Joshua fell into silence upon hearing Luna’s question.Truth be told, the only connection between him and Fiona since the start was the bone marrow that had been placed in Nigel’s body at this point, but he did not feel like telling the truth to Luna.He did not want Luna to think he helped Nigel in any way, and he did not want her to leave Banyan City feeling indebted to him or guilt-ridden. He would rather she left with resentment toward him because this hatred would make her stay away from him, and she would finally be able to start a new life with the children. “No answer for that?” Luna sneered, then turned to look outside the window. She already knew this would be the outcome.Joshua had never been one to face his mistakes, whether it was six years ago or at this very moment.The rain continued to pour outside the window, so heavy that the windshield was blurred, and it grew increasingly difficult for the SUV to travel on the road. Every time the car circled past some
Luna had no excuse to refuse Joshua’s offer. She let out an exhale, lowered herself down, and got onto Joshua’s back. Lucas witnessed with his own eyes the way Joshua’s movements turned gentle as he straightened up with Luna on his back.Joshua had never acted so gently toward anyone before, whether it was Alice or Fiona. Carrying Luna on his back, Joshua started to make his way up the slope. He held onto Luna carefully through the few kilometers’ journey and dared not make a single misstep.Even after Lucas, Zach, and Yuri began to grow tired, Joshua continued onward with steady footsteps. Luna noticed that the rest had slowed down and could not stop herself from asking, “Joshua, why don’t you put me down? I can walk by myself for a bit.”The puddles of water were shallower the closer they got to the village, so even if she walked by herself, the dirty water would not seep into her wounds. Since Lucas and the rest were already exhausted, Joshua had to be just as tired. “I
Initially, Luna thought she had misheard it, but the knocking persisted.She tilted her head to listen carefully, then realized that this was not a coincidence, that she had not misheard at all!The knocking came from underneath the floorboards beneath the sofa!Luna lifted her head and met Joshua’s puzzled gaze. Clearly, he had heard the sound, too. The two of them exchanged glances, then quickly jumped into action and pushed the sofa away. Once they got the sofa out of the way, they discovered a hidden door leading toward the basement!The knocking was coming from the basement!Joshua immediately picked the lock and pulled the door open. He took a step into the basement, then turned around and opened his arms wide. “Come on,” he said to Luna. Luna was so intrigued that she did not even have time to mull over anything. Instead, she leaped without a second thought, landing squarely in Joshua’s arms.In this cramped space, the two of them got lost in the sound of each other’s
With that, he released Nellie and stood up. “I’m going into the mountains.”He did not know what Fiona was planning to do by taking Nigel hostage, but since it had already happened, he had no choice but to counter. Joshua turned around and glanced at Nellie with an expression of determination. “Don’t worry. no matter what happens, I’ll bring Nigel back with me.”As soon as he said this, Joshua strode out of the basement.“Joshua!” Luna’s voice rang out from behind him as soon as he exited the room.Joshua turned around. Luna was still standing within the room. She reached out her arm toward him and said, “Pull me out of here. I’m going with you.”Joshua glanced at Luna, taking in her thin frame. A few days ago, she was so weak that she could not even walk by herself, but at this moment, she was willing to go into the mountains with him amid a thunderstorm. Joshua remained silent for a moment but did not reach out to grab her hand. “I can go by myself.”The weather was so ba
When Luna lifted her head and took in the scene before her, she was so shocked that she almost passed out.Nigel was tied to a giant rock at the edge of the cliff, his feet bare and his entire body hovering over a seemingly endless drop. Meanwhile, Fiona leaned gracefully against the rock, her eyebrows raised slightly, a taunting smile playing on her lips. She was holding a sharp knife in her hand, the light glinting off the blade in the rain. “I thought you needed more time to catch up with me.” Fiona sighed and lowered her head to fiddle with the knife. “I was even betting with Nigel on when you’d arrive. For every hour that you’re late, I’ll cut off one of the ropes holding him here.”With that, she turned and counted the number of ropes holding Nigel onto the rock. “Eight ropes. I’ve already cut one off, so there’s only seven left.”Fiona turned and smiled at Joshua. “Look, Joshua; look how nice I’m treating your son. I prepared eight pieces of rope so that you could see h
Luna stared at Nigel and let out an exhale. “If you still want to blame Joshua and me for everything that happened, then toss me into the abyss instead! My son is still young, so please don’t make his life difficult! I’m willing to give you my life in exchange for his!”Fiona could not help but snicker when she heard this. She cackled in laughter as she sliced through another one of the ropes. “You want to give me your life in exchange for Nigel’s? How naive are you, Luna? Although I’m upset at what you did…” She raised her eyebrows and sneered. “You’re worth nothing to Joshua at all, but it’s different for Nigel. Joshua’s blood is coursing through Nigel’s veins at this moment, and he’s his offspring, after all. If I keep Nigel here, it’s equivalent to keeping Joshua’s heart here. Why would I let Nigel—such an important person—go in exchange for a worthless woman like you?”Luna’s entire body stiffened upon hearing this. After a moment, she bit down on her lip.Fiona was right.
