my hair around my finger and threw out a casual threat. “If you aren’t back by midnight, I’m getting back together with Spencer Montgomery.” I hung up with a confident smile on my face. Carter was usually incredibly laid-back, but the mere mention of my first love’s name always made his blood boil with wild jealousy. I sat leisurely on the couch, eating fruit and watching the news, casually researching which street we should buy out next. It wasn’t until the clock struck 11:30 PM that a faint sense of panic began to set in. I had never felt this kind of imbalance with him before. I gripped my phone tightly, staring as the minutes ticked by on the screen. Finally, midnight hit. A knock sounded at the door. I practically sprinted to open it. “Miss, I have a priority delivery for you. Please sign here.” A courier in a blue uniform stood in the hallway. I opened the envelope. Inside was a finalized divorce agreement. Was he actually serious? The courier glanced at the documents in my hand. “Ma’am, please sign. I have to take it back tonight. Who finalizes a divorce in the middle of the night anyway?” A flicker of humiliation burned in my chest. I snatched the pen, hastily scribbled my signature, and slammed the door shut. I immediately dialed Carter’s number. He rejected the call. My fingers flew across the keyboard as I drafted a text to him. [Spencer has been visiting my parents a lot since I dumped him. He’s going over for dinner tomorrow, and so am I. Since we’re divorced, you finally have no say in what I do!] After hitting send, I felt like I had won the round. 2 The next day, I bought gifts and went to my parents’ house. When they saw me, a flash of surprise crossed their eyes, followed immediately by overwhelming joy. I hadn’t been back since I ran away from home to marry Carter. Spencer Montgomery, my first love, was sitting on the sofa. He adjusted his collar, looking at me with a slight flush on his face. “Mia, what brings you here?” I shot him a cold look. “This is my house. Am I not allowed to come back?” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. During dinner, I kept my eyes glued to my phone, secretly sending Carter a second message. [If you don’t reply in ten minutes, I’m marrying Spencer.] After dinner, I stood out on the balcony, letting the cool breeze hit my face. Still no reply from Carter. Spencer walked out and handed me a glass of water. “I’m sorry. I was wrong back then. I’m the reason you turned out like this…” When I was dating Spencer, we were seniors in college. We were practically at the stage of discussing marriage. The day we broke up was the day my entire life changed. I had accidentally lost a hundred-dollar bill he had given me. I apologized quietly. But he berated me in front of our entire graduating class, screaming about how useless I was. I felt humiliated and snapped back loudly, “It’s just a hundred bucks! I’ll pay you back, okay?!” He suddenly lunged from his seat, grabbed me by the throat, and slammed me against the wall. He had just opened a small computer repair shop through his own grueling hard work, and he had become pathologically obsessed with money. He screamed that making money wasn’t easy, that I was a parasite still living off my parents in college, and asked if I planned to leech off him for the rest of my life too. I didn’t understand his rage and kept talking back. So, he slapped me across the face in front of everyone. Carter Hayes, the slacking, bleached-blonde underachiever from the neighboring department, happened to be walking past the classroom. He rushed in, tackled Spencer to the ground, and dragged me out to the football field. When I called my parents crying, they all sympathized with Spencer’s stress. They even told me he was right. That day, I sat on the bleachers hugging my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. That was the day I learned the true weight of money. If you spend other people’s money, they will look down on you. So, I decided I was going to make my own money. I wanted to be richer than all of them, so that no matter how I spent it, no one could ever point a finger at me. I didn’t go home for days after that. Carter booked me a hotel room and let me stay there alone. At night, he took me to clubs where we’d blow thousands of dollars in a few hours. During the day, he took me to high-end restaurants where a single meal cost a small fortune. I knew he was an orphan. I couldn’t figure out how he had so much untraceable cash, so I asked him if he was doing something illegal. He just scoffed. “Money is lying everywhere on the ground. You just have to have the brains to pick it up.” From then on, I started running with him. I demanded he teach me how to make money. He always indulged me, always making sure I got the larger cut. 3 Seeing Spencer and me standing on the balcony together, my parents tentatively chimed in. “Mia, it’s been years. Spencer has been waiting for you.” I knew exactly what they were implying. “I’m divorced,” I stated flatly. Spencer asked if I could give him another chance. I pointed to the dilapidated, historic street directly across from my parents’ neighborhood. My eyes gleamed with ambition. “Buy out that entire street, and I’ll marry you. You just handle the negotiations. I’ll provide the capital.” I could see Spencer hesitate. In his rigid moral compass, what I was proposing bordered on unethical because it required manipulation and aggressive tactics. I grabbed my purse and turned around. “If it’s too hard, forget it. You never loved me as much as Carter did anyway.” As I opened the front door to leave, Spencer’s voice rang out behind me. “I can do it!” I let out a soft laugh and walked out. Any street I set my sights on, Carter would definitely have noticed before me. So the news that I would marry Spencer if he secured that street was guaranteed to reach Carter’s ears. Exactly as I predicted, a year later, just as Spencer was finalizing the acquisitions, someone hijacked the deal out from under him. Every single homeowner who had agreed to sell suddenly backed out. I stood at the entrance of the street. Carter, who had vanished for an entire year, strolled up to me with his usual arrogant swagger. “You wanted this street too?” I rolled my eyes. “You’ve already secured it, Mr. Hayes. Stop acting.” He put on a look of total bewilderment. “I just heard the news, so I came to check it out.” I stared at him intently. His bleached hair had long been dyed back to its natural dark color. He didn’t look like he was lying. But in our line of work, lying without blinking was a baseline requirement. I questioned the truth of every single syllable he spoke. For the next few days, I tagged along with him, eating and drinking on his dime. Every day, I asked him: “Did you buy out this street or not? Transfer it to me.” But his lips were sealed tight. He just gave me his usual cynical smile and vague, noncommittal answers. Over the following days, I stopped contacting him. Because I was currently lying in a VIP room at a private hospital, diagnosed with acute kidney failure. When he arrived, his usual arrogant smirk was entirely gone. He stared at my pale lips and gripped my hand tightly. I had never seen him look so serious. “Why did this happen so suddenly?” I spoke slowly, my voice weak. “Maybe it’s karma. You know my obsession with money has become a sickness… “Considering I don’t have much time left, can you just tell me if you bought that street?” He whispered anxiously, “Why are you still obsessing over that street at a time like this?” A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. “Did you buy it or not?! I’m literally dying, and you still won’t tell me?” Carter abruptly stood up. “I’ll come back to see you later.” He turned and walked out the door. Listening to his fading footsteps, I quickly pulled out a compact mirror and checked my ‘sick’ makeup. Thank God. I thought he had caught me. A full day passed, and he still hadn’t returned. Bored out of my mind in the hospital bed, I started wandering the halls of the private clinic. I noticed a door slightly ajar. The person lying in the bed looked exactly like Carter. I gently pushed the door open and walked in. He was lying there, looking incredibly frail. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. “You’re here…” I frowned deeply, sitting on the edge of his bed. “What happened to you?” He parted his dry lips. “I went to the doctor yesterday to see if I could give you one of my kidneys… but the results came back…” I stared at him, dead serious. “What did the results say?” He let out a weak, breathy laugh. “Just like you. I have acute kidney failure too.” 4 I froze. Staring at his pale, exhausted expression, I couldn’t find the words to speak. He gently patted the back of my hand. “I’ll give you three chances. You can ask me three questions. Consider it my parting gift to you.” The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it. “Just focus on resting for now.” He shook his head. “I’m being discharged tomorrow. There’s no point lying in a hospital bed anyway. Want to come with?” I nodded. The next day, we both checked out of the hospital and went back to his place. He definitely looked like a terminal patient today—at least, a much more convincing one than me. The bridge of my nose stung with unshed tears. He sat on the couch with his laptop, researching which old streets were ripe for acquisition, exactly like he used to. I sat on the desk, watching him. The first question: “That street… was it you who bought it?” He set the laptop aside, crossed his arms, and looked at me. “Why do you want to know so badly?” Looking at his haggard face, my eyes welled up with tears. I reached out, hugged him, and started crying. “I don’t know why you divorced me. But if you admit you bought that street, it proves you still love me.” He reached up, gently stroking my cheek, and nodded. “I bought it. When I heard you were going to marry him, my heart literally ached. I didn’t want to see you marry him.” I looked up at him. “Then why did you divorce me?” He tenderly wiped my tears away and smiled. “Didn’t I tell you? You always took the bigger cut.” I shook my head. “That doesn’t count as a question. I’ll pick another one. Do you really have acute kidney failure?” He pulled me into his arms, resting his hand on the back of my head, and whispered earnestly: “You are the woman I love most in this world… I used to wonder all the time if we’d still be bickering like this when we got old. “When I found out I had this disease, I just wanted to leave the best things I had to you before I was gone.” He cupped my face, staring deeply into my eyes. I froze for a moment, then nodded, tears pooling in my eyes. But the very next second, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. The fragile, dying aura instantly vanished from his face. 5 I shoved him away furiously. “You lied to me again! I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence!” He leaned in close, whispering, “What about you?” I lifted my chin defiantly. “Mine is obviously real! I’m practically dying, and you’re still tricking me!” He shrugged. “Then mine is real too.” I sat angrily on the sofa. “If neither of us is going to tell the truth, then let’s just shut up!” He smiled and shook his head. Once I calmed down, I continued, “That last question didn’t count either. I still have two questions left, right?” He nodded. “If you say so.” I asked eagerly, “Can you give me the contract for that street?” “Sure.” He led me to a room on the second floor and handed me the acquisition contracts. I held the documents, happily throwing my arms around his neck. He matched my enthusiasm, holding me tight. “Look at that. You’re richer than me again.” The next morning, I woke up, grabbed the contracts from the nightstand, and read through them over and over, a satisfied smile on my face. “Time to get up. Come somewhere with me,” he said, pushing the door open. I waved the contracts at him. “Don’t forget you have to come to the notary office with me to transfer the title.” After getting dressed, he took me to a high-end jewelry store and asked me to help him pick out a wedding ring. I teased him, “What, are you planning to propose again?” In the past, I always criticized the rings he picked out when he proposed. It seemed he had finally learned his lesson and was letting me pick it myself. He smiled. “It’s not for you. Just help me pick.” Naturally, I chose the ring with the largest diamond in the store. He paid for it and slipped the velvet box into his pocket. Then, we headed to the notary office to handle the contract transfer. After handing the documents to the clerk, I turned to look at Carter. He couldn’t hide the smirk playing on his lips. It was the exact same expression he wore the last time he proposed to me. I cleared my throat. “Wait here a second. I need to use the restroom.” I hurried to the restroom, washed my hands meticulously, and slathered them in hand cream, prepping my fingers for the impending proposal. After fussing for half an hour, I held out my hands. They looked soft, pale, and perfect. Satisfied, I walked back out to the lobby. The clerk handed the documents back to me. “These are invalid. These are fake contracts.” “What?” I suspiciously took the papers back, quickly scanning the clauses and signatures. “That’s impossible. Are you sure you didn’t miss something…?” As I started to argue with the clerk, I glanced over at Carter. He was already failing to suppress his laughter. I had been played. Again. I furiously threw the fake contracts at his chest, screaming, “Carter Hayes! Do you think making a fool out of me is funny?!” He looked at me with that infuriating, punchable smirk. “I just love seeing you angry.” More and more people in the notary office were stopping to stare at the hysterical woman and the perfectly calm man. I took a deep breath. “If you act like this, don’t ever expect me to marry you again!” Carter stood up. “When did I ever say I wanted you to marry me again?” 6 I pointed at the pocket where he had put the ring. “Isn’t that for me?” Carter let out a soft laugh. “We’re divorced. Why would it be for you?” In the past, if a joke went this far, he would immediately backtrack and start coaxing me. But today, he didn’t. Just as I was about to fire back, my parents walked into the notary office, with Spencer right behind them. Spencer handed me a stack of documents, his face glowing with excitement. “Mia, I finally managed to secure these contracts! Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay a dime. They’re my gift to you.” Before I could even speak, he handed the documents to the clerk to initiate the transfer. I watched the clerk’s serious expression. “Yes, these are authentic. We will transfer the deeds into Mia Hastings’ name now.” Carter leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “I told you I didn’t buy them out, but you wouldn’t listen. It looks like he really has changed. Congratulations.” My eyes widened slightly. I quickly snatched my ID back from the clerk. “Cancel the transfer.” Leaving my thoroughly confused parents, a bewildered Spencer, and a smirking Carter behind, I walked out of the notary office alone. Back in my car, I stared blankly at the entrance of the building. It seemed my ego had completely run away with me. I had never genuinely believed Carter would actually care about how we split our money. I had been absolutely certain he bought out that old street purely because he was fighting for me. I thought he only admitted to it because I annoyed him into it. I let out a bitter laugh. His years of constant coddling had made me blindly, delusionally confident. Knock, knock, knock. Someone rapped on my window. My parents and Spencer had followed me to the car. I unlocked the doors. They got in and immediately started discussing wedding plans for Spencer and me. I cut them off. “How did you know I was at the notary office?” My parents exchanged a look. Spencer stayed silent for a moment before saying, “I was coming here to ask about the transfer process, and I just happened to see you.” “I thought that street had already been bought out. How did you get the contracts? And where did you get that kind of money?” Spencer didn’t answer. My mom chimed in, telling me that to secure the street and marry me, Spencer had practically lived on the homeowners’ doorsteps, begging them to sell. He eventually offered a 20% premium over the market acquisition price to secure the buyout. As for the money, he liquidated his commercial leases, sold his family’s ancestral home, and took out massive bank loans just to buy that street for me. My mom looked at me earnestly, telling me I shouldn’t let him down. After dropping my parents off at their house, I went downstairs alone. My mind was a chaotic mess. Everything that was happening recently was spiraling entirely out of my control. Spencer chased me downstairs and called out my name.

