Even though my connection with him was only because of Willow, his willingness to protect me made me genuinely grateful. "Thank you.""It's the right thing to do," Julian replied before taking Willow into the bookstore.They sat on a couch not far from me, close enough to monitor the situation but far enough that they couldn't overhear the conversation.I shifted my gaze back to Shayne. "Mr. Pearce, we're divorced. Do I need to notify you just to visit a bookstore?"Shayne was speechless.I continued, "As for the relationship I have with them…"He stared at me intently, clearly eager for an answer.I took my time deliberately. "Well, I've never asked about you and Luna. By the same logic, my life is none of your business, right? After all, we're strangers now. I can't think of any reason why you'd have the right to question my situation."I watched as irritation grew on his face. I didn't get why he was bothered about it.Shayne took a deep breath. "We were married—""Stop! T
"You couldn't even control yourself when we were married. You cheated and brought Zach along to please Luna. So what right do you have to dictate my life?"With that, I left him standing there and walked into the bookstore to find Willow.The moment Willow saw me, she ran into my arms excitedly, shouting, "Mommy!"Her loud voice echoed through the quiet bookstore. Just as I was about to remind her, Julian had already spoken up. "Willow, lower your voice.""Okay," Willow replied.Seeing how well-behaved she was improved my mood instantly. I held her hand and said, "Let's go upstairs and see what books you want to buy.""Okay!"…After we left, Shayne remained in the same spot.Seeing the sour look on his face, Luna tried to comfort him. "Shayne, don't take it too hard.""I never thought that leaving her with nothing after the divorce would push her to this point," Shayne muttered.Luna frowned in confusion.What was he talking about? Aralyn had clearly moved on.Shayne o
As he spoke, Julian handed his books to the cashier. I held onto the books I'd bought and waited with Willow by my side. "It just occurred to me that ever since I met Willow, I've never bought her any gifts. So, I thought these books could be the first gifts from me to her."Julian didn't comment further. After paying for his books, he took the ones I was holding and carried them to the car.Although Willow couldn't read yet, she was incredibly curious about the contents of the books."Daddy, let's go home and read!" she urged."Alright," Julian replied. Once we buckled up, he started the car and drove off.…At another bookstore, Shayne had just bought the books he needed for the children. On the way to his parents' house, he suddenly remembered something and glanced at Luna.Noticing that, Luna asked in confusion, "Yes? Something on your mind?" "You mentioned before that Aralyn takes that little girl to preschool every day, right?" Shayne asked, a thoughtful expression on
Julian and I felt blessed because Willow was willing to communicate with us."And?" I asked.Willow pouted, looking upset. "Then how can I tell them that Mommy drew all these beautiful pictures for me?"She wanted to show off for others but couldn't bring herself to speak."How about you write in the books that Mommy drew them?" I suggested.Willow seemed even more disheartened, almost on the verge of tears. "I don't know how, and they probably don't know how to read either."I froze for a moment. True enough, most preschools didn't teach children to read or write yet. I needed to come up with another solution."Why don't we ask Daddy if he has any ideas?" I asked."Okay." Willow still seemed down, clearly not expecting much from Julian either.She shuffled over to the bedroom door and raised her hand to knock."Come in," Julian said, sounding detached. I quickly glanced at Willow.Willow pushed open the door unenthusiastically and walked up to Julian, explaining her dilemma
I leaned against the railing, gazing into the distance. The night was pitch black. Only the glow of lights from nearby homes was visible.Not expecting his question, I looked at him in surprise. "Let me think. After we got married, we had a child. The child is five now, so we were probably married for six years."If someone had told me six years ago that one day I'd stop loving Shayne, I would never have believed them.Back then, I had truly given my all to him, with the sincerest of emotions. But now, I couldn't believe that I had once loved him.How did I ever fall for him in the first place?"Well, he probably will not stop bothering you," Julian uttered, sounding unusually serious.I found it amusing. "I doubt that. He's always loved Luna."Now that I had let go completely, I could mention Shayne without feeling bitter. "Now that he's with Luna, his old dream came true. If I were him, I'd treasure every day with her instead of wasting time on irrelevant people."Julian lean
"Willow, thank you."If Willow hadn't entered my life, being kind to me and loving me wholeheartedly, I wasn't sure what kind of person I would've become now.After saving the completed sketches, I shut off my computer.…When Willow woke up, the first thing she did was run to my door and knock. "Mommy!"I opened the door.Seeing me, Willow immediately reported, "I'm going to brush my teeth and wash my face now."I stepped out of my room and closed the door behind me. "Go ahead. Come straight downstairs after. I'll be waiting for you there."Willow dashed back toward her room. "Okay, I'll be right there!"Her eager demeanor made me laugh. "But no matter how rushed you are, you still need to brush properly. No cutting corners!""Got it!" Willow shouted.When I made it to the living room, Julian was already seated downstairs.He glanced at me and said flatly, "I'll be quite busy over the next few days."I understood immediately. "So, I'll handle taking Willow to and from sch
