Steven's entire body froze when he heard this.He threw his towel aside and stormed out the door. "What's wrong?"The sight before him shook him to the core.A couple was standing in front of the room next door, and the woman staring back at him was none other than Denise!At this moment, Denise's face was flushed red with tears brimming in her eyes, and she had a man's coat draped over her shoulders.The man standing next to her was tall and slender with tanned skin that made him look handsome and roguish.Steven was so stunned that he could not say a word.Gwen had already regained her composure by this time, and a small smile crept across her face. "Were you in the room next to us all this while?"She still remembered all the noises she heard from the room next door.The hotel's soundproofing was quite bad, so she could clearly hear the woman's cries of pleasure and the man's passionate groans. The two of them had been engulfed in throes of pleasure, so much so that even Lu
Steven was even more outraged when he heard this.It was true, he had always been mild-mannered, but this was only subject to people he respected!The man standing before him not only took advantage of his sister but even made her cry!Denise was a strong, independent girl; she would never cry unless something terrible happened.This man must have taken advantage of her!At this thought, Steven narrowed his eyes, and a glimmer of malice flashed through them. "I don't have to be mild-mannered to an asshole like you!"As he said this, he slammed Sean's hand out of the way and brought his fist toward his face.Initially, Sean had not been afraid at all. After all, the man before him only possessed Luke's physique. He was still a weak, nerdy scholar at the core and thus would not be much of a threat at all.However, he underestimated Steven.Steven's force was so strong that he bent Sean's arm backward and, a split second later, Sean failed to hold him back.He staggered backward
Denise strode into the room.Sean curled his lips into a smile and turned to glance at Steven, gesturing toward the room. "Come on in. You can see for yourself whether I had taken advantage of your sister or not."With that, he turned and disappeared into the room.Steven furrowed his brow."Come on." Gwen sighed and tugged on his shirt sleeve. "Perhaps you're not familiar with Sean, but I am."He's the son of Joshua's aunt. He's been through a lot since young and eventually wound up as a car mechanic…"Despite that, he's never done anything bad to anyone, and on the contrary, he's helped my friend numerous times…so everything must've been a misunderstanding."Steven would never take notice of anyone defending Sean, but since it was Gwen doing this, he had no choice but to listen.He sighed and shot Gwen a meaningful look. "Alright. I'll believe you for now."With that, he followed Gwen into the room.To Gwen's surprise, the room was not messy as she had initially thought. In
Both Steven and Gwen widened their eyes in shock upon hearing this.Steven was so stunned by this that he could not even speak. After a long pause, he furrowed his brow and muttered, "What did you just say? Denise and Thomas…"If Denise had not slept with Thomas, it would not have ruined Thomas' relationship with Yannie, which angered him so much that he tried to get revenge on Denise by threatening her to sleep with other men."Nothing happened that day at all." Sean let out a chuckle, then turned to glance first at Denise, then at Steven. "Your parents must've taught her how to seduce men, but they forgot to teach her one important thing; how sexual intercourse is supposed to happen."With that, he flung open the covers, revealing a patch of blood on the sleek white sheets.Gwen and Steven's jaws dropped at this sight."This…" Gwen frowned and instinctively glanced at Denise. "What's this?"Did Denise not sleep with Thomas just two days ago? If so, how could she have given her
Sean had anticipated Gwen's reaction before this.The truth was that he, too, was just as shocked as Gwen was when first discovering this.Even though this, too, was his first time, he still possessed some basic knowledge about sexual education, and after everything was over, he tried to pursue the truth of what had happened between Denise and Thomas.To his surprise…he discovered that no one had ever taught Denise anything regarding sexual health.All her knowledge was restricted to what she had heard from other people, and even the movies she watched were age-restricted, with scenes of sexual promiscuity being removed from the films themselves.According to the films she watched, 'sexual intercourse' constituted a man and a woman getting in bed together with their clothes on and nothing further.Therefore, this was the limited knowledge she had regarding sexual health, and it was until her encounter with Sean the night before that she finally realized how wrong she had been.A
Steven furrowed his brow upon hearing this. He turned to stare coldly at Sean. "You…""We're planning to get married." Sean lifted his head to stare earnestly back at Steven. "This is the reason Denise called you just now. She wanted to discuss our wedding with you."She said that even though the Hughes family adopted and raised her like their own, she no longer thought of them as family after how they treated her, and the only family she has left is you. Therefore, she wanted to discuss our wedding with you first before proceeding with any of the arrangements."You're also going to be the only family from her side at our wedding."Steven's entire body stiffened when he heard this. He turned to stare dazedly at Denise. "Denise… How long have you known this man? How are you going to marry him after only knowing him for barely a day? Aren't you going to reconsider this?"He did not have anything against Sean, but he did not think that Denise could have known him very well. If anythi
"Sean is really good to me. I've made up my mind to marry him. Our biggest obstacle right now, however, is probably his brother…" Denise sighed when she thought of Sean's brother.Sean had told her that his brother was Joshua's best friend, and unfortunately, Joshua had seen every bad deed she had done. She was genuinely afraid Sean's brother would think badly of her and treat her with bias because of Joshua's influence."Don't worry." Sean smiled. "I'll do everything I can to make him see my way. Even if I fail…"He smiled again. "It doesn't matter. I'm the one who wants to be with you, and I'm the one who's going to give you your happiness. My brother's opinion is just for reference purposes only. I won't listen to everything he says."He did not say those things in particular for Steven and Gwen to hear, but they felt his sincerity after hearing that.Steven paused for a while and looked at Denise again. "So…when you called me to tell me you're going back to the house to pack y
Sean was surprised. He exchanged looks with Denise before he followed Gwen out the door.Gwen brought Sean out of the room and walked to the end of the hallway. When they were at the staircase, she stopped and turned to look at Sean. "Luke came back last night."It bewildered Sean so much that his eyes widened, looking as though almost popping out of their sockets. After a while, he frowned and asked cautiously, "Gwen, when you said he came back last night, are you saying, like…in your dream?"Sean's question baffled Gwen for a moment, but it was not long that she realized she had worded herself wrongly. "No, not in my dream!" she chuckled.She pinched her glabella and thought for a while before telling how one of Steven's split personalities was Luke.Sean was shocked that he was speechless for a long time. "Are you saying…Steven and Luke can coexist in the same body? When Steven is submitted in a certain predicament, he'll become Luke?"What a miracle!Gwen pinched her glabell
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