On the day that I returned to the country, Lola Lawson, the one who was once the love of my life for ten years, sent me a picture of a baby.

She told me to think of a name and meet her at the city hall to register the baby, as she had prepared a welcome-home gift for me.

So, I rushed over with bags full of baby supplies. But when I arrived, she and her girlfriends were bent over with ridicule and laughter.

"I told you! Even though he was gone for a year, he's still a loyal lapdog! Just a wave of my hand and he'd even be willing to raise someone else's kid for me!"

She sized me up with mocking amusement. "Kevin Sheraton. How could you still be this naive? Just one joke and you come running?"

They laughed without any restraint, calling me names and hurling insults, saying I'd do anything for Lola.

But when I walked past them and took a number to register my own child's birth, and later wrapped my arm around my wife as the three of us took a family portrait, Lola's eyes were completely reddened with tears.

A year had passed, yet Lola Lawson still seemed to hate me just as much as before.

Watching her and her friends clutching their stomachs and bawling out laughing, I clenched my fists tightly.

"Kevin Sheraton, what else can we say about you? You've chased after Lola for so many years, yet there hasn't been an improvement at all."

"Every time we think that you've finally grown some balls and left, you'd turn around and stick to her like glue again!"

"Wake up, honey. Even if you're willing to be her back-up, Lola doesn't like you at all!"

I was so furious by their insults that I was trembling with rage.

Lola noticed that I was not responding, so she feigned concern and said, "Kevin, do you not like the welcome gift I prepared for you? I went to a lot of trouble to prepare them."

Then, she pretended to be mad at her friends. "You guys are too much. Kevin rushed over the moment he landed. How could you bully our daddy-to-be?"

Then, a burst of laughter rang out once more. Lola's laughter was somehow the most piercing one.

Just when I was about to turn to leave and end this farce, Lola called out after me. She handed me a huge dog on a leash.

"Kevin, I can't just take advantage of you like this. Timothy had picked up this dog named Tony on the streets. He had just registered it, but he doesn't have the time to look after it. Since you'd like to be a good father, why don't you let this dog be your son? You'd do a good job of raising it."

Then, she and her friends broke into mocking laughter once more.

"Lola, I'm warning you. Some people might use the dog as an excuse to get close to you!"

Seeing Lola and Timothy Green's names and contact information on the leash, I stood there, frozen.

If it were in the past, I would happily take the dog in just to please Lola. I would even swear on my life that I would be a good dog-dad.

Yet, at that moment, I shrugged off Lola's hand and took a few steps back, saying, "I'm sorry. I have a baby at home. I can't have any dogs!"

Her friends exchanged stunned glances before bursting into shrieks of laughter once more.

"Kevin, wake up! You really think you'd be her back-up?"

"You went to school, but how are you this dense?"

"Everyone said you're a simp, but I never thought you'd be this pathetic!" Lola shot me a gaze mixed with disdain and contempt, one that I was very familiar with, while patting her skirt as if worried I would stain her white clothes.

Of all the scenarios I imagined before returning to the country, no matter how humiliating, I never pictured our reunion to be anything like this.

Before the flight took off, I posted my flight information on social media.

I then received Lola's phone call. She said she had gotten into trouble and needed me to rush to the city hall the moment I landed.

I still remember how my hands trembled when I saw that it was a call from her. I also could not forget how hard my heart was thumping when I heard how anxious she sounded.

I thought she had come to her senses and finally realized that she always needed me by her side. I just did not expect her to post her entire plan on her social media, and she seemed to have forgotten to block me, the person she had not been in contact with for almost a year.

This was how I came to know their play.

When the aircrew informed me to switch off my phone, tears fell down my face.

She had always relied on my obedience for the past 10 years, which was why she could hurt me over and over again.

She said that if one day she got tired, she would settle down with me and have a baby.

She was not tired, but I was.

I had gone to the city hall to register a child's birth, but it was for my own child.

I rubbed the baby bottle in my palms and tucked it under my arms. I walked past Lola to the reception to get a waiting number. She immediately blocked me in my path.

"Alright, Kevin, you can stop now. You don't have to continue putting on the act! If you had truly let me go and found another woman to have a child with, would I have given you a dog? Who are you putting on this act for?"

I could not be bothered to give her an explanation. Even looking at her annoyed me.

Perhaps she was rather caught off guard by my aloofness, she started to pull on my arm, not letting go.

Just when I managed to shrug her off and was about to leave, Timothy arrived.

"Lola!"

Lola instantly released my arm and buried herself in Timothy's arms. Her mocking expression vanished, replaced by a tenderness so sweet that one would wonder if it was a different person.

