Angeline brought a chair over to the couch and sat down opposite Sean, with the coffee table between them.Sean treated Ned and Ingrid coldly and with hostility, but he was a whole different person when talking to Angeline. He sounded a lot more gentler with her. "What's with the injuries on your body?""Ned pushed me. I then banged my head against the fake hill …""I'm not talking about the injuries on your head," Sean interrupted.Ned had just sent Ingrid off and was on his way back to his ward when he overheard Sean asking the question. He stepped back and peered through the crack in the door to Angeline's ward.Angeline had a reserved expression on her face. She spoke calmly as if she was just reciting someone else's story. "The Emmersons said it was time for Benjamin to get married, so they wanted me to buy him a car and a house. That's why we fought at the college gates."Angeline wasn't lying. However, she only told him part of the full story.The Emmersons didn't come to
Angeline fitted the Lawsons' bill even better than Sean because she was able to control her emotions, withdraw herself, and do everything as she was told.Sean pushed his glasses further up his nose and spoke calmly. "The business industry isn't a small one, but it's also not that huge either. Whatever happened between you and the Fletchers' youngest heir will eventually reach the Lawsons' ears in Krontos.""It's the same with Ned. I won't have anything more to do with him after this," Angeline said, tugging at the hem of her shirt. "As soon as the police can prove my innocence, I'll finalize the divorce with him and leave Oceanford."She wasn't about to tell Sean where she was going."You won't have anything more to do with him after this?" Sean's eyes turned dark and deep. He looked like he didn't believe her at all as he leaned back on the couch. "Back then, you were also seated opposite me like this, telling me determinedly that Ned was more important than your life.""Not a
Miles and Mallory were siblings who grew up with Ned. They were also close friends with Angeline, in a way.And just as Miles said, Mallory was one of the very few people who still supported Angeline's and Ned's relationship after Angeline woke up from her coma.Angeline gripped her covers tightly and shut her eyes, trying to suppress the anger rising in her. Her face went deathly pale. "Why didn't she explain things to me herself?""Lory knows she made a grave mistake. She's too ashamed to see you," Miles said, drawing his lips in a thin line. He dragged up a chair and sat down next to Angeline's hospital bed."I know what you're worried about. You're worried that Ned would think Lory was just covering up for you even if she tried explaining things to him.""What Ned thinks … doesn't really matter anymore," Angeline said in a faint voice. "I don't care."When Angeline was still in love with Ned, naturally, she would care about what Ned thought of her. But now that she no longer cared
When Angeline caught sight of Ned at the door, her eyes and emotions turned cold.Ned was angry. When he saw how Angeline grew cold as soon as she saw him, he got even angrier."If we can finalize the divorce today, you had better get as far away from me and Ingrid as possible. I will arrange for the public apology tomorrow!""Ned!"Miles didn't think that Ned would come looking for Angeline on his own. He stood up in shock and tried explaining himself. "Uh, I'm here to find Angie to explain the drug incident to her. Lory wanted to explain things to you during your party last night, because it had nothing to do with Angie, but—""Aren't you tired of playing along with Angeline's lies? Both you and your sister?" Ned was furious as he projected all of his anger toward Miles. "You're all just worried that the police would prove that Angeline did it so you thought up a lame excuse to try to cover for her. You'd think I wouldn't know whether she gave me the wine that night?"Angeline
The snow had melted into puddles on the ground, causing a muddy mess as people kept stepping into them."I'll go in to get my ID. Wait here for me," Angeline said, pushing open the door.Ned unbuckled his seat belt in the front passenger seat and said, "I'm going with you. Or else, you might run away."Ned and Miles followed Angeline into the area, carefully sidestepping the muddy puddles on the ground. They frowned as they looked at the shabby area that was filled with people."How could you live here?" Miles asked, shifting his gaze from the pile of rubbish by the roadside to Angeline. "Even if you didn't want to stay at the dorms anymore, you could still have gone to Lory's! This place is too shabby and shady for a single female like you.""It's fine." Angeline didn't elaborate any further.It was too expensive for her to stay at a hotel. What little savings she had from taking up part-time jobs while studying would never be enough to cover her stay there.And if she were to
Angeline never thought that she and Ned would end up like this either. But it was neither his nor her fault that they ended up like this.On Ned's 22nd birthday, he said that his first wish was to register his marriage with her as soon as possible. His second wish was to spend his 26th birthday with their child, and his third wish was to grow old with Angeline by his side.Only the first wish came true.She remembered coming out of the courthouse right after registering their marriage. Ned told her he was going to burn the marriage license after their marriage because they would only be separated through death and not divorce.To Angeline, who lost two years of her life after that, everything still felt like it just happened yesterday.Now, they were back at the courthouse again for their divorce. It felt ironic to hold the divorce certificate in her hands.Angeline rubbed her reddening eyes with the back of her hand and tucked her cert and ID away safely. Just as she was about t
