On the day my daughter is discharged from the hospital after recovering from the flu, I run into my ex-husband, Zachary Levine, whom I have been divorced from for seven years.

He is there to pick up his wife, who has just given birth.

He looks a little surprised as his gaze moves up and down to take in my clothes, which is still stained from my child's vomit. I had no time to change out of it earlier.

"Long time no see. How have you been lately?" he asks.

I smile and say I am doing fine.

As we are about to part, he grabs my arm.

"Alyssa, our son misses you a lot. If you are having any difficulties, don't push yourself. The passcode for the house in the north of the city is still your birthday. You can go there anytime."

I politely decline, and he lets out a sigh.

"After all these years, you are still as stubborn as you were back then. Don't hate me."

I smile but say nothing. There needs to be love for there to be hate. But now, he is just a stranger to me.

I took the paperwork from the doctor, carefully folded it, and tucked it into my bag before turning to leave.

A hand suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"You're working too hard as a nurse. I just want to make it up to you…" said my ex-husband, Zachary Levine.

He had somehow caught up to me.

I frowned and immediately recoiled. "Let go!"

In the struggle, my hearing aid slipped from behind my ear and clattered onto the floor, but Zachary was faster.

He lunged down to retrieve it, and as he stood up, gripping the hearing aid, his knuckles were pale from the exertion.

His Adam's apple bobbed heavily as he spoke in a voice thick with suppressed tremors. "Your wounds… Do they still hurt?"

I coldly reclaimed the hearing aid. "We have nothing to do with each other anymore, so there's no point in asking."

But honestly, how could the wounds not hurt?

On that rainy night years ago, Zachary insisted I'd pushed Leah Hayes down the stairs. "Alyssa Hayes! Leah is your sister!

"She's a doctor, so ruining her hands is no different from ruining her life! How did you turn so vicious?"

That same night, I was cornered in a deserted alley. They broke my hands without mercy and forced me to endure 99 brutal slaps.

Even when I was losing consciousness, all I could hear was the ringing in my ears from the slaps and his cold voice on the emergency call.

"She deserves it."

Since then, the hearing in my right ear had deteriorated. There were scars on my face and hands that no amount of time could erase.

I looked away and reattached the hearing aid.

Zachary looked lost as he reached out and tried to take my bags. "You're getting off shift, aren't you? Let me take you home…"

I stopped in my tracks. Just as I was about to refuse, a familiar female voice drifted over. "Honey, what are you doing here? Our baby won't stop crying because he can't see you!"

Leah's voice was thick with the affectation of a pampered wife. When she spotted me, a flash of surprise crossed her face, followed by a practiced, beaming smile.

"It's been so long, Alyssa. Where have you been all these years? Dad and Luke have missed you so much.

"Oh, but Mom and Dad are away traveling the world. They've been head over heels for each other while you're away. I'm honestly a little jealous!

"And look! This is my son with Zach, your nephew. Doesn't he look just like Zach?"

Leah instinctively nudged the baby in her arms closer to Zachary, smiling sweetly, though her eyes were full of provocation.

Leah, my half-sister, hadn't changed at all. She was the best at hiding taunts behind honeyed words.

On my tenth birthday, Dad's mistress, Cordelia Parker, showed up at our door with the nine-year-old Leah. That confrontation triggered Mom's heart attack on the spot, and from that day on, I lost her forever.

My family fell apart, yet Dad quickly brought Leah and Cordelia into our home.

With just a few soft words, Leah took my room, threw out my childhood memories, and quietly siphoned away every drop of Dad's affection for me.

Back then, young and headstrong, I fought her head-on, only to end up losing my husband and son to her.

Zachary glanced at me and cut her off. "Alyssa's clothes are dirty, so I'll take her home. I'll have the driver take you and the baby back."

"Zach, I don't—"

"You've always been the sensible one, Leah," Zachary said, frowning.

Leah's playful pout vanished. Her expression fell as she swallowed the rest of her protest.

I didn't want to get tangled up with them any further, so I cleared my throat and said, "No need. My husband's outside waiting for me."

Zachary froze briefly, as if convinced I was lying.

"There's no need to put up a tough front with me, Alyssa. The ring on your finger is the one I gave you when we got married, isn't it?"

I violently shook off his hand and coldly warned him, "Watch your words, Mr. Levine."

With that, I turned and walked away without looking back.

He'd forgotten about tossing our wedding ring down the drain seven years ago.

The November wind swept fallen leaves across the cemetery. As I brushed my fingers over the cold gravestone, my eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"I'm here to visit, Mom."

I gently placed a bouquet of Mom's favorite roses at the base of the gravestone and carefully wiped the framed photo on the marble. Mom was smiling so warmly in it.

I had so much to tell her. I wanted to tell her that I was doing well now, and that as soon as my daughter, Bella Rothchild, got better, I'd bring her here to visit.

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached from behind.

"Mom, is that you?"

I froze but didn't turn around.

Archie Levine's voice was hesitant and laced with a subtle longing. He nervously clenched the hem of his clothes and called out, "Mom…"

I acted as if I hadn't heard her words and kept my head down as I continued cleaning up the grave.

Zachary took a couple of steps forward, leading Archie by the hand. His voice carried a hint of hurt as he said, "Alyssa, our son really misses you…"

"Stay back!"

My voice was devoid of warmth.

My gaze moved past Archie and landed on Zachary, filled with distance and indifference. "You're not welcome here, so please leave now."

Archie froze as if he was stunned by my heartlessness. But soon, his eyes were filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Mom. Could you please come home?"

My breath hitched.

I was suddenly reminded of the day I gave birth to him, and how I nearly didn't survive the complications.

