Ever since Bethany Zavala found out her husband, Terrence McConnell, was cheating on her, she'd been quietly planning a divorce.

Strangely enough, today Terrence suddenly asked her to attend their son's school event.

There was a time when she longed to go to these parent-child activities, dreaming of the three of them spending a joyful day together.

But every time, Terrence wouldn't let her go. And she couldn't explain the reason to their son, leaving the boy disappointed every single time.

At 2 p.m., Bethany arrived at the school. She pulled out a small notepad from her bag, wrote a polite message in neat handwriting, and handed it to the guard.

"I'm the mother of Emery McConnell from Class 1, Grade 3. I'm here for the parent-child event. Please let me in."

She had made a point of wearing a brand-new outfit. She knew kids liked it when their moms looked nice at school events.

The guard glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Can't you speak?"

Bethany nodded with a smile.

She wasn't born mute. Years ago, a traumatic event had left her with selective mutism. Over the years, she had grown used to questions like this.

The guard pulled out the sign-in sheet, scanned it thoroughly, and then sized her up.

"She's elegant and beautiful-what a shame she can't speak," he thought.

His tone turned less friendly. "The boy's parents have already signed in. How could you pretend to be someone else's mother?"

Bethany frowned and quickly wrote something on the paper. "Emery really is my son. Why would I pretend?"

The guard got annoyed. He held up the sign-in sheet again and pointed to Emery's name. "Take a good look for yourself!"

Bethany's gaze landed on the two names in the parent signature spot, and her heart ached.

She had endured years of mockery and snide remarks ever since that trauma stole her voice. She thought she had gotten used to it.

But this time, she could hardly breathe, not because of the guard's words, but because of the name written there in Terrence's sharp handwriting-Krista Gilbert.

Krista was the woman he was having an affair with.

Just then, a WhatsApp message came in.

It was from Terrence: "You don't need to come to the event."

Bethany froze, rooted to the spot.

She put down the sign-in sheet and walked forward in a daze. Behind her, the guard sneered, "Of all the children, you chose to pretend to be Emery's mom? He already has one."

The laughter of children echoed from the schoolyard. Thinking of Emery, Bethany couldn't help but glance toward the sound.

Through the white fence, she saw the eye-catching father and son in the crowd.

But a graceful woman was standing next to them.

That must be Krista.

Red ribbons were tied around Emery's ankles, linking him to both Terrence and Krista for the three-legged race.

Emery was beaming with joy.

And Terrence, typically stern and serious, now wore a faint smile, his eyes shimmering with warmth.

He stood tall and striking, with a chiseled face and sharp features. His thick hair framed his deep eyes, and every move he made radiated effortless charm.

Bethany had seen how confident, decisive, and commanding he was when handling business.

She'd been drawn to him from the moment they met, and before she knew it, she'd fallen hard.

But he had never given her that gentle, loving look.

Snapping out of it, Bethany turned to Krista. In a white dress that showed off her perfect skin, Krista looked graceful and refined, the image of understated sophistication.

When the three of them stumbled and nearly fell, Terrence's normally poker face flashed with worry. His voice was tender as he said, "Be careful."

He quickly grabbed Krista by the waist, but they still lost their balance and fell to the ground.

Krista landed right on top of him.

From where Bethany was standing, it looked like their faces were almost touching.

Bethany clenched her fists, her eyelashes fluttering. She looked away, turned around, and hurried off.

Still, she couldn't block out the voices of nearby parents.

"Emery's parents are such a perfect couple."

"Totally. Handsome dad, beautiful mom-no wonder the kid's so adorable."

"Ugh, that family is so enviable."

When Bethany returned to the villa, a sharp pain flared in her abdomen.

She'd recently been diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. The doctors had said that by the time the pain started, it was already pretty bad.

She took out her phone, intending to look up more information about her condition, only to find it had powered off.

After plugging it in and turning it back on, she saw her parent group chat had exploded.

There were over a hundred unread messages. She tapped to open them.

Beyond what she'd witnessed in person, the group was now flooded with candid photos from the event.

As she scrolled through them, she remained strangely calm.

All she felt was pity for herself, who had once given everything without expecting anything in return. Her eyes stung, tears welling up.

The pain in her abdomen was so intense that cold sweat formed on her forehead.

The housekeeper, Eliza Dalton, noticed her discomfort and walked over. "Mrs. McConnell, are you okay? Should I take you to the hospital?"

Bethany shook her head and typed a reply on her phone: "I'm fine. Just need to rest a bit."

"You sure?" Eliza asked.

Bethany nodded.

Then she got up, poured herself a glass of water, and went into the bedroom. She took out the pills for palliative treatment from her bag and took a few as directed.

After setting the glass down, she looked up at the wedding photo on the wall.

It was a blown-up copy of their marriage registration photo.