After paying Zachary via online transfer for the clothes he bought her, Angeline then deleted his contact. The only people left in her list of contacts were Anne York, Henrietta York, Professor James Dickson, and Sean Lawson.Sean's profile picture was an underwater photo of the sun. He hadn't posted a single thing on his social media accounts. Anyone would think that his account belonged to an elderly person.Angeline's thumb hovered over Sean's profile picture."How much was the bill for my hospital stay last night? I'll transfer the amount back to you," Angeline said, turning to look at Sean, who was reading a document. "I also ruined your tie, so I'll compensate you for that too."The car suddenly swerved to the left. Angeline's phone slipped out of her hands as she fell toward Sean.Angeline panicked and tried to reach out to grab onto something to steady herself, but failed. She landed right in Sean's arms. She was just about to reach down to retrieve her phone when a hand q
Ned's post was flooded with comments. Most of them were shocked, while some of them suspected something fishy going on.Some comments called Ned a huge jerk for spreading Angeline's nudes online. They even encouraged Angeline to sue him.There were also people commenting who heard about Ned's and Angeline's past. They said that this was just Ned's way of trying to save some of Angeline's dignity for the sake of their past relationship.Some other people asked Ned what he was going to do about Angeline's nudes that had already been leaked online. Many male students had the photos saved on their devices, with some even reposting the photos to other platforms.The silver lining was that the incident was barely one week old, meaning that it hadn't gone that viral before Ned's public apology came out.Angeline sincerely hoped that the scandal would soon blow over.As she was going to leave tomorrow, Angeline didn't unpack her stuff from her suitcase. She only took out her pajamas and
As soon as the words were out of Angeline's mouth, the sound of lounge slippers padding across the floor rang out. Yasmine ignored the shock on Ned's face and turned to reach for Sean. "Hold me, Daddy!"Sean smiled and lifted her into his arms. Then, he stood beside Angeline and looked at Ned imperiously. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Fletcher. I'm Shane Kingston. Thank you for pushing Angie away in the past—it led to my relationship with her."Ned knew precisely who "Shane" was. Just a few days ago, he'd seen the news about Melissa's press conference explaining her relationship with "Shane".His mind buzzed. He knew Sean and Shane looked similar enough for Dexter's men to have gotten the wrong person. However, he hadn't expected "Shane" to have anything to do with Angeline!"You… Are you the kids' father?" Ned's voice was incredibly shaky."Yes, and again, thank you for that!" Sean smiled. "We've never told anyone about this because I didn't want to endanger Angie and the kids.
Sean didn't give Angeline the chance to finish. "You were right to bring this up to me!"He wrapped his arms around her from behind and continued, "You and the kids will always be my main priority. I know I said I want Melissa to remain safe and happy under my watch, but my feelings for her are purely familial love."She's family to me, and I must care for her. But you and the kids mean more to me than anything else in the world, including her."His honesty made Angeline feel slightly more at ease. She said, "Those are your words, not mine…""I swear on my life that I mean every word." He pressed a kiss to her head. "Can I stay here tonight? I want to sleep with you and the kids. Also, I came from Brayden's place upstairs, so no one will know I'm here.""Granddad made it clear that if anyone finds out about this, he won't allow the kids to see you anymore.""Got it. Don't worry about a thing. Mr. Lawson Senior raised me, and I owe him for that. I won't put him in a tough
Angeline nodded without saying anything. Once Nathaniel was gone, she received a call from Sean."Now that everything has been taken care of, I want to give you a gift," he said, the smile in his tone evident. "Can you have the kids spend Friday night at Grand Court Residences? I want to show all three of you my gift on Saturday."He missed Yasmine and Xavier terribly. Before resolving the issue with Melissa, he hadn't dared to say he wanted to see them. Even if Angeline were okay with it, Robert probably would've objected to his wishes. Now that the dust had settled, he couldn't wait to see them."I don't call the shots regarding the kids now. I'll have to ask Granddad," Angeline said."I'll talk to him about it." Sean was worried Robert would take his anger out on her. "This all started because I insisted on being with you, so I'll handle it. I'll visit Mr. Lawson Senior later today."Angeline didn't know how Sean's conversation with Robert went, but Robert had Asher drop
