Luna didn't expect that the marriage that had once brought her so much satisfaction would end like this.She lowered her gaze.And now, she was pregnant with Rowan's child again.Yet, the treatment she received was worlds apart.No one cared about her.But she felt that living this way wasn't so bad."What would you like to drink?" Rowan asked, breaking the silence."Milk. It's good for the body," Luna replied.Rowan placed the order for her.Luna leaned back on the couch, studying Rowan.He had been working tirelessly these days and didn't even have time to groom himself. Stubble had grown on his face, replacing the youthful look she once adored.Instead, he now had an air of defeat about him."Did I ever tell you that the baby is yours?" Luna asked."Yes." After placing the order, Rowan felt a little uneasy.His parents had already called Luna, and now she was suddenly bringing up the baby.What did she mean by this?Luna blinked. Then, after a long pause, she said, "
Rowan was stunned for a long time before saying, "I'm sorry. If only I had been firmer back then…""It wouldn't have made a difference." Luna realized that she had been much more clear-headed lately."Your parents will always come first. To be honest, I've been thinking about everything that happened between us in the past and about my life recently. At first, things weren't great—I only knew how to rely on men—but there's been a shift lately."I started imitating Aralyn and the others. I did whatever she did. And now, I've truly found my own path through that imitation."The only downside was that she had only been copying without fully grasping the essence of it.Once she continued for a while longer and truly mastered it, she would be able to make even more money.Luna even felt that it wouldn't be long before she became wealthy in her own right."I can earn my own money and spend it however I want. I can even support my child. I no longer have to depend on anyone else's appr
But that certainty was shattered at this moment.Luna had her own abilities and could make money. So, in the future, she wouldn't covet Rowan's and Shayne's money.Rowan suddenly felt a sense of panic. If that was the case, what could he do to make Luna stay?He couldn't think of an answer, so he resorted to bringing up the child. "But you're carrying my baby. If I leave, what will you and the child do?""I will take care of both our children together with Shayne." Luna now felt that love wasn't actually that important.At least, during this period without love, her life had actually gotten increasingly better."Then have you ever thought about what would happen if one day, Shayne found out that the baby's not his? You'll find yourself completely alone and with no one to rely on. What will you do? How will you handle it?"There was a trace of urgency in his voice, as if this was the only way to prove his worth."That's why I asked you not to tell Shayne. If you don't say anythi
Patrick found it hard to believe. "No matter how much we tried to persuade you before, you wouldn't come back. What happened? Did you finally see Luna's true colors and give up on her?""This has nothing to do with that!" Rowan didn't want to hear what his parents had to say, so he hung up.He then stood up and grabbed Luna's hand. "Why didn't you stop me?"The colder Luna was, the more scared he felt.Luna forcefully pried Rowan's hand away. "I've already made myself clear. From now on, if we meet again, just pretend you don't know me. And I'll do the same. We're strangers now."With that, Luna turned to leave.Rowan stared at Luna's retreating figure in a daze, shaking his head repeatedly.No. This couldn't happen.A woman who loved money like Luna couldn't give up just like this.Rowan took out another phone, trying to comfort himself.Luna loved money.She was only being ruthless because he had no money.At the very least, Luna was still in contact with the alternate ac
"I knew you were chatting to me as Julian, so I was able to let go of the resentment and talk to you as if you were a stranger. But from now on, that's no longer necessary."Rowan replied, "Why is it no longer necessary?"However, his message was not delivered. He had been blocked.Rowan hurriedly called Luna.Luna answered."I'm sorry. Please forgive me, or at least give me another chance. I promise I'll treat you well this time! If our parents have conflicts, I will stand by you!" Rowan's voice was choked.By the time he finished speaking, he was on the verge of breaking down.Luna was silent for a long time before saying, "I'm telling you all this not because I want to get back with you."Even if they did get back, when conflicts arose between them again, Rowan would surely bring this up and say, "If you didn't force me back then, I'd still have a good relationship with my parents!"Luna no longer wanted to carry such burdens.She wanted to live for herself, and she wanted
Not wanting to listen to his parents anymore, Rowan smashed his phone on the ground.…Patrick and Shannon exchanged a glance.Shannon asked in confusion, "Didn't you say Luna would regret it? That she would come begging us because she couldn't support herself? That's not what's happening now."Shannon actually felt that Rowan and Luna had a good relationship. Although Luna wasn't worthy of Rowan, Rowan wanted to be with her.So, no matter how dissatisfied Shannon was, she had to hold it in.Patrick was the one who kept saying Luna loved money.Since she was after money, they couldn't treat her well. Otherwise, Luna would drain their fortune.Shannon thought her husband made sense, so whenever she interacted with Luna, she was always cold and dismissive.Patrick also found it strange. "Could this be a new tactic? Is she pretending to take a step back so she can get the upper hand?"Shannon shook her head. "I don't think so. If that were the case, Rowan wouldn't be upset."Th
