Looking at the consent letter, Gwen felt conflicted. She pursed her lip and looked into the emergency room.From the gap in the door, she could see Steven lying on the bed with his hand covering his waist. There was no expression on his face, and he looked like he was spacing out as he looked at the ceiling. In spite of that, Gwen could feel that something was troubling him.She did not know what was troubling him, but…Gwen took a deep breath and accepted the consent letter from the doctor. Then, she found a place to sit with the pen.Before she signed her name, she looked at the doctor. "He… Will there be any aftereffects once his wound recovers?"The doctor smiled. "No, there shouldn't be any aftereffects. However, as his girlfriend, you should take good care of him and not let him get hurt again."Gwen's face turned slightly pale. She bit her lip and lowered her head. Just when she was about to sign her name on the consent letter, a cold female voice came from far away."Wait.
The atmosphere fell into silence.The doctor who gave the consent letter to Gwen was stunned. She furrowed her brow and looked at Gwen. "You're not Steven Hughes' girlfriend?"Gwen bit her lip and tried to say something. She opened her mouth, but she found herself unable to muster anything. Finally, she lowered her head.Kate was right. She was not Steven's girlfriend. She was…the woman Steven's body liked before the body became Steven's host.She knew Steven was Luke, but she could not say anything related between her and Steven. How was she able to explain? Luke…was no longer with them anymore."No, she's not," Kate sneered and looked at Gwen from a condescending angle. She raised her head proudly like she was the queen who won and looked at the doctor. "Maybe you're too busy to pay attention to the social news in this city. Had you did, then you'd often come across the news about the wedding between Ms. Miller and Mr. Hughes. He's Steven Hughes, and I…"She smirked and glanced
What Kate said was too absurd and way out of Gwen's imagination. At that moment, Gwen did not know how to respond to that. Wordless, she looked at Kate incredulously.At first, the doctor thought Gwen only wanted to snatch Steven to be her boyfriend because he was a handsome-looking guy. It was unethical, but it was understandable because Steven's appearance and background were something all women desired.As she listened in more, however, this was not the first time this woman tried to snatch someone else's boyfriend. Thus, the doctor sighed, took the consent letter Kate passed over, and looked at Gwen with disgust. "Young lady, you should show respect to yourself and others. It's not a good habit to snatch someone else's boyfriend. You'll receive karma for it in the future."After saying that, the doctor went back into the emergency room.Gwen bit her lip and looked at the doctor."Did you hear that?" Kate sneered and repeated the doctor's words once again when she saw how stupe
Gwen was startled. "How did he get hurt?""It's because of you." Kate sneered and looked at Gwen. The image of a vehemently determined Steven during the early morning in the Hughes family residence appeared in Kate's mind."If Gwen Larson came to look for me, then the very least I need to do is to meet with her and clear the air with her," was what he said.At that time, Steven's father wanted to stop him from meeting with Gwen. He did not want Steven to be affiliated or had connections with the people Luke knew. Thus, he ordered the bodyguard to encircle him in the middle.A bodyguard took out a military knife to threaten Steven, asking him to calm down and to not meet with Gwen. Kate knew it was wrong to use violence to stop Steven from meeting Gwen. Nonetheless, she would use that method too if she was Steven's father in that situation.Steven had a phobia of knives, most likely due to the trauma he experienced when he was a kid. He had been scared of knives and similar sharp o
The air in the hallway turned silent as Gwen looked at Kate with surprise. Her jaw hung widely, but not a peep came from her. She placed her arms beside her body and clenched them into fists, clenching and unclenching them repeatedly.Was that truly the reason why he hurt himself? Was he that ashamed and uncomfortable using Luke's body, so much so that he rather be dead and returned Luke's organs to her?Kate felt satisfied with the expression on Gwen's face. She curled up her lips and looked at her plainly. "If you have any dissatisfaction, just come find me. I was the one who made the decision because I want to let my boyfriend live. Put your anger all on me if you are unhappy, but stop bugging Steven. He didn't want anything from Luke. I think…"She raised the corner of her lips. "You don't want to see Steven opening himself up and take out Luke's organs and throw them to your face too, right?"It was truly a cruel thing to say.Gwen bit her lip vehemently and squinted. After a
"Steven, I know how much you wanted to look for Gwen to tell her everything," said Kate as she took a deep breath and stared at Steven spacing out. "But no matter what, you shouldn't harm yourself."As she talked, she reached out to hold Steven's hand, and her eyes gleamed with worry. "Your mother called me this morning, telling me that you've gone mad, had hurt yourself, and ran away. Do you know how worried I was?"She looked at him as a teardrop slipped from the corner of her eye. "After I told you everything about Gwen last night, I was so scared that you'd leave me, so I didn't sleep well. Then, I heard that you were hurt and ran away from your house early in the morning. Later, I received news that you were in an accident and were sent to the hospital."I was worried sick! Who knew the first thing you ask when you woke up was about Gwen…"She wiped away her tears and asked, "Is Gwen more important than me in your heart?"Steven felt distressed and uneasy because of Kate's wo
Kate stared at Steven with a stupefied expression as she fell silent for a good while. Then, she bit her lip, and her voice sounded vague. "Steven, what nonsense are you talking about? I've always loved you. When did I—""Is that so?" interjected Steven, his voice cold. "Kate, before my coma, and even before I had the accident, you and I have never met. We were only bound by the marriage agreement. When I woke up, people told me you are my girlfriend, my fiancee, and that you'd done many things for me. While I was touched, I was surprised too. After all, I don't remember us knowing each other. More importantly, I don't remember any promises that we made before."The first time we met should be after I had my accident. You keep saying that you love me, but why do you do so? Because you had one look at me after I was in a vegetative state. Were you attracted to my body so much that you'd do anything to get me?"Maybe there is such a love in this world, but this is obviously not the ca
Steven never anticipated Kate would openly ask that question, thus it stunned him. After he recovered from his shock, he looked at Kate and sighed. "I haven't thought about that."Frankly speaking, Gwen was the same as Kate. The person they liked was the old Luke and not him, the new Steven. If he could not accept being a replacement for Luke for Kate, he obviously could not accept being with Gwen and be Luke's replacement.Nevertheless, his feelings for Gwen were different from what he had with Kate. For example, Kate knew about his situation. To be more specific, she was the one doing everything behind his back for everything that had happened to him today.Gwen was different. She did not have a choice at all. She was forced to accept that Luke had passed away; forced to know that Luke was still living but was turned into another person.Furthermore, he had read all of Gwen's posts on social media. He could still remember the posts she wrote because she missed Luke so dearly, kno
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