When the story's "true heroine" appeared, I was already pregnant with Liam Sterling's child. Unable to fight fate, Liam had once abandoned everything and broken his engagement with her for me. Yet now, the universe forced him to hate me to the bone, finding me repulsive just to look at. Eventually, I got tired. I threw away our tangled love, and even gave up our child. Until six years later, on a late afternoon. A young, tender-faced child knocked on my door. He kept his face perfectly serious like a little adult and said: "My dad doesn't want me anymore. Can I stay with you?" 1 I froze for a second, not saying a word. Leo pursed his lips, clearly unhappy. Tilting his pretty little face up, he said very seriously: "My teacher said that parents have a responsibility and obligation to raise their children..." The half-open door cut off the rest of his sentence. I stepped slightly to the side and said calmly: "Come in." The dim, warm light inside illuminated his slightly widened eyes. His eyes flashed inexplicably. He lifted his chin, gave a little "hmph," and obediently walked inside. After closing the door, I turned around to see Leo looking around curiously. Seeing me look at him, he immediately averted his gaze, nervously gripping his backpack straps. With a tense little face, he said: "My name is Leo Sterling." It sounded like a self-introduction, but also a reminder that he was the child Liam and I had together. I know. From the very first glance, I knew exactly who he was. Because his face was practically a carbon copy of Liam's. Seemingly disappointed by my calm reaction, he turned his head away, unhappy, refusing to look at me anymore. I placed his little pastel yellow backpack in the entryway and led him to wash his hands. "Let's eat first." Leo obediently said "Oh." By the time I brought the food out, he had already climbed onto his chair. I asked him why he suddenly came looking for me. Leo buried his head, poking at the bok choy in his bowl. His lowered head was dark and round. His voice was muffled: "I got in a fight with him. He smashed things and told me to get out, saying I could never come back." So he was just throwing a tantrum and running away from home. Liam would probably come pick him up very soon. Makes sense. After all, six years ago, the Sterling family fought me tooth and nail for Leo's custody. It got incredibly ugly. There was no way they wouldn't want him now. My chopsticks paused. I couldn't quite name the feeling in my heart at that moment. I hadn't known Leo was coming tonight, so I only had a simple meal of two dishes and a soup. He was a very picky eater. He didn't eat onions, and he didn't eat carrots. In the end, he had nothing left to pick from. Leo stared at the mangled bok choy leaf like it had killed his family, stole a guilty glance at me, and swallowed it down. When we first met today, he carried a little bit of arrogance and spoiled pride. Now, seeing him pick at his food and refuse greens, I figured he must be given whatever he wants and deeply loved at the Sterling house. He probably hadn't suffered any real grievances. I felt a bit relieved. After doing the dishes, I waited for Liam to send someone to pick him up. I waited until 9:30 PM. Six-year-olds get sleepy early. He dug his pajamas out of his backpack, looked around, and pouted: "There's only one bedroom." "Am I squeezing into the same bed as you tonight?" I glanced at the clock on the wall. For whatever reason, the Sterling family still hadn't sent anyone. I had to compromise. "Yeah, you're sleeping with me tonight." I thought Leo would throw a fit. After all, my meager one-bedroom apartment was obviously not as comfortable as the Sterling family's luxurious mansion. But Leo just pressed his lips together, his eyes flashing. After washing his face, he huffed and puffed as he changed into his pajamas, kicking his little legs as he climbed into bed all by himself. Just like at dinner—even though he looked disgusted, he had silently finished the greens I put in his bowl. He wriggled under the covers, making a little mound. He pulled out a fairy tale book from nowhere, peeking his eyes out to look at me, unable to resist rushing me: "Aren't you going to read me a bedtime story?" He actually looked pretty happy. 2 After putting Leo to sleep, I pulled up Liam's number. I hesitated for a long time, but still didn't make the call. Liam and I had been separated for six years. At first, we thought we could fight fate. Back then, my family suddenly went bankrupt. The Sterling family broke our engagement and secretly arranged for Liam to be engaged to Chloe Snow. For me, he disregarded everything and broke off the engagement with Chloe. He even gave up his status as the heir. He took a brutal beating from Old Mr. Sterling as family punishment and couldn't get out of bed for half a month. Seeing me cry, he endured the pain, offering a lazy smile as he softly coaxed me. I thought everything would be okay. The bankruptcy would pass, Liam would get better, the future would be bright. But it wasn't. Liam and I got married in secret. Perhaps because of Liam's unwavering commitment to me from beginning to end, after I got pregnant, I never once considered not keeping the baby. Until right before I gave birth. Enduring the pain, I called him for a long time, but Liam never answered. A neighbor rushed me to the hospital. When I woke up, I saw a cold, indifferent Liam. I didn't know how a person could change so drastically overnight. It was as if his eyes held nothing but unfamiliarity and disgust for me. Chloe visited me once. From her mouth, I learned the truth about this world. Due to