Jude was amused by this. "So what are you trying to say—that your wife is pretty or not? First, you claim she looks beautiful even without makeup, yet now you say that she won't stand out among the crowd if she goes out bare-faced?"Jude chirruped, "Did you hear this, Luna? He's a hypocrite!"Luna chuckled at this. "I don't mind. Perhaps I'm not that pretty in other people's eyes, but as long as he thinks I'm beautiful, that's all that matters."With that, she picked up her coat and turned around. "Well, I'll be off now!"Jude sighed when he heard the door close behind her. "The truth is, I'm kind of envious of you and Luna's relationship, but…"He paused and finally said, "I truly do not dare to get involved with Miss Chance, yet the woman that I love has been chased out of Banyan City by my parents due to her family background. The truth is, you really need to be lucky to find someone whom you love and who is suitable to be with you."Joshua smiled at this. "What did Miss Chanc
Luna let out a gasp in acknowledgment. "Is that the woman who got you drunk and tricked you into sleeping with her?"The color drained from Jude's face when he heard this. "Yes, that's right.""She's quite pretty." Luna glanced first at Vanessa, then turned to gaze at Jude. "You two will make a good couple."Jude rolled his eyes at this. "Well, I'm handsome, so of course I'll look good with anyone."Then, as though to prove his point, he shifted his attention to Anne and added, "Your friend and I will make a good couple too."Anne, who had been listening in silence all this while, never expected the conversation to suddenly shift onto her. She quickly waved her hands in dismissal and said, "You can't just say things like this out of the blue, Mr. Smith. I have a one-year-old with my husband."Jude paused, then glanced meaningfully at Anne. "Well, that's a shame. If you were single, I might consider getting to know you through Luna."Anne smiled at this. "Unfortunately, you misse
Luna's eyebrows furrowed."Do you know them?" Anne, following Luna's gaze, also caught sight of the couple walking through the doors. However, she could not see the woman's face from where she was sitting and could only make out who the man was.She raised her brow at this. "Hey, isn't that James Shore?"Luna froze and turned to glance at Anne. "Do you know him?""I do." Anne pursed her lips. "He's the leader of one of the local gangs here in Banyan City, who've only gained power over the last two years. He even once went to John's company to threaten the employees there. If John hadn't called the cops on him, I'm sure he would've harmed the employees."Luna was stunned by this. "What happened then? Didn't he try to take revenge after John called the cops?"Usually, people like them would seek revenge on the person who ratted them out to the police after being released."He didn't have a chance." Anne pursed her lips. "After getting released, he perhaps intended to seek revenge
"Let me go over to eavesdrop on their conversation." Anne winked at Luna. "If this woman is somehow related to Fiona and is here to take revenge on you and Joshua, she'll definitely recognize you, but as for me…"She continued with a gleeful look. "Even though you and I are best friends, John and I are far too distant from you and Joshua's world, and we rarely show up in public together. Not even Fiona knew much about our friendship, so this woman won't be the wiser. It's better if I eavesdrop instead of you!"With that, she put down her cup and, feigning the need to go to the washroom, deliberately strode past Jacqueline and James' table.She was right; Jacqueline did not remember her at all. When she passed by their table, Jacqueline's gaze did not even falter as she continued her conversation with James.Soon, Luna's phone chimed with Anne's messages, which she was sent from the washroom.[I heard them talking about some kind of debt…but I'm not sure who they're talking about.
"I'm on it." Jude immediately leaped up when he heard the panic in Luna's voice and strode toward the restaurant counter."Please sit, Mrs. Lynch." Vanessa quickly gestured at the chair. "Don't worry, your friend is probably fine."Luna glanced at Vanessa and was just about to reject her offer when she caught sight of the smile on Vanessa's face. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to sit.Since Jude had gone to check on the surveillance tapes, the only thing she could do was wait for him.After sitting down, Luna took out her phone and called Joshua. "Jude has gone to check the surveillance tapes. Can you help me hack into the system and look at the roadside surveillance cameras to see where Anne has gone? There's no way Anne would leave without warning—something must've happened."Joshua furrowed his brow, took out his laptop, and started typing his code. "Why did you choose to call me and not Nigel instead?"Luna had always sought out Nigel's help when it came to cracking
"What is it?" Luna furrowed her brow, asking fervently as she placed Joshua's call on speaker mode."Anne was indeed kidnapped." Jude let out a sigh and continued, "From the surveillance tapes, a woman in black kidnapped her and smuggled her out from the back door."Then, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Luna. "The employees found this at the back door."Luna froze, then took the slip of paper from him.A row of neat handwriting read, [Don't worry, Ms. Luna, we won't hurt your friend, but there's no guarantee what we'll do if you don't attend the wedding tonight.]Luna gasped at this.What was this person trying to do? Did they kidnap Anne just to threaten her to attend Adrian and Jacqueline's wedding?"I found something from the surveillance tapes too," Joshua said, frowning, when he heard Luna's silence. "I've sent the video to you. According to the tapes, that woman who kidnapped Anne from the back door circled to the restaurant entrance to pick u
"I'm not too sure about this." Vanessa furrowed her brow. "All I know is that her brother owns a loan shark company, and she's been working for him ever since she left school. I'm not too close with her, but she knows my family owns a business. Therefore, she once secretly asked me if I wanted to do business with her, for the sake of being old friends, and that she could help me get back all the money that other people owed me."Vanessa scratched her head rather sheepishly as she continued, "Even though I had loaned plenty of money to other people, I didn't ask Willow for help because I thought it wasn't necessary to ask everyone for my money back, considering some of them were struggling."Finally, she turned to stare at Luna. "However, since your friend was kidnapped by Willow, I can use this as an excuse to meet with her, and perhaps I might be able to find something out."Luna furrowed her brow at this. "But…will you get into trouble if she finds out that this is the reason you'
Luna only realized something was wrong after the words came out of her mouth.She had just met Vanessa that day and had only exchanged a few words of introduction. Therefore, asking Vanessa about her relationship status was no doubt rather abrupt and even downright rude.Just as she was about to apologize, however, Vanessa smiled. "Of course I do."She glanced in Jude's direction, holding her cup, and curled her lips into a smile. "If I didn't, why would I be so desperate to marry him?"Luna paused and suddenly recalled what Jude had previously said to her.He had told her that Vanessa had used plenty of deceiving tricks to get him to marry her, including chasing the woman he loved out of town, poisoning him, and even sleeping with him during his intoxicated state.Luna furrowed her brow at this thought. "You…""Are you going to ask me if I tried to trick him into marrying me?" Vanessa smiled when she saw the uneasy look on Luna's face and volunteered the information herself. "D
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