All Chapters of My Real Life Began After I Left You: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The next second, Charlie turned to me. "Is this how you act as a mother, Harps? When did you become this selfish and vicious?"His gaze dropped to the suitcase on the floor, a trace of mockery in his eyes. "Staging a walkout, huh?"Dakota ran straight to him and grabbed his hand. "Mom hurt Cecilia and won't even apologize."I watched Charlie's expression darken, and for a moment, I was pulled back to when I first arrived in this house. Even the household staff used to push me around.Back then, he would fiercely step in each time. "If anyone messes with Harps again, you're out of the Lockwood residence—no exceptions!"Ever since Cecilia showed up, however, I began to see the real allocation of his attention. What he gave me didn't even register next to what he gave her.When Dakota's school held a speech competition, no one informed me. They simply had Cecilia attend in my place.Afterward, when I asked her how Dakota performed and what feedback the teacher gave, she had nothing

A circle of strangers stood around my bed."Silly girl, you're home," the woman said. "I'm your mother. As soon as we got your call, we sent people to keep an eye on the Lockwoods. I never expected that bastard would dare drag my precious daughter to the hospital to save his mistress!"Watching Mom scold them with such fury, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. At last, my good days were here.…Nine years had passed, and the elders had aged noticeably.That car accident from years ago had been secretly plotted by our family's rivals. The mastermind behind it was already behind bars, but everyone still believed I was dead."I'm so glad you're back. At last, my precious daughter has returned!"A pang of bittersweetness hit me.For the past nine years, I had almost completely lost myself. My identity had been reduced to Charlie's wife and the mother of two kids.Shifting constantly between those roles, I hadn't lived as myself in the longest time, nor had anyone truly valued me

Dominic had grown a little over the past year and was starting to look like his father. He grabbed my hand, eyes brimming with tears."Mom, we misunderstood you. Cecilia is the evil one!" he cried out."Now that she has her own baby, she doesn't care about us at all. She yells at us every day! Dad fights with her for our sake all the time. He even said he wished you were here. Only you truly cared about us."Charlie knew I had poured so much effort into raising Dominic, and he nodded along. Still, concerned about his pride, he didn't say a word and simply let the kids plead on his behalf instead.I pushed Dominic away. They were my children, and it would be a lie to say I could abandon them completely. That said, the ways they had hurt me left a scar in my heart that would never fully heal."Sir, you've really got the wrong person," I said. "My name is Harper Stone, heiress of Stone Group. I'm not your wife, nor am I the mother of these two brats. You'd better leave now, or securi

Unlike Charlie, who hid behind a polished, respectable front, Cecilia was rotten to the core. In a sense, they were a perfect match."Are you planning to run back to the baby's father?" I asked.She let out a cold laugh. "He's already in prison—the same doctor who helped me trick Charlie into believing I had kidney failure and leukemia. Guess he got what he deserved. He did too many dirty things and eventually got reported."I knew who had pulled the strings behind that report—my family."Don't you love Charlie?" I asked.Cecilia burst into laughter, almost hysterical. "Of course, I do. He's hot, wealthy, and we grew up together. I'll be honest—I couldn't accept it at first."If you, a random nobody with no memory of yourself, got to be his wife, why couldn't I, his childhood sweetheart who just fell on hard times, be the same?"She tilted her head, her smile twisted. "Now that I see it, I didn't lose out to you at all. So what if you're a rich heiress? Your stupid little kids t