a timing error by the "System," when the late-arriving "True Heroine" appeared, the "Male Lead" had already developed feelings for someone else. As the price for correcting this, the Male Lead's mistaken feelings began to invert. However much he loved me before, he would hate me that much now. Chloe looked at me with pity and sorrow. Before leaving, she asked softly: "Have you thought about what will happen to your child in the future?" I suddenly froze, feeling lost. I didn't know who to hate anymore. Should I hate Liam? But he couldn't even control his own emotions. Should I hate fate? But what good is hating? I couldn't change anything. At that time, my parents got into a car accident on their way to the hospital to see me. They were in a coma and might remain in a vegetative state for the rest of their lives. I was on the verge of a breakdown. My mind kept replaying Chloe's words. I just felt that this bastard of a world was so, so tiring. I pushed open the window. As I looked down, the baby beside my hospital bed suddenly started wailing loudly. I thought hazily: If I die, what will happen to him? Will this world tolerate his existence? Will Chloe abuse him? Or will he end up like me, abandoned by Liam, silently suffering countless grievances, only to eventually die quietly while everyone expects it? My body started trembling. I walked back to the bed, my hands shaking as they hovered over his neck. I wanted to take him with me. But then he stopped crying. His red, teary eyes stared at me longingly, as if no matter where we went, he just wanted to be with his mother. It wasn't until a nurse and a bodyguard noticed something was wrong, burst into the room, and shoved me hard. I looked down at my trembling hands. Only then did I abruptly realize the absurd thing I had almost done under Chloe's suggestion. The news quickly reached the Sterling family. Old Mr. Sterling demanded to see me and initiated a custody battle. I wanted nothing anymore. I discarded the Liam who disgusted me, gave up my custody rights, and cleanly signed the divorce papers. I only took two hundred thousand dollars. Youth doesn't know the taste of sorrow. The young Miss Davis, who used to casually throw around millions, could now find herself driven to a dead end over a few thousand dollars in hospital bills. From beginning to end, Liam never showed up. He despised me so much he wasn't even willing to look at me one last time. So, I accepted my fate. I threw away our tangled love, and even gave up our child. I let him go, and I let myself go. I only snapped back to reality when a soft little dumpling burrowed his head into my chest. Leo closed his eyes and grunted, curling up softly in my arms, as if he had finally found a comfortable position, sleeping soundly. He uneasily clutched the hem of my shirt tightly, as if terrified that I would disappear the moment he opened his eyes. I looked at that innocent, tender face and couldn't help but sigh softly. If he knew his mother had wanted to strangle him right after he was born, would he still have come looking for me? He probably would have run as far away from me as possible. 3 By morning, Liam still hadn't shown up. I had no idea what he was planning. The Sterling family fought so viciously for custody back then, yet now they were acting like they could just toss him away. I woke Leo up early, called an Uber, and took him to school. The preschool he attended wasn't in the same city as me, but thankfully it was only an hour's drive away. Before getting out of the car, he made me promise repeatedly that I would pick him up after school, whining and refusing to let go of my hand. Until he saw a specific car parked in front of the preschool. His eyes lit up. He hurriedly dragged me out of the Uber. As we got close, he deliberately slowed down, pretending to casually block the path of a chubby kid who had just gotten out of his car. As if to make sure the kid saw, Leo swung my hand in front of him. Then, very loudly, in a voice everyone could hear, he asked me: "Mom, you're going to pick me up after school, right?" That was the first time Leo called me "Mom." Maybe because I was absent for six whole years, he hadn't even proactively called me "Mom" when he knocked on my door. The chubby kid stared straight at me, looking skeptical: "If you have a mom, why didn't she drop you off before?" Leo scoffed, his gaze incredibly disdainful: "My mom is busy with work. Today she specifically took time off just to drop me off." He emphasized the word "specifically." Holding my hand, he walked to the main gate of the preschool in front of everyone, as if showing off, making sure everyone saw. Before parting ways, he twisted awkwardly and asked one more time: "...You will come pick me up, right?" When I didn't answer right away, he glared at me, then panicked and whispered: "You promised me in the car. Adults aren't allowed to lie!" I crouched down with a sigh of resignation, smoothing down his popped collar and ruffling his hair. His hair was dark and soft, feeling nice to the touch. "Okay, I'll come pick you up." He couldn't help but curl his lips upward, but he tried hard to keep them straight. Acting mature, he tilted his chin up and said reservedly: "Mhm, I'll remember to wait for you." I only looked away after his figure completely disappeared from my sight. I found a teacher and asked about Leo's situation at preschool. The teacher hesitated, finally sighed, and complained with a frown: "I know the Sterling family is powerful, and what I say might not matter." "But Leo's Mom, no matter how busy you are, you can't just completely neglect the child, right?" "Since