LOGINCalvin pulled Camelia into his arms and roughly closed the distance between them. His lips pressed against Camelia’s with demanding force, as if all the control he had been holding onto collapsed in an instant.
“Calvin—” Camelia’s breath broke off.
The kiss deepened, forcing Camelia to clutch her husband’s suit just to stay standing. Calvin’s chest rose and fell, his breathing heavy and uneven. His hands held Camelia’s waist firmly, as if afraid she might run away.
In her heart, Camelia smiled.
“Yes, I did it! Hey, Young Master Calvin’s beloved pure white moon, tonight I managed to seduce him. And I am the first woman to touch him,” Camelia said to herself.
She returned the kiss gently yet deliberately. Her lips moved slowly, unhurried, just enough to make Calvin lose his rhythm. When the man tried to take control, Camelia instead pulled back slightly.
“Why did you stop?” Calvin’s voice was low and hoarse.
Camelia lifted her gaze. “I just want you to truly want it.”
Those words made Calvin fall silent for a moment.
He kissed Camelia again, this time deeper, more ravenous. Camelia closed her eyes, letting herself sink into it. She shifted her lips to the corner of Calvin’s jaw, then to his neck. Her kisses were light, yet intentional.
Calvin let out a long breath. “Camelia…”
Her name slipped from his lips so naturally.
Camelia smiled faintly, then whispered softly, “Isn’t this what we should have done a long time ago, darling?”
Calvin did not answer. He simply closed his eyes, allowing Camelia to kiss his neck until faint marks were left behind. His arms tightened around his wife’s body.
That night passed without words. Only silence, meaningful breaths, and an intimacy that should have happened long ago.
For Calvin, that night felt like a release he had never realized he needed.
Four in the morning.
Camelia woke up first. The room was still dark, with only faint city lights slipping through the gap in the curtains. She turned her head to the side.
Calvin was sleeping soundly. Of course—because after reaching his release last night, she had given him a glass of plain water mixed with sleeping pills.
The man’s face looked peaceful, far from the cold demeanor he usually showed when awake. Camelia lifted her hand, almost touching that face, then stopped herself. Her eyes burned. Tears fell silently.
“Finally,” she whispered softly, “I can touch you for the first—and perhaps the last—time.”
She rose slowly and put on her clothes. Every movement was done carefully so as not to wake Calvin. After that, Camelia stood for a moment at the edge of the bed, staring at the man she had loved for ten years, and at the same time, the man who shattered her heart in a single night.
“Thank you for last night,” she said almost inaudibly. “I’m sorry… I give up.”
Camelia walked to the dressing room. A suitcase was already lying in the corner. She had prepared everything since yesterday—clothes, documents, personal belongings. Not much. She had never truly felt that this house was hers.
She closed the suitcase, then returned to the bedroom.
On the bedside table, Camelia placed a brown folder. Inside it was the divorce letter she had already signed.
She stared at it for a long time.
“Rather than you divorcing me,” she murmured, “it’s better that I divorce you and go as far away as possible.”
Camelia then placed her phone beside the letter, deliberately so Calvin would not be able to contact her.
Before leaving, Camelia turned back one last time. Her gaze fell on Calvin, who was still fast asleep.
“Goodbye,” she said softly. “I hope we never meet again for the rest of our lives.”
She closed the bedroom door quietly.
Morning came.
Sunlight slipped into the room. Calvin groaned softly, then opened his eyes. His head felt heavy, but his body was relaxed.
He turned to the side. Empty. Camelia was gone.
Calvin sat up and rubbed his face. “Camelia?” he called briefly.
There was no answer.
He stood up and looked at the bedside table. A folder and a phone lay neatly there. His brows furrowed. Calvin took the folder and opened it.
His face tightened.
“A divorce letter?” he muttered.
His hand clenched unconsciously. He read Camelia’s name, already written with a signature beneath it.
Calvin drew in a sharp breath.
“What is this?” his voice rose, even though there was no one else in the room.
He took Camelia’s phone and tried to turn it on. But he found nothing.
