Joshua nodded, gave Rosalyn a courteous smile, then circled past them and headed straight toward the kids."Daddy!" Nellie spread her little arms wide open when she saw him coming and lunged straight into his embrace. "I missed you so much!"Joshua curled his lips into a smile as he knelt to pick her up. "Daddy misses all of you too."Nellie could not help pouting when she heard this. "What do you mean, you miss all of us, and not just me?"She reached out to point at Shelly's stroller with her pudgy little finger. "Are you saying that you don't love me anymore ever since Shelly came along?"Joshua could not help bursting into a chuckle when he saw the jealousy on Nellie's face. "I meant all four of you, sweetheart."He pressed a kiss onto her cheek and added, "All four of you, and also your Mommy, are my babies. I love all of you equally, and that never changed even after Shelly came along. And this means that I won't stop loving Mommy or your brothers because of you, do you und
Neil and Nellie rushed to Joshua when they heard this and lined up to stare at him expectantly, waiting to hear his answer.Even Shelly seemed to understand her brothers and sister's actions and fixated her unblinking eyes on Joshua.Joshua sighed, gazing at the four children. "Your mother is fine, but…"He reached out to gently clasp Nellie's hand. "Unfortunately, Mommy needs to stay apart from us for a while. Will you wait patiently for Mommy to return?"Nellie bit her lip and lifted her head to stare at Joshua with tearful eyes. "I will! Not only that, but I'm sure Nigel, Neil, and Shelly will all wait for her to come back!"As she said this, she trotted to the stroller and gently held her sister's chubby hand. "Even though Mommy isn't around, I'll take good care of little Shelly! When she returns, she'll see just how good of a sister I am!"Joshua curled his lips into a smile as a surge of warmth spread into his heart. He was certain that Neil and Nellie had heard of what hap
Luna closed her eyes, and memories of her with Anne flashed in her mind. The countless nights Anne spent with her, the time they admired the moon together…After Anne's unfortunate death, Anne's smiling face kept on appearing in her mind for days.She knew very well Anne would not want her to blame herself because of how kind she was. She even imagined Anne holding her hand, telling her it was not her fault with kindness and love.Nevertheless, it failed to make her come out from the fact that she was the reason her best friend was dead. Every time she thought of this, the pain consumed her so badly that she thought it was a mistake for her to be alive."Luna." Jim could see the sorrow and hopelessness in his sister's eyes. He furrowed his brows while holding Bonnie's hand to stop her from saying anything related to Anne."Dad and Mom flew here too. Everyone cares about you; we're worried about you. They wanted to come with us, but I stopped them. I was afraid you'd feel even wors
Jim frowned and looked at Bonnie flatly. "Do you think Luna would be happy if we did that?"Bonnie paused after what Jim said. After that, she shook her head quietly. "She'd be angry at us."John was Anne's husband and Sammie's father. He was a person Anne cared deeply for in this world.Sammie would not just lose her mother if they sent John to jail for killing Jacqueline, but she would also lose the time growing up with her father just because they wanted to save Luna.Luna would never agree to that."That's why we can't let John surrender himself to the police." Jim gazed into the distance. "Still, we need to find him."Bonnie was confused. "If we're not going to ask him to surrender, why should we look for him?"Sooner or later, the police were going to be suspicious of John, and they would just lead the police to him if they were able to track him down."It'll give Luna peace of mind to know where he is." Jim sighed. "Remember what Luna said just now. She regretted that sh
"Fine! You're not going to look for him, are you?" Jim furrowed his brows vehemently, seeing Joshua's indifferent attitude. "I can track him down myself. I'll use my family's power and those from Craig Group to track him down!"Even if he's at the other end of the world, I'm going to track him. I want him to tell Luna himself that Luna bought him time and took the blame for him!"Right after that, he walked out angrily.Bam! The door to the study slammed shut.Joshua remained seated on the chair as he looked in the direction where Jim left. His hand reached for his aching glabella."Daddy." Suddenly, the door opened again. This time, the person who entered was Neil. He looked like something was bothering him.He walked in, closed the door, and climbed on the chair across from Joshua to sit. "Did Uncle John really kill that bad woman?"Joshua was stunned. Neil must have been standing outside for long enough to overhear the conversation between him and Jim. He frowned and walked o
All in all, Jim and Bonnie did not track down John.…A month later, Luna's case for intentionally causing harm was scheduled for hearing in the court in Banyan City. Joshua and the Landry family had used all possible means to help with the case, and every guest who attended the wedding had given their affidavit to prove that Jacqueline was the one who instigated Luna to result in her reckless and impulsive action.Despite that, it did not help much because the action was done in public. Eventually, she was unable to escape the legal sanction for intentionally causing harm to another person. As a result, Luna was sentenced to a four-month jail.Since she was already in jail for one month previously, the remaining sentence she needed to serve was three months.Time passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, Luna finished serving her time in jail.On the day she was released, Charles, Rosalyn, Jim, Bonnie, Theo, and Rachel were patiently waiting at the entrance. Luna had her hair cut.
Luna was not in the mood to go back home with everyone.She bit her lip and tried to let go of Rosalyn's hand. "Mom, please tell me. What happened to him?"Her tears were rolling down her cheeks when she begged to know what happened to Joshua.Over the past three months, she thought of the many memories she had with Joshua. She also saw much news regarding Lynch Group. When she was serving her sentence, the only thing on her mind was the guilt and sadness she had for Anne.Later, she slowly understood how much Joshua had sacrificed for her when she was in jail with her inmates and from the news.To have those guests who attended the wedding plead for her and tell the truth about what happened that night, Joshua paid back every debt that Adrian owed to the debtors and, in the process, nearly used up half of his savings. All this so that Luna could spend less time in jail.If she knew ahead of what Joshua was going to do, she would have stopped him. She knew very well how much it m
"Who?" Luna was stunned when Rosalyn said that, her mind unable to process her mother's words. "Who is waiting for me?""Who else can it be? The person you've been worrying about, of course." Jim laughed out loud uncontrollably as he extended his hand out to knock at Luna's forehead. "Joshua is waiting for you inside. Go now."Luna was dumbstruck. It took her a while to finally process the whole thing. The second realization dawned on her, she dashed out of the car like a strong gust.After she got down from the car, she could finally tell what the building was. It was a church. Before this, she had been worried about Joshua's safety and could not pay attention to her surroundings. All she could tell was that they were not at their house.Finally, she understood why no one in the car said anything, acting like they were keeping a secret from her when she looked at the church in front of her.'T—This is the surprise Joshua prepared for me!' she thought.She burst into tears of joy
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