he enrolled, no one has ever shown up for a parent-teacher conference!" "Now all the kids in the school are saying he doesn't have a mom. This is really bad for his physical and mental development." No one came to the parent-teacher conferences? Even if Liam was incredibly busy and disliked this child, couldn't he even bother having an assistant handle it? I frowned, feeling for the first time that I might have made the wrong decision. ...Maybe I shouldn't have given up custody back then. But at that time, I was penniless, my parents were in comas at the hospital, and I couldn't even support myself. How could I possibly raise a fragile child? I pulled up Liam's number, hesitated for a second, and dialed. I decided to have a serious talk with him. If Liam really didn't want to raise him anymore, I would take him in. Even though I couldn't provide the excellent conditions of the Sterling family right now, it was still enough to raise a child. Just as the call went through, a ringtone sounded from behind me. Sensing something, my fingertips trembled as I turned around. I saw Liam stepping out of a black Bentley. Six years had passed. He seemed to have changed, yet somehow remained the same. He looked down at the lit screen through half-lidded eyes, his wrist bones sharply defined, his cold, handsome face hidden in the shadows. He unhurriedly raised an eyebrow and suddenly looked up. "You hid from me for so many years." "Want to talk?" Unlike my miserable circumstances all these years, Liam remained calm and composed. His features were the same as before, but the gaze he directed at me felt inexplicably deep. Even the dappled light filtering through the trees seemed to favor him. I had heard he had already taken over the entire Sterling family empire from Old Mr. Sterling. I had heard the brand he founded swept the globe. I had heard he secretly married years ago and always kept a low profile. Memories spanning over a decade, which I had deliberately ignored, surged back like a breaking dam, sending sharp, fine pain through my chest. It was only at the moment I saw him that I realized: I thought I had let it go. Turns out, I hadn't. The boy who wove a grass ring for me when we were young, who kicked the person bullying me into the pool. No one could have ever imagined we would end up in such an embarrassing situation. He actually hadn't changed; he just stopped loving me, that's all. It's been a really, really long time, Liam. 4 We walked in silence and found a nearby coffee shop. Before the coffee even arrived, as if trying to hide my nerves, I cut straight to the chase: "Do you still want the child?" For six years, I had fantasized about reuniting with Liam, almost torturing myself with the scenarios. So much so that I was able to feign indifference now. Liam glanced at me, answering without hesitation: "Of course I do." I pressed my lips together, staring at the street sign through the floor-to-ceiling window. I gave a low "Mhm" and stood up. "Then remember to pick him up after school. If you don't have time for parent-teacher conferences, you can let me know. I won't bother you and—" I still couldn't say Chloe's name out loud. I couldn't help digging my nails into my palms. The sharp pain kept me lucid, forcing me to say: "...I won't disturb your lives." I checked the time, ready to leave. As we brushed past each other, I heard Liam abruptly ask: "So now, the only thing you want to talk to me about is Leo?" My footsteps faltered. I didn't quite understand. Everything between us had been settled six years ago. He loved someone else; I took my two hundred thousand and left cleanly. It was that simple. Besides Leo, what else was there to talk about? Liam let out a breath, his dark eyes locked onto me, and spoke again: "Alright then. I don't want Leo anymore." He sounded so righteous, as if he wasn't the one who had just flipped his stance in a split second. I furrowed my brow, unable to resist asking: "What do you mean?" Liam lifted his chin slightly, tapping the seat across from him, signaling me to sit back down. "Exactly what it sounds like." "You want to raise the kid? Fine. The kid is yours." "Considering the child's physical and mental well-being, I will come to your current residence every Friday evening to spend necessary quality time with Leo, and I will drive back to the office on Monday morning." Seeing him spout this nonsense with a straight face, I felt it was completely absurd. Reaching my limit, I reminded him: "We are already divorced." "Are we?" Liam let out an ambiguous scoff. "I never signed." I belatedly realized the meaning of his words. When Old Mr. Sterling told me to sign the divorce agreement, I just assumed Liam was so disgusted by me he didn't even want to see me one last time, which is why he never appeared. He said he never signed. But then why did he wait six years to find me? I wouldn't flatter myself by thinking he still had feelings for me. Maybe the original agreement got lost, or maybe there was a loophole that required a supplementary contract. Anything was possible. I pressed my lips together and said very cooperatively: "Then we can draft a new one and sign it." Liam didn't even look up: "I'm not signing." I tried reasoning with him nicely: "If we sign it, we're totally clear of each other. Isn't that great?" "No." "Do you have some kind of concern? I don't want any shares or money. You can consider me leaving with absolutely nothing." "No." His three "no's" made me both angry and dazed. Perhaps Liam himself didn't even remember, but he was exactly like this when he was younger. That day was his birthday party. Someone cornered