On a quiet evening a few days later, Calla sat in a charming steakhouse as she waited for her blind date.Honestly, she didn't really feel for professors. She was just there to go through the motions. So, she thought long and hard for a plan.At 7:00 pm sharp, a man in a white shirt, gray slacks, and gold-framed glasses sat down in front of Calla."Hi. My name is Harlan Engler. I'm 31 years old and a local. I currently work as a lecturer at Southera University." Harlan's introduction was short and simple. Calla threw him a couple of glances. Then, she lifted her chin and said, "I have a few questions for you."Harlan was a very elegant man. He exuded the temperament of a scholar. He probably wasn't a snobbish academic.Calla really didn't want to agitate the man. But she wouldn't be able to break free if she didn't do so."I'll answer your questions to the best of my abilities." Harlan smiled, revealing his pearly whites."Do you have a house?" Calla glanced at him.While R
As expected, Mercer heard all about Calla's dinner date with Harlan.Mercer's grip tightened around his pen, and he wrote with heavy strokes on a document. His expression darkened immediately when he heard about it. Simon noticed Mercer's expression. So, he quickly said, "Mr. Garland, it's just a blind date. It's probably nothing…"Simon got tongue-tied halfway through his sentence because he knew Mercer was about to lose his temper. Mercer frowned and pondered for a moment. Then, he said, "Send the word. The company restructuring has to be completed by the end of this month, and the Riverford branch is to be dissolved at the same time!""Yes, sir." Simon went to work right away.After Simon left, Mercer pulled open his drawer and looked at the picture on the résumé. He grunted. "Woman, how dare you go on a blind date while carrying my child?"The blind date gave Mercer the urge to meet Calla again. It was time for him to show up. Initially, he was afraid that his true ident
It was almost the end of the month. Alicia went to the office and dragged Calla outside. "Where are we going?" Calla asked, puzzled. "The list of retained employees has been announced. Let's go take a look," Alicia said urgently.Calla replied, "You'll definitely get to stay."Alicia turned around and saw Calla's dejected expression. So, she comforted her, "You've always done a good job. Maybe you'll get to stay as well.""It'll be great if you get to stay. I'll be taking maternity leave soon anyway." The company found out about her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. She was definitely getting laid off. Not to mention, the manager of the HR department was in a relationship with Peggy, who would never allow her to stay.They arrived at the conference room where the list was shown. A lot of people were already there. The two of them were barely able to squeeze their way inside. Alicia searched for her name on the list anxiously, while Calla was not at all interested in the list. She r
Calla went to work at the headquarters of Atlas Enterprises for the first time on Monday. It was a new place, so she decided to have a makeover. She wore very formal attire that day—a black office dress with a red low-cut blouse underneath. Her shoes had a slight heel, and her hair cascaded neatly down her back.She looked very sharp and energetic. She really hoped to make a good impression on her new superior.But she'd had a stroke of bad luck. There was an accident that caused her to be stuck in traffic for 20 minutes.She got up early but ended up getting to the office late. She rushed into the office building urgently but saw a huge group of people waiting for the elevator. She looked at her watch and frowned. It was three minutes before 9:00 am. She was definitely going to be late. Being late on the first day of work would leave a bad impression. Her superior would definitely not take kindly to that.That wouldn't do. She couldn't be late. So, she turned around and head
"Sir, I don't know you. You probably got the wrong person." Calla immediately pretended not to know Mercer.Mercer glared at her without saying anything for a few seconds. Calla felt like his gaze was very sharp. It was like a knife that instantly pierced through her clothes and saw right through her.For some reason, the memories of the night of passion they shared came back to her. Her cheeks were flushed immediately. "You're so heartless. You forgot about me as soon as you pulled up your pants? Have you forgotten about all the fun we had?" Mercer brushed his fingers through her hair and looked at her with a taunting look.Then, the elevator arrived at the 20th floor. Calla felt like she had been humiliated. So, she raised her hand and slapped him in the face.Mercer didn't expect her to slap him, so he was stunned. Before he could snap out of it, Calla shoved him with all her strength and pushed him out of the elevator. Then, she walked out of the elevator and ran away
Atlas Enterprises held its first employees' meeting for the first time since moving to Riverford at 9:30 am the following day.Only the retained employees from the branch office and the staff of the headquarters' functional departments attended the meeting, but all the seats in the large conference room were still taken.There were at least a couple hundred people there. There were flowers arranged alongside the nameplates of the executives on the platform. It was clear that the company cared about the meeting.Calla and Alicia sat further in the back while Peggy sat in the first row. She loved attention, so she would probably make the most of this chance to find a target with whom to establish a connection."Let us welcome the CEO of Atlas Enterprises, Mr. Mercer Garland, and the other executives!" Thunderous applause erupted in the room after the emcee finished talking. "Is that Mr. Garland? He looks so young and handsome!" The two female employees talking behind Calla were