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The day my husband’s diagnosis report came out, we ran into each other at the hospital. He was there to buy medicine for a female coworker suffering from menstrual cramps, holding several boxes of tampons in his hand. He asked me, “Is it really okay for unmarried girls to use tampons?” Worried she might develop a dependency on painkillers, he insisted I use my connections to get her an appointment with a top specialist. In the span of an hour, he mentioned his coworker’s name hundreds of times. Chloe Evans. She gets terrible cramps. She’s so innocent and inexperienced. It makes you want to protect her. I suddenly remembered my doctor frowning just moments ago, asking me if I wanted to try surgery. I had been so certain: “I need the treatment. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone.” But really, what’s so bad about being alone? 1 A colleague at the hospital hesitated before telling me that Arthur’s test results were back. I had already guessed the outcome wouldn’t be optimistic. “If the blood clot continues to expand, it may compress the optic nerve.” I had seen similar surgeries. Even my mentor, the esteemed Dr. Miller, found them incredibly challenging. I stuffed the report into my bag and walked out, my heart heavy with worry. My mind was a chaotic mess. I ran through countless ways to break the news, but I still didn’t know how to tell Arthur. He had been swamped at work lately. The report had been ready for over two weeks, but he hadn’t had the time to pick it up. Amidst my worry, I felt a glimmer of relief. It wasn’t too late yet. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, I looked up and saw Arthur standing in the crowded registration line. He saw me too, a hint of joy appearing in his eyes. “Honey!” He strode toward me with long steps. “It’s great that you’re here. Can you help me book an appointment with a gynecology specialist?” My gaze moved downwards, resting on the several boxes of tampons he was holding. He didn’t look embarrassed at all. “These are for Chloe. The poor girl is having terrible cramps again.” The gynecology appointment was for her too, Arthur explained incessantly. “She asked me to get her some painkillers. I figured I should ask a professional if taking them like that is bad for her body.” As if remembering something, he leaned in and lowered his voice. “Do you think it’s appropriate for an unmarried girl to use these things?” He gestured with the tampons in his hand. “Especially since she hasn’t even, you know, done that yet. Taking random pills and using these insertable things…” Seeing my face darken, he stopped talking, seeming to sense something was wrong. This wasn’t the first time he had bought things for her. Recently, when a popular brand of sanitary pads had a scandal, he asked me a million questions about it. That time, he scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: “Well, I’m the only married guy in the department. It’s not as awkward for me to buy this stuff.” But my displeasure stemmed from more than just his flimsy excuses. A few months ago, his department went on a team-building trip and got into a car accident. He was the most severely injured person in the car. Everyone else walked away without a scratch. The new girl, Chloe, was also in that car. When I rushed to the emergency room, the young, delicate girl was crying so hysterically she looked more like his wife than I did. She clung to the nurse’s hand, fainting several times. I was the one who had to pinch her philtrum to wake her up. Lately, he had been mentioning her so frequently that I could no longer ignore it. But looking into his eyes right now, I swallowed my questions. “Does your head hurt today?” He was looking down, replying to a message: “It hurt for a little bit, but Chloe massaged it for me, and it feels much better.” A sharp pain pierced my chest. From the corner of my eye, I glanced at his screen. An avatar of a little deer was pinned to the top of his chat list. In the past, that spot was reserved exclusively for me. 2 After getting a definitive answer from the specialist, Arthur visibly relaxed. I stared at him fixedly. Even now, he hadn’t asked me why I was at the hospital. Ever since I injured my wrist, I had been on medical leave for months. It seemed that during this same period, he had been coming home later and later. Now, he took the medication boxes from my hand. “I’m heading back to the office. Did you drive?” His casual question made my heart sink even further. The smell of medicinal patches radiating from me was so strong that even the specialist he just consulted had asked out of concern: “Still hasn’t healed? Do you want to try getting a new prescription from orthopedics?” But Arthur seemed to have completely forgotten. He looked impatient, eager to rush back without wasting a single second. I revealed my stiff, uncooperative wrist, and he finally froze for a moment. A look of guilt crossed his face. “Let me take you home first.” I nodded and walked straight out. Normally, I would have been understanding and told him to go back to work, saying I could just take a cab. But my chest felt tight, and that little deer avatar lingered in my mind. Arthur hesitated for a moment before following me. He opened the passenger door before I could, then leaned in, hastily tossing some things into the back seat. But I still saw it, and I smelled it. A cloying, sweet peach scent filled the air, and the passenger seat was reclined very far back. What he threw into the back seat was a pink bunny lumbar pillow. “A coworker’s. She forgot to take it back again.” I didn’t say anything. When Arthur lied, he always kept his head down and lowered his voice. Just like he used to do back in med school when he’d wait on the main path to “accidentally” bump into me. “Sarah, what a coincidence. What are you doing here?” Everyone said my calm, quiet personality was a terrible match for such a dense, wooden man. Even my senior colleague, Dr. Carter, couldn’t help but joke: “If you two ever fight, you’ll just stare at each other like two blocks of wood.” Halfway home, Arthur pressed his Bluetooth earpiece and took several calls. Even though he only answered with “Mhm” and “Okay,” his responses were flawless. However, to prevent him from getting an ear infection, the earpiece I bought him didn’t fully seal the ear canal. The noise isolation was actually quite poor. I clearly heard a sweet female voice from the earpiece. I could even picture the coy, pouty look on her face. “Arthur, we’re all waiting for you! If you’re ten minutes late, you’ll have to take the penalty shots for me.” Arthur’s brow immediately furrowed: “Don’t drink alcohol.” While stopped at a red light, he stayed silent for a long time before suddenly looking at me. “My department is having a team lunch this afternoon.” The underlying meaning was probably that he hoped I would get out at the next intersection and take a cab the rest of the way. I avoided his gaze, pulling out my lipstick and a small mirror from my purse for a touch-up. “That’s perfect. I haven’t seen your coworkers in a long time either.” His medical report was visible in my open bag. I casually handed it to him. I had prepared countless arguments to convince him to get surgery, but before they reached my lips, I swallowed them all. He barely glanced at it before tossing it into the back seat. “It’s not a big deal anyway. You’re the one who insisted I get a full checkup.” I suddenly remembered how he looked when he woke up in the hospital after the crash. Looking around with dazed eyes, he muttered to himself: “Honey, I was so scared I’d never be able to see you again.” Back then, we still had a future. 3 The car parked outside the restaurant, and Chloe came running down the steps. The sheer joy on her face froze the moment I pushed open the car door. “Oh… Sarah… you’re here too.” She looked at Arthur questioningly: “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?” I offered a faint smile and walked straight inside. Behind me, Arthur’s unhurried voice drifted over. “Your medication. Thanks to your sister-in-law waiting in line for the specialist, you can take these without worrying.” But as Chloe brushed past me, that cloying peach scent lingered in the air. Distracted, I didn’t catch what she said in reply. Once we were inside the private dining room, Chloe eagerly pulled up a chair for me. We sat on either side of Arthur. His coworkers’ eyes darted between the three of us, but no one said a word. I didn’t know how Arthur and she usually interacted. But sitting next to me now, he seemed much more reserved. The only exception was when someone offered her a drink, and he quickly blocked it. “Don’t let Chloe drink. It’s her time of the month.” That casual remark made sitting there feel like sitting on a bed of nails. Someone inevitably pointed it out: “Arthur is married, he really knows how to take care of people.” The private room’s door was tightly shut, and the smell of alcohol was making me dizzy. I made an excuse to step out for some air, but the heaviness in my chest only sank deeper, like a boulder. Faint, mocking laughter echoed from the stairwell. It sounded familiar. “Being married is like Arthur’s get-out-of-jail-free card. He doesn’t even hold back when his wife is right there.” “Do you think his wife knows? About the time he and Chloe snuck out and got into that car crash?” “Shh! If she knew, there’d be hell to pay. Her own husband takes a young girl out to practice driving, the car flips, and he throws his body over hers to protect her… Tsk tsk…” The laughter faded, but the words echoed deafeningly in my heart. After that accident, he developed a chronic headache. Yet whenever I suggested filing for workers’ compensation, he always dodged the question with vague excuses. So there was a hidden truth. I remembered what my colleague at the hospital had said. “The blood clot might be causing his headaches, but the part pressing against his retina will likely cause blindness.” Someone patted my shoulder. I turned around to face Chloe’s smiling face. “Is Sarah eavesdropping?” She leaned in, that sickly sweet scent growing even stronger. “Arthur is drunk. He just asked me to drive you guys home.” She suddenly reached out and squeezed my wrist, right where the medicinal patch was. “A doctor injuring their hand is a major deal.” A piercing, agonizing pain shot up my veins, crashing into my heart. My wrist was injured on the exact day they got into that car crash. A patient, growing desperate waiting for his sweetheart who never arrived, suddenly lunged at me with a knife. “Even if I can see, she’ll never come back to me! What use do I have for these eyes?!” It was my colleagues who risked their lives to protect my hand. Afterward, when Dr. Carter performed the surgery, he was still shaken: “Half a centimeter more, and this hand would have been completely useless.” Arthur didn’t know the full story. Over the past few months, he had casually mentioned it a few times. “I thought after the car crash, you’d drop everything and rush to see me.” “In the end, I’m still not as important as your patients.” Every time he brought it up, he’d had a bit to drink, just like now, sitting in the car. Using the alcohol as an excuse to speak his true feelings as a joke. 4 Chloe’s driving was mediocre. After a few jarring stops and starts, I was feeling nauseous. I knew she was constantly watching me through the rearview mirror. Arthur was completely wasted, leaning against my shoulder like a sack of mud. It felt like years since we had interlocked our fingers like this. Every time he mumbled, his hot, alcohol-laced breath brushed against my cheek. “Everyone says I married a great wife, but Sarah, do you think you’re that great?” He swayed, pointing at Chloe in the front seat: “My company needs me, my colleagues need me, everyone needs me.” He slumped back against the seat: “It seems like you’re the only one who doesn’t. You have your patients, your surgeries, and that’s enough for you.” Wind slipped through the crack in the window, the chill slowly seeping into my skin. I remembered how, when we first got married, he would enthusiastically bring a lunchbox and wait for me in the doctor’s lounge. “Saving lives is the most important thing in the world. I’m happy to be the man behind the angel.” The man everyone called dense had said those words so earnestly when he lifted my veil at our wedding. Only three years, and everything had changed. The car stopped, and Arthur stumbled out, swaying dangerously. Chloe jumped out and expertly draped his arm over her shoulder. Half-hugging, half-supporting him, she let him lean his entire weight on her. I just stared at how intimate and seamless their movements were. My feet felt as heavy as lead. When we reached the entrance to the apartment building, Arthur suddenly stopped and looked up. Then he turned around: “I said I’m not going home. Chloe, I still want to stay at your place tonight.” I watched the color drain completely from the young girl’s face. Arthur was completely sloshed: “Don’t worry, I’ll just sleep on the couch.” “I’m a married man, I know where the boundaries are.” Chloe’s voice went hoarse. When she looked up at me, she looked more than a little guilty. “Arthur is drunk…” A drunk mind speaks a sober heart. I fought down the churning in my stomach: “He can go wherever he wants.” I started walking upstairs, my fingers trembling as I punched in the door code. The sound of the car door closing and the engine roaring away was exceptionally clear behind me. I slowly turned my head. It felt like I was looking at the desolate ruins of a marriage that had withered and died. In the early hours of the morning, a message arrived from Arthur’s number. A delicate hand completely enveloped by a larger, prominent hand. [The person you don’t cherish will always be someone else’s treasure.] I rubbed my thumb over the screen, staring at it for a long time, until my heart was frozen solid, and hit delete. I scrolled up to a message Dr. Carter had sent that afternoon. [Sarah, I’m telling you one last time in all seriousness: risking this surgery is completely irresponsible! Your hands are your livelihood; you can’t throw them away like this.] Now, I knew exactly how to reply to him. 5 Once Arthur’s blood clot progressed to the point of compressing his retina, there was only one person capable of successfully performing the surgery. But that person’s hand was injured. Unless she underwent an invasive procedure to seal the torn ligaments right now. But the success rate of that procedure had yet to be definitively proven. She originally intended to take that desperate risk. Now, she didn’t want to anymore. The night Arthur slept at Chloe’s house. She used her slightly clumsy hand to draft a divorce agreement. 6 That morning, feeling emotionally stable, I grabbed an unhealthy breakfast downstairs. Eating fried dough sticks and soy milk, I realized I had grease on my fingers and no tissues. The old lady running the stall pulled a piece of paper towel from her apron and handed it to me. “How come your husband isn’t buying breakfast today?” I froze, then quickly recovered, couldn’t help but lower my head and laugh softly. For the past few months, he had been leaving early and coming home late. I suppose the breakfasts he bought were meant for someone else. But just like at his company, as long as the “loving husband” persona remained intact, he could cross any line he wanted. Having a wife was just another tool for him to wield. I quickly wiped my hands and hailed a cab to the hospital. The seminar was a closed-door session all morning. When I walked out of the conference room, I immediately spotted Arthur standing at the end of the hallway. Sunlight streamed through the window behind him, obscuring his expression, but the massive bouquet of flowers in his arms was blindingly obvious. As he walked toward me, his anxiety and guilt became increasingly apparent. “Honey, I drank too much yesterday.” “Chloe said I mumbled a lot of nonsense. Be the bigger person and don’t hold it against me, okay?” He delivered this speech incredibly smoothly. He had clearly rehearsed it many times on the way over. “Was the couch comfortable?” His face darkened: “I was drunk, nothing happened… Honey, I’m quitting drinking.” Quitting drinking, letting me know when he worked late… these were all things he had sworn to do before we even got married, but he had never actually followed through. The colleagues from the seminar had mostly dispersed. Only Dr. Carter walked toward us after finishing a conversation. His gaze moved from the flowers to Arthur’s face. “We’ll look into your surgery further, don’t worry too much.” Arthur looked confused: “What surgery?” Dr. Carter glanced at me, didn’t elaborate, and just patted my shoulder reassuringly. “Start preparing early. You need to fly out this week at the latest.” Once Dr. Carter walked away, the confusion on Arthur’s face only grew. “Wait, honey, where are you flying to? Isn’t your medical leave still active?” Looking at the corner of the paper peeking out of his suit jacket pocket, I slowly took a step back. “Arthur, you went home, didn’t you? You saw the signed divorce agreement.” His face grew even darker, his lips trembling slightly. “You didn’t want to come home, and it just so happens I don’t want to go back either. Just like when we decided to get married, we’re still completely in sync.” “I’ve accepted a month-long research exchange program in the US.” “I hope that by the time I get back, we’ll both have found our true freedom.” I turned to leave, but he hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed my sleeve. “Sarah, are you sure this is what you really want?” My chest felt like a million ants were frantically crawling over it, leaving dense, agonizing trails. As I slowly pulled my sleeve free, I heard my own voice, sounding as flat as if I were discussing something completely trivial. “The day you got into that car crash while teaching Chloe how to drive, a patient nearly hacked my wrist off.” “Seeing you lying unconscious in that hospital room, my only thought was…” “Thank God you didn’t have to see me covered in blood.”

