The man's voice was solemn.Gwen bit her lip and could not help feeling guilty for her insensitivity again. The somberness in his tone made her realize that she had overstepped her boundaries again.She bit her lip and turned to look at him.She had turned around because she thought it would be more earnest to apologize to him face to face, but to her surprise, when he saw her turn, the man extended his hands toward his ears in preparation to remove his mask."Wait!" Gwen furrowed her eyebrows and stopped him. "Don't take off your mask…"His hands stiffened. He frowned, then asked in a low voice, "Why not?"He had already prepared for this moment. After all, there was no point continuing to meet each other like this, and he thought he might as well reveal his identity to Gwen once and for all.He never once thought that Gwen would change her mind at the last minute."I…" Gwen quickly turned around and avoided his gaze. "Joshua told me about your situation."The man's eyebrows
Gwen chuckled after reading the message Luna sent.[Why do I recall you being quite close with Winson when we were in high school? Why do you hate him so much now? Did you stay in contact with him after we graduated?]Luna was stunned when she read the message from her phone.If Gwen did not remind her, she would have genuinely forgotten she was rather close with Winson when they were in high school.At that time, they were young and naive. They did not bother about love or romance between the opposite sides. As always, Luna was a friendly person that got along with most of her classmates in high school.After they graduated, she went to stay in Banyan City because she was with Joshua. Afterward, she never contacted her high school classmates.For a minute there, she had a hard time thinking how to answer Gwen's question when Gwen suddenly asked why she thought Winson was a bad person. Obviously, she could not reveal to Gwen it was Joshua who asked her to pass the message.Think
"Yay!" Nellie clapped gleefully. "Nigel is going to do his things again! He's super amazing!""Oh, and I'm not?" Neil's lips thinned into a line as he flicked Nellie's forehead.He did not exert strength into it, yet the dramatic Nellie began to weep, a tear leaking out of one eye, as her doe-like eyes reddened. "Neil hit me! How could you do that?"Neil pursed his lips and placed a slice of cake in front of Nellie.He woke up early in the morning to bake the cake because Nellie said she was craving it last night. What other options did he have? Shelly was still an infant and did not know anything yet. Thus, Neil could only continue to spoil Nellie."Oh my!" Nellie's eyes enlarged as the cake drew her attention wholly, though tears still clung to her face when she started to smile. "You know, you're very amazing, too!"Sigh! You're totally different from Daddy. His cooking isn't good, but not yours, Neil. Your cooking tastes like Mommy's!"Nigel and Neil are very amazing! Daddy
[You never heard of him?]Gwen frowned and peeked at the man who was sitting behind her. Lowering her head, she continued to text Luna.[Is this man really a bodyguard Joshua hired or Joshua's friend?]Gwen believed Luna when she said the man was Joshua's friend, yet all of a sudden, she said she never heard about this man before.How peculiar.Theoretically speaking, Joshua made it very clear to differentiate his friends from other people. He would not make a silly mistake by calling a bodyguard his friend.If this man was Joshua's friend…why did Luna not know him or heard of him before?Joshua and Luna were so close to each other that Joshua would voluntarily inform Luna how many men and women were attending the dinner and who they were when he had no choice but to bring his clients out for dinner.There were no secrets between them.If the man behind her was Joshua's friend, Luna should have and would have known.[He specifically said the man was his friend.]Luna frowned
"Your noodles, Miss." The waiter placed Gwen's noodles in front of her, then did the same for the man.Within a few meters of each other, Gwen could clearly hear the man pick up his fork, remove his mask, and begin to eat.For a split second, she could not help wondering what she would see if she turned around right that instant.However, it did not take her long to dismiss that thought.She could not do this, not after promising Luna she would not force the man to remove his mask if he did not want to, so why was she so curious about him all of a sudden?At the thought of this, Gwen let out a sigh, picked up her fork, and began eating as well.At the table behind her, the man curled his lips into a smile as he watched her.After their meal, the two of them paid their separate bills and exited the restaurant, making their way into town, with the man following a few paces behind Gwen.They had not gone too far when all of a sudden, they were surrounded by burly men."You messed
The color drained from Gwen's face when she heard this. She lunged forward and grabbed hold of Winson's arm. "What did you just say?"Her father had told her he was fine on the phone a few days ago! He even emphasized to her that since everyone thought they had fallen out, none of the gangsters would even attempt to harm him…"Got your attention now, huh?" Winson curled his lips into a sneer. "It turns out I was right; you still care about that old geezer. I can't believe those idiots in Sea City were dumb enough to think you'd fallen out! If I hadn't told them how loyal you were to the people around you, none of them would've even dared to capture him!"Gwen froze when she heard this. She bit her lip and turned to gape at Winson incredulously. "You…"Winson was the reason her father had gotten captured?"I, what?" Winson's cackle echoed through the cold air. "Don't blame me for being so ruthless. If you had given me a chance and gone on that date with me and behaved properly, non
Winson let out a bloodcurdling scream as he let go of Gwen and clutched his manhood, slumping onto the ground in excruciating agony.Gwen quickly turned around, intending to check on the man in black.Initially, she was expecting to see five or six tall, burly men overpowering and attacking the lonesome man in black, but to her surprise…All six of Winson's men were slumped on the ground in crumpled heaps, clutching various areas of their bodies as they wailed in agony, not unlike Winson.The man in black, however, was not at all fazed. In fact, there was not even a hair out of place.Seeing that Gwen had escaped from Winson, the man lifted his head to glance at her.All Gwen could see from her distance was his dark, penetrating eyes, but she could make out the vague hint of a smile in them.She could not help faltering at this.For some reason, she was again reminded of Luke.Luke used to be as good at fighting as this man was, and he also used to smile at her like this…"Le
The man could not help curling his lips into a smile when he heard this. "I'm the last person in this world to be scared of death."The truth was, he should have died long ago.Who would have thought…a man that should have died would turn out to be resurrected in his twin brother's body?"That's good to hear." Gwen paused. "I'm willing to pay you double whatever Joshua's paying you. If you follow me back to Sea City, you'll be getting triple the amount of money than what you're getting now."With that, she let out an exhale and continued, "Can you help me buy the tickets? Let's go to Sea City.""Alright." The man smiled, strode into the living room, and sat down on the sofa.Gwen could not help glancing at his name while he bought the plane tickets to Sea City.His name was Stefan Joneson.Not a bad name.Gwen was ready to depart with all her belongings.She was just here on a short trip and thus did not have much stuff with her.Stefan was an even bigger minimalist; all his
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