All Chapters of The Lovely Loner: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

There was a commotion at the international airport in the early hours of Monday morning. The usual hustle of travelers paused, phones were raised, and curious glances turned toward the source of the disturbance. Then, the gasps began. Cameras flashed. Voices rose in awe. “Isn’t that Ann Yin?” “Is she married?” “Are those her children?” “All these years… she’s finally back in her birth country!” The crowd surged, forming a loose circle of awe and excitement around the woman at the center of it all. “She’s actually here,” a teen girl squealed to her friends, barely able to contain her joy. “I saw the rumors online, but I didn’t believe them! Oh my God—this is real!” There she was—Ann Yin, the multi-billion award-winning actress, effortlessly graceful even as bodyguards pushed back against the growing throng. She moved with the same poise that had graced red carpets around the world. Her name had become legend, her image revered. And now, after so many years, she was back where i

All that attention—from strangers, classmates, even from Judith—was igniting something in Ann she couldn’t yet name: curiosity tangled with irritation. She found herself watching Rex Radford more closely each passing second, noting the smooth swagger of his walk, the quiet confidence in his posture, the way laughter seemed to orbit him wherever he went. And yet the more fascinated she became, the more a low, simmering anger kindled in her chest. Judith, meanwhile, was relentless. Every occasion felt like her own personal Rex-worship rally. “Oh my God, Ann, did you see how he smiled? That pants-dropping smirk is lethal!” she’d gush during their morning class, leaning in, eyes sparkling with infatuation. “Rex has the most amazing jawline—it’s like it was carved by angels!” “The way he just stands there—it’s intoxicating!” Ann always scoffed at the flustered expression that would flash across Judith’s face each time someone mentioned him. Each gush reverberated off her nerves like a

Ann couldn’t sleep a wink that night. The apartment was silent except for the hum of the old fridge in the corner, but in her mind, chaos raged. She lay rigid in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling as if it might answer her unspoken questions. She’d closed the curtains tight—no moonlight to guide her, just blackness—but that only made her thoughts swirl more fiercely. Every creak of the building unsettled her. Every tick of the wall clock jolted her adrenaline. She tried to still her racing heart, but it thumped like war drums. Ann looked around the empty apartment: the abandoned dishes on the coffee table, her packed suitcase leaning against the wardrobe, a single red rose in a vase – a belated gift from her mother’s birthday, now wilted and half empty. She tossed and turned beneath the covers, wrapping the sheet around herself like armor. In one moment she’d freeze; in the next, she’d shiver. Then her mind would flood with future possibilities—each more terrifying than the

That very day just happened to be the one day she felt worry-free, one of those rare days in Ann’s life where the weight of her world didn’t press so heavily on her shoulders. There was no ache behind her eyes, no familiar twist of anxiety in her chest—just an open sky, the distant hum of possibility, and Judith beside her, beaming as if the day had been carved out of light just for them. Having such a day—just once in what felt like forever—was enough for Ann to decide she wasn’t going to think about pain or trauma, or the suffocating shame that usually cloaked her like a second skin. Today, she was going to let go. Just for a little while. “I’ll worry about what tomorrow will bring… tomorrow,” she whispered, voice barely audible over the wind. “But for now, let me pretend to be a normal teenager for once. Just for today, I’m going to be a normal teenager.” She leaned her head against the window of Judith’s old van, letting the breeze wash over her face like something holy. The col

Throughout the night, Ann moved back and forth between the main floor and the exclusive VIP lounge like a silent current, steady and fluid, never missing a beat. The tray balanced on her hand had become second nature, but what made her steps feel unusually light was not the routine—it was the unexpected shift in power. For once, she wasn’t the butt of the joke, the charity case, or the outsider. Tonight, she was center stage. But her shine didn’t go unnoticed. The glares came first, cold and sharp. Then came the whispers, hot with venom, thick with resentment. The other waitresses watched with bitter eyes as she slipped in and out of the VIP lounge, her smile lingering longer than necessary and her presence glowing brighter than it had any right to. “She gets the billionaire table?” Lola hissed, her voice dripping with disbelief and rage. She adjusted her corset top for the fourth time that night, her foundation melting slightly from the kitchen heat and fury combined. “I can’t beli