That night, Melissa called Sean. "Shane, let's publicly announce our divorce. We can tell everyone that we only got married on paper so the Lane family could offer you its protection."Tell them that Dexter repeatedly tried to harm you so he could take the Kingston family fortune, and tell them how he tried to snatch you from the Lane family so he could secretly deal with you."She paused, then continued, "Now that Dexter's in prison, we can get a divorce, and Lori can adopt me as her daughter. We'll become cousins, and we'll still be a family.""Melissa…"Sean was surprised. He didn't expect her to see the light in such a short time."Since you don't have any feelings for me and won't ever make me your wife, I'll settle to be Lori's daughter. That way, you'll always be my family!" Tears streamed down Melissa's face as she spoke. "I adore Lori and want to be her daughter.""Alright," Sean said."Can you head to Keman with me, then? We can visit Dad together before getting
Melissa stared at Lori, who chuckled gently. "It's alright. There's no need to rush into anything. Take your time to think about it. Get good rest for a few days, then go shopping with me. We can buy some clothes to keep up with the changing seasons."I heard from Brayden and Sean that you're the expert in fashion and dressing up. I've always wanted a daughter who could shop, exercise, travel, café hop, and go on spa days with me."She paused and continued, "I didn't get to do any of this with you because you weren't in the best state before this. Now, though, you're all better. You're back to normal, and you've regained your memories!""I'd love that!" Melissa said without hesitation. She'd only done these things with her mother and Emelia in her dreams, but that was all they were—dreams. She was delighted now that Lori was back and willing to make her dreams come true.Sean sat on the couch and sipped his coffee. He knew Lori was doing everything she could to make his life ea
Melissa nodded. Sean said, "I know you have no company management experience. Mr. Lane might have entrusted Trustworth Group to me, but it's still yours. Before you find someone to take over, my plan for the company is still to move its focus back to Lonla."The global situation isn't the best now, and Lonla is the safest place for expansion. That's why the company's focus has to return to Lonla—""You can hand the company over to Brayden," Melissa interrupted. "The only people in this world I trust are you, Dad, and Brayden. Now that Dad's in prison and you don't want me anymore, Brayden is all I have left.""I'm still your kin, Melissa. I won't kick you to the curb and leave you to die. Nevertheless, Trustworth Group is yours. You can have whoever you want to manage it. Brayden is capable of that." Sean looked at Brayden. "What do you think? Are you willing to take over Trustworth Group?""I'll do it as long as Melissa is okay with it!" Brayden nodded. He turned to look
"That's not it! I've always been willing to care for you, and I'm more than willing to care for you in the future! It's not something that I'm forced to do…" Brayden feared his words would inadvertently hurt Melissa, so he decided not to continue in that vein.He said, "C'mon, you should head downstairs to eat something. You've already slept the day away.""I don't want to eat!" Melissa lay down again and pulled the sheets around herself. She said dully, "I want to sleep for a bit longer. Shut the door on your way out."Seeing that she'd already shut her eyes and started weeping, Brayden said softly, "I'll have the kitchen keep the food warm for you. Remember to call me when you wake up, okay? I'll be right downstairs!""Okay." Brayden left the room after hearing Melissa's muffled reply. He shut the door behind him.Melissa remained upstairs. She didn't head downstairs, even when Sean returned. Sean had already spoken to Angeline on the phone and told her he wouldn't meet
Melissa slept in her room and only woke up at night. She removed her headphones and opened her red, swollen eyes. She stared dazedly at the night sky, only returning to her senses when her headphones fell out of her hands.Brayden, who'd been waiting outside this whole time, heard them fall to the floor and hurried into the room. He saw Melissa sitting cross-legged on the bed. She propped herself on one arm while leaning down to pick up the headphones.He hurried forward and picked them up for her, then remained on one knee by the bed. He looked up at her and said, "You slept for ages, Melissa. Do you want to have anything to eat? I got all your favorites, and there are different cuisines. I also got your favorite fruits and snacks!"He'd already had the maids throw out the food he'd bought at noon. Then, he'd had his subordinate buy a fresh batch.Melissa turned to look at him dazedly. She said hoarsely, "Brayden…""I'm here," he said. "C'mon, should we get something to eat
Melissa knew Sean well. So, it was impossible for her not to know if he was being serious. Sean was indeed threatening her, and he was using his life to do it. That way, she wouldn't dare to harm Angeline for fear of hurting him.She loved Sean so much that she could give up her life for him. She wondered why he was treating her that way. He knew she wouldn't allow even the slightest possibility of her threatening his safety.Just then, Sean received a call from Brayden. He said, "...Yeah, I've already picked Melissa up. We're heading to Southstream Manor now… Yeah, you can head over there. Buy some food on your way—Melissa probably hasn't eaten anything yet. She should be hungry."At his words, Melissa couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She covered her face and started sobbing. She'd spent her whole life dreaming of becoming Sean's wife, but he was now in love with someone else and no longer wanted her.Yet, she couldn't do anything about the situation, or she'd be hurting