Calvin stood frozen in the middle of the room, his thoughts spinning. Last night still felt vivid—the touch and kisses from Camelia. Even her name, repeatedly slipping from his own lips.
“She left?” he said softly, as if only now realizing the truth. “After she seduced me last night?”
Calvin stood rigid for a few seconds before his anger finally exploded.
“DAMN IT! YOU WRETCHED WOMAN!”
His hand crushed the divorce letter until it wrinkled. His chest rose and fell, his breathing rapid. He threw the brown folder onto the bed, then noticed something else on the bedside table.
Two marriage books.
Calvin grabbed them roughly. His eyes narrowed, his jaw hardened. The books lay neatly there, as if Camelia had deliberately left them behind as a sign that everything was truly over.
“What does this mean?” he muttered angrily. “She left after… after last night?”
Calvin’s gaze shifted to the bed. His body suddenly tensed when he saw a faint red stain on the white sheets.
His expression changed.
“What the hell is this…?”
His hands trembled. Last night’s memories replayed in his head—the way Camelia touched him, the way she whispered his name, and how he truly lost control.
His anger surged, mixed with something he did not want to admit. Calvin grabbed Camelia’s phone from the table and threw it hard against the wall.
CRASH!
The phone fell to the floor, its screen cracked. Calvin swept his arm across the table. The glass, the small lamp—everything fell and scattered.
“DAMN IT!” he shouted again.
He paced back and forth in the room, running his hand through his hair. His shirt was not properly buttoned yet, but he did not care. His chest burned, his mind in chaos.
“She can’t just leave like this,” he muttered. “Not after what happened last night.”
Calvin stopped abruptly. He took his own phone and immediately called someone.
“Hello, Ronal,” Calvin said coldly, almost growling. “Listen to me carefully.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I don’t care how you do it,” Calvin continued firmly. “Within less than one hour, find Madam.”
Ronal fell silent for a moment. “Madam Camelia?”
“Who else!” Calvin barked. “Find her. Wherever she went.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ronal replied quickly. “Do you have any clues?”
Calvin glanced at the suitcase that was no longer in the room. “She prepared everything already. Don’t be stupid. Use all the connections we have.”
“Understood, Sir.”
The call ended. Calvin lowered his phone slowly. His hand was still clenched, the veins in his neck taut.
“What are you thinking, Camelia?” he muttered in a low voice.
He looked back at the bed. The red stain was still there, like a harsh slap to his awareness. For the first time, Calvin felt something unfamiliar spreading in his chest.
Not just anger.
“Why did you leave without saying anything?” he said softly. “Wasn’t it you who wanted it last night?”
He sat on the edge of the bed, bowed his head, and rubbed his face roughly. His memory returned to Camelia’s words last night. That gaze. That unreadable smile.
“Was all of that just a game?” he whispered.
Calvin let out a short, bitter laugh. “How dare you play with me.”
Yet beneath his anger, a growing unease became clearer. He picked up the wrinkled divorce letter and read it again, as if hoping to find something he had missed.
Still, there was only Camelia’s firm signature.
“How bold,” he said again, this time more quietly.
Calvin stood up and kicked the chair until it fell over. The room was now completely in disarray, reflecting his own mind.
“I won’t let you leave just like this,” he said coldly. “Not after you made me like this.”
