Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Good news: I was pregnant. Bad news: I was not on talking terms with the father. How should I tell Shaun Lewis the news without embarrassing myself too much? I put a picture of the positive pregnancy test online and asked the netizens. There were plenty of friendly people on the forum, and soon I had a thousand comments in my inbox. [Send him the photo of the test and tell him the baby starved to death in your war of attrition] [Tell him straight to his face: I am not alone! I have someone on my side!] [Come back after five years with five genius babies] [Tell him, “Come here and get on your knees. I have something to tell you.”] … Yep, they were really helpful. I sighed to myself as I watched the comments flood in. I knew I was right to believe in the inherent kindness of the Internet. A few of the comments stood out among the barrage. [Run away with the baby! I’ve been reading novels for an entire decade, so I have plenty of experience.] [Go to a hospital and schedule an abortion, then put his number in the form.] [When you’re out for lunch with him, pretend to gag and dash to the washroom.] All of them were experienced readers, so I had faith in their advice. After all the time I spent staring at my phone, though, Shaun still had not replied to my messages. The thought of his cold attitude pissed me off, so I blocked his number. ‘Shaun, you big idiot,’ I thought to myself. ‘Since you’re bad with words, you can keep doing your own thing. Don’t bother talking to me for now.’ After all, I had a surprise lying in wait for him. The first step in my plan to run away from home was to choose a car I liked from the garage. I immediately chose Shaun’s favorite black Bugatti. Yep, that was the one! To suit the novel scenarios, I waited until the day Shaun was busiest with work before running away in his racecar. As the wind whipped past my hair, I sighed in satisfaction. This was the life! Shaun could just go and love himself. I drove all the way to my best friend Vicky Fern’s house. Lying on her couch, I told her my entire plan in detail. Her reaction was to lean on my shoulder, laughing until her back was bent. “Wait! What the hell are you thinking, Nessa Smith?” She was utterly confused. “What did Shaun do to piss you off this time?” Just thinking about it ticked me off. As much as I hated to admit it, it was true that we fought for silly reasons before. Like the time I got mad at Shaun because he forgot to buy me the Hermes bag I wanted when he went abroad, only for me to eventually realize I had forgotten to tell him. Or the time he ate cake beside me while I was on a diet… However! This time, it was his fault for sure! I told Vicky as much, my voice full of conviction. “Then tell me, what did he do?” She listened curiously, eating chips as though waiting for the newest episode of her favorite sitcom. She had always been like this whenever I told her about my fights with Shaun, ever since we started dating in college and even now, two years into our marriage. She was certain we would not actually fight, because she assumed we were bonded for life. “Stop eating those chips!” I yanked her hand away from the bag. “Listen up, Captain Fern! The battle this time is serious, and I need my strategist!”“Yes, Commander Smith.” The reason behind my fight with Shaun this time was a real tearjerker, guaranteed to move anyone who heard the story. That day, after I arranged my precious handbags, I decided to visit Shaun in his study out of the kindness of my heart. I walked through our bedroom and into the study, standing behind Shaun. I thought he would be busy with work as usual, but I found him on the phone and holding a picture in his other hand. To surprise him, I poked my head over his shoulder. “Shaun Lewis!” When he was busy, he would usually glance at me and gesture at me to find a seat next to him. If he was less busy, he would make me sit on his lap and read through those boring documents together.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

However, he was hiding something in a panic. When he heard my voice, he hastily hid the picture he was holding in the drawer. “What are you hiding, Shaun?” He avoided his gaze, his usually rational tone surprisingly guilty. “Nothing. Just some scrap paper.”“Shaun Lewis!” I was agitated. “You’re lying.” He would instinctively tap the things next to him with his fingers whenever he lied. Knowing his tell, I reached over to pull open his drawer. “I told you, it’s nothing!” He grabbed my hand and stopped me from touching the drawer. The next second, he locked it tight. “What could you possibly need to hide from me, Shaun?” I asked, hurt and confused. In all the years I had known him, he had never put his guard up against me. Even when the company was in crisis, he would lay all the documents before me and let me play with them as I liked. This time, he just kept avoiding my gaze without saying a word. I grew more upset by the second, so angry I wanted to snatch the key from his hands. In the ensuing struggle, however, I lost my balance and almost fell to the floor. Shaun caught me and helped me to my feet, saying impatiently, “Stop your tantrum, Nessa.” His tone was cold and brimming with rage. I stiffened, shooting him a glare. “If you dislike me that much, Shaun, let’s get a divorce.” With that, I turned and left the room. He never even made a move to stop me. Hmph, men. A man like him was not worth crying over. I wiped my tears and took my things to the guest room. As I lay on the pillow, however, my tears drenched the silk sheets. I could not hold it in, damn… The truth was, I saw everything. He had been holding an old, yellowed photograph of a woman who looked a lot like me. Vicky smacked the couch. “Are you saying he cheated on you?!” She rolled up her sleeves in a huff, as though she wanted to eat him alive. I gave her a sideways glance, my tone light. “No, stop pretending.” She deflated and sat back down, patting my thigh solemnly. “If he did anything to hurt you, babe, I’ll always be on your side.”