Joshua narrowed his eyes.He knew that Fiona’s question—and her fiddling with that knife—was a form of threat. He knew what answer Fiona wanted to hear, so he let out an exhale and curled his lips into a smirk. “She means nothing to me. I’ve never loved her in the past, in the present, nor will I ever do in the future.“The only reason I treated her kindly is that she bore three children for me, that’s all.”Nigel, who was still tied onto the rock, clenched his fists as soon as he heard Joshua’s words. Meanwhile, the color drained from Luna’s face. Even though she knew Joshua was simply telling the truth, but…It was one thing to know this but an entirely different thing altogether to hear those cold, heartless words tumbling out of Joshua’s mouth. He had never loved her, and she had never meant anything to him at all.Luna let out an exhale and tried to force herself not to fixate on this. All of her attention should be focused on saving Nigel instead, but no matter how ha
“When I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I was mentally prepared to die. Having the opportunity to have a bone marrow transplant and prolong my life to spend time with my Mommy and Nellie, I’m already satisfied.” Nigel’s tears were mixed with the rainwater. His voice was so hoarse that he did not sound like a child anymore. “Maybe Neil just misses me too much, Mommy. You don’t need to hurt yourself nor sacrifice your life for me… Honestly, I don’t care about that much!” Luna felt her heart ache upon hearing these words and could not hold back her tears any longer. She bit down on her lip and picked up the nearest rock she could grab, wanting to smash her own fingers. “Fiona, if I really break all remaining nine fingers of mine, will you promise to let Nigel go and take me instead?”Seeing how desperate Luna and Nigel were, Fiona let out a vicious laugh. “Alright! If you really crush all nine of your remaining fingers, then I’ll let Nigel go and let you take his place!”Sh
At that, he looked at Gwen. "Actually…"Steven found himself unable to finish his sentence. After a long while, he shook his head and smiled. "Forget about it.""Steven…" Gwen looked at him, and her tears fell.Her heart was not made of stone. How could she not know Steven's feelings toward her?She was silent for a long while. In the end, she stood up and slowly walked over to Steven with arms opened wide. "Give me a hug."Steven hesitated for a while, but he still stood up.They hugged."Gwen." Steven hugged her thin figure. "I have to meet you earlier in the next life so I can compete fairly with my brother."Gwen nodded with tears streaming down her face. "Okay."They thus hugged once more. Minutes later…"He's gone," said Stefan.Tears kept falling.They hugged for a while longer before pulling apart. Gwen looked at Stefan with her tear-stricken face. He had tears on his face as well.She bit her lips and reached out to wipe his tears. "A—Are these tears…yours or his?
The next day, Rachel flew from Merchant City to Sharnwick City to diagnose Anne's condition. Theo tagged along as well because he had another identity, Rachel's boyfriend."According to the report, Anne's condition is slowly recuperating." Rachel was relieved after assessing the report. "Although she is very weak, she is going to get better with lots of rest."There is nothing wrong with her vocal cords too. It could be a psychological thing that makes her lose her voice. A knot in her heart that causes it." She looked at Luna, then at John. "Considering all factors, I think that knot is Luna."Rachel continued, "John, I know Luna is the root cause of all these bad things. Being away from Luna, Joshua, and other people is going to guarantee a safer life for you and your family. But have you thought about it from Anne's point of view? Other than you and Sammie, she has her own life and her circle of friends. Never has she blamed Luna for what happened, yet you forced her to leave Lun
It was almost a miracle for Anne to willingly leave the house just to visit him!Robyn, meanwhile, sobbed at the sight.The nurse who accompanied Anne to the ward was puzzled. What was going on with these people?She snuck her phone out of her pocket and took a photo of this surreptitiously. Then, she sent it into the nurse's group chat with the caption, [What a strange family I met today.]The nurses in the group chat began gossiping about this. One of them tagged a fellow nurse named Daisy and said, [Hey, isn't this the guy who saved the old man you're looking after? What a hero!]Daisy was, at this moment, walking into Andy's room to help him change his wound dressing. She saw the message but was not able to type on her keyboard to respond, so she recorded a voice message instead. "Yes, that's the man. What's wrong with his family? What are you guys talking about?"As soon as she finished her sentence, she lifted her head and finally realized that Andy was not there.Instead,
Anne stared at John for a long time before forcibly smiling and told him in sign language, "Robyn didn't return after so long, so I got worried and came by to check on her.""Daddy, Aunt Robyn, are you two hugging?" Sammie asked, blinking innocently as she raised her head in curiosity.John and Robyn turned pale at this.It was understandable for such a young child like Sammie to misinterpret them as hugging, but what would Anne think of this?John leaped off the bed and staggered toward Anne. "Anne, it's just a misunderstanding…"However, he was still so weak that his legs could not hold up the full weight of his body at all, and he almost crumpled to the ground.Quick-witted Robyn managed to catch him before he could fall, but this gesture appeared once again rather intimate to both Anne and Sammie. Sammie furrowed her brow and asked rather indignantly, "Are you hugging again? Daddy, how can you hug Aunt Robyn like this when you've never even hugged Mommy and me like this befor