As I was forced to stop, I took two steps back, creating some distance between us. "I don't understand what you're talking about."Shayne tried to remain patient. "I thought after I exposed your little act yesterday, you'd come to your senses. I thought you'd stop finding random people to play along with you just to prove you're doing fine without me."I couldn't help but laugh at his confidence. In his eyes, I wasn't an independent person but merely an extension of him. It was as if everything I did revolved around him, and my emotions were all under his control.I scoffed, "Even if you're right…" Shayne nodded smugly as if I had admitted to it."Willow has been at this school, in the same class as your son, for over two years now," I continued nonchalantly."Willow's father picks her up and drops her off every day. When you dropped Zach off, you must've at least seen him albeit not speaking to him. Judging by his clothes and car, do you think those are things someone who plays
"You shouldn't forget about what I went through. Don't disturb me again."With that, I forcefully shook off his hand and got into the car.…Shayne stood there in silence, watching me drive away.Luna had initially planned to avoid the morning drop-off, but her unease about Shayne rekindling things with his ex-wife made her change her mind. In the end, her indecision led her to follow him.From a distance, she saw Shayne blocking Aralyn.Though she couldn't hear their conversation, she noticed Aralyn's expression growing colder and more indifferent. It was clear—she no longer cared about Shayne.But Shayne's demeanor made Luna uneasy. She stepped forward and asked, "Does she still not understand your intentions?""Yeah," Shayne replied, turning back to the car and getting in.Luna climbed into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.Shayne didn't start the car right away. Instead, he turned to look at her. "Aralyn used to love me so much. How could she just stop loving m
Shayne nearly collapsed onto the couch, staring at the ceiling with reddened eyes.The thing he feared the most had happened.Julian's secret crush was Aralyn.That meant he had no chance anymore.His tears fell in big drops.He didn't understand why he hadn't realized that someone had been eyeing Aralyn.If he had noticed earlier, would he have realized that Aralyn was someone others wanted too? Would he have realized that leaving him didn't mean she'd be alone, and that she was never bound to him?Would he have felt a sense of crisis then, which might have made him decide to cherish Aralyn, settle down, and build a life with her?Shayne was filled with deep regret. He couldn't understand how Julian had endured this long.All these years, he knew that Aralyn had been married, yet he still waited for her. He didn't even waver when she watched him get married and have a child later on.Shayne closed his eyes numbly. After a long time, he let out a bitter laugh.Sure enough.
"Does the name matter?" Shayne asked without hesitation."I can tell you. Consider it my way of repaying you for tipping me off. Her current name is Aralyn Jaffe." Julian's usually cold voice was now filled with amusement."That's impossible! Aralyn is gentle and honest. She could never have done the things your first love did," Shayne stated, not believing it."The fact that you would say that only proves you never truly understood Aralyn. If you had spent more time with her while you were together, you would have realized her gentleness is built on the premise that she can protect herself," Julian replied calmly.Shayne's mind went blank.Julian continued, "As long as no one harms Aralyn, she will always treat them nicely. But the moment they scheme against her or threaten her in any way, she will find a way to deal with it."Julian seemed to be in a good mood. "Haven't you noticed that what I just described sounds a lot like what you went through?"Shayne didn't know how to r
"Yes." Robert had been wondering how to continue, but with Shayne's question, he had the perfect segue. "After those two got out, they kept trying to make a comeback. They're not stupid."Even though they've been out of touch with society for a long time, after some time of trial and error, they managed to reintegrate fairly quickly. And later, when they started their own business again, it was extremely successful."Robert sighed. "Once they made money, they started looking for the true love. But they soon discovered that she seemed to have vanished from the world—there was no trace of her at all."They refused to give up and kept investigating for years before finally realizing that she had taken on a new identity and was living under a different name. Now, those two have been biding their time, just waiting for the right moment to go after her."Hearing this, Shayne finally smiled. "Say, if I call Julian right now and tell him about his true love's situation, do you think he'l
