Chapter 3

"I'm late, Mia. You've been wronged. Let's go," William said, holding me in his arms and taking me away.

I looked at him in surprise, shocked to see him here. Suddenly, tears started flowing, and I sobbed in his embrace.

Jack angrily asked who he was.

He was about to step forward when his mother cried out that Zoe's stomach was hurting, calling him back urgently. He left with a parting shot:

"Mia Russell, go home now, or we're getting divorced."

William and I sat in a coffee shop. I asked him why he suddenly came back to the country. He said with a heavy heart, "How could I not hear that you were crying?"

I laughed awkwardly, bitterly recounting the heartaches of the past four months since my marriage.

I tried to make it sound like a joke, but William's furrowed brow showed only concern and pain for me.

"This isn't funny at all," he said.

He asked if I would be willing to go abroad with him. I politely declined, saying I hoped to reopen my mother's beauty salon.

He didn't insist but said he wanted to help me. I murmured a thank you.

After spending a night in my mother's old home, I woke up to find my phone bombarded with messages from Jack.

"Zoe's pregnancy was affected by your scare the other day. Come back and take care of her!"

"Mom still needs someone to look after her. Mia Russell, you're really something, spending the night with that strange man. Now we're even, okay?"

"Where are my suit and tie? Don't you know I have an important meeting today?"

...

All I could see were reproaches. Annoyed, I broke my SIM card and flushed it down the toilet.

William arrived early at my mother's beauty salon.

As I looked at the familiar scenes, memories flooded back. This was my mother's lifelong effort.

But after my father went to jail, her health deteriorated, and she closed the shop soon after.

William and I carefully wiped every corner. Looking at a faded lipstick mark in the corner, I fell into deep thought.

It was during a college break when Jack had traveled 1000 kilometers to secretly find me at the shop and was discovered by my mom. He pretended to be a customer, and I was doing his makeup.

He tilted his head back, smiling at me, saying I was beautiful. He suddenly tried to kiss me, but I dodged, causing him to stumble and hit the wall, leaving that mark.

At the time, we stared at the lip print and laughed for a long time. He smiled and said that when we were 80 years old, we would bring our grandchildren to see this trace of our love.

I sniffled and wiped it clean with a cloth, severing ties with my past completely.

Halfway through cleaning, Jack inopportunely walked in. He looked at me with displeasure and shouted,

"Mia Russell, are you serious? Leaving all the housework undone to come and fix up this rundown shop? Come home with me now."

He reached out to grab my hand, but William stepped in front of me protectively.

"Who are you? This is our family matter," Jack said angrily.

William smirked and made a phone call, then looked at Jack with disdain, saying he would know who he was soon enough.

Confused, Jack's phone rang. After answering, he looked at William with surprise, then hurriedly left, but not before throwing one last comment:

"Mia Russell, you've gone too far. We're getting divorced tomorrow."

William explained to me that he had just notified his company to cut off business with Jack's company.

I was surprised that he had business dealings with Jack's company.

"It's because of you. And every time I sent gifts to Jack's company under the guise of 'Mrs. Gordon,' they were actually specially chosen for you," he said, looking at me without hesitation.

I turned my head away, feeling unworthy. Even a blind person could see how good William had been to me since childhood, but I had always only seen him as a brother.

Now that I had gone through a failed marriage, I naturally felt even more undeserving of him.

Suddenly, he clutched his chest, his face pale. He had had heart surgery a few days ago.

Frightened, I immediately took a taxi to take him to the hospital. After registering, while waiting in the corridor,

I saw a pregnant woman being rushed to the emergency room on a stretcher. Looking closer, I saw Jack following behind with an anxious face.

The doctor said William needed to rest in the coming days. After he thanked the doctor and prepared to leave, I curiously pulled him to the emergency room door.

As we arrived, we saw Jack yelling at the doctor.

"You tell me she miscarried, but why is the baby Asian? Why is my child Asian?!"