"Didn't we agree to wait until I was free to come together to register? Why did you bring Tony along? There are germs everywhere. What if he gets sick?" Timothy looked at me while holding onto the dog leash.

As if he had just noticed me, he said, "Kevin, when did you get back? Look at you, carrying baby formulas and diapers. Do you have a child?"

Lola immediately covered her mouth and chuckled, saying, "Him? As if! Who could he have a child with? I only told him I was coming to register 'my baby', but he fully bought it. He even brought with him so many baby products! Look at how silly he is!"

Timothy immediately stopped Lola from mocking me. "Lola! Kevin was just worried about you, which is why he rushed here. You shouldn't be making fun of him like this!"

As usual, he was always playing the good guy, making me the one who always got jealous.

I no longer wanted to deal with them, so I–with what little patience I had left–replied, "I'm sorry. I have something to deal with. Please move aside."

I was about to leave. When I turned, however, Timothy pulled my arm, and the baby bottle fell onto the ground.

Milk splashed everywhere, causing a disdainful gaze from passersby.

"Kevin, why do you even have a baby bottle?" Timothy seemed a little surprised.

Lola was just about to say something when I said, "Yes. I've said it from the start that I was here to register my child, but none of you believed me. You've broken the baby bottle now. My wife's going to be mad!"

Lola's face instantly stiffened.

At the same time, I received a voice message. I played it out loud.

"I'm here, but something came up. I might need you to help find a nursing room to feed the baby!"

Everyone heard the woman's voice and the baby crying from the voice message loud and clear.

I looked at Lola grimly, "I'm here today not because you called me and begged me to, but because I really need to register for my own child. My wife left the place in a rush, so she didn't bring any products. I bought some when I came over from the airport."

"Kevin, you liar! You're just trying to gain my attention! Only you would come up with such dirty tricks." Lola rolled her eyes at me.

Since she refused to believe me, I had no choice but to take my child's birth certificate out.

One of Lola's friends snatched it away from me and read the details out loud, "Father: Kevin Sheraton. Mother: Stephanie Smith…"

When they heard the mother's name, Lola furrowed her brows. Then, she looked at me with condescension and mockery.

"Kevin, you really should put more effort into faking this. Do you think you could end up with the heiress of the Smith family, Stephanie Smith? And you're out here saying you got a child with her? Do you think I'm an idiot like you?"

She stuffed the birth certificate back into my hand.

Timothy gave me a mischievous, mocking look. "Kevin, as a man, I can understand your pain of not getting who you love. Lola is a little capricious sometimes, but you really didn't have to go through all these lies just to get back at her. I know you two share ten years of history–"

"What ten years? I don't feel anything for him, Timothy! Don't take it the wrong way!" Lola rushed to sever any connections we had before Timothy could finish his sentence.

She added, "I've had Mishu and Tony for ten years, too! But that doesn't mean anything!"

Mishu was the cat I gave her when she turned 18, while Tony was the dog she adopted because she was worried Mishu would be lonely.

Lola was so desperate to explain that her voice trembled on the edge of tears. I, on the other hand, felt my heart grow colder with every word she said.

Her other friends were throwing insults at me, calling me shameless, saying I was taking advantage of the Smith family.

With Lola taking the lead, they hurled further insults as if I had committed a huge crime.

I sighed and kept my child's birth certificate. Reason told me that I should not waste my breath on people like them, but the more condescending their gazes were, the more I wanted to prove myself.

I took my phone out and showed them my wedding and family portrait. "This is my family. You can have a look if you don't believe me."

I raised my phone and showed it to them. When my phone was in front of Lola, all she took was one glance, and her smile vanished. She stared at my phone in a daze for a long time.

One of her friends noticed her odd reaction and immediately snatched my phone, scrolling past all the photos while mocking me, "Tsk! I'm going to see to what extent you can continue this lie!"

Lola pretended not to care, but she kept looking at my phone intently.

The friend scrolling past my phone's photo album grew quieter as doubt slowly crept into her.

Lola could not take it any longer. She immediately snatched the phone over. When she saw my family portrait of three, her phone trembled a little.

Then, she glared at me with reddened eyes, but her tone was no longer as sure as before. "Kevin! Don't think that just because you've edited a few photos, I'll cave in and marry you! Let's see how many photos you've Photoshopped just so you can be with me!"

Timothy immediately went up to her and consoled her, "Lola, why don't we go to Bailey Island for our wedding photoshoot?"

Lola did not respond to him sweetly as usual. She was obsessively scrolling on my phone, and her face paled with every passing photo.