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After dinner, my boyfriend and I bought lottery tickets together. He said cash was tight and asked me to cover it. Of the two tickets, one hit the $5 million jackpot. The other was a dud. His face instantly changed. “The $5 million one is mine.” Technically, he wasn’t wrong—the winning numbers were given to him by a psychic. They were his “lucky numbers.” 1 Mark and I had just walked out of the restaurant. I offered to split the bill, but he let out a heavy sigh and said, “No need, Joy. I’m just mostly stressed about the wedding fund…” He started rambling, “You know I have three brothers. My older brother isn’t married yet, and my little brother is still in high school. My parents can’t possibly give all their savings to me. “My mom said your family’s expectations for a wedding contribution are ridiculously inflated! Who asks for that much? She said the neighbor’s daughter only asked her fiancé’s family for ten grand to help with a down payment.” I listened in silence. Because Mark’s family was significantly wealthier than mine. My parents were gifting us a brand-new car for the wedding—a gift that literally took half their life savings to buy. Meanwhile, ten grand was probably just a fraction of his family’s monthly income. 2 Because of our financial disparity, I never dared to buy expensive things while dating Mark, nor did I ever accept any pricey holiday gifts from him. When we were in college, to ease his financial burden, I proactively suggested we go 50/50 on everything. So, without me realizing it, even after he started working and making a great salary, he still fully expected me to split every single penny. The first time we got a room together, we went to a high-end luxury hotel. I slept incredibly well that night, but when I woke up, I found him staring at me, looking like he wanted to say something but holding back. Finally, as we were checking out, he muttered, “This hotel was pretty expensive.” I instantly understood what he meant, but I deliberately stayed quiet. On the Uber ride home, I Venmo’d him my half of the room cost. But from that day on, we never stayed in a hotel that cost more than a hundred bucks a night. 3 Buying lottery tickets after dinner was a little tradition of ours. Mark said he didn’t have any spare cash on him and asked me to front the money. I bought two tickets, holding the receipt as I walked out of the convenience store with him. Sitting in the backseat of our Uber, the two of us remained completely silent. My apartment was on the way to Mark’s place. Because of that, he used to walk me home every single night during our three years of high school. Because of our eight-year history, I tolerated all his flaws. In my eyes, we started dating as students, and it always felt like we just had to listen to whatever our parents said. The driver dropped me off first. Before I even closed the car door, Mark suddenly poked his head out: “You need to think about this carefully and talk some sense into your parents. We’ve been together for eight years… Besides, you’re not getting any younger, and you’re not a virgin anymore. Who else would want you besides me?” Before he could say anything else, the driver pulled away. Normally, Mark never brought up the post-dinner lottery tickets again. If we won, we’d split it; if we lost, I just treated it as me buying two tickets and having bad luck. On the day of the drawing, I checked the numbers over and over again until I was absolutely certain I wasn’t hallucinating. My hands shook violently as I gripped the ticket. The second I confirmed the win, I flipped my phone into airplane mode. Five million dollars. Even after taxes, I’d still clear around three million. To be safe, I planned to go straight to the lottery headquarters to claim it. Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside my door, followed by a violent pounding. I heard Mark screaming at the top of his lungs: “Joy! Open the door! Open it! I know you’re in there! Open this damn door right now!!!” “Why aren’t you answering my calls?! Are you trying to keep it all for yourself?!” “Open the door first, let’s talk face-to-face!” 4 Only an idiot would talk to him face-to-face! If he actually tried to physically snatch it from me, how could I fight him off? I braced myself against the door, dragged over the sofa, chairs, and anything heavy I could find to barricade it, and then shouted back: “I don’t know what you’re talking about! If you don’t stop screaming outside my apartment, I’m calling 911!” He sounded absolutely furious: “You don’t know?! You don’t know why you deadbolted the door?! Why you’re ignoring my calls, refusing to leave the house, and cutting off contact?! That is FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! Are you that desperate for money?! Get your ass out here right now!” I lost it. While dialing 911, I screamed back at him: “Mark! You’re the one desperate for money! You know damn well that’s five million dollars! Look at yourself, do you even act like a man?! You want to go 50/50 on everything, you wouldn’t even pay for condoms or a cheap hotel room without me pitching in! If we win, we split it, if we lose, I pay for it! Your skin is thicker than the calluses on my feet!” “…Yes, officer, you can hear him right? He’s blocking my door right now. Yes, 231 Oakwood Drive, Apartment 4B…” 5 The police arrived promptly. The two of us ended up sitting in an interview room at the precinct, glaring daggers at each other. A younger officer coughed and said, “Look, why don’t you two just talk this out? You’re a couple, I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding…” “What misunderstanding? Officer, I haven’t done anything. He showed up at my apartment and started trying to bash my door in. That’s a threat to my physical safety, isn’t it? I want to press charges for harassment.” Mark looked at me and sneered, “You know you’re in the wrong, that’s why you won’t bring it up, huh?” “Fine, I’ll say it. You put your phone on airplane mode just to hide from me, didn’t you?” “And that pile of furniture barricading your door? You have a guilty conscience, that’s why you didn’t dare open the door and talk to me!” “I only have one demand right now—give me the ticket.” He leaned in close, his tone menacing. I laughed. “I bought the ticket. Why on earth would I give it to you?” I turned to the police officers. “Officers, this counts as attempted robbery, right? You can arrest him right now.” He panicked. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! Officers, it’s obvious she’s trying to embezzle the money! She stole my lottery ticket! That counts as grand theft, right? Arrest her!” “Alright, alright, knock it off, both of you.” An older, more seasoned cop tapped the table, coughing as he spoke. “I’m warning you, this is a police station. Everything you say goes on the record, so don’t try to play games. And seriously, is it worth ruining your relationship over a lottery ticket? A couple thousand bucks isn’t even enough to cover wedding expenses!” We shouted in unison: “It’s five million dollars!” The two cops fell dead silent, staring at each other in shock. Finally, the older cop put on a serious face. “Well…” He turned to Mark. “Young man, you speak first.” 6 Mark launched into a long, rehearsed speech: “Officer, I’m the one who always plays those specific numbers. If you don’t believe me, look—I have the payment record.” He picked up his phone, showing the officers his transaction history line by line, casting smug, sideways glances at me the whole time. The two cops nodded along, occasionally muttering “Ah” and “Mhm,” validating his story. It was obvious that this older cop’s internal scales were tipping in favor of his fellow man. My stomach dropped a little. It was true. The reason I put my phone on airplane mode the second I realized I won was precisely because the winning numbers were the exact sequence Mark always played. Whenever we bought tickets after dinner, I would choose random numbers, while Mark religiously played his predetermined set. I thought it was weird and asked him about it once. He said his mom had paid an expensive astrologer on the boardwalk to calculate those numbers for him. The guy promised that playing them would guarantee him a lifetime of wealth and luxury. So he stubbornly bought that exact sequence for a decade, rain or shine. Only occasionally, after dinner, would he ask me to buy the ticket for him. Later, I actually went to find that “master astrologer” he talked about. Honestly, I don’t believe in psychics or curses. The old guy with the wispy white beard looked at Mark, then at me. Probably figuring we were naive kids, he demanded $888 right off the bat. I turned around to leave. Mark tried to stop me: “This old guy is super accurate! You’ll see once he reads you!” The old man shouted after me, “You wicked girl! Let me tell you, you’re going to suffer a tragic accident when you turn 25! You have a cursed aura, you’re a jinx! If you want to break this curse, you must… sigh!” Thinking back on it now, was this the “tragic accident” that old fraud was talking about? Just because I supposedly stole his fortune? Hilarious! Even if a piece of garbage like Mark had good fortune, it would be entirely wasted on him! Life was so unfair. My parents had worked themselves to the bone their entire lives just to barely pay off their mortgage, while his parents ran shady businesses and made a fortune, yet they refused to spend a single dime on their future daughter-in-law! While I was silently fuming, the older cop hesitated and said, “Son, you make a fair point. You did play those numbers. But that was in the past. How can you prove she bought this specific ticket on your behalf?” I nodded vigorously. But Mark, completely prepared, shot me a dirty look and pointed at my phone: “Turn off airplane mode and open Venmo.” … Right there on my screen was a transfer from him, sent just past 9 PM. That was before the numbers were drawn. Meaning, this was unquestionably the “lottery money” he had sent me. I instantly tensed up. That cheapskate Mark purposely used Venmo so it would auto-deposit—I didn’t even have the chance to decline it! The older cop looked at me with pity and shook his head. “Well, my hands are tied, miss. He transferred the money to you, so legally, it counts as his ticket. Besides, he’s been playing those numbers for years. If you suddenly snatch his win, you’re stealing his karma. That’s bad for your own luck!” I cursed more in my head today than I had in the past year combined. I rolled my eyes. Just as I was about to speak, Mark chimed in again: “Joy, I know you’re just angry… but whether the five million goes to me or you, isn’t it the same thing? This is the startup fund for our new family. With this, our life together will be so much easier.” Mark’s expression looked incredibly sincere. I’d seen this act before. Every time we were about to have a massive fight, he would lecture me first, then lower his voice and talk about “us.” He always managed to confuse me and smooth things over, but this time, I wasn’t buying a single word of it. No wonder they say men turn bad when they get rich—women turn bad when they get rich, too. Right now, even if I told him to bark like a dog, I bet he wouldn’t dare make a peep in protest. But Mark’s shamelessness still managed to exceed my expectations. He continued, “How about this? You treat this lottery ticket as your dowry, and I won’t ask for the car…” I froze, feeling like a bucket of ice water had just been thrown in my face. My mind instantly cleared. “What do you mean, you ‘won’t ask for the car’? Did you actually think that car was for you?! That was a gift from my parents to me!” “Well, what else would it be?” he replied matter-of-factly. “I’m paying for the wedding, so the car should go to me, right? You really expect to just pocket five million dollars and leave me with nothing? Joy, you weren’t this much of a gold digger in college.” “Right. Fine. I’m a gold digger. You’re so noble. You’re the most noble person on earth.” I nodded, picking up my purse and preparing to walk out. “I don’t want a wedding anymore. Are you happy?” Mark’s face instantly lit up with joy, but he still muttered, “How can we do that? We have to spend at least a few thousand… Don’t worry, I’ll let my mom handle the whole wedding. I promise it’ll be beautiful, you won’t lose face. As for the car…” He seemed to grit his teeth, enduring physical pain to continue: “Buying a twenty or thirty thousand dollar car is enough for us. We’ll live a nice, peaceful life together… I knew you were the right girl for me, Joy.” I laughed. “You’re overthinking it. I don’t want a wedding, and we’re not getting married. Keep your few thousand bucks and go marry your mom.” 7 I ignored the two cops and dropped one final sentence: “The security cameras show me paying at the counter. The cashier took my money. I don’t care what time you sent that Venmo. If you’re cheap, don’t pretend to be a big shot, and then have the nerve to call me a gold digger. Have you no shame?” I pointed right at his nose and cursed him out, using every dirty word I had learned in my entire life. The two cops were dumbfounded. By the time they finally pulled me back, I had completely eviscerated Mark. He was so furious he looked like he wanted to lunge forward and hit me. I waved dismissively at the officers. “Officers, I’m really not being greedy. Just consider this his breakup fee to me. After all, a guy who makes his girlfriend front the money for a lottery ticket couldn’t hold onto a fortune even if it landed in his lap. Wouldn’t you agree?” I slammed the door and left, heading straight to the state lottery headquarters. After going through all the procedures, I sat quietly, waiting for the staff’s phone call. It wasn’t until over three million dollars safely hit my bank account that I finally felt a sense of peace. I counted the zeros over and over again. My heart felt warm, and my entire mood lifted. No wonder rich people are so happy. I was already thinking way less about Mark’s punchable face. Just as I was relaxing, my phone rang. It was my mom. Her voice was frantic and choked with tears: “Joy! Mark is saying you stole his money! He’s saying you’re shameless, that you cheated on him with another man! He’s blocking our front door and screaming right now! What’s going on?!” I hung up the phone and rushed straight to my parents’ house. When I arrived, my mom was covering her face, crying. A massive crowd had gathered outside our door. Leading the pack was Mark, and his parents were right there with him. A bunch of nosy neighbors were gossiping: “Look, there’s the thief.” “Stealing at her age, she’s gonna get beaten to death when she’s older!” “They were about to get married, and now his family is here cursing her out. Let’s see who’d ever marry her now!” However, all those whispers vanished the second they saw the ten burly, broad-shouldered security guards in black suits standing right behind me. I smiled and walked up to Mark and his parents. “If you have something to say, let’s talk.” 8 Mark’s parents were relatively young, dressed in expensive clothes, and looked intimidating. “Joy, if your parents didn’t teach you better, you shouldn’t just play dumb, right? That was obviously my son’s lottery ticket. You cutting off our family’s fortune is literally ruining our livelihood!” I looked at the solid gold bracelets, gold necklace, and gold earrings she was wearing, thinking to myself that their “fortune” must be completely blind. I cleared my throat, and the ten massive guards behind me stepped forward in unison. Mark’s parents flinched, but his dad tried to put up a tough front: “Look, Joy, how about this? We’ll just pretend today never happened. Let’s not ruin the family harmony. As long as we can see you and Mark living a good life, we’ll be at peace…” “Don’t worry, you’re still our top choice for a daughter-in-law. How about we officially get you two engaged next month?” He winked meaningfully at Mark. So this was a forced marriage attempt. I waved my hand, shielding my parents behind me. “Not a chance. Who the hell wants to be your daughter-in-law? I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time. You—” I pointed at Mark. “Every time we eat, you inhale your food like you’re terrified I might eat one more bite than you. You complain and whine about paying for an Uber. You won’t even spend two hundred bucks on a hotel room. It’s always ‘my mom and dad’ this, ‘my mom and dad’ that. What, am I marrying you or your parents?” “Honestly, if you love going 50/50 so much, why even get married? Can you give birth? You only want to get married to trap me with a kid, right? But let me tell you, Mark, from the very beginning, I never planned on having kids with you.” “And you two—” I turned to his parents. “Since we’re not going to be in-laws, I’ll just speak my mind. You guys are loaded, but you absolutely refused to pitch in a dime for the wedding.” “My parents worked hard for half their lives to buy me a car as a wedding gift. What gave you the right to demand it be put in your son’s name? Do you want to know why your oldest son is still a bachelor in his thirties? He has his generous, open-handed parents to thank for that!” I turned and smiled. “But then again, birds of a feather flock together. You guys deserve each other—a whole family of cheapskates. It’s just a shame your oldest son is going to die a bachelor!” “Joy Vance!” Mark’s mom shrieked, swinging her designer handbag, trying to hit me. “Watch your dirty mouth! Whose son is going to die a bachelor?! He… he just has high standards!” The moment she spoke, several bodyguards surrounded them, forming an impenetrable wall. I waved my hand and helped my parents inside the house. Let them throw a fit. Whoever has the money makes the rules. Before I could figure out how to explain everything, my mom threw herself into my arms, trembling. “Joy, why didn’t you ever tell us any of this?!” My dad patted my shoulder, his head bowed, a bitter expression on his face. I was silent for a long time before finally saying, “I thought he was just frugal…” No, the bigger reason was our eight-year relationship. Mark was a constant throughout my high school and college years. During those eight years, I never had the chance to meet anyone else, and I naturally assumed that women shouldn’t take financial advantage of men in a relationship. But how was that a relationship? It was just two roommates splitting the bills!