“That’s why I ran away with our unborn baby.” Vicky raised her hands into the air. “And I’ll support you all the way!” Just as I was unpacking my things at Vicky’s place, my phone started ringing non-stop. It was Rinz, Shaun’s assistant. Why did Shaun ask his assistant to call me rather than calling me himself? Obviously, it was because I had blocked all his numbers. I promptly did the same to Rinz. Everyone in Shaun’s inner circle would get the same treatment. ** At the same time. In his black Bentley, Shaun looked at his assistant on the phone, his expression dark. Rinz said apologetically, “Mr. Lewis, she rejected my call.” “Call her again!” “She blocked my number…” Shaun scoffed, raging. When he got home, it looked like the house had been ransacked. Nessa had taken all her bags and clothes, and she even tossed his clothes to the floor. Worst of all, his favorite car was gone from the garage. In an instant, he knew that all this was Nessa’s doing. ** In any case, it was just as everyone thought. Shaun stood on Vicky’s porch in the pouring rain, knocking on her door. “Nessa, open the door.” I ignored him, sitting on the front step and crossing my arms as I stared at the door. What I did not know, however, was that Shaun had Vicky’s door code. The door swung open, revealing Shaun’s cold expression. His dark eyes, burning with rage, met mine. I abruptly turned around, looking at Vicky. She was giggling behind me. “Vicky! How could you?!” Shaun swept me up in his arms, determined to carry me home. “I am not going with you, Shaun Lewis!” I grabbed onto the side of the shoe cabinet.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

“What is your problem, Nessa? Stop making a fuss and hear me out!”“You still think I’m the one with a problem?” I looked into his eyes and broke free from his embrace. The moment I got my feet back on the ground, I pointed at the door. “I don’t need your excuses. Get lost!” Shaun did not move, tapping away on his phone instead. So now he was not even bothering to explain? I looked at the face I loved for so long. Had he been tolerating me all this time? Was I always throwing tantrums and making a fuss? Was that how he thought of me? Shaun looked up and saw my dejected expression. All of a sudden, he shoved his phone into my face. The photo on the screen showed the SS Princess, a cruise ship I had been eyeing for a long time. It was gracefully docked at a harbor somewhere. “I bought the SS Princess, Princess Nessa.” I immediately fell silent, pouncing onto his phone. For real?! That ship was worth 18 million dollars! Hehe, that was one thing Shaun was good for. I held the phone, grinning from ear to ear. “Can you hear me out now, Nessa?” He took his phone back. I nodded profusely. “That day, I hid a picture of a girl who looked a lot like you…” I nodded, my eyes still fixed on the SS Princess. He lifted my chin, holding my gaze. “I don’t know that girl, but she came for an interview. I didn’t want you to misunderstand, so I instinctively hid it.” It was a lame excuse, but… But he bought me the SS Princess. In truth, just like Vicky, I never really believed he would cheat on me. After all this time together, I had that much faith in him. I would never admit I did it for the SS Princess. Besides, I still had the rest of my plan to execute. I went home. When I left her house, Vicky leaned against the doorframe, watching me pass my things back to Shaun. “Seriously,” she asked, “what did you do all this for?” I looked at her and said right in front of Shaun, “I’m going home with him, but I never said I forgave him.” After that whole facade, I was starving. I asked the chef to make me a meal so I could execute the second step of my plan. I ignored Shaun the entire time over lunch, eating quietly by myself. “Urk…” After throwing him a glance, I suddenly threw down my cutlery and ran to the washroom. I thought I had put on a decent show, but Shaun did not fall for it! Now that I had pulled out all the stops, he followed me in a panic, watching as I gagged into the toilet. After a while, he finally asked, “What did you sneakily eat this time, Nessa?” Huh? What was going on? This was not how he was supposed to react! It was obvious that Shaun had never watched those family dramas on TV. What a waste of my stellar acting skills. I rolled my eyes at him. Useless man. Never mind, I had a few other tricks up my sleeve. I ignored Shaun since just looking at his face made me mad. When I went back to our room and saw his clothes still on the floor, I finally felt a bit happier. I pretended to gag a few more times after that, but that idiot Shaun kept assuming I had food poisoning. I was not that much of a glutton! Sure, I had some chips and ice cream sometimes, but that was it! Besides, I stopped eating those after I found out I was pregnant. At the end of the day, he was just too stupid. After Shaun went back to work, I decided to proceed with the next step of my plan. I scheduled an abortion at one of the Lewis Group's private hospitals. As planned, I put Shaun’s number in the form. Sitting outside the operation theatre, I submitted the online registration form. Within seconds, he should have received the confirmation on his phone. I chuckled, awed by my brilliance. I even posted a story on my social media, with the caption, [It's not that I don't love you, my baby. I just… don't want to bring you into a loveless home.] I attached a picture of my pregnancy test to the post and made it visible to him alone. As expected, Shaun lost his mind after seeing it.