me, looking at me with lecherous, disrespectful eyes, saying whatever garbage came to mind. Liam kicked him right into the pool. It caused a massive scene. The guests were all prominent figures in New York's high society, and the faces of the family elders were quite ugly. When asked for a reason, Liam refused to explain. To avoid gossip and protect my reputation, Liam never even mentioned me from beginning to end. Because he refused to admit he was wrong, he took a brutal beating with a cane from Old Mr. Sterling. Probably no one would have guessed that the 18th birthday of the man sitting in front of me, now a titan of industry, was spent locked in a solitary confinement room. The door was completely locked from the outside; no one could even bring him medicine. I huddled outside the door, saying very softly and guiltily: "I'm sorry." Through the door panel, he paused for a moment, making some rustling sounds. It seemed he sat down by the door too. His voice was a bit muffled as he gave a soft "Oh," and then said: "Not listening." I buried my forehead in my knees and mumbled: "Actually, you didn't have to kick him. You could have just let him finish talking. He wouldn't have dared to actually do anything to me." "Not waiting." I didn't say anything else. Maybe my voice was too muffled and he misunderstood something. After a moment, he said again: "No crying." He knocked on the door panel, making a light tsk sound: "I did it because I wanted to. It has nothing to do with you. No crying." I snapped out of my daze, trying my hardest to hide the burning sensation in my eyes. Yet it felt as if I could hear his "no crying" from all those years ago. Liam sat under the light, offering a faint smile. The fine dust caught in the light drifted lazily. His old features had silently sharpened over the years. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at me. As if answering what I had said earlier. "Maya, things between us can never be clear." 5 I don't quite remember how it ended. I only remember that I was so angry I didn't even say goodbye. Because we parted on bad terms, I wasn't sure if he was just talking nonsense or if he actually intended to follow through. I hesitated for a moment but decided not to call an Uber back. Maybe because the round-trip fare would cost almost what I make in a day; I might as well just take the rest of the day off instead of going back to work. Or maybe the maternal love that had been absent for six years was acting up. I didn't want to break my promise to Leo. I waited until 4:30 PM, when preschool got out. Most of the children at this preschool came from prominent families. Amidst the coming and going luxury cars, I saw that Bentley stop in front of Leo. So I didn't step forward. I turned around, slowly walking back the way I came. I suddenly felt that my previous worries were ridiculous. What was I thinking? How could the Sterling family really let the child leave with me? The Bentley quickly drove away, kicking up a thick cloud of dust as it passed. I inexplicably thought of that tender little face. We probably wouldn't see each other again. I just, as if possessed, turned to take one last look. With the black car gone, the other side of the road was revealed. Leo stood all alone at the preschool gate. His wide, round eyes met my gaze. His eyes lit up, and he was about to sprint toward me, but was stopped by a teacher raising her arm. He scrunched up his little face, looking a bit angry as he said something to the teacher. Afraid he would jaywalk, by the time I snapped out of it, I had already taken several steps toward him. The teacher saw me and finally felt safe letting Leo go. He ran until he was panting, his dark, obsidian-like eyes sparkling. He only slowed down when he got close, deliberately putting on an air of indifference. Squirming but happy, he said: "...You, you really came to pick me up?" A soft little hand tentatively grasped my fingertips. Seeing I didn't pull away, he pressed the corners of his lips together, stole a glance at me, and squeezed even tighter. I gave a soft "Mhm" and asked him, a bit unsure: "Aren't you going with him?" At the mention of Liam, Leo's cheeks puffed up like a propane tank ready to explode: "I don't want him! And he didn't come to pick me up!" "He said you work so hard dropping me off and picking me up, and that I'd just annoy you by clinging to you every day. He told me not to disrupt your work." He looked very opinionated, seemingly very disdainful of Liam, and said very seriously and proudly: "I'm not as stupid as he is!" "I talked to my teacher about transferring schools today! That way, you won't have to spend so much time dropping me off!" He tilted his little face up, his gaze urging me on, seemingly waiting for me to praise him. I couldn't help but rub his round little head. Traffic was heavy on the way back. After stopping at the grocery store, the sky was getting dark. I held Leo's hand as we walked home. He seemed to remember something and casually mumbled: "Oh right, the driver is picking me up after school tomorrow. Dad said I have to go home tomorrow to get all my clothes." "But I still want to come back here to sleep! You're not allowed to forget me!" Tomorrow was Friday. I instinctively tightened my grip on the plastic bag holding the pork belly ingredients, paused for a second, and said softly: "Okay." Children are forgetful. Maybe after a weekend of being coaxed at home, he would forget about me. I treated every meeting as if it were the last. Because only by doing that wouldn't I feel disappointed during the long waits.
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