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Right before I was wheeled into the delivery room, Ethan received news that his ex-girlfriend had been in a car accident. Without a second thought, he let go of my hand. “I’m going to check on Chloe. You stay here and listen to the doctors.” I grabbed his arm, begging him not to leave. He looked down at me, his eyes turning cold, though his tone remained pleading: “You know she was my first love, and she might be dying.” “Just let me see her one last time. Please?” Later, Chloe survived. And I died in the delivery room. That brief exchange was the last time Ethan and I ever saw each other. 1 My baby was in a breech position, so I had to undergo a C-section. Just before I was wheeled into the operating room, Ethan received news that his ex-girlfriend had been in a car accident. Her condition was critical. A second ago, he had been patiently comforting me, but now, it was like a switch flipped. He was desperate to leave. He tried to pull his hand away, but I gripped it tightly. Ignoring the stares of the medical staff, I asked the nurses to stop the gurney. Enduring the agonizing contractions, I pleaded with Ethan: “When I come out of surgery, you’re the first person I want to see. Can you please stay?” He hesitated. Sensing my grip slipping, I placed a hand on my swollen belly. “Your baby needs you too.” Ethan looked down at me, his brow furrowing as his expression turned cold, though his words were phrased as a plea: “You know she was my first love, and she might be dying.” “Just let me see her one last time. Please?” Before I could even respond, he forcefully pulled his hand from mine, taking the last shred of warmth with him. He told the doctors to hurry up, then turned and strode away. I desperately propped myself up on my elbows, calling his name several times as he walked away. He walked so fast his light gray trench coat billowed behind him like water. He never looked back once. His retreating figure suddenly felt incredibly unfamiliar. I never imagined that Chloe’s place in his heart was so absolute. Even my life, combined with the life of our unborn child, couldn’t outweigh her. 2 Before the anesthesia took hold, my mind kept flashing to images of Ethan anxiously pacing outside the operating room. The picture-perfect moment of happiness I had fantasized about so many times. All of it amounted to nothing. I stared at the blinding white surgical lights. In a haze, after a sharp sting in my lower back, everything went dark. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself floating near the ceiling. The ‘me’ on the operating table was covered in blood. I was dead, and my baby died with me. Two dark figures materialized, ready to escort my soul away. But I wanted to stay. I couldn’t accept this. Ethan and I had been deeply in love for years. Why, in the most critical moment of my life, did he abandon me? I looked down at the tiny, motionless baby in the doctor’s arms and felt an overwhelming, crushing grief. I begged the figures to let me stay. Fearing I would wander off and become a lost soul, they tethered my spirit to Ethan. 3 When I was transported to Ethan’s side, he wasn’t at the hospital. He was at our house. I watched him rush into his study and unlock the built-in wall safe. The safe had two shelves, both packed with corporate documents. He crouched down, reaching past the mountains of files on the bottom shelf, and pulled out a small, black velvet ring box. Inside was a silver ring. It was the ring Chloe gave him back in college. He had been hiding it from me this entire time. Ethan hastily pulled off his wedding band and tossed it carelessly onto the floor. He delicately picked up the silver ring. It was a little dusty, so he pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket and carefully polished it. He blew on it softly. Then, he slipped it onto his ring finger with a look of deep satisfaction. He stared at his hand, a look of profound emotion crossing his normally stoic face as he smiled. It was as if he was silently declaring: Chloe and I are married. 4 On the drive to the hospital, Ethan sped recklessly. He was frantic to see Chloe. While waiting outside her operating room, he paced back and forth, consumed by anxiety. I never got to see him act like this when I was in the delivery room. Was this his way of fulfilling my final wish? As the minutes ticked by, Ethan’s expression grew increasingly tense. Finally, the operating room doors swung open. A still-unconscious Chloe was wheeled out. She was perfectly fine. The tight knot between Ethan’s brows instantly smoothed out. He let out a massive sigh of relief, a radiant smile breaking across his face as his eyes welled up with tears. Tears of pure joy. I couldn’t help but wonder. If my baby and I had survived the surgery, would he have cried for us too? Of course he would have. Even if not for me, then for his child. 5 The “critical condition” Ethan was so terrified of turned out to be nothing more than a few stitches on Chloe’s arm. It was just a convenient excuse to come see her. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Just how insignificant was I to him? Unlike with Chloe. For her, Ethan was willing to abandon his wife and child, sitting vigil by her hospital bed, waiting patiently for her to wake up. His gaze was filled with absolute devotion, never leaving her face for a second. It felt like all the tenderness and patience he used to show me had actually belonged to her all along. … “I wonder how Mia is doing.” In a rare moment of distraction, he finally remembered I existed. He noticed his phone was dead. After some effort, Ethan managed to borrow a charger and turned his phone back on. He casually scrolled through his contacts until he found the number saved as “Wife.” His finger hovered over the screen. He hesitated for a long time. But he never hit the call button. Instead, he muttered to himself, “She should be out of surgery by now.” “God, I hope it’s not a girl. If it is, we’ll have to have another one.” He frowned slightly, looking genuinely annoyed. Then, he let out a soft sigh: “If I didn’t need to secure my position in the Harrison family, I really wouldn’t want to have a kid with her.” Hearing those words, I froze completely. My mind spiraled into absolute chaos. Every memory of Ethan treating me well flashed before my eyes like a fast-forwarded movie. The warm glass of milk he would hand me right when I walked through the door after a long day of shopping. The way he tightly gripped my hand when crossing the street, terrified I wasn’t paying attention because I was looking at my phone. And finally, the memory of him burying his face in my chest and crying tears of joy when he found out I was pregnant. “I love you!” He had cupped my face and said those three words with absolute, solemn sincerity. It felt like just yesterday that those tear-filled, earnest eyes had looked deeply into mine. He told me that, as a man, his absolute priority was protecting our family. That I, and our unborn child, were his entire world. But now, every single one of those memories had turned into a sick, twisted joke. 6 Once the anesthesia wore off, Chloe woke up quickly. The doctors gave a few simple instructions and left. The moment the hospital room door clicked shut, Ethan and Chloe exchanged a deeply synchronized, knowing smile. The next second, Ethan leaned over the bed, and they cupped each other’s faces, crashing their lips together. Their tongues intertwined, mixing their saliva, producing soft, wet sounds. It was quiet, but to me, it was deafeningly loud. After a long time, Chloe pulled away, panting in deep satisfaction. Her tone was careful: “Ethan, you running out here to see me like this… is Mia going to be okay with it?” Ethan let out a cold, mocking scoff: “Mia is probably half-dead from the surgery right now. I just used the excuse of seeing you one last time. Like she could stop me?” “Besides, she just had my kid. Even if she finds out, she’s trapped. She can’t leave me now.” Chloe smiled brightly, raising her arm to give him a thumbs-up, praising his brilliance. So… Just how deeply did Ethan love this woman? So deeply that he had been carrying on an illicit affair with her behind my back, completely disregarding his marriage and his family. Serving her drinks, fluffing her pillows, acting like her devoted servant. He even periodically massaged her legs to keep her comfortable. Disciplined, polite, and flawlessly gentlemanly—that was the Ethan I thought I knew. But in front of Chloe, he discarded every boundary and shred of decency, driven entirely by his own selfish desires. It seemed this was the real Ethan. His large hand, with its pale, elegant fingers, slowly trailed up her leg, creeping suggestively toward her thigh. Chloe gently swatted the back of his hand, giggling shyly: “That tickles, stop it.” Ethan couldn’t help but laugh along with her: “I just missed you too much.” “This isn’t the place for that,” Chloe scolded playfully, gently pushing him away. She followed it up with a breathy, upward-inflected promise: “Don’t be so impatient. We’ll have plenty of opportunities later.” 7 Ethan played the role of the “perfect” husband, meticulously caring for Chloe in the hospital room. Every extra ounce of care was a completely voluntary, heartfelt gesture on his part. Going all the way downstairs to buy her a specific brand of nutritional porridge was just one example. However, Chloe called him back: “Ethan, I’m not hungry.” “Just stay here and keep me company, okay?” Her voice was pure, sickly-sweet whining. Ethan turned around and looked at her. Looking down at her from above, his eyes were overflowing with tenderness. “Of course.” … Ethan sat on the edge of her bed, holding her hand as they reminisced about their beautiful past. The shy, awkward confession under the shade of a tree. The ambiguous, thrilling moment their pinky fingers first linked. The flushed cheeks after their first alcohol-fueled kiss. These were all their most precious, treasured memories. When discussing how they couldn’t stand next to each other in their graduation photos, Chloe’s voice choked with emotion: “When will we finally be able to be together? When can we become a real family?” Ethan’s hand rested on Chloe’s arm, his thumb gently stroking her skin to soothe her: “A good relationship allows both people to achieve their goals and grow together.” “Our relationship is doing exactly that. It’s just that our path has significantly more thorns than everyone else’s.” “But you have to remember, waiting at the end of the darkness is our truest, most authentic love.” The depth of his devotion was nauseating. In that moment, Chloe’s eyes completely melted; her gaze was filled with nothing but Ethan. It was his patience, his unwavering persistence. It was his constant encouragement and companionship throughout the years. “Faking your entire personality, kissing up to the Harrison family… you’ve suffered so much these past few years.” Chloe opened her palm, her eyes crinkling in a warm smile: “If you want, you can rest your head in my hand for a while.” Ethan froze for a second, his eyes lighting up as he softly replied, “Okay.” He crouched next to Chloe, gently rested his head in her open palm, and closed his eyes. The sunlight spilled across his pale profile, casting an aura of total peace. It was like a falling leaf returning to its roots, a tired bird returning to the forest. It was as if his exhausted soul had finally found its true sanctuary. Chloe gazed adoringly at the man she loved, her eyes brimming with absolute devotion. But suddenly, her pupils dilated in shock. “Ethan, you’re wearing the ring I gave you back then?” Ethan lifted his head, waving the back of his hand toward Chloe, and smiled: “Yeah.” The silver ring had been preserved flawlessly; it hadn’t oxidized or dulled in the slightest. “It’s always stayed this bright, just like my feelings for you. They’ve never faded!” How many people could actually withstand such devastatingly romantic, heartfelt words? Chloe froze, then quickly turned her head away. Her eyes filled with tears. Noticing her reaction, Ethan asked what was wrong. She shook her head and said it was nothing. “I just… I was thinking about when we first got together.” “I got a little emotional.” Years ago, I was the one who ruthlessly stole Ethan from Chloe.

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The aloof, untouchable guy I had a crush on completely ignored me. Desperate, I prayed to the gods to let me have him eating out of the palm of my hand. The next morning, a string of prayer beads appeared on my nightstand. I thought it was a divine gift, so I immediately grabbed it and started playing with the beads. As a result, my crush ended up going to a men’s health clinic that very day. He said he constantly felt like someone was touching him, and it just wouldn’t go down. 1 I had been chasing Scott for three months. He was still cold and distant. Even when I stood right in front of him, he acted like I didn’t exist. I finally couldn’t take it anymore. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I prayed to the Deer God. “Oh, mighty Deer God, you are the manliest of men, the alpha of alphas, the elite of the elites! You are dashing and majestic! Your martial arts are unparalleled in this world!!! “Please, I’m begging you, use your divine power to make my crush unable to live without me! Make him obsessed with me for the rest of his life, make him submissive to me! Please!!!” After leaving that message, I turned off my phone and went to sleep. I had a vague dream about meeting someone. The next morning, a string of prayer beads appeared on my nightstand. I was absolutely certain I had never bought anything like it. Looking closely, they seemed to glow with a faint golden light. It seemed the Deer God had actually answered my prayers! This must be the magical artifact he gifted his devoted follower! Meant for me to completely control Scott! I couldn’t wait to pick up the prayer beads. I played with them for a long time before wrapping them around my wrist. I gave myself a mental pep talk. With these, I can definitely make Scott submit to me! 2 I was in a great mood today. I decided to drive my pink Cullinan. When I arrived at the lobby of Scott’s company, I walked up to the reception desk carrying a small cake. “Hi, I’m here to see Mr. Scott.” The receptionist and I were already very familiar with each other. She winked at me. “Mr. Scott didn’t come to the office today. I heard he might have gone to the hospital.” The receptionist was very pretty. Scott’s executive assistant had been pursuing her for over half a year. It probably wouldn’t be long before they made it official. I generously pulled a VIP spa card out of my designer bag. “Just mention my name when you go.” She accepted it with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Ms. Quinn!” I turned and walked a few steps. Then I suddenly remembered something and turned back. “Which hospital did he go to?” The receptionist paused. “Um… let me check.” She fiddled with her phone for a moment. Then she looked up with a very strange expression. “The Men’s Health Clinic.” My sunglasses almost fell off my face in shock. “What?!” 3 I drove as fast as I could toward the hospital. I was so anxious my head felt like it was on fire. If it were any other health issue, fine, but why that specific problem?! Scott was so handsome, and his body was incredible. If he was… What a massive waste! While waiting at a red light, I suddenly caught a glimpse of the prayer beads on my wrist. I calmed down a bit. It’s fine, maybe it’s just a minor issue? With a face and body like Scott’s… Even if he was a ‘one-minute man’, I’d still take him! 4 I had already won over his assistant, Kevin, through the receptionist, and he texted me the exact floor number. I arrived, panting heavily. I spotted Scott immediately. His brow was furrowed tightly, his face flushed bright red. He had a suit jacket draped over his lap. He sat in the waiting chair, panting heavily. He looked extremely uncomfortable. Kevin asked with concern: “Boss, are you feeling any better?” Scott’s jaw was clenched tight, but he nodded. “It’s a bit better now, the sensation isn’t as intense. “This morning…” He let out a heavy sigh. My heart skipped a beat. Oh no, maybe it really is something serious! I quickly took off the prayer beads, holding them in my hand to steady my nerves, and walked briskly over. “Are you okay?” Scott jumped when he saw me approach. “W-what are you doing here?” He seemed to realize something and shot a look back at Kevin. I quickly spoke up: “Don’t blame him, I was worried about you and forced him to tell me. “What exactly is wrong?” Scott turned his flushed face away, avoiding my eyes. He gritted his teeth and said with profound embarrassment, “It’s nothing. Just leave.” Here we go again with this attitude. He still didn’t want to talk to me. I looked at Kevin. This time, he didn’t say anything either. Feeling anxious, I started frantically rolling the prayer beads in my hand. Almost simultaneously. Scott let out a muffled groan. His hands gripped the back of the chair in front of him with a death grip. His abdomen trembled as if he were enduring some inhuman torture. I screamed, “Doctor! Someone find a doctor, hurry!” Even though I knew he was probably just unwell… For some inexplicable reason… His current state looked incredibly erotic. It made my heart flutter with a strange itch. I rolled the beads in my hand faster and faster. Scott’s reaction became even more intense. His voice was low and hoarse, completely refusing to look at me: “Leave! Get out of here!” How could I possibly leave? Seeing him like this, I had no idea what was actually wrong. I placed my hand on his shoulder. I bent down, looking directly into his eyes, coaxing him with the utmost tenderness: “Are you in a lot of pain? Don’t worry, the doctor will be here soon. “Don’t be afraid. Even if there really is a problem, I don’t care. “Scott, I like you, the person, not anything else…” Scott bit his lower lip hard, staying silent. The veins on his hands bulged, and he was trembling uncontrollably. But then, he suddenly relaxed and slumped back against the chair. Looking as if his entire world had just collapsed. “Are you… are you not in pain anymore?” I stopped rolling the beads. Terrified that something terrible had happened, I was beside myself with worry. “Scott, say something! What exactly just happened to you?!” Kevin suddenly seemed to realize something. A bizarre flush crept up his face. Then he came over, took my arm, and gently turned me around. “Ms. Quinn, we have to go in for an examination soon. It’s really not appropriate for you to stay here. “The boss hasn’t had breakfast yet. Why don’t you go downstairs and buy him a pastry or something? “I’ll stay here with him.” I looked back at Scott’s current state. I nodded. “Okay, take good care of him. “Kevin, he’s the only man I want to marry. You absolutely cannot let anything happen to him.” “I understand, I understand completely, Ms. Quinn.” Kevin offered an ambiguous smile. “The boss… it shouldn’t be anything major. “Probably just a bit too much stress lately. “We’ll know for sure once he sees the doctor. “Don’t worry, you two will have a very happy life together.” Hearing him say that… I finally felt a little relieved. “I’ll go downstairs and buy breakfast then.” 5 “Boss, Ms. Quinn went downstairs.” Scott leaned back in his chair, looking completely drained of all worldly desires. “Kevin, do you think she could tell?” “No, boss, you… you had your jacket covering it.” “Heh.” Scott let out a cold laugh. “What exactly is wrong with me? “I’m only twenty-four, could I be…” This was a matter of a man’s dignity! Kevin quickly sneaked a glance at Scott’s lap. “I really don’t know what the situation is… “But boss, I think maybe it’s time you got a girlfriend. “You’re always busy with work, and under a lot of mental stress. Without an outlet for release, naturally… naturally, various issues can arise.” Scott stared at him intently. “What about you? You don’t have a girlfriend either, right? “Why aren’t you experiencing these symptoms?” Kevin innocently raised his right hand. “I do have a girlfriend.” Scott’s face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot. Just then, the doctor called his number. He and Kevin went in together. After listening to Scott describe his symptoms. The balding male doctor pushed his glasses up his nose. “This situation… “Take off your pants, let me take a look.” Scott looked a bit embarrassed. “Um, the thing is, I couldn’t control it out there just now…” “Oh.” The doctor nodded nonchalantly. He conducted a thorough examination. “It looks very healthy, no issues at all, everything is perfectly normal. “But the situation is a bit more complicated than I thought. “You said earlier that you constantly feel like someone is touching you, right?” Scott nodded, his expression solemn. “Yes.” Kevin wanted to laugh, but didn’t dare. He turned around to study the ceiling. The doctor rested his chin on his hand and delivered his diagnosis. “Perhaps this is a psychological issue? “Why don’t you try seeing a psychiatrist?” 6 I came back upstairs with the breakfast. Scott and Kevin hadn’t come out yet. I sat in the waiting chair outside for a long time. Finally, they emerged from the consultation room. I walked up to them, holding out the pastry. “Scott, I got you some breakfast.” He usually never even looked me in the eye. But today, he took the pastry as if all the fight had drained out of him. “Thank you.” Something wasn’t right. I looked at Kevin. I mouthed the words: “What happened?” Kevin shook his head and said nothing. “Scott, what exactly is wrong with you? Say something!” I was so anxious I was ready to jump out of my skin. Even if he really couldn’t “perform” anymore, I needed to know! Scott turned his back to me. His tone was no longer as composed as usual. “Chloe, please stop liking me. “You won’t be happy with me.” This rejection was different from before! I sensed that something was very wrong. Looking at his devastated expression, was he really… impotent? I was burning with anxiety. I quickly took out the prayer beads and started rolling them again. The tall figure in front of me suddenly dropped to one knee, clutching his lower abdomen. Kevin was so shocked he almost screamed. “Boss!” I tried to follow to see what was happening. Scott reached an arm out behind him. “Don’t come any closer!” He gasped heavily: “I… my stomach hurts, I need to go to the restroom. “Kevin, help me get over there, hurry!” “Right away, boss! I’ve got you.” Kevin acted like a worried mother hen. He supported Scott, who could barely walk steadily, toward the restroom. I gritted my teeth and resolutely turned around, marching right back into the consultation room they had just left.