When I looked at the fragile baby in the incubator, seeming like he'd shatter with just one touch, I'd vowed to love and protect him with everything I had.

Back then, Zachary was always busy with work, so when Archie had high fevers in the middle of the night, I was the one who'd carried him to the hospital on my back.

Back then, he was three and would murmur in his sweet, toddler voice, "I love you so much, Mommy."

I never imagined him turning into a guardian of Zachary and Leah's romance. He'd watch me spiral into hysteria and calmly say, "Why do you always fight with Dad, Mom? He treats you so well, so why can't you just be content?"

"If you ever hurt Aunt Leah again, I'll have Dad kick you out!"

He even told everyone with that innocent childhood honesty, "I woke up in the middle of the night and saw Mom sneak into Aunt Leah's room to steal a stack of files!"

It was Leah who'd plagiarized my medical thesis, but with one sentence from Archie, I became the thief and lost my career.

On his birthday, he made a wish that Leah could be his mother, and when I was sick, he told Zachary, "Mom's just faking it, Dad. She's acting pitiful to win sympathy!"

The more I loved them, the deeper their betrayal cut.

"I'm not your mother. Leah is," I coldly told Archie. "Now leave. Don't disturb my mom's peace."

Archie's face went deathly pale, while Zachary tried to grab my wrist and begged in a low, desperate voice, "Alyssa, for your mother's sake, don't take it out on Archie. He's sorry now…"

I laughed as if I'd just heard the world's funniest joke.

"How do you even have the nerve to mention my mom, Zachary?

"When she had that heart attack, who was it that hid her emergency medication? Did you forget it was your son?

"He took her medicine just to appease Alyssa and watched as Mom struggled on the floor, while you were busy in bed with Leah and never picked up when I called you over a dozen times. How dare you come here now?"

Archie reached out to grab my hand, but I violently shook him off.

"From the moment you chose Leah and let your grandma die, you stopped being my son!"

Those words finally broke him. He covered his face and broke down in sobs as he turned and ran away.

I looked at the fruit and flowers Zachary had brought and swept them off the ledge. "Take your trash and get out now! Don't let it rot on my mom's grave!"

When I returned to the hotel exhausted, Bella dashed straight into my arms.

After the divorce, I'd spiraled into a severe depression. It was after I met my husband, Nathan Rothchild, that I began to heal. And it wasn't until Bella was born that I truly stepped out of the dark abyss.

"Mommy, when are we going home?" Bella asked.

I kissed her chubby cheeks. "As soon as I finish attending my professor's birthday party, we'll head back to Helvetgard."

On the day of the birthday party, Nathan took Bella to the hospital for her final follow-up appointment, while I grabbed my gift and headed to my professor Emmanuel Reed's house.

The courtyard smelled of lilies, just as it had during my student days.

As soon as I reached the door, I heard Emmanuel's familiar voice. "Aly's here!

"Come in and take a seat. As husband and wife, why did you arrive at different times?"

Following his gaze, I saw Zachary sitting in a corner of the couch. He was visibly stunned when our eyes met.

"The gifts you both brought really hit the mark. Let me introduce y'all to everyone—the 'Golden Couple' of our school back in the day."

Emmanuel smiled and patted both our shoulders. His voice was full of pride and relief as he continued, "I remember being the witness when you two got married, and I couldn't have been happier seeing the most talented pair in our faculty tie the knot!

"And look at them now! They're still going strong after all these years!"

The smile froze on my face as it struck me that Zachary hadn't told anyone we were divorced.

Childhood sweethearts? The enviable pair? Our marriage, which I once took pride in, now felt like an ironic joke.

Zachary and I grew up together. When Mom and Dad divorced, he was the one who stayed by my side and pulled me through the gloom.

In college, he'd ride me across the sycamore-lined avenues on his bike and reserve my favorite seat in the library. He'd stay awake all night by my bed whenever I was sick.

Who would have thought that our marriage would end up in such an ugly way, when the man I loved cheated on me with the one person I hated most?

"Professor Reed, we're div—"

Just as I was about to explain, Zachary cut me off. "We're doing great, Professor Reed!"

He looked at me with a flicker of hidden plea in his eyes, as if trying to stop me from exposing the truth.

Emmanuel kept pulling me into memories of the past.

"Aly, do you remember when your graduation thesis was swapped? Zachary almost missed his own defense, trying to gather evidence for you. I told you back then that he had eyes only for you."

I forced a smile, but what surfaced in my mind was the day we divorced.

Zachary had slammed the divorce papers in front of me, and his eyes were cold and devoid of warmth.

"Let's get divorced. I don't want my son to have a mother tainted by a plagiarism scandal."

To force me to sign quickly, he went as far as to fabricate evidence of medical malpractice, so I lost my marriage and career all in one day.

"What's wrong, Aly? You look pale," Emmanuel asked with concern after noticing the odd look on my face.

"How's your mother? I haven't heard from her in a while. Just like her, you started building a family and left the field too early. Otherwise, you'd be a top-tier neurologist by now!"

Colors drained from my face. I was silent for several seconds before saying, "My mother… passed away seven years ago…"

Zachary's face was a ghostly white as he remained frozen to the spot, while Emmanuel was visibly shocked. Then, his expression quickly shifted to one of deep regret.

"What a tragedy! I'm so sorry, Aly." He patted my shoulder, and his voice was thick with sympathy.

I shook my head and forced a small smile. "It's fine. It's all in the past now."

When I looked up at Zachary, the guilt in his eyes was vivid.

He opened his mouth to speak, but a dainty, feminine voice suddenly rang out from the gates in the yard.

"Zach, I'm here!"