"Me?" Jim snickered and glanced at Christopher. "I didn't think you'd care about anyone else but Bonnie now."Then, he shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning against the bar table, and added, "When you brought her up immediately after calling me, I thought you were here to speak on her behalf.""No, I'm not. She doesn't need to be friends with someone like me who hurt her in the past, much less…speak to you on her behalf." Christopher sported a self-deprecating smile, then lifted his head to stare at Jim. "Jim, I'm in the middle of something important now, and as soon as I'm finished, I might bring June with me to someplace up north."Aunty Rosalyn had already given me the recipe to formulate the drugs for my illness, and I'll be able to produce my own medicine in the future. I…"He paused for a moment before continuing, "I want to bring June with me to someplace where nobody knows us and start a new life there."Jim's entire body stiffened when he heard this.He lifte
"This means that…the child she had been pregnant with was not yours, but…""It was yours," Christopher said, staring intently at Jim. "The only person Bonnie has ever loved and been intimate with was you. As for me and her…"It has only been my wishful thinking since the start, and she never liked me back at all."Jim was holding his glass so tight that his knuckles had turned white. "She…was pregnant with my child?""Yes." Christopher sighed. "In the past, I used to think that you and Charlotte were meant to be since both of your lives had been intertwined since young when you first met at the orphanage."Therefore, I thought that…even if I lied to Bonnie about you and made her abort the child, it'd still be for your good. After all, there was no way you and her would ever be together again, so what was the point of keeping the child?"However, I never thought that…"He closed his eyes and let out a bitter chuckle. "I never thought that Charlotte had been lying all along."He
Tea Cottage?The driver froze when he heard this name that had not been brought up in a long time. "Sir, just to confirm…you want to head to Tea Cottage?"He remembered that the only time Jim had gone to Tea Cottage after losing his memories was to confront Bonnie, so why did he suddenly want to go there at this moment?Besides…had Bonnie not moved out of Tea Cottage?By right, Tea Cottage was nothing but an abandoned mansion."How is this any of your business?" Jim furrowed his brows when he heard this. He laid in the backseat, his eyes still closed, and said with a hint of impatience in his slurred voice, "Do as I say. Are you the driver, or am I?"The driver immediately shut up and started the engine when he heard the anger in Jim's tone.The car pulled onto the main road.Despite his eyes being closed, Jim could not stop uttering Bonnie's name under his breath.The driver sighed. As he drove, he could not help glancing out of the corner of his eye at the man lying in the b
"Bonnie…"The stench of alcohol wafted into the house as the door swung open.Jim staggered into the room, clearly intoxicated, and hobbled over to Bonnie's side."I miss you." He grinned at Bonnie, then laid against her limply.Bonnie did not see this coming at all, and so she lost her grip on her glass, spilling water all over herself and Jim.However, Jim continued to hug her tightly as though he could not feel the water seeping into his shirt at all. "I haven't seen you in such a long time… I miss you so much…"Bonnie furrowed his brows and pushed him away, then glanced at his inebriated face. "How much did you drink?"The stench of alcohol wafting off his body overpowered her nose.Jim giggled, then extended his index finger toward her. "Just…just a little."Then, he reached out and wrapped his arms around Bonnie once more and said with a hint of adoration in his voice, "I miss you so much…"No matter how hard she tried, Bonnie could not release herself from Jim's grip.
As soon as Jim finished his sentence, the entire room fell silent.Pin-drop silence.Bonnie held her breath and stared at Jim, feeling as though all the cells in her body had frozen.Her mind had stopped turning, she could not utter a single word, and she felt as though her heart had skipped a few beats.She bit her lip and stared dazedly at the painting on the wall in front of her.This was a painting that she and Jim had bought from a street painter that they encountered on their trip six months ago.It was a drawing of her and Jim, standing side-by-side on a bridge by the seaside, watching the sunset.They had not known that the artist was painting them, and it was only after they finished watching the sunset that the artist ambled over to them and showed them the painting, claiming that he could not resist recording this magical moment in his art.At that time, the artist had wanted to gift this painting to them to show his gratitude for being able to capture such a beautif
At the same time, Jim was not fully conscious, either.If he had been fully conscious, he would not have asked the driver to bring him to Tea Cottage, nor would he have said all those things to Bonnie.Truth be told, he had shocked himself when he pulled Bonnie into his arms.It was as though…there was a signal in his mind and body compelling him to do so.He did not even know why he had done that. He had felt as though there was another version of himself trapped inside him, ordering him to find Bonnie and propose to her.As soon as he thought of this, Jim closed his eyes and let out an exhale, then gently knocked on his forehead.Could Christopher have been telling the truth?Had he and Bonnie been in love before he lost his memories?Could he have forgotten Bonnie because she mattered too much to him?This sudden realization made Jim frown and pursed his lips in deep thought.A split second later, he shook his head.Maybe it was just the alcohol playing tricks on his mind
Jim lifted his head to stare in the direction of the stairs and called out, "What did you add to the soup?"Bonnie froze in her steps, then came back downstairs. She shot him a strange look and replied, "Oat milk."Then, she turned her head away from him and added, "I'm lactose intolerant, so I can't drink dairy, and besides, I just moved back here today, so unfortunately, I don't have any milk in the fridge."According to the original recipe, I'm supposed to add milk into the soup, but because I don't have any, I put in some of my usual oat milk instead."She paused for a moment before saying, "Even though oat milk and cow's milk are very different, they're both rich in protein, and this brand of oat milk doesn't taste bad either."She pursed her lips slightly. "Besides, this isn't the first time you tasted it. You drank it before losing your memories, and you even said it tasted good. What's wrong? Why don't you like it anymore?"Jim narrowed his eyes when he heard this.He di
"I came across this particular brand when I was a child and fell in love with it ever since due to its rich flavor, but I never managed to taste it again ever since I was taken away to live in the countryside."However, even after I tried to track down this particular brand of oat milk again in the future, I couldn't find it anymore." Bonnie curled her lips into a self-deprecating smile. "After I inherited the Craig family fortune, I spent a lot of time and effort trying to track down the brand that made this oat milk, and finally, I managed to obtain the rights to the recipe and started manufacturing it myself."She shrugged and added, "However, the company has been losing money over this product ever since it launched, and I guess it's because no one out there likes this flavor anymore."The biggest buyer of this particular product is the owner itself: me."Then, she turned around and strode into the kitchen to clean up.Jim narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave.Could this
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