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After getting accepted into an Ivy League university, I immediately cut all ties with my destitute father. A year later, he made a massive comeback in the business world and adopted a daughter who was sweeter and more obedient than I ever was. During a live New Year’s Eve broadcast, I called in to send him my blessings: “Happy New Year, Dad. I wish you health, peace, and happiness.” My dad scoffed coldly. “Don’t call me Dad. I don’t have a daughter like you!” I lowered my eyes, choking back a sob, but kept a smile on my face. “I’m sorry. This is the last time I’ll ever call you Dad.” He sneered. “The last time? I hope you mean it’s the last time before you drop dead.” Hearing this, the host looked absolutely shocked and asked: “Mr. Sterling… you didn’t know? This was pre-recorded by your daughter.” “And she really is… just as you said… dead.” 1 “Dead?” My dad’s sneer froze on his lips, a flash of unease crossing his eyes. But he quickly regained his composure. “Is this some kind of stunt for the broadcast?” The host tried to explain, but my pre-recorded message continued: “Next, I’d like to sing a song for my dad.” Clearing my throat, I fought down the urge to cry and began to sing: “I wish I could be like before~ holding your warm hand~ But you aren’t by my side~ so I ask the wind to bring you peace… Thank you for everything you did~ holding up our home with your two hands~ Always giving your all~ giving the best to me…” I choked on the final notes, barely finishing the song. The moment the tears fell, I scrambled out of the camera’s view. Only my tearful, shaking voice could be heard on the recording: “Dad, being your daughter in this life was my greatest luck.” The broadcast call ended there. My dad’s face remained impassive. “Hmph. What a fake, hypocritical act.” The live chat, however, was filled with a barrage of mockery: “LMAO, why is Chloe Sterling trying to stay relevant right now?” “A good education filters out bad students, not bad people!” “Did her Ivy League school find out she’s a terrible person and kick her out? Is that why she’s coming back to play the victim now that Mr. Sterling is rich again?” “I know, right? It feels like reading a satisfying revenge novel. The evil daughter abandons her poor dad for glory, does every terrible thing imaginable, and ends up with a miserable ending.” My ending was indeed miserable. I died in excruciating pain. But I clearly never did any terrible things. I used to give my dad massages when he was tired. I did the laundry and cooked for him. In my short nineteen years of life, the only “terrible” thing I ever did… Was cutting ties with him the year he was at his absolute lowest. But I didn’t want to do it. I was sick. If I didn’t do it, I would have dragged my dad down with me… The host finally spoke up to explain: “Mr. Sterling, this is not a stunt for the broadcast. Please, look at the main screen…” 2 Quickly, my figure appeared on the large screen in the studio. The background was outside an oncology ward. But the very next second, I held up a medical file to block the camera lens, my tone incredibly impatient: “I said I’m not filming! Can you stop following me?!” From off-camera, a mature and very sincere woman’s voice replied: “Little girl, my name is Sarah. I’m not a scammer. I’m from the production crew of the documentary series Screw Cancer. I can help you.” I pulled the medical file away, revealing my gaunt, bloodless face to the camera. But quickly, I shoved the file right back in front of the lens, pointing to the diagnosis: “Do you know what wild-type colorectal cancer is? “Do you know what a fetal-differentiated adenocarcinoma is? “This is a cancer I was born with. It’s an ultra-rare disease. There are only 5 cases in the entire country. “There is no targeted chemotherapy protocol for it. “The doctor said I have a year to live, at most.” A heavy silence fell over the video. I just offered a weak, bitter smile: “Helping me is useless. It’s a dead end. You should find someone else.” With that, I turned to walk away. “Our production offers a very high appearance fee. If you agree to film, you’ll have the money for treatment.” The woman grabbed my arm. I shook my head, smiling bitterly. “Proton therapy. It’s currently the only chemo that has a slight effect on me. Do you know how much one session costs?” I held up five fingers. “Fifty thousand dollars.” I pulled her hand off my arm, turned, and walked away. But the very next second, I suddenly collapsed to my knees, falling hard onto the floor. The camera shook violently, and from off-screen came a panicked scream: “Little girl!” 3 [Goodbye to the Rest of My Life, Part 2 – September 10, 2023 – Everyone Goes Bald] “You’re this year’s top liberal arts student in the state, the Chloe Sterling who got accepted into an Ivy League, right?” I had just sat down in the salon chair and looked visibly annoyed: “What are you doing here again?” Sarah’s voice was as gentle as an older sister’s: “You’re trending online. Everyone is calling you an ungrateful brat. They’re saying your dad worked himself to the bone to put you through school, but you abandoned him because he’s broke and ‘beneath you’ now. “But they don’t know you have cancer. If we film a documentary about you, you can clear your name.” I looked at my reflection in the mirror and offered a very ugly smile: “I want them to think I’m an ungrateful brat. Especially… my dad.” After saying that, I ignored her. I just touched the ends of my hair, lowered my eyes, and smiled bitterly. My voice was so quiet it was barely a whisper: “I’m sorry, Dad. I couldn’t protect your favorite hair.” When I looked up again, my eyes were red. “Tony, please shave it all off.” Hearing this, the stylist looked at me in absolute disbelief: “Are you sure? Your hair is so long and beautiful, and it looks like you take really good care of it.” I did take good care of it. Just a few days ago, my dad was the one helping me condition it. He loved washing my hair the most. I nodded firmly, speaking as if it were the most normal thing in the world: “I have cancer. Even if I don’t cut it now, it’s all going to fall out once I start chemo.” The stylist didn’t say another word. With shaking hands, he began to shave my head. Two minutes later, I was completely bald. I stood up, thanked him, and prepared to pay, but the stylist stopped me: “It’s on the house. You don’t have to pay.” I moved his hand away anyway and scanned the QR code to pay. “I don’t need anyone’s pity.” But the very next second, the stylist took the clippers and started shaving his own head. “Then I’ll keep you company. I think a shaved head actually looks pretty cool.” I stood frozen in place. Before I could even process what was happening, Sarah spoke up too: “Shave mine too. I’ve always wanted to try the bald look.” Before I could stop her, her beautiful, shiny hair fell to the floor. Two streams of tears rolled down my cheeks. “You guys really didn’t have to do this… I’m honestly… okay…” But neither of them spoke. They just looked at me and smiled—a goofy, earnest smile. Stepping out of the salon, I turned and faced the camera: “I agree to film. I don’t want to owe anyone anything.” 4 [Goodbye to the Rest of My Life, Part 3 – September 11, 2023 – Silent Fatherly Love] “Why did you cut ties with your dad? Wouldn’t it be better to face this together?” Sarah’s voice came from off-camera. I smiled bitterly. “No!” “Why?” Sarah looked confused. I didn’t answer. I just took out my phone and pulled up a news video I had saved in my photo album from three years ago. Soon, my dad’s face appeared on the phone screen. It was 2:00 AM. He was wearing a food delivery uniform, squatting on the curb, eating a bowl of plain noodles. He was only in his early forties then, but his temples were already graying. The reporter asked him: “Sir, why are you just eating a plain bowl of noodles?” My dad was eating like it was a feast. He just replied: “It’s enough.” The reporter asked again: “You’re holding a bag of meat, why aren’t you eating that?” My dad looked at the bag of meat, a massive smile on his face: “Saving it for my daughter’s breakfast tomorrow, hehe.” The reporter asked a third time: “Why work so hard? Delivering food in the middle of the night?” My dad seemed to think of something. The exhaustion vanished from his face instantly, replaced by overwhelming pride: “My daughter got into a really good high school. It’s the best high school in the state, so it costs money, hehe.” A moment of silence in the video. My dad kept his head down, quickly finishing his noodles, and hopped back onto his electric scooter. The reporter encouraged him: “Keep going, sir!” My dad waved his hand. “Just gotta get the job done!” The video ended there. Even though I had watched it countless times, my tears still flowed uncontrollably. I sniffled and smiled: “When I got home from school during the day, ‘Comrade’ Sterling would always have a hot meal waiting for me. But one day, school let out early, and he wasn’t home. I asked him where he was, and he lied, saying he was out at a fancy dinner with friends. But he was actually out delivering food.” “At night, while I was asleep, he would sneak out to do deliveries. He thought I didn’t know, but I knew everything…” “That was when I secretly swore to myself that I would study as hard as I could, get into the best university in the country, and repay him.” “Later on… I did get in, but now I don’t have the chance to repay him anymore…” I finished my sentence with a smile, but why? Why do people cry when they smile? I tilted my head back to wipe the tears away, my voice cracking as I asked Sarah: “Sarah, guess what Comrade Sterling would do if he knew I had cancer?” Sarah looked at me, speechless. “He would sell his blood. He would sell his kidneys.” My heart trembled as I said it: “Actually, to save up for my senior year tuition and living expenses, he tried to secretly sell his blood and his kidney. Thank god I found out and threatened to kill myself to stop him…” I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye: “Before I left, his startup project finally caught the eye of an angel investor. “They say when one person gets cancer, the whole family suffers. “If an angel investor found out a family had a sickly burden like me, do you think they’d still be willing to invest?” Sarah’s voice trembled: “Chloe…” I shook my head, signaling that I was okay. “The cancer will take my life, but a $50,000 chemo session… that would take my dad’s life.” Sarah pressed her lips together, her eyes starting to turn red. I sniffled, smiling: “The day I left, I used the most vicious words possible to absolutely destroy Comrade Sterling. “He got on his knees and begged me. He said he was going to make a lot of money soon, and asked me to just wait one more year. In one year, he would make me the happiest princess in the world. “Do you know? I wanted so badly to stay. To wait for him year after year, to grow old with him. “But… I don’t have the time to wait…” The tears fell like broken beads, splashing down one by one. I frantically wiped the tears from my face and pleaded: “Sarah, can you promise not to release these videos until after I’m dead?” The camera started to shake. Sarah choked on a sob: “Chloe, you’re not going to die. You can be cured…” In the video, I swallowed hard, tears shimmering in my eyes. “If you don’t promise me, then I won’t film anymore.” Her crying became more audible: “Okay. I promise…” 5 [Goodbye to the Rest of My Life, Part 4 – November 3, 2023 – A Little Chemo? Handled!] In this video, I was visibly much thinner than in the previous ones. The slight baby fat I used to have was gone, my cheeks completely hollow. The cancer cells were spreading rapidly. The pain was so agonizing I could only lie flat on the hospital bed like a dead fish. “Can you give me a painkiller injection?” My voice was incredibly weak. I pulled $1,340 out from under my pillow and handed it to Sarah. It was my entire life savings. Sarah sniffled and took the money. But the very next second, she shoved the money right back under my pillow. “What painkiller injection? You need to start chemo immediately. “I asked the doctor. If you don’t start chemo, at the rate the cancer is spreading, you won’t even make it past the end of the year…” I offered a weak smile. “That’s fine too. Better to get it over with quickly than to suffer for a long time…” But Sarah wasn’t having it. “I already paid for your first chemo session. The doctor will be here to take you in shortly.” “Where did you get the money?” I forced myself to sit up despite the excruciating pain. She gently pushed me back down, her eyes darting away. “Our production crew applied for a grant for you. It’s your appearance fee. Just use it, don’t worry about it.” I wanted to ask more questions, but the doctor arrived to wheel me into the chemo room. Very quickly, I was hooked up to countless tubes, and an oxygen mask was placed over my mouth. The doctor didn’t allow filming for the actual treatment. Sarah pointed the camera at the closed door of the chemo room. A few moments later, my agonizing, blood-curdling screams echoed through the camera. It was horrifying. The doctor lied to me! Didn’t he say the soundproofing was great and I could scream as loud as I wanted?! Zero stars! Half an hour later, the chemo was finally over. I was wheeled out of the room. Seeing Sarah’s camera, I immediately turned my face away. But the camera still captured my pathetic state—my face completely covered in snot, tears, and drool. I quickly wiped my face clean, met Sarah’s deeply worried gaze, and flashed a massive smile. “A little chemo? Handled!” I made a pinch gesture with my hand. Sarah covered my hand with hers, her voice hoarse: “You did so great!” “I made lunch for you. I cooked it myself. I don’t know if you’ll like it.” On the hospital table, there were three dishes and a soup. It looked and smelled amazing. My eyes sparkled. “Wow! These are all my favorites! Thank you so much, Sarah.” I looked at the camera and started imitating those Mukbang streamers. “Let me show everyone what a colorectal cancer patient eats after a chemo session.” I held up each dish to the camera to show them off. Then I ate with immense relish, actually eating half a bowl more rice than usual. From off-camera, Sarah kept praising me, telling me I was doing great. I exaggerated my expressions to respond: “It’s all because your cooking is so good, Sarah! It tastes just like my dad’s cooking. I want to lick the plate clean.” I picked up the plate, pretending I was about to lick it. Sarah stopped me sternly. “No licking the plate.” She set the camera down on the table and packed up the thermos containers. The moment Sarah walked out of the room, my expression instantly turned to pure agony. I scrambled out of bed, hugging the trash can, vomiting uncontrollably. When my face appeared on camera again, it was covered in tears from vomiting so violently. “Please don’t misunderstand… “Sarah’s food really is incredibly delicious. “It’s just that the side effects of the chemo are getting worse, that’s why I’m throwing up…” 6 [Goodbye to the Rest of My Life, Part 5 – December 31, 2023 – The Last Day of the Year, The Last Day of My Life.] “Chloe, what do you want to do on the very last day of 2023? I’ll make it happen.” The scene cut. I was busy picking out a pretty hat for myself. Hearing her, I raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You said it, not me.” I mysteriously dragged her into a car. In the car, she couldn’t help but ask me again: “Chloe, where exactly are we going?” I grinned. “To pick out a grave.” Sarah almost dropped the camera, her eyes instantly turning red. “Chloe…” But I acted like it was no big deal. “Sarah, I did my research. Picking a grave with good Feng Shui is super important. “They say if you’re buried in a good spot, it guarantees a healthy, disease-free next life. It’ll guarantee I get to be Comrade Sterling’s daughter again…” When it was time to get out of the car, the smile on my face became stiff. Because by this point, I could no longer walk. Sarah helped me into a wheelchair. After looking around and being picky, I chose the cheapest plot and said very seriously: “I did the calculations. This plot is the best. If I’m buried here, I’ll definitely be reincarnated into a great life next time.” Sarah pressed her lips together and nodded, looking up at the sky, avoiding my eyes. By the time we got back to the hospital, I was hooked up to an oxygen tank again. At this moment, there were only five minutes left in 2023. Fireworks were going off non-stop outside. A huge crowd had gathered in front of the massive screen on the mall across from the hospital, waiting for the countdown. The TV on the wall was playing the New Year’s Eve gala. Sarah sat by my bed, keeping me company. I spoke first: “Sarah, after I die, will you remember me forever?” Sarah choked back a sob. “Absolutely.” I shook my head. “No. After one year, you have to forget me.” Sarah didn’t answer. She just asked: “Then can you promise me that you’ll keep living well in the new year?” I smiled. “How about we play Rock-Paper-Scissors? If I win, we do it my way. If you win, we do it your way.” In the end, I lost. At that moment, the New Year’s countdown started playing on the TV. On the big screen outside the window, the numbers flashed: 10, 9, 8, 7… Feeling a premonition, the exact second the clock struck midnight, I looked steadily at Sarah and said: “Happy New Year, Sarah.” “Happy New Year to you too, Chloe. You have to honor our bet.” My lips curved into a massive, wide smile. “Okay… “Sarah, I have a secret to tell you. I miss my dad so, so much…” The next second, the heart monitor let out a piercing, continuous alarm. My heartbeat flatlined.