"But such justice doesn't exist in this world," Shayne said.Robert said, "Exactly. At that time, her response was…"He cleared his throat and did his best to imitate the first love's tone. "I didn't do anything to you; I just stated what you did back then. There shouldn't be a problem with that, right?"The principal's response at the time was, "You may not have done anything wrong, but your actions have had a huge impact on our school. Our school used to be the number one in the city, and now we've dropped to second place!""If you were so afraid of the impact, then why didn't you handle the situation when I was being bullied? Given your position, you should have thought about this outcome when the incident happened," the first love refuted."But you didn't, which clearly showed you believed that even if I left, it wouldn't have much of an impact on your school, right?"The principal remained silent.The first love continued, "Indeed, just as you thought, I don't have that kin
"In order to verify everything, I went to ask the local residents, and I found out that it was all true after asking around. There wasn't a single fabricated detail."Robert sighed. "She's a legendary figure—she's someone we could strive our whole lives to emulate but never will. Of course, she wasn't satisfied with just doing this. She even compiled her successful methods and handed them over to the teachers at her school."She kept an eye on the next two graduating classes as well. As a result, the school she attended ranked first in the city for three consecutive years."Shayne chuckled. "I initially thought Julian liked housewives. I didn't expect that he also admired strong-willed women."To be honest, he also had some admiration for a woman this strong and independent.Robert didn't respond to Shayne's comment but continued, "She wasn't just determined and capable; she was incredibly motivated. When she graduated, she ranked first in the entire province. Then, during an inte
The more Robert spoke, the more he felt that the mistress was out of her mind.She had already stolen someone else's father, and she wouldn't even let his kid study properly."At the time, the whole school started looking at the first love differently, and some people even gave her a hard time. But the first love never paid them any attention. Not gonna lie, she had an incredibly strong mindset."She knew exactly what her goals were, so she wouldn't let external factors affect her grades because she understood that only through studying could she change her life."Robert sighed. "After looking into all this, I feel as if I'm starting to fall for the first love myself. Even after everything that happened, her grades didn't drop at all in the next exam. In fact, they improved significantly. During a school meeting, they even selected her to give a speech on stage."Suddenly, Shayne could understand why this kind of woman could become Julian's first love.She was smart enough. Her a
Willow shook her head without thinking and said, "No. When my parents had just passed away, no one was willing to take me in. But Daddy did and raised me himself."She added in a small voice, "At the time, there were a lot of important tasks that Daddy needed to handle."Afraid I wouldn't understand, she specifically explained, "The kind of work that absolutely required Daddy to do it. If Daddy didn't go, it wouldn't work. But he still pushed the work to others so he could take care of me."I heard that because of this, a lot of people in the company were complaining about him, thinking he was incompetent."The more Willow spoke, the quieter her voice became. "Back then, Daddy must have suffered a lot of grievances too. They all said that Daddy always put work first. But only I know that in Daddy's eyes, work was never more important than me."I felt happy for Julian. His daughter was smart and could see everything he had done for her. "Exactly, so you see—he loves you. It doesn't
"Mommy, you should go too. After you're done, we'll meet in my room."I smiled and said, "Alright."Willow bounced back to her room happily."Willow doesn't agree with us being together," Julian muttered.Seeing the conflict and distress on his face, I raised my hand and touched his face."Willow is a kid. She's used to the way things are now. If you suddenly tell her there's going to be a big change in her life, of course, she'll struggle to adjust. And of course, she'll worry. You can understand that, right?"Julian nodded.He knew Willow was a thoughtful child."So, we should take our time. One day, she'll be willing to accept us being together," I reassured him.Julian's mood finally improved. "You're right. I've waited so many years already. There's no rush."I asked curiously, "Waited so many years?"What did he mean?"I mean, I've been single for so many years already, so there's no rush to get married now," Julian rescinded, poker-faced.From his expression, I coul
Willow felt a bit nervous. "What is it? You look so serious. I'm a bit scared."I patted Willow's back, signaling her to relax. "It's not a big deal. You can make the decision yourself, so there's no need to worry too much."Only then did Willow let out a sigh of relief.In front of Willow, Julian took my hand, his expression solemn. "Our relationship has reached a new stage. After carefully evaluating everything, I think it's time for us to get married. But we're worried that getting our marriage certificate without informing you would be disrespectful to you."We're also afraid you might feel resistant to it, so we wanted to ask for your opinion first. If you don’t want us to get married, then we won't."Willow was stunned. "You're asking for my opinion on something this important?"Lilia and Gabriel exchanged a glance."Yes, because you're important to us. We both want to have your support," Julian replied calmly.Willow's mind went blank. "This is a huge deal! Since you ask