She had wanted to take proper wedding photos for their new home, but Terrence, claiming he disliked posing, told her to simply frame their registration photo if she was so set on it.

In seven years of marriage, that was the only picture they had together.

Today, however, he had taken countless photos with Krista. And back when she discovered the affair, she'd found dozens more. She finally realized he didn't hate taking photos; he just didn't want to take them with her.

She had been fooled by that lie for seven years.

Tonight, she'd confront him. Even with just six months left to live, she was demanding a divorce.

A voice rang out from the garage. Eliza called out, "Mrs. McConnell, Mr. McConnell and Mr. Emery are back!"

Bethany stepped out of the room, ready to bring up the divorce.

She had no intention of telling Terrence about her cancer.

Even if she did, he probably wouldn't care. She didn't want to make a fool of herself.

Terrence walked in with a steady and strong gait.

The well-fitted, custom-tailored suit hugged his lean and fit body, making him look sharp and handsome. The silver-gray fabric had a cool sheen to it.

He lifted his chin a bit and glanced at Bethany with his deep eyes.

She looked nice today, with a light gold shirt that went well with her fair skin. He had come straight to the school after getting off the plane. On his business trip, he often missed this gentle side of hers.

His usually stern face softened a lot. His eyes focused on her as he said in a smooth and calm voice, "We have a guest. Go get the guest room ready."

Krista slowly walked into the house from behind him.

Emery had his little head tucked into the crook of her neck, fast asleep.

Terrence actually brought Krista home!

He was way too brazen!

Bethany stood rooted to the spot.

Since she didn't move, Eliza didn't dare to go clean up or anything.

Krista gently tugged at Terrence's sleeve.

"Terrence, you're married now. You've got a wife, and it wouldn't be right for me to move back in. I'm here to bring Emery back. I've got a room booked at a hotel."

Bethany's brow furrowed. Krista was saying she used to live here.

She handed Emery over to Bethany.

"Beth, come on over and take Emery."

Bethany was kinda stunned. She didn't expect Krista to know her name. She reached out to take Emery.

Emery opened his eyes blearily and snuggled up to Krista's neck.

"Krista, you promised me you'd tell me a bedtime story tonight."

"You're home now. Your mom can tell you a story. I gotta go."

Krista's voice was soft.

Emery clung to her even tighter.

"Can you stay, please? My mom always plays stories on her phone for me. Talking to her feels like talking to myself. It's so boring. I can't bring myself to tell my classmates that she's a..."

The word "mute" almost slipped out of Emery's mouth, but he caught himself. It felt weird to call his mom a mute.

There would be school events where parents were invited, so he tried every way he could to get closer to Krista. "I'm glad you went to the school with my dad today. All my classmates thought you were my mom, and they were so jealous."

When he was little, he didn't think much of it and depended a lot on Bethany. As he got a bit older, he would sometimes complain about why she couldn't talk.

Bethany didn't realize until today how much it bothered Emery that she couldn't talk.

He had now got a sense of pride.

She awkwardly yanked her hands back from the air and made a firm sign, "Who's she?"

She thought it was ridiculous to ask this way, but she was about to die and didn't want to keep pretending she didn't know anything.

Krista, however, saw it as plain jealousy.

Terrence's grandma adopted her, and she had been like family ever since.

Her smile faded, and she stared at Terrence blankly, asking softly, "Terrence, haven't you told Beth that I'm your aunt?"

Bethany was taken aback.

So Terrence, who always seemed refined and cultured, had been playing around behind the scenes with his aunt!

And Krista could actually understand sign language.

Terrence replied in a low, lazy tone, "Telling her or not, it's all the same. Don't worry about it. Stay here tonight."

Bethany's heart sank.

Terrence told Eliza to clean up the room.

The mood got a little awkward.

Krista gently scolded Terrence, "Bethany is your wife. How can you talk to her like that?"

The creepy vibe around Terrence eased up right away.

He really listened to Krista.

Emery was also a bit upset. "Mom, Krista is Dad's aunt, and that makes her my great aunt. She's here as a guest. It's not too much to ask you to clean up a room for her, is it?"

Bethany was heartbroken.

Her son, whom she had carried for ten months and raised with all her love and care, was talking to her like that!

When she got home in the afternoon, she couldn't stop thinking about what would happen to Emery if she died.

She was all about planning his future.

But after just one meeting with Krista, he was already leaning toward her.

Clearly, Bethany had been overthinking it.

Neither Terrence nor Emery needed her anymore.

Sensing the tension in the air, Krista handed Emery to Terrence and said softly, "Gotta go. I'll come to see Emery tomorrow."

Krista grabbed her suitcase and turned to leave.

Emery started crying. "Krista, don't go!"

Terrence glanced at Bethany with a complicated look in his eyes. "Beth, you're out of line!"

