"Still, Luke being dead is still better than what's happening now—being used by someone he didn't know."As Gwen submerged herself into the self-blaming process again, Luna furrowed her brow and sprung forward. She pulled Gwen to her back and looked at Steven coldly."Don't try to confuse the main point. Our main point is that all of you had hidden from Luke and turned him into you. If there was a choice, I believe Luke would rather die solely for Gwen, not…this. Your family deserted him like he was rubbish in the first place. When you were in a vegetative state, they lied to him and used Gwen as bait before finally turning his body into a vessel to hold your thoughts and memories."The harm that all of you cause to Luke is crueler than letting Luke die. Furthermore…"She took a deep breath and pointed at the helplessly weeping Gwen. "If you're just Luke's twin brother, she won't be so upset by just looking at you. However, the body of the love of her life is now turned into anothe
Steven quickly realized what he was doing; his words sounded a tad too intimate.He furrowed his brow and looked at Gwen. "I'm sorry. I didn't know why I said that—"Before he could finish, Gwen ran forward and wrapped her arms around Steven's waist tightly. She sprung so quickly that when she hugged him, his body swayed a little. He felt Gwen's warmth and softness the moment she threw herself toward him.She hugged his waist and buried her face into his abdomen as she feebly whimpered, "Luke, have you been pretending to be Steven? You're Luke, aren't you?"Her warm breath somehow seeped into the clothes and reached Steven's skin. The numbing, tingling sensation made Steven feel an emotion entirely foreign to him.He pursed his lips and felt how excited Gwen was and also her shivering. Suddenly, he did not want to tell her the truth anymore. He was afraid she would feel lost and fall into despair that she would be harsh with herself.He lowered his head and looked at Gwen's head
Steven unconsciously took a step back unconsciously as he hoarsely reasoned, "I didn't ask you to give it back to me."He knew Gwen's current heart was his, but it never unsettled him from the start. On the contrary, he felt guilty because he had stolen Luke's body, and he would feel better if Gwen treated the heart as compensation. He never thought…Gwen would want to return his heart instead."But I want to." Gwen curled her lips into a smile. "It disgusts me so badly every time I think the heart beating in my chest was yours."Yes, she was disgusted. If it was not because of this heart, Luke's body would never be stolen. She did not have to see the person she was most familiar with turn into this person. If it was not for her, Luke would still be alive. Thus, she felt disgusted with this current heart and herself.After she had sought revenge for Luke, she would give the heart back to Steven once and for all.She did not want to owe him anything. She would remove the heart away
The door swung open at the same time Luna put down her phone.A few bodyguards entered the room, and the leader shot Luna a respectful glance. "Yes, Ma'am."Then, he glanced coldly at Steven and said, "Let's go, Mr. Hughes."Steven furrowed his brow upon hearing this. "Is there no room for further discussion, Mrs. Lynch?"He knew how much his parents adored Denise. If he were to go home without her, they would grow concerned and would not cease to find her. This was why he had rushed over as soon as he received Joshua's call without a single regard for his injury.Despite this, he knew he could not simply agree to help Luna and Gwen plot against the Hughes and Miller families.He did not want to choose any of the options Luna gave him. He did not want to leave without Denise, but neither was he willing to betray his family."No," Luna said curtly as she handed Gwen a glass of water. "You've used up all your chances."She glanced at the guards and ordered, "Send Mr. Hughes out!"
Luna paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Send me an email with the audio recordings, and I'll listen to them right now."She then hung up the phone. As she did this, Luna glanced out the window and realized that the sun had already set.She and Gwen had been sitting there for more than five hours."Did they find out anything through the recording device?" Gwen asked, frowning.Luna nodded. "When did you even place it on Steven, anyway?"Gwen sniffed, picked up a tissue from the table, and wiped her tear-stained face. "I planted it there when I was hugging him."Even though Gwen had temporarily lost all her rationality that moment, she still remembered her task, so she slipped the recording device into Steven's back pocket while embracing him.Even though she was unsure of Steven's habits, she still remembered that Luke never used to check his back pockets. Therefore, she gambled her chances and assumed that Steven was the same.It seemed that she had guessed correctly.
Luna and Gwen fell silent upon hearing this. The entire room was quiet except for the sound of Denise's slow breathing.Luna was a little caught off guard by this.The audio clip continued to play out an argument between Steven and his parents."How can you say this, Father? She's my sister!""Steven, you know very well that your mother and I had adopted Denise. If it weren't for us, she would've been in a far worse place than she is now. The only reason we had adopted her—provided her with a comfortable life and took care of her like she was our own—was that we wanted her to contribute to this family."The only thing we asked of her in return was to marry Thomas so our family can become even more powerful and aid your career in the future."However, after so many years, not only did she fail in this, but she even allowed Thomas to bring home another woman and even a baby…"She's lost all her value to our family, whereas we've done all we can to help her. If Joshua wants her to
Luna instinctively glanced at Gwen after the recording ended.Gwen, too, turned to stare at her.Both their faces were etched with utter disbelief.How…could this be?Did the Hughes family not adore Denise beyond anyone else? Did Steven not say that Mr. and Mrs. Hughes practically treated Denise like their own?How could they have chosen to give up on Denise so easily after knowing she had offended Thomas?"Although I must say, this seems pretty consistent with their style." Gwen was the first one to break out of her stupor. She curled her lips into a smirk and added, "More than two decades ago, they had abandoned a one-year-old baby just because of their superstitious beliefs, so we shouldn't be surprised that they'd choose to give up on their daughter just to get on Thomas and Joshua's good sides. Regardless…"Gwen sneered and turned to glance at Denise. "I can't help feeling bad for her. According to Steven, Denise hadn't truly loved Thomas at all—she just chose to because sh
Denise's eyes were glossed with tears as she stared at them.Gwen froze for a moment, then immediately glanced at Luna. "She…"Luna rubbed her brow in exasperation. "I thought she was sleeping, so I removed the towel from her mouth so she wouldn't choke."Neither of them had expected Denise to wake up in the middle of their conversation."I heard everything." Denise sighed when she noticed Luna's confusion and said solemnly, "I never…thought things would turn out this way."Denise had always been a good actress.Ever since she was a child, she had to learn ways of feigning obedience to steer attention away from her brother, so she picked up the skill of pretending to fall asleep whenever the adults wanted her to. Not only that, but she was even able to wake up 'on demand' to appease the adults.Even though the adults gradually saw through her as she grew older, she could still fool unsuspecting people, including Luna and Gwen.She had not been asleep this whole time at all. Ins
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