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On the day of our tenth wedding anniversary, my husband’s ten-year long project—a time machine—was finally completed. He was going to take our son back to the past, to be reunited with his deceased first love. Before leaving, my son rolled his eyes at me: “You’re just a nanny, don’t hold up Dad from seeing Auntie Chloe!” My husband’s expression was cold: “Mia, I’ve already sold this house, you should move out as soon as possible.” I let out a cold laugh: “Don’t regret it.” Following them to the laboratory, at the very last second the machine booted up, I reached out my hand into the glow. The father and son had no idea that, in order to save my original husband and daughter, I had been waiting for this exact moment for ten whole years. 1 Ethan Vance’s research was finally successful. He was going to take his son, Leo Vance, and rewind time to return to ten years ago. And I heard this news from the TV. Today was our tenth wedding anniversary. I had just finished making dinner and was waiting for him to come home. As soon as he walked in the door, I went to greet him: “Ethan, I made your favorite dishes to celebrate our tenth anniversary.” Ethan just sighed slightly: “Mia, it’s over. You took good care of the two of us for ten years, but I still can’t forget Chloe.” Underneath his gold-rimmed glasses, his cold eyes showed no emotion, as if he were stating an entirely ordinary fact. I was holding a hot plate, but I felt completely numb. Looking at the man in a suit before me, I subconsciously searched for the mole near his eye, “Ethan, do you want a divorce?” “My research was successful, I’m going to go find Chloe.” He said. My fingertips were burnt red by the plate, and only belatedly did I loosen my grip. The plate crashed to the ground, scattering the exquisite food everywhere. I widened my eyes in disbelief: “You mean… you’re going back? Back to ten years ago?” Chloe Sinclair was Ethan’s first love. She had passed away ten years ago due to an accident, and Ethan had never been able to forget her. “Yes. I will take Leo back with me.” Thinking about reuniting with Chloe soon, a hint of a smile flashed across his eyes. I stepped forward and frantically grabbed his arm, “What about me, Ethan, what am I? Today is our tenth anniversary…” “Mia, we are done.” Ethan mercilessly pried my fingers off, one by one. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms, but I felt no pain. “So you’re abandoning me?” “Leo, are you leaving Mom too?” The son I had painstakingly raised rolled his eyes at me, walked over to Ethan, and looked me up and down with a hint of contempt. “You’re old and ugly, always staying at home looking like a worn-out housewife. You can’t even compare to Auntie Chloe. Don’t delay me and Dad from finding Auntie Chloe. I want Auntie Chloe to be my mom!” Looking at the two of them, I felt a mix of complex emotions. When Leo was sick, I stayed up for nights on end, my eyes red from exhaustion, to take care of him. Back then, he was like a little sticky rice ball, tugging on my pinky finger calling me Mom, bringing me origami cranes he learned to make in kindergarten crafts class, and softly calling me “Mommy”. But as he grew up, he only complained about my nagging, treating me like a nanny, saying I wasn’t as glamorous as other moms. “Face reality, I won’t be coming back. I’ve also signed a donation agreement for this house, giving it to the foundation I established for Chloe. As for you, pack your bags and move out as soon as possible.” Ethan added. I just felt it was a bit ridiculous. They were leaving and still remembered to donate the house to Chloe’s foundation? “Okay,” I took a deep breath, “I hope you don’t regret it.” “Regret? I’d only regret not being able to be with Chloe!” Ethan said, enunciating every word. After saying that, he took Leo and drove away. He didn’t notice that I drove another car and tailed right behind them. Inside the lab, Ethan and Leo’s eyes were filled with excitement and anticipation. On the table, an instrument was emitting a blinding light. “Dad, can we really use this to go back and find Auntie Chloe?” Leo rolled his round eyes, a curious expression on his face. “Yes.” Ethan curled the corners of his lips. Hearing Leo mention Chloe, a rare tenderness flashed across his face. It was a look I had never seen before. Upon hearing this, Leo’s eyes lit up. “I love Auntie Chloe the most! She’s so beautiful, like a fairy. Look at Mom, she looks like a worn-out housewife. I don’t want a worn-out housewife to be my mom.” Ethan patted his head: “Don’t worry, when we go back to the past, Auntie Chloe will be your mom.” Look, my ten years of care and companionship were met with such disdain in their eyes, they were even willing to take the massive risk of time travel just to go back and find Chloe. But none of that matters now. Until the father and son disappeared into the halo of light, I took three steps at a time and rushed in, reaching out to touch the machine just as the halo was fading. The next second, a powerful force sucked me in. When I regained my senses, I was standing on an empty street. Everything before my eyes was both unfamiliar and familiar; I had really returned to ten years ago. I was ecstatic, but suddenly a voice next to me said, “Why are you here too?” I looked up and met Ethan’s dark eyes. “You didn’t follow us here to cause trouble, did you! Mia, give up, even if you’re here, it’s impossible for us to be together.” He frowned, his face full of defensiveness. “Bad woman, don’t hurt Dad and Auntie Chloe!” Leo, who had turned back into a four-year-old, stood in front of Ethan, clenching his little fists as if I were his enemy. I pursed my lips, opening my mouth with a bewildered expression: “Excuse me, do you have the wrong person?” Ethan was slightly taken aback, the look in his eyes when he looked at me still written with mistrust. “Wrong person? You think I’ll believe you if you pretend like this, Mia, what are you scheming!” I ignored Ethan, turning around to leave. “You can’t leave!” Ethan grabbed my wrist, “Explain yourself clearly, did you intentionally follow us, do you want to ruin things between me and Chloe?” My wrist hurt from his grip, I forcefully shook off his hand, stumbling back a few steps and bumping into someone behind me. The girl behind me cried out, I was just about to apologize, when a sharp slap landed heavily on my cheek. Ethan spat on the ground, “Mia, you are truly vicious!” I gritted my teeth and looked up, only to see Ethan holding the girl I had bumped into in his arms, looking at her as if he were looking at a lost and found treasure. “Chloe, are you okay?” He asked in a low voice, his tone gentle. “Are you blind.” Leo yelled, then trotted over to Chloe, his face full of concern. Oh, so they know how to care about people too? I remembered when I was in so much pain from acute gastroenteritis that I couldn’t get out of bed, I asked Ethan to buy medicine for me. He frowned and said coldly: “Can’t you buy it yourself? I have to go to the research institute for a project, I’m very busy.” Then he grabbed his bag and left without looking back, leaving me, who was pale with pain and almost fainting, in the room. I asked Leo to call a doctor for me, but Leo was playing a game on his phone and looked at me impatiently: “Wait until I finish this round.” It wasn’t until a few hours later when the cleaning lady came and saw that I had fainted from pain and called an ambulance for me that I narrowly escaped death. But now, Chloe was just accidentally bumped, the son mocked me, and the husband Ethan actually hit me! It was truly ridiculous. Chloe leaned against Ethan’s chest, her pale little face slightly red around the eyes, looking as if she had suffered a great grievance. “Mia, apologize to Chloe!” Ethan turned to look at me sitting on the ground, his face full of anger. “I’m fine, this miss didn’t mean it either…” Chloe bit her lip and said, “Ethan, who is she?” Ethan was taken aback for a moment: “She…” “Auntie Chloe, she is a bad woman who likes my dad!” Leo immediately interjected. Hearing Leo’s words, the look in Chloe’s eyes when she looked at me flickered. “I see… Sorry, am I bothering you guys?” She lowered her eyes and said in a small voice. “No, I have no relationship with her whatsoever.” Ethan hurriedly explained, distancing himself from me. Ten years of marital affection, lightly brushed off with one sentence “no relationship whatsoever”. I laughed self-deprecatingly, struggling to get up from the ground: “This gentleman, I don’t even know you, and you push me and hit me, and now you’re saying these weird things, are you sick?” “Stop pretending, you’re here, who would believe it if you said you weren’t following me?” Ethan furrowed his brows tightly, the look in his eyes when he looked at me full of disgust. “I told you, I will not like you, stop bothering me.” “Yeah! Dad only likes Auntie Chloe, give up!” Leo chimed in from the side. Just then, a familiar yet unfamiliar male voice came from across the street. “Mia!” Looking up in the direction of the voice, a man in a white shirt and dress pants was waiting for the traffic light on the other side. He was holding an ice cream in his left hand and holding a cute little girl in his right hand, the little girl was waving at me. My fingers couldn’t help but tremble slightly, and my nose began to ache uncontrollably. The red light turned green, he picked up the girl with one hand, and was about to walk over. “Julian! Don’t move from there!” Seeing this, I couldn’t care less about anything else, and screamed out loud. Julian was startled by me, he paused and stopped where he was. The next second, a large truck that ran a red light sped past right by his body. My heart felt as if it was being pulled by something, a suffocating feeling of drowning made me unable to breathe at all. After confirming time and again that there were no more cars, Julian then jogged over to me holding the child. “That really startled me just now.” He put the child down, patted his chest, and said with lingering fear. Then he handed me the pink ice cream in his hand, “Here, Mia, your favorite strawberry ice cream.” He curled the corners of his lips, his eyes full of smiles. “Julian… Lily…” Looking at these two faces I hadn’t seen for ten years, I was still somewhat in shock. Julian stuffed the ice cream into my hand, and ruffled the top of my head: “What’s wrong, I just went to buy you an ice cream, why do you look like you’re about to cry.” “Mom, what’s wrong with you?” Lily’s tender voice sounded, she reached out a small hand to me, “Lily wants a hug from Mom.” My heart was beating fast, I took a deep breath, bent down to pick up Lily, and kissed her on the cheek: “Mom is fine, Mom just missed Lily.” “Why are your cheeks a little swollen? What happened just now?” Julian carefully noticed my injury. I shook my head: “It’s fine, got bitten by two mad dogs.” “Who are you calling mad dogs?” Ethan stared dead at Julian and Lily, his face already as black as the bottom of a pot. “Whoever answers is the mad dog.” I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. “Dad… this person… looks like you…” Leo tugged at Ethan’s clothes, suddenly speaking in a small voice, his words were like adding fuel to the fire, Ethan immediately angrily said: “Mia, who are these people?” I blinked, looked at the beautiful tear mole under Ethan’s eye, and then looked at Julian who had a tear mole in the same place. Not very similar really, just that between the eyebrows, there was indeed a bit of a resemblance. “This gentleman, this is my husband and daughter. I have already said you have the wrong person.” I licked the ice cream and said slowly, “I don’t know you.” Seeing Ethan’s unfriendly tone, Julian immediately stood in front of me, frowning and saying: “Who are you? Please don’t harass my wife and daughter.” “Wife? Daughter? Hehe, Mia, how come I didn’t see before, you actually have someone else behind my back? You really have good tricks!” Ethan only felt that he had been deceived and his self-esteem insulted, but I firmly bit that I didn’t know him, making him feel a sense of powerlessness like punching cotton. “Ethan…” Seeing Ethan very angry, Chloe couldn’t help but say, “Don’t be angry, didn’t you say you have no relationship with her?” “Right, of course we have no relationship.” Ethan snorted coldly, “Mia, don’t regret and come begging me!” “You’re overthinking it.” I said coldly. “Dad, Auntie Chloe, let’s go to the amusement park!” Leo, seeing his favorite Chloe, didn’t want to see any more entanglement between Ethan and me, and couldn’t help urging. Ethan pursed his lips, his jawline so sharp it seemed like it could cut me. He endured and clenched his fists, finally leaving a sentence: “Fine, take care of yourself.” Then he took Chloe and Leo and strode away. I glanced at the backs of the three of them, then withdrew my gaze without any nostalgia. “Mia, let’s go home.” Julian took my hand, his warm fingers interlacing with mine. He didn’t know, this sentence of going home, I had waited a full ten years for. “Julian…” The ice cream in my hand slipped and fell to the ground, I threw my arms around his neck, holding him and Lily in my arms. Tears finally couldn’t help but fall. “I missed you guys so much, Julian…” I cried bitterly, my snot and tears wetting his clothes. “What’s wrong with you?” Seeing me crying so hard I couldn’t catch my breath, Julian became visibly flustered. He clumsily took out a tissue to wipe my tears, while gently patting my back. “Mia, did that man just now bully you? What happened when I went to buy ice cream? Don’t cry, I’ll go teach him a lesson!” Julian waved his fist, pretending to chase Ethan, I hugged him tightly, and said in a muffled voice: “No, Julian, don’t leave me, not even for a minute.” 4 Ten years ago, Julian took Lily across the street to buy ice cream, but was hit by a large truck that ran a red light while crossing the road. At that time, I was standing right opposite them. That scene became the pain of my life. I held back my grief and organized the funeral for Julian and Lily, preparing to follow them, but accidentally bumped into Ethan on the road and picked up his folder. I flipped through it casually, only to find that an entire folder was about researching time travel. Not only that, inside that folder, were Ethan’s ID and photos. On the ID photo, his face was five-parts similar to Julian, especially the tear mole at the corner of the eye. And below the photo, a line of small print caught my attention. “Member of Quantum Mechanics Research Group, City B Research Institute” An incredible idea gradually appeared in my mind. If he really could research a method for time travel, could Julian and Lily come back to life? Holding this secret thought, I approached Ethan, married him, helped him take care of Leo, and placed all my longing for Julian and Lily on them. Facts proved that I bet right. I held Lily in one hand and Julian in the other, feeling like I was dreaming. For the past ten years, I had dreamt of reuniting with them every night, and now, I was actually able to hold their hands for real. It wasn’t until we reached the door of our house, looking at the familiar door, that I suddenly felt a little timid. I was afraid that, like those dreams, once I pushed the door open, my dream would wake up. “Mia, what’s wrong?” Julian saw me stunned at the door, and pinched my cheek. “Were you scared by that psycho just now? I’ll make you something delicious in a bit.” He took out his key, opened the door, and pulled me in. At a glance, I saw the wedding photo of Julian and me on the wall facing the entrance. When Julian and Lily had their accident, I personally burned that photo to ashes. Seeing me still somewhat absent-minded, Julian found a fairy tale book for Lily, and poured me a cup of hot milk. “Drink some hot milk and rest, the food will be ready soon.” He kissed me gently on the forehead, then tied an apron and went into the kitchen. I sat on the sofa in the living room, looking at Lily quietly reading a book beside me, smelling the aroma of food wafting from the kitchen, my panicked heart suddenly calmed down. Those things no longer existed, what I needed to do now was to cherish the present, cherish every moment with them. Unknowingly, I leaned against the sofa and fell asleep, until Julian gently shook me awake, his tone gentle: “Wife, time to eat.” Seeing him and Lily, tears couldn’t stop flowing from my eyes again. “What’s wrong, you’re a bit strange today.” Julian touched my forehead with some concern. “Are you not feeling well?” I sniffled, shaking my head: “No… I just… really missed eating with you guys…” Julian was stunned by my words, he laughed helplessly: “Then come over quickly, I made your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs.” Lily was already sitting at the dining table waiting for me, seeing me come over, she smiled until her eyes turned into slits, and used a spoon to scoop a big spoonful of sweet and sour pork ribs into my bowl. “Mom, the ribs Lily scooped for you!” “Thank you baby.” I couldn’t help but pinch Lily’s little face, “How is my daughter so cute.” Happy days passed quickly, and unknowingly a year flew by. On this day, Lily’s kindergarten held a parent-child sports day, Julian had to work overtime and didn’t have time, so I had to take Lily alone. For the first game in the afternoon, Lily participated with the other kids. Seeing it was still early, I decided to buy a cotton candy and wait for her at the finish line, to give her a surprise. As I squeezed my way back with the cotton candy, I heard some parents whispering. “Seems like kids are fighting over something over there, a little girl is crying…” My heart suddenly clenched, and I ran towards the field, but before I could squeeze into the crowd, Lily’s crying reached my ears. I was instantly furious, pushing aside the spectating parents and rushing to the front. Lily had fallen to the ground, her white T-shirt already stained with mud. She was crying like a little dirty cat. Seeing me come over, she immediately threw herself into my arms. “Wuwuwu, Mom, someone stole my peace lock…” “Who stole it?” Seeing my daughter being bullied for no reason, my face turned cold, my eyes locking onto a little boy next to us who also had his head down, looking like a gray mouse. “How can you steal someone else’s things at such a young age! Where are your parents? I need to talk to them!” Seeing the boy neither speaking nor looking up, I got angry and was about to find the park teacher directly. “Mom, that was originally my thing, you gave it to me!” The boy suddenly spoke with a crying voice, full of grievance. 5 Mom? I stopped and turned around, right into the tearful eyes of the little boy, it was none other than Leo. “That was the birthday present you gave me, how could you give it to someone else…” His small face was scrunched up, full of grievance. The surrounding parents seeing this also began to whisper. “So it’s a family after all? What’s going on with this mom, she can’t even keep an eye on her own kids…” “Is she playing favorites? Look how aggrieved the little boy is, tsk tsk.” I immediately spoke loudly to Leo: “Whose child are you? I am not your mom, my only child is Lily. Hand over what you stole, or I’ll call your parents!” Hearing this, Leo threw a tantrum and rolled on the ground: “Mom, don’t you want me anymore? You clearly are my mom! Why won’t you acknowledge me!” Seeing his unreasonable behavior, Lily wiped her tears, tugging at the corner of my clothes: “Mom, I don’t want it anymore… let’s go…” I nodded and said to Leo: “Fine, keep it if you want it.” With that, I picked up Lily and turned to leave. “Mom, don’t leave!” Leo got up and chased after us. It wasn’t until we reached the back door of the stadium, seeing there was no one around, that I stopped and turned to look at him: “Is there anything else?” Leo held the peace amulet in his hand, pouted and asked me: “Mom, you clearly gave me this peace amulet, why did you give it to someone else?” I just found it very funny. “Leo, I did give you a peace amulet before, but didn’t you look down on it? Your peace amulet has long been thrown in the trash can, right.” When Leo was young, he was sickly. I went to Jiuhua Temple to ask for a peace amulet for him to bless his health. But later he despised me, naturally also despising the things I gave him, and threw the peace amulet away early on. Lily’s peace amulet was something I specially went to Jiuhua Temple to ask for when I first came back, in order to thank the heavens for letting me regain what I lost. “Mom…” Large teardrops rolled down Leo’s face, “Don’t abandon Leo.” A mocking smile formed at the corner of my mouth. “Don’t call me mom, I can’t bear it. Leo, it was you who looked down on me, no matter how good I was to you, I couldn’t compare to Chloe who you didn’t even know. Why are you remembering to call me mom now? Is your new mom not treating you well?” Hearing me mention Chloe, the grievance on Leo’s face deepened: “She, she doesn’t like me at all, she’s not good to me at all…” “Oh, but what does that have to do with me?” I sneered, “This was a choice made by you and your dad. I’m telling you, my only child is Lily, don’t bother us anymore!” After saying that, I walked up to him and snatched Lily’s peace amulet from his hand. “This, you don’t deserve.” Leo seemed not to expect me to be so heartless, the look in his eyes was full of disbelief. “Mia! Leo!” Not far away, it was actually Ethan chasing after us. He ran up to me, panting heavily. On his cold face, there was a rare look of embarrassment and conflict. I looked him up and down. Compared to a year ago, the current Ethan looked much more weathered. His hair was messy, he had a stubble, and his face beneath his glasses was written with exhaustion. Even one of the buttons on his shirt was buttoned wrong. “Mia, long time no see.” He pursed his lips, “You… missed Leo, didn’t you?” I raised an eyebrow: “Are you sick? I have my own child, why would I miss your child?” After being retorted by me, he just rubbed his hands and continued: “Mia, I was wrong before, can you give me and Leo another chance?” This was truly the sun rising from the west? I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please control your ill-mannered child, stop snatching my daughter’s things!” “You!” Ethan’s face finally turned dark. “Mia, how did you turn into this mean look? Leo and I already know we were wrong, what more do you want?” Hearing his words, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Is this the attitude for begging people? So high and mighty. “I don’t want anything, I don’t know you guys, and I don’t want to have any relationship with you! Don’t disturb my life!” I coldly left a sentence, leaving the father and son behind, and hurried away from the stadium with Lily in my arms.