When the nurse pushed Anne to John's ward, she overheard John and Robyn fighting from the door. The fight was about how John was anxious to return home because he was worried about Anne and Sammie.However, as someone who used to work as a nurse, Robyn knew John should not leave the hospital after being shot by a gun. At least, he needed to stay in the hospital and be observed for 24 hours to make sure that he was fine before leaving the hospital. If an infection happened, John's body would crash easily and he would become weak just like Anne.In the ward, John frowned and talked with a serious tone, "I'm really fine. Get me my clothes so I can go upstairs to thank Miss Andie and go back home immediately. If Anne knows that I'm hurt, she is going to worry. She will easily be suspicious since you haven't gone back home for a long time. What if she worries about me and brings Sammie to the hospital to look for me? Can you bear yourself even just thinking about it? She's weak and Sammie
Sammie's soft and cute babyish voice melted Stefan's heart immediately. It had been quite some time since he actually put a smile on his face. "Hi, there. What's your name and how old are you?"Sammie tilted her head to look at Stefan's handsome face and smiled sweetly, "I'm Samantha but everyone calls me Sammie."Then she did not forget to introduce Anne to Stefan too. "This is my Mommy. Her name is Anne."At this point, Stefan had given all of his attention to Sammie and did not notice Sammie mentioned that her mother's name was Anne. He pinched Sammie's cheek and said, "Your Mommy is not feeling well. You have to be a good girl and take care of her, do you understand?"Sammie nodded seriously and said, "I will.""Alright, sir. I will bring them to where they want to go," the nurse saw Anne signing to her anxiously. She smiled and said, "Don't worry. I will take good care of them."The promise from the nurse gave an assurance to Stefan that they would be well taken off. He smil
This was the first time Anne brought Sammie out. Ever since she escaped from death, she became a different person—a recluse and was afraid of the sun. This situation became even worse after she became mute.The last time she left the house was two weeks ago when she had to go for surgery.However, she worried about John. In the morning, Robyn told her John was hurt and needed to stay in the hospital to rest. However, she had a hard time believing what Robyn said.After spending so many years together with John, Anne reckoned she was the one who knew John the most. If it was a minor injury, John would never want to stay in the hospital. He cared too much about her and Sammie, so he never dared to let her worry about him. Therefore, it just did not sound reasonable if John would stay in the hospital because of a small injury.Furthermore, Robyn had not returned home since the morning, which was nearly three hours since she left the house. After much consideration, she decided to call
Tara fell silent upon hearing this. She bit her lip nervously and shot Gwen a tentative glance. "I didn't mean to offend you, Gwen…" "I know." Gwen let out an exhale and interrupted Tara before she could finish, "I know you meant no harm, but I can't deny that this is something I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around. In the future, neither of you—even you, Luna—should bring this up again." Her love life was such a mess that not even she could unravel the ties, much less expect other people to understand. Tara pursed her lips and did not reply. Luna stared at Gwen in silence for a while before finally saying, "But you have to face this eventually, Gwennie. After all that you've been through with Luke, all of us hope for nothing but the best for the two of you. Even if you avoid it now, you'll have to face the truth eventually. Otherwise, are you planning on spending the rest of your life in this complicated relationship with Luke? Can you bear the thought of not being
Stefan was mildly amused by the look on her face. He extended his arms out in a gesture of defeat and said, "I never intended on ratting you out to Joshua. You three spoke about these secrets in my presence." With that, he shot Andy a rather helpless look. "Don't you agree, sir?" Andy was surprised to be called out all of a sudden. "Of course!" Although Gwen and Luke had been together for a long time, Luke had never much cared for maintaining good relations with his future father-in-law. He always thought his relationship with Gwen did not concern anyone else outside of the two of them. Combined with the fact that Andy had done some hurtful things to Gwen in the past, Luke grew even more disdainful of his future father-in-law. Because of this, he had never given Andy as much as a second glance throughout their relationship and rarely ever addressed him directly like this. The truth was, Stefan had already called out to Andy once before, during their rescue mission the day befor