The next morning, Bonnie woke up at daybreak.She had been having nightmares all night.At first, the dream started with Christopher breaking all of her fingers, one at a time.After that, she dreamt that she had suffered a miscarriage, and Jim and Christopher were standing in front of her, laughing at her as she lay in a puddle of her blood.Christopher had told her that she was a stupid woman who refused to listen to his advice, whereas Jim sneered at her and said he would never fall in love with her.When Bonnie jolted awake from her nightmare, her pillow was stained with tears.She got up from the bed and went into the bathroom, where she stared at her haggard self in the mirror.A few days ago, her heart had been full of hope and joy when she left Banyan City to find Jim.Before she left, Harvey had even reminded her not to show her happiness so outwardly and get carried away."Aunty Bonnie, everyone can tell you're excited, and my Daddy will tease you when he sees how ha
"I'm picking up right now!"With that, Bonnie took out her phone, let out an exhale to regain her composure, and picked up the phone."Congratulations," Harvey's excited voice rang out from the other end of the line. "You've finally achieved what you wanted!"I can finally call you Mommy as I've always wanted to!"Bonnie furrowed her brows when she heard this. "What are you saying?""Don't play dumb with me." Harvey pursed his lip and said with a hint of playful contempt, "Alright, alright, don't boast. You don't have to lie to me; Mr. Jim Landry told me everything."Bonnie's frown grew even deeper when she heard this. "Tell you…what?""About your wedding, of course!" Harvey started to giggle as he said this. "This morning, Mr. Jim called me and told me that he'll be getting married this month, but before that, he wanted Shelly and me to return to Merchant City so that our family can be together to witness this event."A hint of excitement enlivened Harvey's voice as he continu
"What a crybaby." Harvey started to lecture Bonnie as though he was the adult instead of her. "If you show your emotions too much, Mr. Jim will know how much you love him."He'll think that you can't live without him, and he might take you for granted in the future!"Clutching the phone to her ear, Bonnie felt as though the emotions she had been suppressing for so long had finally found a release. "You're right… I love him too much, and I can't live without him."The sad thing was, they were never meant to be.Bonnie did not want to hold onto a relationship that led nowhere.She was not as gracious as Luna; she was just an ordinary woman who would get hurt when hope was taken from her.She would lose her appetite and sleep whenever she saw the person she loved with another woman.If she did not remove Jim from her life, she was certain she would not be able to endure the emotional torture and one day go insane even before Jim could regain his memories."Why are you crying even
"I just want to bring her back to Swan Lake Chalet where I can take good care of her."The first thing Bonnie heard when she opened the door was Christopher's voice, laced with displeasure. "Have you forgotten, Mr. Lynch, that you had spent a period at Swan Lake Chalet in the past, nursing your wound? You know fully well how serene and peaceful Swan Lake Chalet is; perfect for a pregnant woman."There's no harm in me bringing Bonnie there where I can take care of her, so why are you so against this?"There was no hint of emotion in Joshua's low, cold voice when he replied, "I know that Swan Lake Chalet is a great place, and I'm not against her staying there."With that, he lifted his head to stare icily at Christopher. "I just don't trust you taking care of her."Christopher's expression darkened upon hearing this.Next to him, Jim furrowed his brows and tried to stand up for his friend. "You don't trust Christopher? He's the only son of my mother's classmate, and he was born int
Luna was so outraged by Christopher's bold claims that she was rendered speechless.A split second later, she bit her lip and glared at Christopher's face. "I used to think you were a kind and righteous person, considering you're the son of my mother's best friend."At one point, Mother even told me that you were a good person and tried to correct my misunderstandings of you."It turns out that she and I were both wrong!"When Luna first returned to the Landry family, she had not been fond of Christopher when she first met him and thought that he was a sly, cunning person.At that time, Rosalyn had seen through her thoughts, and she had talked to Luna about this when no one was around and told her that Christopher was, in fact, a good person.Rosalyn told her that Christopher had led a hard life. His father suffered a psychiatric illness and had been sent into a mental asylum before Christopher was even 18 and had never come out since.Therefore, Christopher was left on his own
Jim could not believe the audacity Bonnie had.Did she not claim she was pregnant? If so, why was she wearing makeup?Pregnant women were not supposed to wear makeup, and even if they had to, they would use makeup that was made specifically for pregnant ladies.Jim did not understand if Bonnie was too stupid to know this or if she had not thought about the consequences of her actions on her unborn baby.As soon as he thought of this, the look in his eyes turned to that of extreme repulse."Bonnie."In contrast, Christopher's face was etched with worry and anxiety.He could tell that Bonnie was wearing makeup to hide her dark circles and conceal the haggard look on her face.Therefore, he could not help growing even more concerned about her.He had to take Bonnie away from this place no matter what and bring her back to Swan Lake Chalet with him!Bonnie curled her lips into a smirk when she heard the sound of her name, then turned around and sat down next to Luna. "I heard you
Bonnie could not help snickering when she heard this.She lifted her head to stare at Jim and said in a mocking tone, "I don't know if I should call you naïve or stupid; do you think Christopher having taken care of a child before is proof of his love for children?"Jim sneered. "Is it not?""If so, does this mean I'm a saint for having helped you take care of two of your kids? Aren't you going to repay me for this?" Bonnie stared coldly at Jim and continued with a voice laced with exhaustion and weariness. "Jim, I don't know what your intentions of coming here with Christopher are."Christopher has already persuaded me to get an abortion, but I refused."This time, he brought you along for God knows why, but I'll only say this once more."She let out an exhale, stared at her injured right little finger, and said in a cold, emotionless voice, "The baby in my belly belongs to you, not Christopher."Both Jim and Christopher's expressions darkened upon hearing this.Jim was so out
If Christopher found out that she had faked the consent form, he would stop at nothing to force Bonnie to get rid of the baby!As soon as she thought of this, Bonnie bit her lip and exclaimed, "I lost the form!"With that, she shot Jim and Christopher a displeased look. "Who in their right mind would even keep it?"Christopher burst out into laughter. "Lose it?"He crossed his arms in front of his chest and fixed his gaze on Bonnie's flat belly. "If you had gone through with the surgery, the surgeon would've told you to keep your consent form in a safe place, not just to declare it to the medical insurance company but also to serve as proof when the hospital calls you back for a follow-up appointment in the future."You claim that you've lost the form, so it's either because you didn't know better or you're lying."As he said this, Christopher placed his hands behind his head. "You can only choose one, Bonnie."Bonnie clenched her fists next to her upon hearing this. She bit her
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