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1 The day the Sterling family went bankrupt, everyone expected me to call off the engagement. Instead, in the pouring rain, I tossed my umbrella aside and helped a completely soaked and defeated Liam Sterling into my car. “I’ll give you a hundred million dollars. If you succeed, you come back and marry me. If you fail, I’ll marry you.” Five years later, Liam made a triumphant return, bringing three publicly traded companies with him. In front of all the media, he announced: “Chloe and I broke off our engagement five years ago.” — For those five years, another woman had been by his side. When he was tired, she offered her shoulder. When he was sad, she comforted him. When he succeeded, she applauded him. They supported each other through thick and thin; they shared the bitter and the sweet; they fell in love. The woman who had casually tossed a hundred million dollars to help him rebuild his empire had now become a complete joke. “Here is three hundred million. Consider my debt of gratitude repaid in full.” The successful Liam Sterling had shed the impulsiveness of his youth, becoming mature, steady, and incredibly sharp. Back then, I was mesmerized by his looks, begging my father like my life depended on it to give him one last chance. Just looking at him now, a possessive urge flared up within me. How pathetic of me. I picked up the card and handed it to my secretary standing behind me. I looked across the table expressionlessly, my tone freezing cold: “Go check the balance. If it’s short by even a single cent, it’s unacceptable.” Hearing this, I watched Liam let out a long breath, looking as if a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. I admired my freshly manicured nails, asking casually: “Do you really think this makes us even?” At that, Liam straightened his back, his expression solemn: “If Ms. Vance ever needs anything in the future, just ask. I, Liam Sterling, will answer every request.” Then he immediately added: “Except marriage.” He said it with absolute sincerity, looking exactly like a man who deeply valued loyalty and honor. But I, it seemed, wasn’t feeling particularly appreciative. “Those emerald earrings you bought at the auction yesterday—I like them. Make sure they’re delivered to me tomorrow morning.” Liam had spent a fortune on those emerald earrings, supposedly as a gift for his fiancée, Mia. I wondered how certain people would react if they saw those earrings on me. Seeing him hesitate, I stood up and headed upstairs, saying without looking back: “If Mr. Sterling doesn’t keep his word, just consider what I said a joke.” The next day, my secretary placed the earrings on my vanity. I held them up to the light for a while. Icy green and crystal clear—truly beautiful. For tonight’s gala, I was wearing a classic, vintage-style evening gown. These earrings would be the perfect match. Liam attended with his fiancée, while I arrived alone. The whispers around me grew louder, entirely focused on why the gift Liam bought for his fiancée was dangling from my ears. Liam’s fiancée, Mia, was currently walking toward me with a bright, sweet smile. “Ms. Vance, Liam already explained everything to me. He used these earrings to repay you for your past kindness.” I took a sip from my champagne glass, turned my back, and had no intention of engaging with her. An ignorant, foolish woman wasn’t worth my energy. She wasn’t giving up. Her tone turned frivolous as she continued to provoke me: “Besides having money, Ms. Vance probably has no idea how to love someone, right? Otherwise, Liam wouldn’t have chosen me.” I looked at the half-empty glass in my hand, feeling it wasn’t satisfying enough. So, I picked up a piece of cake from the table and smashed it violently right into her smug face. “Ah~!” Her shriek drew the eyes of everyone in the room. Liam rushed over immediately, pulling a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe the frosting off Mia’s face. While doing so, he aggressively interrogated me: “Why is Ms. Vance giving my fiancée such a hard time?” I dropped the cake plate, clapped my hands in disgust, and said indifferently: “She ruined my appetite.” Mia hid in Liam’s arms, tears streaming down her face, pressing tightly against his chest like a fragile, delicate little flower. “I just came over to tell Ms. Vance that I didn’t mind her taking my earrings. As long as it helps her vent her anger, I’m willing to do anything.” The moment she said that, my longtime rival, Sarah, crossed her arms and stepped in to play the hero: “Chloe is bullying people again. Using her family’s money to just steal other people’s things everywhere she goes.” Others quickly swarmed in, all condemning me for being an arrogant, domineering, and entitled rich brat. I kept the slight smirk on my lips, maintaining a perfectly polite smile, staring dead into Liam’s dark, unreadable eyes. After a long time. “Let’s go.” Liam carefully supported Mia as they left. Watching their retreating backs, I found it incredibly irritating. We were engaged at eighteen. Back then, Liam was outwardly flamboyant but actually quite reserved. His pale face would flush a youthful pink just from a teasing joke of mine. I loved teasing him—the kind of teasing a woman does to a man she likes. The day his family went bankrupt, it was as if he grew up overnight. His gaze became resolute, his entire being radiating an unyielding, stubborn resilience. I knew he would definitely succeed. I just forgot that once he succeeded, he might not remember our engagement. Do I regret it? I never do things I regret. I can help him rise, and I can also push him right back into the mud. From then on, wherever Liam appeared, I was there. If he tried to buy a plot of land, I would bid double his price and take it. If he bid on a project, I would undercut his price by half and win it. If he wanted to play the money game, Liam Sterling still had a long way to go. When I, Chloe Vance, was dominating this city, he was just struggling to survive in a small town with a mere hundred million dollars. Finally, Liam couldn’t take it anymore and came to my door alone to apologize. He stood in front of me, neither submissive nor arrogant: “Ms. Vance, doing this doesn’t benefit you either. No matter how rich the Vance family is, it can’t withstand this kind of reckless spending.” I heard it loud and clear: he was trying to tell me how to do things. I glanced behind him, calmly retracted my gaze, and asked: “Where is your fiancée? Isn’t she going to come apologize to me?” His lips pressed into a thin line, his body leaning forward slightly, his attitude sincere: “I apologize to you on her behalf for what happened that day. However, Ms. Vance was the one who threw the first punch. No matter what, both sides share the blame.” Then this apology was worthless. A smile played on my lips. I rested my forehead on my hand and sighed in mock regret: “I admit, I went a little too easy on her. You’d better tell her to stay far away from me. The next time I strike, it won’t be just a piece of cake.” Seeing that I was impervious to reason, Liam stopped compromising. His face darkened as he said: “Since Ms. Vance still refuses to let my fiancée go, then we have nothing left to discuss. We’ll see each other in the boardroom.” I leaned back on the sofa, crossed my legs, and looked down at him: “Great. I’ll be waiting.” After leaving my place, Liam started contacting heavyweights in various industries, trying to negotiate partnerships. But in this city, with just one word from me, no one dared to work with him. Plus, when the Sterling family went bankrupt, a lot of people were implicated. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to see him rise again. I didn’t expect Mia to be a social media influencer with ten million followers. She posted a video online, tearfully accusing me of industry monopolization and deliberately targeting Liam. She cried while detailing how incredibly difficult their entrepreneurial journey had been, drawing massive sympathy from netizens. When my secretary showed me the video, I laughed dismissively. I immediately pulled out my phone and called Liam: “Delete the video your fiancée posted within two minutes.” Liam said over the phone: “Everything she said is the truth.” “The truth?” My tone was absolute ice. “Are you sure you want to throw away your last shred of dignity?” Liam was silent for a moment: “I’ll have her delete it.” Only a few people in our inner circle knew that I had given him a hundred million dollars. If that got out on the internet, he would be the one humiliated. He was a businessman. After weighing the pros and cons, a fiancée was nothing. Noah grew up with me. The night Liam and I got engaged, he hugged the stone lion outside my front door and cried all night. The day the Sterling family went bankrupt, he spent tens of millions on fireworks, lighting up the sky all night long. He said: “I’m not doing this for you. I just genuinely despise that guy Liam.” So we colluded together, even though we also constantly bickered. That night, he asked me out to a club to relax and considerately ordered eight male models for me—all of them built like brick houses. After a few drinks, I completely let loose. With an older guy on my left arm and a younger guy on my right, I was having the time of my life. The waiter opened the door to the private room, and through my drunken haze, I thought I saw Liam’s annoying face. Yep, it was him. “Who called him here to ruin the mood?” I asked, annoyed. Noah considerately pulled down the hem of my dress, which had ridden up to my thighs, and bragged smugly: “I did. We needed someone to pour the drinks.” I looked at Noah, acting like a loyal lapdog, not understanding what he was playing at. Noah couldn’t wait to yell at Liam, who was standing by the door like a bouncer: “Are you blind? Hurry up and pour the drinks.” Then he whispered smugly in my ear: “He needs a huge favor from my dad right now. He doesn’t dare disobey me.” So Noah wanted to humiliate Liam. Was he doing it to vent my anger for me? I grudgingly accepted that explanation. While I was spacing out, Liam had already picked up a bottle, half-knelt in front of me, and filled my glass. Adaptable and resilient. That was the phrase that came to mind. The colorful, shifting club lights hit his sharp, handsome face. His eyes were unreadable, looking as if he had no desires whatsoever. Even in this situation, he still acted so high and mighty. I deliberately knocked the glass over. The liquor spilled directly onto his pristine, bright white shirt. His slightly furrowed brow betrayed his displeasure in that moment. “My bad. Pour another one.” The veins on the hand gripping the bottle bulged, his clenched jaw trembling slightly. Every subtle change screamed of his extreme restraint. I picked up the refilled glass, took a sip of the strong liquor—it burned a bit. I grabbed his white collar, yanking him forward, completely erasing the distance between us. So close, I could feel his warm breath hitting my face. I suddenly lunged my face forward. He instinctively turned his head to dodge. That move pissed me off. Unable to hold back, I spat a mouthful of liquor squarely into his face. The droplets slid down his chiseled face, disappearing into his collar, incredibly seductive. I grabbed a tissue from the table, calmly wiped my mouth, and tossed it at his face. “Sorry, couldn’t hold it in.” Liam suddenly stood up. The bottle in his hand was smashed furiously onto the floor, the flying glass shards cutting my exposed calf. “I already paid you the money back. Humiliating me like this is going a bit too far.” “Too far?” I looked at Noah. Noah immediately shook his head: “How is it too far? If you hadn’t helped him back then, who knows what bridge he’d be begging under right now.” I shifted my gaze back to Liam: “Did you hear that? The debt you owe me isn’t just money; it’s a massive favor!” I lifted my injured leg. The blood had already formed a distinct line. “Lick it clean, or I’m having you carried out of here horizontally.” Noah let out an “Ew,” looking completely disgusted: “Aren’t you grossed out?” I rolled my eyes at him: “What do you know? Saliva is antibacterial.” While we were going back and forth, Liam had already turned around, ready to leave. Noah’s bodyguards blocked the door, clearly unwilling to let him go so easily. A commotion erupted outside the door, and Mia burst in. Talk about perfect timing. She stood in front of Liam, posturing like a mother hen protecting her chick. “If you dare touch a single hair on Liam’s head, I swear I won’t let you get away with it.” 2 Looking at this woman, with her inflated sense of self-importance and absolutely zero fear, I laughed even louder. I took two steps forward and stood right in front of her. I reached out and patted her face lightly twice. Just as I was about to do it a third time, Liam grabbed my wrist. “Chloe, don’t push it.” Liam’s warning was blatant, his eyes shooting pure murder. I looked at Noah and asked innocently: “Am I pushing it?” Noah shook his head: “Not at all. Who told her to steal your man?” So I was the real victim here. One was the fiancé I hadn’t even officially broken up with yet, and the other was the woman my fiancé called his fiancée. This relationship was as convoluted as it gets. “Liam, don’t forget, our engagement was never officially canceled. Don’t you think it’s a bit much that you’re running around calling this woman your fiancée?” The light in Liam’s eyes dimmed, his voice raspy: “Our engagement became null and void five years ago.” He looked up, meeting my eyes directly: “You probably don’t know this yet, but when the Sterling family went bankrupt, your father was involved.” I didn’t believe it: “Then why did my father help you?” He looked down and gave a short laugh: “He was just playing a game of cat and mouse. Everyone in the Vance family is the same. Weren’t you also trying to figure out how to drag my father into the mud?” This guy… was he the worm in my stomach? How did he know what I was thinking? In the end, they still ended up fighting. I sat on the sofa, watching coldly. I watched Liam get beaten to the ground by the bodyguards. I watched him bleed from the corner of his mouth. I watched him get a gash on his forehead. Mia was protected underneath him; all she knew how to do was cry and beg for mercy. I hated weak, pathetic women the most, and I hated women who just cried and whined even more. Liam was carried out horizontally. Noah, in a rare display of kindness, had someone take him to the hospital. As he was leaving, he looked over at me. Our eyes met, and my heart skipped a beat. The broken look in his eyes, the messy hair, the bloody, wicked smirk on his lips—it was incredibly captivating. It reminded me of our senior year of high school, when we went to beat up the school bully together. I stood on the sidelines cheering him on, and encouraged by me, he hit harder and harder. I thought to myself back then, This guy is so feral. He’s exactly my type. All these years later, his wildness was deliberately hidden, replaced mostly by endurance and restraint. I wanted to find that man who had once made my heart race. I didn’t believe he had truly vanished. That teenage crush was always mixed with a heavy dose of sheer stubbornness and unwillingness to let go. But a few days later, that unwillingness transformed into absolute, burning rage. In an interview, Liam stated: “The engagement between Ms. Vance and me was canceled five years ago.” Reporters staked out my house, demanding to hear my side of the story. My side of the story was: “Liam Sterling took a hundred million dollars from me to rebuild his empire, and then—he abandoned me!” Half an hour later, headlines screaming “Liam Sterling is a Cheater” and “Mia is a Homewrecker” dominated the news. Mia posted the video of Liam’s injuries online, claiming I had violent tendencies, that I was emotionally unstable, and even that I was a psychopath. Later, she somehow acquired a medical document proving I had actually seen a psychiatrist. The war between Liam and me had only just begun. I changed into a sharp, professional suit and attended my company’s new product launch with a perfect smile. When reporters bombarded me with questions about the drama, I refused to answer or even mention it. “Please focus your attention on our company’s new products.” “Mr. Liam Sterling? I’m not very familiar with him.” “Ms. Mia? Never heard of her.” The gossip-hungry faces turned into masks of pure confusion. They probably really thought I had schizophrenia. We were just tearing each other apart, and now I’m “not familiar” with him? The more I acted like this, the higher the media attention spiked. For new products, controversy always drives sales. It worked out perfectly. Not only did I save a fortune on endorsement fees, but I successfully turned myself into a brand. In