"Because I didn't tell Rowan about it when I gave birth to him. So, he doesn't know we have a child together." Hannah sobbed.Shannon furrowed her brows tightly. Was that really the case?She looked at Patrick.Patrick's expression was also somewhat unpleasant. "Alright, we'll respect your wishes.""Thank you!"Hannah talked with them for a while more before ending the call.…"See? I told you they'd believe me," Hannah boasted to her friends.A short-haired friend asked in disbelief, "How did you pull that off?""Those two are pretty dumb," Hannah said disdainfully."They don't like Luna, so they think everything Luna does is wrong. And since they treated me better, I got pregnant and lied that the child was Rowan's. They actually believed it."The short-haired friend shook her head. "Tsk tsk, but what will you do when they find out the truth one day?"Right now, they had driven away their real daughter-in-law and biological grandchild for Hannah's sake.It wouldn't be a
"But don't worry. Mommy will take great care of you both," Luna thought."Congratulations on getting what you wanted," Luna said calmly.Shannon said irritably, "Back then, you were a homewrecker who ruined their relationship—""Wait, what?"Luna had never denied that she had a history of being a homewrecker. But she had never interfered in Rowan and Hannah's relationship."Rowan told me that before dating me, he was single and had never had a girlfriend. What do you mean by this? Are you saying Rowan lied to me?"At that time, her morals were still somewhat intact.If she had known Rowan had a girlfriend, she would never have been with him.Shannon also knew how Luna was. Luna was the kind of person who would openly admit to her wrongdoings, at least in front of them."You're still lying even now," Shannon said, her eyes narrowing.Luna was fuming. "If you don't believe me, I can call Rowan and ask him. If what you're saying is true, then Rowan hid the fact that he had a gir
Seeing that no matter what they said, Luna remained unmoved, Shannon slowed her speech. "We're actually here to ask you to get back with Rowan.""Sorry, that thought has completely left my mind," replied Luna."If that's why you're here, then you should leave. I have work to do, so I won't be chatting with you any longer."Luna walked to the door and opened it. "You can go now."Shannon looked at Patrick.Patrick said coolly, "I don't even care that you're pregnant with Shayne's child anymore. In fact, if you get back together with Rowan, we can treat this child as one of our own. I hope you don't miss out on such a great opportunity.""That's not a great opportunity for me. When I didn't have a job back then, I thought being a housewife was a good life. I didn't have to worry about making money—I just had to take care of the household. But I realized it wasn't like that at all."Earning my own money is much better than relying on someone else to give it to me. This way, I don't
"But I remember his place is pretty far from mine," Luna said, puzzled.Patrick sat down on the couch, looking at Luna. "Mainly, we figured since we came all this way to see Rowan, we might as well check in on you, too."Luna was even more confused. "Check in on me? Why?"Instead of answering her, Patrick asked, "You're pregnant."Luna glanced down at her stomach, then replied, "So what? I've been divorced from Rowan for so long, and I've been with Shayne for quite a while now. It's perfectly normal that I'm pregnant. You guys hated me before."Back then, you were eager for me to be with someone else. Now that I am, you guys should be happy."Luna sat down as well. When she was with Rowan, she had always been respectful in front of Patrick and Shannon.She had always seen them as family and worked hard to earn their approval.But no matter what she did, it was never enough.For a long time, Luna wondered if she was doing something wrong.But after the divorce—and after she wa
When I found out Serena didn't have a job yet, an idea immediately came to mind. "I actually started a new company. We're hiring. The salary during the probation period is ten thousand dollars a month, with weekends and all national holidays off. And if you perform well, there's a big commission on top of that."I was about to add more when Mark sent me a photo. It was a payroll statement.Right after that, he sent a voice message. "Take a look at how much they've earned in commissions!"I tapped on the image. The company didn't have many employees yet, but every single one of them had already made over a million in commission—some even over five million.The amusement in my eyes deepened as I replied, "I hope they'll take home even more next month."Mark responded without hesitation, "At the rate sales are going, doubling it shouldn't be a problem."After reading his messages, I finally put my phone down and looked at Serena. "But of course, it all depends on our product sales.
