“Okay, I’ll treat you as such. You could think of using a million dollars to get Luna to leave me just from what Aura said, but...“You’d do well to listen, Granny Lynch. Even if there is no Luna, even if she took the million dollars and went away, I’d still call off the marriage with Aura. This won’t affect my decision, so save the money. It’s pointless.”Joshua then stood up to leave.“Joshua Lynch!” The infuriated Granny Lynch took the teacup on the coffee table and threw it at Joshua.Smash!The teacup landed next to Joshua’s feet. It shattered as the tea splashed onto his pants.Joshua stopped in his tracks, but he did not turn back.Granny Lynch gritted her teeth. “What on earth are you trying to do? Back then, you insisted on marrying Luna Gibson into the Lynch family against all of our objections. She married into the family for a few years, yet she didn’t even bear you any children before she died in an accident.“After her death, you rejected all the women that the fa
“Granny, you’re the best!”Aura excitedly passed the box to Granny Lynch. “Have a look, Granny. This is one of Mr. Y’s designs. It’s the same series as the necklace on your neck. Isn’t it beautiful?”“It is beautiful.” Granny Lynch loved the necklace. Inexplicably, Luna the maid’s words rang in her ears suddenly.‘But, the fake necklace on your neck is probably worth much less than a million, right?’Granny Lynch furrowed her brows and looked at Aura somewhat uncomfortably. “Aura, is your necklace…a fake?”Mr. Y was a jewelry designer who had made a name for himself abroad in the past two years. His fame was second only to the famous designer Moon. Mr. Y had left the jewelry industry so abruptly, however. His designs were obsolete, hence the prices of his jewelry have gone up from the initial million-dollar mark to more than 10 million dollars. Granny Lynch had seen the news, that was why she would give Luna a million dollars on Aura’s behalf.However, what Luna said the day be
However, at the thought that Granny Lynch was her last hope of remaining at Joshua’s side…Aura gritted her teeth and stomped her feet. “Help me find them.”“There’s no need to.” The woman on the other end of the phone call sighed. “Mr. Y didn’t have many designs to begin with, and we’ve bought all the fakes of the unowned sets, the rest being in the hands of others. I heard that the President of the Quinn Group, Malcolm Quinn has one set of jewelry. I’ll help you ask.”“Okay.”…Blue Bay Villa.It had rained the entire night before. It was rather cold in the morning, so Luna spent the entire morning organizing Nellie’s closet. She washed and kept the summer clothes in the closet.Although Nellie had only been with Joshua for a short while, in less than a month, the number of new clothes that she had was far more than what she had in a year previously.Luna was exhausted just by organizing Nellie’s clothes, so much so she could barely stand up straight.She thumped on her lowe
After hanging up the call from Malcolm, Luna laid on the bed and rested for a while. Unknowingly, she fell asleep.She had a dream.The dream was how she met Joshua for the first time. It was a warm and sunny Spring afternoon.She was sitting under the cherry blossom tree, holding a drawing board as she sketched. After a flutter of cherry blossoms, she saw that young man in white.He had a deep-set face and protruding facial features. His white clothes amplified his aloofness and regality.He was reading under a tree in the distance as his brows would occasionally furrow.Absent-mindedly, Luna drew him into her sketches.“Not bad.” When she put on the final colors, the young man’s low voice suddenly rang in her ears.Luna’s hand trembled. She successfully managed to color his face black.Utterly alarmed, she did not know whether to stand up and greet him or rescue the sketch in her hands.At that moment, Joshua behind her gently chuckled. “You made me ugly.”He took her penc
Joshua coldly interrupted her, “I’ve decided to call off the engagement with Aura at Granny’s birthday banquet three days alter.”Luna shuddered.She looked at him in shock. “Call off the engagement?”Why was he planning to call off the engagement? Was it because of Nellie, or because he knew that Luna Gibson was still alive?Strange how he stopped at nothing to kill her off six years ago so he could be with Aura, though. Why did he call off the engagement six years later after Nellie’s appearance?This was illogical. There must be another reason.However…Luna bit her lips and carefully looked at Joshua. “Is it…because of me?”All this while, Joshua would seemingly unintentionally have body contact with her, so if it was not because of Nellie, the only other logical reason was that Joshua has treated her as his new love. He was sick of Aura.Joshua laughed a little. He did not answer her question but instead asked her in return, “What do you think?”He was trying to tell L
After Joshua left, Nellie woke up and headed downstairs as well.She was still in her pink cartoon pajamas. She sat awkwardly by the dining table.“Why did Daddy leave so early in the morning?”Luna furrowed her brows. “Nellie.”“Hmm?”Luna looked around. Once she made sure that no one else was in the house, she sighed deeply as she softly spoke, “If Mommy isn’t here in the future, you have to take good care of yourself. Do you hear me?”Startled, Nellie put the hash browns down. “Mommy, why won’t you be here? Are they chasing you away?”Luna ignored her question. “I only want you to learn how to be independent.”Nellie pouted. “I don’t want to be independent. If I’m independent, Mommy, Neil, and Nigel won’t take care of me anymore,” muttered Nellie while she angrily munched on the hash browns. “I don’t want to be independent! I don’t want to be obedient. I don’t want to grow up!”Luna, who sat in front of Nellie, looked at Nellie helplessly and sighed.She took out her pho
“I was hospitalized because I was too furious at you. Why have you not fired that maid?”Joshua pulled a chair over and sat on it elegantly next to Granny Lynch. “How well is Aura treating you? Is it worth it, doing this for her?”Granny Lynch was displeased at his words. “Joshua, what do you mean by that? Do you think I’m faking it? This is all because of you!”Joshua waved his hands. “I’ll get the best doctors from overseas to check on you if you’re genuinely ill, but you’re not.”Joshua turned to look at Aura who stood by the door. “Your eyes are puffy from crying. Do you think it’s worth it?”Aura lowered her head and bit her lip. “I was worried about Granny…”Joshua snickered and ignored her. He turned back to look at Granny Lynch. “You’re old. The most taboo thing to you is to mention being sick. Why are you here at the hospital even if you’re not sick? Are you not afraid of jinxing it?”Granny Lynch turned pale.“You can stop now; I know what condition your body is in. H
“Sorry. The number you have dialed cannot be reached…”Neil, on the ground floor of the rented house, tried to reach Luna. There was no signal.He tried to contact Nellie via her necklace but to no avail, too.Neil panicked. Half an hour ago, Luna called him to come and help her search for a sketch back at their rented house. He purposely rushed over from Anne’s, yet he could not contact them all of a sudden?Troubled, Neil’s brows knitted tightly together.No matter whether she was at Blue Bay Villa or on the way, there should be no place that had no signal.Unable to hold back, he took the key and went upstairs. Upon arriving, he noticed someone standing guard by the entrance of the house. The guard glared at him fiercely. Neil immediately pretended to head over to the neighbors. He stood at the neighbor’s door as he attempted to call once more.As expected, the signal was being blocked.Neil was instantly alerted. Mommy and Nellie were in the room! Someone must have locked
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