“Mommy! I miss you so much!” Nellie said.She took her keys, and the moment she opened the door to the apartment, the two children rushed out like two little tornadoes. Neil and Nellie each hugged one of her legs, chattering away in excitement.“Mommy, I knew you would come back at this hour, but Neil insisted you would come back later!”“Mommy, in the past few days that you weren’t home, I asked Lily to teach me how to make coffee! I made your favorite Arabica coffee!”“Mommy, I have it all planned out, you can’t go anywhere this afternoon. Just stay at home, read me stories and build Legos with Neil!” “Mommy…”Luna lowered her eyes, looked at the two black little heads in front of her, the words were at the tip of her tongue, but she just could not spit them out.Behind her, Lily stood in the living room, looking at her with a smile on her face. “Ms. Luna, they purposely took a day off from school to wait for you. Since this morning, they were particularly excited, decorati
Joshua raised his eyebrows.He never expected this would be the first question his son would ask him after spending days apart from each other. He glanced at his son out of the corners of his eyes. “You seem reluctant to see your Mommy and I reconcile with each other?”Neil paused. He turned his head, looked at Joshua solemnly, then lifted two fingers. “Firstly, I never accepted Ms. Alice Gibson. To me, she was never my Mommy. My Mommy is Luna. Secondly, my likes or dislikes, are they important to you, Mr. Lynch? If you really considered our thoughts and feelings, then you would not force my sister and I to do the things we do not want to do, for example, taking us back to Blue Bay Villa now. Finally, I don’t care about you and Alice, I just wanted to find out why your attitude toward her took a 180 degree turn after returning from Sea City.”Before they left, they were already separated, and had even announced they would set a date and sign the divorce papers. But not long afte
At the same time, he did miss them a lot, it had been a long time since he last saw them. That’s why he suggested bringing everyone to Blue Bay Villa so they could all reunite. But it seemed like…He only succeeded in making both the children and Luna mad at him? The cars drove on. A short while later, the line of cars stopped in front of Blue Bay Villa. When Luna stepped out of the car where Yuri and Zach kept the luggage, Alice had already stepped out too. Standing outside Joshua’s car, she hung a fake smile on her face. “Nellie, come here, Mommy will carry you into the house!”Nellie rolled her eyes, walked past her, and headed to the door with her short, stubby legs. Neil, on the other hand, rushed into her arms with a smile on his face. “If Nellie doesn’t want you to carry her, then carry me instead! I’m not very heavy either, just slightly heavier than Nellie.”Alice heaved him up into her arms, her expression ugly, taking a step forward with incredible effort. Ne
“Slap ——!” Before everyone could react, the sound of a loud slap echoed throughout the living room. Luna’s head was knocked to the side from the impact, the sweet, iron-like taste of blood filled her mouth, and blood dripped down the corners of her lips.“Mommy!” “Mommy ——!”Sitting on both sides of the old lady, the two children instinctively jumped up from the couch and flew to Luna’s side. One of them held her hand carefully, stepping in front of her, trying to protect her, while the other calmly took some tissues from the table beside them and handed them to Luna.The sight of the two children protecting her made Joshua frown. Beside him, Alice snorted deep down in her chest, but on the surface, worry filled her expression, “Neil, quick, bring your sister here.” Then, she glanced at the little gentleman who was handing Luna tissues. “This is between your Grandpa and Aunty Luna. It’s a matter for adults, don’t poke your nose where it doesn’t belong.”Neil glared at her
“Then you should know, Luna raised them for six years. I would advise you to be nicer to Luna, otherwise, the children might not acknowledge you as their grandfather anymore.”Adrian’s face turned purple. On this side, Luna glanced at his expression with an elegant yet emotionless look, a careless smile lifting her lips. “Mr. Lynch, you said I killed Hailey, do you have any proof? Deciding whether someone killed someone else or not, don’t you need to speak based on the available evidence?” She rested an ankle on her knee, her voice cold and distant, “Hailey committed suicide by jumping off a building. Did I point a knife at her and force her to jump, or did I push her? If I remember correctly, when Hailey committed suicide, I was accompanying my friend as she visited her ex-husband in the hospital. There are CCTVs in the hallways and elevators in the hospital, I have a perfect alibi.”Adrian snorted, “Don’t think I don’t know, before she jumped because of you, she was forced to lea
Adria could hardly believe his own eyes. He clearly remembered, a few years ago, he once visited the Walter family in Sea City. He got drunk and started to feel sorry for Hailey. In his heart, Hailey was always the best candidate to be Joshua’s wife. As his father, he thought even if he never loved and cared about his son, he would listen to him, listen to their family, and marry Hailey who had been intended to him since they were children. Instead, Adrian never expected Joshua to reject the marriage once and for all. He even married Luna Gibson who also grew up in Sea City, just to rebel against his family. In the end, even when Luna Gibson went missing, he still rejected Hailey adamantly. To not be involved with Hailey in any possible manner, he was even willing to get engaged to Aura, Luna’s younger sister. Back then, he was drunk, scolding Joshua as he comforted Hailey, telling her she deserves someone better. That day, Hailey cried, touched by his words. Her gaze that
Joshua laughed, “Back then, to marry me, she could employ such tricks, and now, she could also employ other tricks, to deal with Luna.”With his left hand, he elegantly unfastened the buttons of his shirt. The bandages on his right arm made the old lady cry out in dismay, “Joshua, what, what happened?” “It was Hailey’s fault.” He raised his eyes in cold detachment and glanced at Adrian, “Everything that Luna said, is evidence of her crimes that I managed to find. Initially, I thought, since she’s already dead, then these pieces of evidence should not be exposed. But if father, you insist that she is a good girl and Luna was the one who framed her… I don’t mind exposing to the world the dirty deeds of a dead woman…”Adrian’s complexion was pale, with a hint of grey. Unconsciously, he took a step backward, standing shakily as if he was about to fall at any minute. “That’s impossible… Hailey is a nice girl…”“Adrian!” Alice rushed forward and hurriedly steadied him. She held onto him
“Are you okay?” After Alice helped Adrian upstairs, Joshua looked at Luna who sported a red, puffy palm print on her cheek, his brows screwed tightly together. “What bad can it be?” Luna raised her lips coldly, took the ice cubes that Neil handed her, and held them gently against her swollen cheek. “It won’t kill me.” With that, she glanced at him, her eyes faint. “Mr. and Mrs. Lynch exerted yourselves to get me to bring the two children back to your home because you wanted me to become your father’s punching bag.”Joshua’s eyes darkened. “I did not know my father and grandmother would be here…”Beside him, Granny Lynch rolled her eyes. “What do you mean you did not know?”The old lady pursed her lips. “Before you came home, I asked the butler to inform you! Joshua, why do you care what an employee like her thinks? Even if you asked her here to be slapped by your father to vent his anger, so what? Doesn’t she at least deserve a slap for the things that she did?”The moment
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