In the cafe, I looked at the young woman sitting across from me and asked, "What's your name?"She was sipping her milk tea. When she heard my question, she quickly looked up and replied, "My name is Serena Towson. You can call me Serena. I used to stay in the ward next to yours."I was a bit puzzled. "Then, how do you know I was framed?"Serena took a deep breath, lowering her head. "Actually, I should be apologizing to you for this.""Why are you apologizing?" I asked in confusion.Serena didn't answer. She looked uneasy as she kept looking down, pushing her phone toward me.On the screen was a voice recording.I tapped play.It was a conversation between Luna and someone else. "I need you to avoid the surveillance cameras and spill oil in that area. Do you hear me?"The other person seemed doubtful about Luna's plan. "If we do that, it'll be hard to clean up, and people will definitely notice something's off!""Don't pour too much. Just pour enough so she'll fall when she
I looked around and saw that there was no one else around before turning to leave."Are you Aralyn?"I heard someone call my name and turned around to see a stranger.A little confused, I asked, "Yes?""I heard from someone at the hospital that you went there before, trying to find proof that Luna was the one who framed you. Isn't that right?" The woman seemed nervous.I had been trying to get evidence for this for a long time, but after so much effort, I hadn't found anything.At this point, I was about to give up on that approach.After all, I had other ways to get back at Luna and Shayne.Hearing what she said, I was surprised. "What, you have proof?""Yes, I do," she said firmly.If I could really get my hands on that kind of evidence, my revenge would be even more ruthless.But I knew that in situations like this, it was important to stay calm. "Why don't we talk about it at a cafe?"The woman hesitated.I smiled. "Do you have time?"Only then did she nod. "Of course
I wanted Shayne to care about Luna, and when Luna gave birth to the baby who wasn't his, Shayne would be immensely devastated, especially since Luna and Charlotte had even forced Shayne into getting a vasectomy.Sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if Luna and Charlotte were on my side.Charlotte looked confused. "Good?"I nodded. "Yes, good."Charlotte studied me. "If he and Luna are doing well, that means he doesn't want you anymore.""Then so be it." I had long since stopped caring about Shayne.Charlotte fell silent.I met her gaze. "I'm married now. Maybe I didn't inform you, but Julian and I are legally married. We just haven't made it public. After being with Julian, I've felt a kind of security that I never had in my previous relationship."So, I also hope that this marriage will last. Of course, it'd be even better for me if all of you stopped bothering me."With that, I was ready to end the conversation. "Anything else you wanted to say? If not, I'll head upstairs."
"Then, do we really need to give them commissions?"I didn't mind. "Yeah, go ahead. If they see that hard work pays off in our company, they'll be more willing to stay, right?""Yeah." Mark chuckled."I get what you're saying. I'll take care of it now.""Alright."After the call ended, Julian walked over to me and held my hand.I gently rubbed his hand in return. "What is it?""Your career is getting more and more successful," Julian said, a bit emotionally.When we first got together, I had nothing—just myself.But over time, I started drawing comics.With the right promotion, my comics gained traction and became a hit.That led to merchandise, trendy collectibles.But Julian never expected that I'd be able to launch my own plushies, start my own company, and make serious money.He always knew I was capable.But seeing me rise back to my peak in such a short time still surprised him.I smiled. "Yeah. Back when I was penniless and kicked out of my house, I never would've
"My plan is to take advantage of the fact that our comic still has some merchandise and the hype hasn't died down yet. While ensuring quality, we'll speed up production as much as possible."I understood what Julian meant. "Alright.""Should I arrange it now?" Julian asked."Sure."Julian took his phone and went out to the balcony to share his thoughts with Mark.As someone who had been working with Julian for years, Mark immediately understood what Julian meant. "Leave it to me."Still, to make sure he didn't misinterpret any details, he confirmed everything with Julian.Only after making sure there were no issues did he finally breathe a sigh of relief and ask Julian to hand me the phone."Yes?" I asked, confused about why he needed to speak to me."Our company's recruitment is pretty much done. I ran the numbers, and with our current profits, we can afford to raise the salaries of our interns," he quickly informed."Since you're bringing this up, that means you already hav
Shannon looked at Patrick.Patrick said, "Tell Rowan to win Luna back. She married someone else out of heartbreak, and that's because of us. Now we have money and are willing to spend it on her. I believe she'll come around. She'll want to come back and be with us again. It just takes time."Patrick wasn't used to staying in such a small place, so he said to Rowan, "Drive us to the hotel.""Alright."Rowan dropped his parents off at the hotel and then returned to his place. Sitting on the couch, he took out his phone and pulled up a photo of Luna.She was sitting by the ocean, turning her head to look at him, her eyes sparkling and filled with love.Rowan couldn't understand how things had gotten to this point.He picked up his phone and texted Luna. "I finally understand why my parents treated you that way back then.""I've known for a while," Luna replied calmly.Rowan was a little surprised. "You knew?""Yeah, I found out a few days ago. But that's your family's issue. It