a VVVVIP suite at a private hospital, Liam lay in bed with his head wrapped in bandages, scrolling through the news on his phone. I sat next to him, quietly peeling a small apple. I peeled the entire skin off in one continuous strip without breaking it. It was actually quite satisfying. I shoved the apple in Liam’s face. “Eat it.” Liam affectionately patted my head, his eyes soft: “You eat it.” “Suit yourself.” I pulled my hand back and took a massive bite. Crisp, sweet, and actually pretty delicious. Just then, Mia’s loud complaining echoed from outside the door. “Let me in! I want to see how Liam is doing!” The bodyguard’s deep voice replied: “Mr. Sterling ordered that absolutely no one is allowed in.” Mia was unhappy: “Am I just ‘anyone’? I’m his fiancée!” The apple in my hand suddenly lost all its appeal. I tossed it straight into the trash can. I looked toward the door, my usual cold demeanor returning: “The actress you hired is getting a little too into character.” Liam put his phone down, his expression completely flat: “I’ll handle it.” Publicly, the more fiercely Liam and I fought, the more those people would believe he was truly isolated and helpless in this city. The collapse of the Sterling family involved a massive web of people, including members of the Vance family. By walking alone into the lion’s den, Liam was essentially putting everything on the line. To uncover the people who framed his family back then, he had to place himself right in the trap the hunters had set, waiting for them to show their hands and reveal themselves. I was a Vance, I was his fiancée, and I was the one who funded his comeback. Acting as his mortal enemy was the greatest protection I could offer him. The day Liam was discharged from the hospital, reporters completely mobbed the entrance. “Mr. Sterling, were your injuries caused by Ms. Vance?” Mia, standing next to him, looked righteously indignant: “She hired people to do it! That woman is pure evil!” Liam just smiled and didn’t say a word, silently confirming Mia’s accusation. I was sitting in a black Porsche Cayenne parked a distance away, watching the entire scene unfold. My phone suddenly rang. I looked down—it was the main estate. My father wanted me to attend an internal meeting of the major families. The time was set for tonight. Normally, I never got the chance to attend these kinds of gatherings. The only reason he was letting me go today was because the feud between Liam and me had blown up to such a massive scale. Tonight’s main agenda was discussing how to deal with Liam and force him out of the city. The key figures from the Vance, Hayes, and Miller families were all present. Noah and I were the only ones from the younger generation. It seemed the Sterling family’s downfall was indeed highly complex. I kept my head down the entire time, not speaking a single word. When it was over, my father suddenly asked me: “Chloe, what are your thoughts?” Earlier, my father had said he wanted me to use the engagement to pressure Liam, preferably to marry him and tie our interests together. He never trusted the sincerity of the Hayes and Miller families’ cooperation, nor did he believe Liam would spare the Vance family out of nostalgia. He only believed in the immediate, tangible profits right in front of him. I didn’t have the power to defy his orders yet, so I could only obediently agree for now. I immediately texted Liam, telling him that if he had absolutely no other choice, he could agree to it temporarily. My father invited Liam to the Vance estate to “catch up.” Even if it was a deadly trap, he had to come. You have to enter the tiger’s den to catch the tiger cub. I sat to the side, listening to my father threaten Liam into marrying me. As one of the parties involved, I had no right to speak. Liam was resolute: “I will never marry Chloe Vance.” Even though I knew it was all an act, hearing those words still sent a dull ache through my chest. It felt like he was speaking from the absolute bottom of his heart. The man in front of me was aloof, dignified, and possessed an unbreakable spine. Even standing before my father, he was completely unyielding. If… I mean, if… maybe we really wouldn’t ever get married. With a single look from my father, eight bodyguards surrounded Liam from behind. All of them were highly trained professionals. It seemed he was tired of playing nice and was ready to use force. I couldn’t help but tense up, my hands secretly curling into tight fists. Two fists are no match for four hands. After a few exchanges, Liam was pinned to the floor. My father glared down at him coldly, radiating an oppressive, unquestionable authority. “Lock him up for now. Come tell me when he changes his mind.” Following the order, the bodyguards hauled Liam up to the secret room on the second floor. Watching them drag him upstairs, the heavy iron door slamming shut with a BANG sent my memories crashing back to my childhood. My mother was beaten to death in that exact room. I was once locked in there for three days and three nights. My mother’s crime was speaking a few extra words to the family driver. My crime was tutoring a male classmate and missing curfew. My father’s need for control was unimaginably extreme. I had been desperately trying to find a way to escape him for years. Just as Liam said, my father giving me a hundred million dollars back then wasn’t because my begging worked. It was to satisfy his twisted, sadistic amusement. He loved playing with people, watching them struggle and drown in the mud. The harder they fought, the happier he was.

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After being brutally dumped by Chloe, Ethan slept with me when he was vulnerable and drunk. I essentially forced him to marry me. Seven years later, Chloe returned from abroad. Ethan took our son to welcome her back. Everyone in our social circle was waiting to watch me make a fool of myself. Even my own son sided with them, accusing me of being unreasonable and dramatic. He looked at me with disgust, clearly resenting the fact that a woman like me was his mother. That was the moment I finally let go. A forced marriage only breeds bitter resentment. When my editor-in-chief offered me the opportunity to become a war correspondent for Doctors Without Borders, I filled out the application without a second thought. 1 The cake sitting on the dining table began to melt, the frosting drooping sadly down the sides. It looked pathetic and laughable. Ethan had promised me he would pick up our son after work and they would come straight home to celebrate my birthday. I had been sitting at this table for three solid hours. The messages I sent had disappeared into the void. No replies. Or rather, he was too busy to reply. People who usually restricted me from seeing their social media posts were suddenly updating their feeds relentlessly. In the background of one of the photos, a massive pile of luxury gift boxes was visible. In the center was an extravagant, eight-tier custom cake with intricate sugar flowers. Written in elegant icing was: Welcome Home, Chloe. And right below it, in smaller letters: From Ethan. And there they were—two figures I recognized instantly. Ethan, my husband, had his hands gently resting over Chloe’s as they cut the cake together. Leo, my son, was standing beside them, clapping and cheering. Chloe was back. Everyone had rushed to throw her a welcome-home party. No one bothered to invite me. Of course not. Why would anyone invite the woman who shamelessly stole her sister’s boyfriend? That lively, vibrant social media post seemed specifically designed to tell me: Mia, the things you stole using underhanded tactics seven years ago are finally returning to their rightful owner. 2 Seven years ago, Chloe moved abroad for grad school. Ethan was subjected to a brutal, sudden breakup. And I took advantage of his devastation and got into his bed. I forced his hand and made him marry me. I used to have hope. I hoped that, maybe, over the course of these seven years, Ethan would slowly start to fall for me. Or, at the very least, my son would stand by my side. But I failed miserably. I didn’t get either of them. They forgot my birthday to go keep someone else company. It felt like a mess I had created entirely by myself. I couldn’t blame anyone else. The clock on the wall ticked past midnight, heavily signaling the arrival of a new day. I took a knife and smoothed out the drooping frosting on my cake. Forget it. I’m not waiting anymore. With a completely blank expression, I blew out the candles and whispered to the empty room: “Happy Birthday, Mia.” It’s fine. Because after tonight, this will never happen again. My laptop chimed with a notification. My application to be a war correspondent for Doctors Without Borders had passed the initial review. At that exact moment, the front door unlocked. Ethan and Leo walked in. Ethan was holding a small cake box. He immediately launched into an excuse: “Chloe just got back. She doesn’t know her way around anymore, so she needed someone to organize a get-together for her. I’ll make time to celebrate your birthday properly next week.” “Okay.” “Are you still working?” He reached out, intending to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “How did you manage to get frosting in your hair just from eating cake…” Looking at the hand that, just hours ago, had been intimately holding another woman’s, I instinctively flinched and pulled away. “I’ve got a lot of work right now. I need to focus.” His hand froze in mid-air. I didn’t look at them again. I walked straight into the guest bedroom and shut the door. 3 My editor-in-chief’s words echoed in my head. The Eastern Republic is a literal warzone right now. Everyone is desperately trying to flee. Choosing to go there now is not a rational decision. My editor is an older woman, a seasoned journalist who has seen the absolute worst of humanity, yet remains incredibly sharp and resilient. She was worried I was making a reckless, impulsive decision driven by emotional distress. She didn’t approve the transfer immediately. She gave me a few days to seriously consider it. “Your son is only six years old. Are you really willing to leave him behind?” She knew I had a six-year-old son. Leo. But I had already stepped back for his sake once before. It happened at our wedding reception seven years ago. News broke that a shooting had occurred near Chloe’s university in London. Ethan immediately booked the next flight out. I tried desperately to stop him: “By the time you get there, it will be over! The police already announced the shooter was apprehended…” “Mia, how can you be so incredibly selfish?” “She is your biological sister.” His eyes were freezing cold. I stood there, stunned, and slowly let go of his sleeve. He abandoned me at our own wedding reception, leaving me to endure the brutal gossip and mocking stares of every single guest. Back then, I seriously considered just calling the whole thing off. But shortly after, I unexpectedly discovered I was pregnant with Leo. So, I chose to forgive him. “I don’t need to consider it anymore, Chief. I’m going.” 4 In her office, my editor sighed heavily and handed me the final approval forms. She told me to go say my final goodbyes to my family. Given the nature of the assignment, there was no guarantee when—or if—I would ever return. Looking at the familiar number saved in my phone. After agonizing over it, I finally pressed call. I might never come back. I just wanted to see my mother one last time. The call connected quickly. “Hello? Who is this?” Her voice hadn’t changed much over the years. “Mom, it’s me.” “Oh! Mia! What’s going on?” “I miss you.” The woman on the other end instantly picked up on the strange tone in my voice. She asked cautiously: “Do you… want to come stay with Mom for a few days? I miss you too.” I choked back a sob and managed a quiet “Mm.” 5 I stopped at the supermarket downstairs to buy some groceries before heading up to the apartment. I blew warm air into my freezing hands. My heart was fluttering with a million different hopeful scenarios. “Mom! It’s been so long! Did you miss me?!” “Mom, I missed you so much—” I imagined countless ways to casually, happily greet her. But they all died in my throat the second she opened the door. “You actually came?” My mother looked genuinely shocked, as if she thought I was just joking on the phone. I felt incredibly awkward, but forced a smile: “What? Do I need to schedule an appointment to visit my own mother?” My smile felt stiff and frozen, barely clinging to my face. Finally, my mother stepped aside to let me in. “Well, come on in.” It was a cozy, two-bedroom apartment. Very warm and inviting. My mother had a new family now, and a new child. 6 “Mia, how have you and your dad been doing these past few years?” “Dad is dead.” The woman looked extremely uncomfortable, but didn’t ask any follow-up questions. If she had, she would know that my father passed away the summer after I graduated high school. He didn’t leave me a single cent. His will was crystal clear: every asset he owned went to Chloe. So, Chloe used that money to study abroad. Because I didn’t technically meet the poverty criteria, I couldn’t even qualify for financial aid. I spent my entire college career working multiple part-time jobs just to cover my basic living expenses. She never had to do that. “Mom! The drumstick is mine!” At the dinner table, Lily, my half-sister, immediately pouted and threw a fit when she saw our mother place a chicken drumstick in my bowl. There was literally an entire plate of drumsticks still on the table. But my mother instantly smiled, picked up the drumstick from my bowl, and placed it in Lily’s. “Okay, okay, this one is for Lily—” The next second, the little girl picked up the drumstick and threw it back onto the table: “Your chopsticks touched it! It has your spit on it! That’s gross! I don’t want it! Eat it yourself!” “Lily! Behave!” My mother finally got angry. The child slammed her chopsticks down and stormed off to her room. Leaving me sitting there alone, holding my chopsticks, completely unsure of what to do. 7 That night, lying in bed, I couldn’t sleep. I stared blankly at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. “Mom, why is that person still in our house? Didn’t you say she got married and left?” “Keep your voice down! Don’t let your sister hear you, or she’ll start overthinking again!” “She’s not my sister! Chloe is my only sister.” The walls in the apartment were paper-thin. I heard every single word perfectly clearly. The next day, my mother asked me to go pick Lily up from school. She said it would be a good way to ease the tension between us. “I already told Lily you were coming, so she knows to look for you.” I left thirty minutes early. When I arrived, school hadn’t even let out yet. This was my old elementary school, so I took a look around. I suddenly realized how much time had passed; the place had changed drastically. There were new academic buildings, and the cafeteria had been completely renovated. I waited in the designated parent pickup area for a very long time. It wasn’t until every single fourth-grader had left the campus that panic finally set in. Lily was gone. 8 I immediately contacted the school security guards. We checked the cameras. She had walked out the front gates a long time ago. Remembering the recent news reports about child abductions, I panicked and sprinted back to my mother’s apartment to tell her. “You didn’t pick up Lily?!” My mother’s brow furrowed tightly. “Didn’t I specifically tell you to go early?!” “I did go ear—” Before I could finish explaining, a vicious slap sent my head snapping to the side. “Even when you were little, I knew you were vindictive. I can’t believe you’re married now and you still haven’t changed!” “Just because Lily didn’t let you eat a chicken drumstick yesterday, you had to retaliate like this?!” “She’s just a child!” Her finger was practically jabbing into my eye. Her hands were shaking as she pulled out her phone, ready to call the police. The front door opened. It was my mother’s second husband. “Mom! I’m home!” The little girl skipped happily into my mother’s arms. “You picked Lily up?” “Yeah, I finished my shift early, so I went and picked her up. We went out for hotpot,” the man said, dropping a pink princess backpack onto the sofa. “Didn’t I text you?” My mother finally checked her phone and realized she had accidentally put it on ‘Do Not Disturb’. “Mia… does it still hurt? Mom was just so panicked,” she stammered, looking incredibly awkward. She tried to grab my hand to explain. “Mom didn’t mean what she said. Please don’t take it to heart, okay?” “If you’re angry, you can hit Mom back.” She took my hand and weakly tapped it against her own arm. I pulled my hand back, fighting the lump in my throat. “I’m just glad she’s safe.”

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