Calla had no choice. She didn't dare to ignore Mercer's summon.She entered Mercer's office uneasily after a few minutes. He was seated in his chair and looking at a document. It was like he didn't even notice she was there.Calla took a deep breath as she looked at him. She tried to remain calm as she said, "You were asking for me, Mr. Garland?"She immediately gave him an unnatural smile when he raised his head. He was probably very angry because she'd slapped him the day before.She figured he probably called her over to exact revenge or to fire her.Although she didn't like him at all, she needed the job very badly. She composed herself and decided to admit defeat. After all, she was desperate. His gaze was sharp and icy as he scrutinized her from top to toe.It was the same gaze he had the day before. It annoyed Calla a little. It caused her to think about their night together, which made her blush.But she could only hold in her displeasure.She thought to herself, 'Doe
Mercer continued to walk toward Calla, and she continued to move back.Then, she felt the couch behind her with her heel, and she dropped down and sat on a single-seat couch.Mercer quickly put his hands on the couch's armrests and leaned in toward her. Calla looked at him with a terrified expression and stammered, "What… What do you want?"Mercer looked at Calla, who was like a frightened bunny at the moment. Then, he said in a suggestive tone, "I remember you said that my skills were lacking. I have been practicing very hard for the past month. "I've finally reached a whole new level. So, I've called you over to ask you to experience it again. I'd like to see if my skills have grown to an acceptable level for you—since you paid me so little last time."His warm breath brushed against her skin and caused her to panic."Mr. Garland, we're at the office right now," Calla reminded him loudly. "Are you saying that we should go back to the Grand Hill Hotel again?" Mercer said in
Seeing Pierre's expression, Calla realized that a few words wouldn't dispel his suspicions. She reached into her bag, unzipped it, and pulled out the knife.Pierre's eyes widened as he noticed the gleaming knife Calla was pulling out of her bag. He furrowed his brows in concern. "What are you—"Calla explained, "Mercer told me that Casper is my son, that he wasn't stillborn as I was told. I didn't believe him at first, but I was afraid he might be telling the truth, so I went to his house to see him."But I was afraid he might have ulterior motives toward me. As a woman, I'm naturally no match for him. In a moment of desperation, I had to grab this knife from the kitchen for protection. If he dared to do anything to me, I wouldn't have hesitated to use it on him."Her expression was intense, reflecting her genuine fear and resolve.Pierre looked deeply at Calla, then gently touched her cheek. He took the knife from her hand and placed it on a nearby table.Calla then rushed into
Suddenly feeling Mercer's hand on her shoulder, Calla instinctively recoiled. She swatted away his hand and shouted, "Don't touch me, Mercer!"The harm he had caused her was too profound. Even though she now understood his desperate reasons, she still felt immense aversion toward him."Fine, I won't touch you." Mercer retracted his hands and left them suspended in the air."Don't think you can use Casper to threaten me, Mercer. I will never be manipulated by you!" Calla shouted at him.Mercer's expression turned pained at her words. He took a step back, and his eyes filled with profound anguish. "Do you really see me as someone who would use my own son as a bargaining chip?""Yes," Calla replied sternly.Mercer's body swayed slightly, then he turned away in dejection. "If that's the case, then you should leave."Seeing his forlorn figure, Calla felt a pang of sadness, but she couldn't bring herself to trust him again. She turned and walked out of the house.She stumbled out of
At this moment, Mercer clenched his fists. Even with his resolute nature, his eyes seemed misty."This is where I feel most sorry toward you and Clover. Clover is my daughter too. Of course, I wanted her to come into this world healthy. But I couldn't let Casper disappear from this world either."His condition worsened so severely at that time. I was afraid he wouldn't make it to your due date, so I had to take drastic measures..." Mercer struck his fist hard against the wall.Seeing the despondent and remorseful Mercer before her, Calla felt a twinge of compassion, but she still couldn't accept all his explanations.Glancing at the reports in front of her, Calla placed her hand on her cheek. She could feel her fingers trembling.Suddenly, she looked up and asked, "You kept searching for me in Greendale to get me pregnant so you could use the baby's umbilical cord blood to save Casper?"From the timeline Mercer had explained, Casper's condition must have been severe by then.Cal
Mercer smiled bitterly. "I knew that you wouldn't believe me, so I prepared a copy of Casper's medical reports. You can take a look." He pulled out several thick envelopes and set them on the coffee table. Calla frowned upon seeing those envelopes which were all an inch thick. She opened one of them and flipped through the documents inside, frowning as she read. The envelope held reports of Casper's hospitalization in both the city and state hospitals, spanning two years, starting from when Casper was a year old. They were records of Casper's illness and his recovery process.Calla couldn't help thinking about his adorable, chubby face, and she felt her heart clench. She wondered how Casper had managed to triumph over his illness after two years. She couldn't even fathom how painful and difficult the process must have been.Suddenly, Calla noticed something in Casper's surgery reports—a note about how a newborn baby's umbilical cord blood was miraculously compatible with Casper.