The hurried sound of footsteps echoing along the back garden corridor suddenly broke the tension hanging between Daven and Joye. Aurora stepped out through the glass door leading to the lounge area, her eyes widening the moment she caught sight of the chubby girl sitting beside her younger brother."Joye...?" Aurora exclaimed, her voice rising sharply with overwhelming surprise.Without waiting for a second confirmation, Aurora ran toward them. The moment Joye rose to her feet, Aurora immediately wrapped her arms around her childhood friend in a tight embrace. She was absolutely certain that this was Joye, the adorable little girl they had always protected back in school."My God, Joye! It's really you!" Aurora said as she happily shook Joye's shoulders, tears of joy gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I've missed you so much! Where have you been all this time without a single word?"Joye laughed cheerfully, returning Aurora's warm embrace with no less longing. "I've missed you so
Night gradually deepened over the Manhattan skyline, leaving behind a silence that slowly settled around the Collyn residence. In the spacious backyard garden, Daven sat alone on a wrought-iron bench, leaning back as he stared blankly at the row of maple trees whose leaves swayed gently in the night breeze. His thoughts were in complete disarray, drifting back to the commotion at the university gate earlier that morning.His fingers occasionally tapped against the armrest of the bench. Deep within his heart, an overwhelming hope continued to swell. He desperately hoped that neither he nor Aurora had been mistaken—that the grown man they had seen in the lobby of the rectorate building was truly Papa Calvin, the man they had been waiting for at the edge of the harbor waves for the past ten years.Lost in such deep contemplation, Daven failed to notice the soft footsteps approaching across the grass.Step.Without warning, a pair of warm, slightly plump hands slipped over his eyes from b
That afternoon at the Collyn residence passed in meticulous tranquility, one that was gradually disturbed by the soft hum of an electric motorcycle entering the front yard. Aurora and Daven stepped through the front door in a hurry. They had not even had the chance to leave their backpacks in their respective rooms before they headed straight for the living room, where Juna and Ziyi were relaxing while keeping Zylan and Dylan, the twins, company as they busily colored in their drawing books.Seeing the tense expressions on their adopted children's faces, still filled with the lingering shock of what had happened, Ziyi immediately rose from her seat."Aurora, Daven, what's wrong? You both look so pale," Ziyi asked in a calm voice, though it was filled with unmistakable concern.Daven took a deep breath to steady his still-racing heartbeat. The young man looked at Juna and Ziyi in turn, his dark gaze exceptionally serious."Uncle Juna, Aunt Ziyi... there's something incredibly important
Malveno Chandler was still standing motionless amid the bustling airport arrival corridor. His gaze remained fixed on the woman's back as she gradually walked away, hurrying toward the elderly woman who had called her earlier. Even after the woman's figure disappeared into the crowd of arriving passengers and vanished beyond the exit doors, Malveno still did not look away.He raised his right hand and looked at his palm—the same hand that had caught the woman's slender waist just moments ago. The lingering warmth from that brief touch still seemed to remain there, slowly spreading until his chest tightened with an unfamiliar pounding heartbeat.Malveno slowly shook his head, trying to drive away the confusion creeping through his mind. Everything about today felt incredibly strange. It had begun with the incident at the university gate involving the teenage girl who had cried hysterically while hugging him, and now there had been the accidental collision with a stranger in the airport
The engine of the black SUV hummed softly as it pulled away from the main lobby of the university's rectorate building. Inside the soundproof passenger cabin, Malveno Chandler leaned back against the comfortable leather seat. His eyes stared blankly out the window, watching Aurora and Daven's figures grow smaller in the distance until they finally disappeared behind the campus gates.The man suddenly became restless. He loosened his tie, which had suddenly begun to feel suffocating around his neck, then let out several long breaths. His fingers tapped repeatedly against his knee in an uneven rhythm. What was this feeling? Why had that brief embrace from the unfamiliar girl on campus left such an overwhelming flutter inside his chest? Why did that hoarse cry calling him "Dad" continue to echo in his ears, as though it were pounding against a tightly locked iron door hidden deep within the corner of his memories?"Mr. Chandler, are you all right?" his personal secretary, who was sitting
The mature man had just been about to step through the open door of the black SUV when a sudden movement from the parking area disrupted the bodyguards' secure formation. Aurora ran with all the strength she had, ignoring the backpack strap slipping down her arm as she pushed through the crowd of students, who immediately gasped at the sight of a girl boldly breaking through the barricade. Before the bodyguards in black suits could notice her movement or stretch out their arms to stop her, Aurora had already lunged forward. Her slender arms wrapped tightly around the man's waist from behind with desperate strength. Her body trembled violently as she pressed herself against his broad back beneath the expensive suit. "Dad...! I've missed you so much...!" Aurora's voice broke instantly, echoing across the bustling university lobby. The tears she had held back for months—no, for years—poured out completely, soaking the back of the man's suit. This physical touch, the warmth of his bo