With that, he pushed Emery into her arms, and she took the little one without thinking.

He followed Krista out.

In the seven years she had been married to him, she had never seen him so anxious.

Bethany was still in a daze when Emery wriggled and cried out, "Put me down! Put me down!"

She had no choice but to put Emery down.

Emery pushed her away. "You're bad! You made Krista leave!"

Then he stormed off into his room in a huff.

Bethany felt her heart come apart, piece by piece.

Eliza wanted to comfort her but didn't know what to say.

Bethany walked into the master bedroom with a blank look on her face.

She was thinking if she'd never get the chance to bring up divorce. If it were fate, she would leave quietly.

She put the medicine the doctor had given her earlier into her bag. As she opened her bag, she saw a bank card in the card slot.

It had a total of 9.9 million dollars on it.

It was the money Terrence had given her in chunks of 300 thousand dollars each time he wanted her to stay out of sight, adding up over time.

But she had used up more than half of it.

She hadn't spent it carelessly. The part she had used went towards something meaningful.

Bethany couldn't figure it out. Terrence was the one who wanted to marry her, but then he looked down on her for being mute and wanted a secret marriage.

She wanted to ask him about it many times, but she couldn't get the words out.

She couldn't bear to leave him or their son.

She took good care of Emery and kept the house clean.

For seven whole years, her life was all about Terrence and Emery.

She hardly ever thought about herself.

Now, she had cancer and only six months left.

All her hard work felt like it was for nothing.

Just then, Bethany's phone rang out of the blue.

She took it out. It was a call from Terrence's grandpa, Randy McConnell.

Since she couldn't speak, Randy didn't contact her much. Over those seven years, he had been nicer to her than most others.

She answered the phone.

"Where's Terrence?"

Realizing that Bethany couldn't answer him, Randy added, "If he's there, tap on the phone, okay?"

Bethany didn't do it as he said.

His voice got deeper. "After seven years of marriage to Terrence and giving him a son, can't you make him fall in love with you?"

Bethany's fingers went rigid.

Everyone knew her title as Terrence's wife was just for show.

She couldn't talk, and the phone was dead silent.

"You can't talk, but you got Terrence to marry you and have his kid. That means you've got something special."

Randy paused, then continued, "If Terrence dumps you, someone like you won't stand a chance of keeping Emery. I could easily find him a stepmom who can talk, but no stepmom can ever replace a real one. Think it over."

With that, he hung up the phone.

He was polite to Bethany, but only because he thought she could win Terrence's heart.

A big family like the McConnell family couldn't have any dirty scandals.

His message was perfectly clear: either she made Terrence fall for her, or she'd be shown the door.

He was worried about his family's reputation and tried to scare her into doing what he wanted.

So, it seemed like Bethany was the only one blind to the thing between Terrence and Krista.

It all made one thing clear: Terrence would never love her.

She figured if she didn't bring up divorce, he would in a few days.

She packed her bags and left quietly, not knowing her health check-up report had fallen on the floor.

Before Bethany left, she went to Emery's room.

After all, he was her own kid.

He was only six and didn't get what was going on.

As she got to his room, she heard him say, "Krista, don't be mad. Dad said Mom has a bad temper, maybe because she can't talk.

"You know, she's not perfect. It's normal for her to be a bit mean."

Bethany shut her eyes in despair and let out a strained breath.

The older Emery got, the less he could accept her flaws.

She only had six months left.

After she was gone, Terrence would be the only one looking after Emery.

Maybe he would remarry and bring in a normal woman to be Emery's stepmom.

Right when Bethany found out she had cancer, she started worrying about stuff like that, thinking Emery's new mom might not be nice to him.

But if he liked his new mom, that'd be okay.

***

Exhausted, Terrence trudged back home.

He knew he had messed up last night.

He could've told Bethany that Krista was allergic to the hotel bedding, and she would get it.

As he pushed open the bedroom door, a gust of wind followed him in.

He noticed a piece of paper had slipped under the bed.

He raised an eyebrow. He was a bit of a neat freak, and Bethany always kept the house clean. It was weird for her to miss a piece of paper like this.

The bedroom was empty. Terrence's sharp features took on a cold look. Normally, when she heard his car, Bethany would be waiting for him at the door.

He irritably shut the door, walked into the living room, and called out, "Eliza."

"Mr. McConnell, you're back."

"Where's Bethany?"

Eliza was stunned. "Isn't she in her room?"

She didn't know Bethany was out.

Terrence, thinking of the paper under the bed, instructed, "Clean the bedroom after breakfast."

"Sure."

Terrence took out his phone and called Bethany.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is powered off."

Last night, Krista twisted her ankle right after leaving the villa. Terrence took her to the hospital, where she had been in pain all night. Only just now had she fallen asleep, and he rushed back.