"My heart is already in pieces because of you. So what if I hit, cursed, or even stabbed you now? What's the point of doing all that? I beg this of you, Mercer, please let me live my life quietly and stop bothering me!"Stop making up all these ridiculous justifications too. I'm tired—exhausted! I don't want to deal with you anymore," Calla sobbed, tears running down her face.She knew that she shouldn't have cried in front of him. It wasn't just a sign of her weakness, it might also fuel his assumption that she still cared for him. However, she couldn't control it. Whenever she thought of the suffering she'd gone through in the past couple of years, tears ran uncontrollably down her face."I want nothing more than for you to let me tell you the truth in its entirety. I want you and Casper to not miss out on the chance to reconnect as mother and son. "I promise that I'll respect your choice once I'm done telling you everything, and I won't bother you again in the future!" Mercer l
Calla's eyes widened as she remembered everything that had happened in the past. She stumbled over her words as she said, "B-But we were going to get married after we were back on good terms with each other, and I'd already met Casper at that point. Why didn't you tell me about him back then?"Mercer looked at Calla meaningfully. "Do you remember when I told you, on the day we were about to get our marriage certificate, that I had a big surprise for you?"Calla thought about it, then nodded. He had indeed said that he'd prepared a big gift for her. Could the gift have been Casper?Facing Calla's doubtful look, Mercer nodded. "Yes. I wanted to tell you after we received our marriage certificates, but I didn't expect something else to happen on that day."Calla sneered. "'Something else' is a nice way of putting it. You didn't go to get the marriage certificates done with me, because you chose to hold a press conference with Sophie instead, announcing your marriage with her."When
Mercer's face fell. He sat on an armchair before asking Calla, "Do you dislike me that much? Are you not even willing to stay by my side for one minute?""I don't dislike you—I hate you. Also, one minute is too long—I can't even bear to stay by your side for one second!" Calla replied without hesitation.As memories—filled with love and resentment alike—flashed in Calla's mind, she felt an intense hatred for Mercer. If not for Casper, she would never have stepped inside this place again, much less take a seat across Mercer to have a conversation.Calla's words hurt Mercer. He sat there for a while with his head lowered before lighting up a cigarette and taking a long drag.Calla couldn't help coughing when the acrid smell of smoke entered her nose. Realizing that he'd made her cough, Mercer quickly stubbed the cigarette in his ashtray. Calla didn't want to waste any more time with him. She asked impatiently, "Why did you have me come here? Who is the woman you had Casper with?"
Calla finished getting ready, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked over to Clover. She gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then turned to Fiona. "Fiona, I'm going out to meet a friend.""Okay," Fiona replied with a smile, then continued feeding Clover some water.Calla left the apartment and was about to press the elevator button when Pierre emerged from the opposite door."Hey, aren't you supposed to be off work today? Where are you going this early?" Pierre asked, noticing Calla was heading out."Oh, I'm meeting Alicia. She's going back to work tomorrow, so we're hanging out later," Calla replied hastily, avoiding eye contact with Pierre. She had never been good at lying."She's going to be your bridesmaid. It's only right to express our gratitude," Pierre said with a smile, walking into the elevator with Calla."Where are you meeting her? I can give you a ride," Pierre offered."We're meeting at the department store. It's not on your way, so you should get going. I'
Calla was initially certain that Mercer's goal was to use Casper to ruin her marriage with Pierre.But as the night wore on, Calla's doubts grew. She couldn't shake the feeling that maybe—just maybe—Mercer was telling the truth. Perhaps Casper was indeed her child, the one she had given birth to all those years ago.She couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope. What if her child had not died? What if he was still alive and well?As the first light of dawn crept into the room, Calla made a decision. She would go see Mercer, no matter what his motives were. She had to get to the bottom of it.Calla gazed at Clover, who was still fast asleep. She gently stroked her daughter's cheek. "Clover, don't you think it would be wonderful to have an older brother to share your toys and adventures with?Clover's chubby face didn't move. Calla's eyes lingered on her for a moment before she spoke again. "I have to get to the bottom of this no matter what the outcome is. I have to find out if Casp