"No."As soon as Jim's words escaped his mouth, Bonnie interjected without even a single hint of hesitation.She handed Jim over to Mickey and added in a voice so cold that there was barely any warmth in it, "How can he and I possibly get back together? Mr. Jim is still waiting to marry his precious Charlotte."With that, she turned and left.Jim remained motionless, deep in his thoughts as he watched her leave.When Bonnie disappeared from his view, he turned to glance at Mickey. "She and I…""You two were together in the past, and you were very close too," Mickey replied in his deep voice as he lowered his head. "If Ms. Charlotte hadn't come back to Merchant City, the person you would've been marrying would be Ms. Bonnie by now."Jim furrowed his brows when he heard this. He glanced coldly at Mickey and asked, "Does this mean that I was the one who had wronged her?"Even though he could feel the displeasure in Jim's gaze, Mickey still nodded in defiance. "Well, according to w
"What curse are you going to put on me?""I haven't decided yet.""Is that it, or do you love me too much to put a curse on me?"…Jim and Bonnie were so intimate in Jim's dream that it seemed so surreal.Jim awoke from his dream and quickly took a sip from his tea to settle his nerves.Everything that happened in his dream still made him a little worried just thinking back on it.Had he and Bonnie been as close as they had in the dream?If that was true, why was he unable to recall these memories of them together, and why did he have no recollection of her at all?"Mr. Landry, it's time to wake up and eat breakfast," a woman's voice rang out from outside the door.Jim recognized that voice. It was Roanne, Charlotte's younger sister.He furrowed his brows and murmured a reply, then got off the bed and decided to freshen himself up in hopes that it would calm him.In the dining room, Roanne had already prepared an entire table full of food.Jim sat at the table, and as he c
Bonnie's appearance in the dining room surprised the two of them.Jim glanced at her, frowning, and said with disapproval, "Since when did you arrive?"Who gave her the right to eavesdrop on the conversation between him and Roanne?Bonnie's lips were pressed together in a thin line, and her gaze was on Roanne, who was still kneeling on the ground. "Roanne, repeat what you just said," she repeated, albeit with an unsteady voice. "Who… Whose identity did Charlotte take?"Roanne, too, was shocked that Bonnie would appear at this moment.She had seized the opportunity of Charlotte not being around to tell Jim the truth and plant the seed of doubt within his mind.However, Bonnie's sudden appearance threw her off a little. She did not know whether she should get up from her position or if she should remain on her knees before Jim.Therefore, she had no choice but to glance rather sheepishly at Bonnie and repeat in a low voice, "Charlotte…took the place of another girl named Number-9
Bonnie's memories of her stay at the orphanage surged into her mind.Number-12 was none other than Charlotte!Bonnie had seen photos of Charlotte before she suffered her burns before, and at this moment, she was certain that Charlotte and Number-12 were the same people!Charlotte was the tiny, timid little girl who followed her everywhere and with whom she shared her food, and she had even constantly called Bonnie her big sister!Because of that, before Bonnie left the orphanage, she had given Charlotte all the red clothes she liked and even warned the rest of the children not to bully Charlotte. She had told them that from that day onward, Number-12 was the new Number-9, and no one was allowed to take advantage of her.It did not matter that she was adopted. If anyone were to bully Number-12, she would return to the orphanage to whip their asses!At that time, Bonnie truly thought of Charlotte as her friend, but…It turned out that when Jim returned to the orphanage for her, Ch
Bonnie's entire body stiffened when she heard this.Staring at the disdainful look on his face, she swallowed her words and curled her lips into a self-deprecating smirk. "How can that be? Even if I was the Number-9 you've been searching for, you're not the young boy I knew."You're nothing compared to him."With that, she turned around, grabbed Harvey's hand, and strode away, all the while suppressing the pain in her heart.Jim narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave.Was she mocking him?A gust of wind blew, and the door slammed shut behind them with a loud thud that made Roanne jump.Jim finally turned his attention back toward Roanne and shot her a cold glance. Then, he said in a tone so cold there was not a hint of emotion within it, "Roanne, Charlotte has treated you as her sister all these years, so how could you deliberately tarnish her name behind her back and attempt to drive a wedge between us? What are your intentions in doing this?"Roanne felt her blood run cold
The flash drive contained every crime Charlotte committed, including her intentions of burning Bonnie but getting betrayed by Heather at the last minute, which led to her burns and subsequent disfigurement, as well as how Charlotte had deliberately cut Roanne's face with a knife to experiment with the various plastic surgeries before committing to them.These were cold, hard facts, and Roanne refused to believe that Jim would still want to be with Charlotte after finding out the truth.However, she never thought that Jim would refuse to look through the flash drive altogether!The poison that Charlotte had put him under was so strong that he did not doubt her at all, not even for a second.As soon as she thought of this, Roanne bit her lip and lifted her head to stare at Jim. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have placed everything in the flash drive to waste your time… I should've told you instead!"She opened her mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Bonnie is Harvey's birth moth
"You know where my son is?"Bonnie, who was inside the house and was feeding Shelly, tossed the milk bottle to Harvey and strode out of the house without even waiting for Sean to get her.Outside the door, Roanne was standing in the middle of the garden with her suitcase, smiling at Bonnie. "That's right. Not only do I know where he is, but I can help you find him."Bonnie was overwhelmed with joy to hear news about her lost son, but she still tried to suppress her emotions and glanced at Roanne with a hint of suspicion. "Are you sure?"Even Bonnie herself was unsure if her child was a boy or girl.When she was in Banyan City, no matter how hard she tried to force Ms. Jennifer to tell her the truth, she could not get a certain answer."At that time, two people had come to me and taken two children away from me, one boy and one girl… I honestly have no idea if the child that belonged to you was a boy or a girl."If I had known, Ms. Craig, I would've told you the truth by now…"B
However, Bonnie was different.She and Bonnie shared the same enemy, which was Charlotte.Besides, as long as she held the truth about Bonnie's child close to her, Bonnie would surely do anything to protect her.Therefore, as long as she sought shelter with Bonnie, Charlotte would not dare harm her!On the one hand, because Bonnie was with the children, Charlotte would have to think twice before attempting to hurt them.On the other hand, there was only a small door separating the house from the main building of Landry Mansion, and she only had to shout for Jim to hear them from the main building should Charlotte try to harm her.Charlotte would never risk exposing her identity to get rid of a little pawn like her.Bonnie furrowed her brows and contemplated this for a minute, then finally nodded. "As long as you promise me you'll never stay in touch with Charlotte again or help her do anything, I can offer you one of the empty rooms to stay in.""Don't worry." Roane curled 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