LOGIN[Maria]Auntie Imani broke down in tears as she told me everything she knew. Her eyes were swollen as she continued to sob. Jamal brought her a box of tissues. I wasn't sure whether he'd heard our conversation or not.I could only stare blankly, trying to process everything she'd told me.Stories I'd never known before.I wiped the tears streaming down my cheeks and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Of course, my mind didn't settle that easily. Too many thoughts were swirling inside my head.I had always believed that, in some way, my father really did love my mother. From Auntie Imani's story, it seemed like that was true. It's just that my father loved her in the wrong way. What he did wa
[Imani Flashback]If I could turn back time, I would still do the same thing. Keep all of this a secret from Lily.I know it wasn't fair to her, but I just wanted to see her happy a little longer. Even if that happiness was built on a lie.I tried to keep her away from Richard's influence. I often invited her to spend time with our friends from our vocational cooking class. Just enough to give her a world outside of Richard, who kept leaving her behind to live with his new family.Lily stopped feeling so lonely in her apartment. She had us as we waited together for the birth of her first child. We searched for baby names together, accompanied her to doctor's appointments, bought baby supplies, and did all the things she should have been doing w
[Imani Flashback]"How far along are you?""Twenty weeks," Lily replied with a bright smile."You only have a few months left. He's going to marry you, right?""Richard said he would, but he needs time to convince his family."My heart immediately sank when I heard those words. So far, all Richard had given her were promises."Lily, this is exactly what I was afraid of. What if his family says no?""I don't really need his family's approval. All I need is Richard by my side."But the idea of Richard leaving his family to be with Lily sounded like nothing more than a pipe dream. If Richard had truly been serious about Lily, he should have married her from the start instead of getting her pregnant and hiding her away in an apartment.He should have introduced Lily to his parents from the very beginning and asked for their blessing. But Richard came from a wealthy family. They would never willingly accept an orphan with no known family background.I kept all of those thoughts to myself b
[Imani Flashback]I regret how busy I was preparing to leave Maple that I couldn't truly look after Lily. All I knew was that Richard kept visiting Maple. He often spent time with Lily while she helped the younger children with their homework, read them storybooks, or even taught them how to play basketball.It all became increasingly suspicious, so I couldn’t take it anymore and finally told one of the Maple staff members closest to me that I’d noticed something strange about Richard’s behavior toward Lily. Instead of asking for more details or taking my words seriously, she immediately scolded me."Richard isn't that kind of person. Don't say such ridiculous things. He's a polite young man from a respectable family."
[Imani Flashback]I met Lily when I was already 18 years old at Maple House, a group home for children who had been abandoned, separated from their parents, or orphaned. She was only 14 or 15 at the time.Lily had no parents. They had died in an accident, and she had no relatives who could take her in.Me? I was a little luckier. I still had parents. It was just that my father had a terrible temper. My mother left him because, people said, she could no longer endure his beatings. Eventually, my father was sent to prison, and, well, I had no choice but to stay at Maple House.I was actually preparing to leave the place. I was the oldest kid at Maple. Even though they allowed me to stay until I turned 21, I felt old enough to live on my own. I had a part-time job, so I had enough money to do that.But the moment I saw Lily, I felt I needed to stay at Maple a little longer to protect her.On Lily's first day at Maple, she almost took her own life. She wanted to be with her parents. She w
[Maria]"Are you still mad?"Damian asked as though my anger was just a passing emotion that would disappear after a few hours. As though it wasn't because he kept breaking the promises he'd made to me."No," I lied, and it was painfully obvious that I was lying.No wife says she's not angry while wearing a blank expression and refusing to even look at her husband.Whether he understood that or not, he didn't ask again. I finished dinner, then went straight to the bedroom without waiting for him.There was no point pretending to be a good wife anymore. We only had a few days left together.The ne
[Hannah]Hannah Barker had gone to great lengths just to ask her boss for permission to take the day off. As expected, her stingy boss didn’t give it to her for free. Hannah had to accept a deduction from her pay so she could attend today’s all-important event: a job interview.For some reason, she
[Maria]I had to close the application 15 minutes after I opened it. My phone was immediately flooded with nonstop notifications after I posted the job opening even though it was almost midnight.Don’t people usually start their jobs in the morning, during business hours?It was my fault, too, for p
[Hannah]'KEEP SMILING AT CUSTOMERS EVEN IF YOUR LIPS ARE PARALYZED'That’s this bakery’s crazy motto. For some reason, the owner is confident enough to come up with a slogan like that while the employees are paid barely enough to get by.Hannah shook her head to shake off the drowsiness. She arrive
[Maria]Damian Lee possessed a trinity of pleasure he could never exhaust: money, liquor, and women.All three were intoxicating, but Damian Lee was a master of control. He knew how to start the fun, as well as how to stop. And this club used to be his den.Maybe it was because this was one of the







