"You!" Harry and Joseph exclaimed, their eyes widening fast.

It was obvious that they didn't think Samantha would actually sign the divorce papers.

"How long does it take for the divorce to be processed?" Samantha asked the lawyer.

"A month." The lawyer pushed his glasses up his nose. "If you change your mind, you're allowed to withdraw the divorce application any time you want."

Harry and Joseph breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing his words. They exchanged glances with each other before the arrogant expressions returned to their faces.

"So you were just bluffing." Joseph crossed his arms, his young voice dripping with malice. "You'd better move out in a month's time, Mommy. Don't try to pathetically beg Daddy to cancel the application when the time comes. That would be so embarrassing!"

Samantha felt like her heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand. She had carried Joseph for ten months in her belly, but he was glaring at her as if she were an enemy.

"Don't worry." Her voice sounded calmer than she actually felt. "I'll leave immediately once the time is up and I get the divorce certificate. I won't stay for even a second longer."

Harry scoffed. "You're pretty good at acting."

He approached her, and she could smell the faint scent of cedar wafting from his body. She used to be obsessed with that scent.

"I'm interested in seeing if you're still going to be so stubborn once the 30 days are up," he said.

Samantha inhaled deeply. She was about to speak when she was interrupted by the clear sound of a ringing phone.

Harry's lips curled up into a smile when he looked at his phone screen. Lydia was calling him. "Lydia, what's up?"

Lydia's weak voice echoed from the other end of the line, "I don't feel so good, Harry."

"Are you ill? I'll come over right now!"

Joseph had already leapt to his feet. The coldness on his face from before had completely disappeared, replaced by a rising panic.

"You don't have to. You should do what you need to do…"

"We're coming right now." Harry had already grabbed his blazer. He didn't spare a glance at Samantha when he continued, "Wait for me."

The two of them rushed outside after he disconnected the call. Joseph paused at the door and looked back at Samantha, making a ghoulish face in her direction. "I'm going to see Ms. Yeager now. She's ten thousand times better than you!"

The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Samantha rooted to the spot. She felt as if all the blood flowing through her veins had slowly turned to ice.

She robotically stashed the divorce agreement away before heading upstairs to pack her belongings. Harry's shirts and suits hung in a neat row in the closet. She was the one who had meticulously chosen each garment.

The bookcase was filled with Joseph's literacy books and educational toys. She was also the one who had personally selected each item.

In her past life, she had lived only for them and forgot about herself. In this life, she was going to change.

…

The next day, Samantha visited the most expensive beauty parlor in the heart of the city. She looked at her reflection in the mirror when the hairdresser asked how she would like her hair to be styled, taking in her bare face and split ends.

"Cut everything off. I want to have a fresh start," she murmured.

Three hours later, she exited the parlor with a brand-new bob that just brushed her collarbones. The ends of her hair had also been dyed a gentle brown.

She then headed to the shopping mall and tried on all the clothes that she never dared to wear because they were "unsuitable" for a housewife. In the end, she bought a red dress and a pair of stilettos.

She almost couldn't recognize herself as she stood in front of the full-length mirror. The woman reflected in the mirror had a delicate expression, her red lips curling into a small smile. She looked nothing like a worn-out housewife.

When evening rolled around, Samantha strolled into a Mishelin restaurant. When the waitress led her deeper into the establishment, she suddenly froze on the spot.

Harry, Joseph, and Lydia were sitting at a table near the window, chatting and laughing among themselves.

"Don't they look like such a happy family?" the waitress asked with a smile as she followed Samantha's line of sight. "That man will bring his wife and son here every now and again. Both the husband and the son love the mother very much. It makes all the other patrons green with envy."

Samantha's heart throbbed painfully. She was about to ask the waitress to lead her to a table far away from theirs when Lydia spotted her with her eyes that were as sharp as a hawk.

Lydia stared at Samantha with wide eyes. It was obvious she never expected Samantha to dress up like this. Harry and Joseph were also stunned. It was the first time they had seen this side of Samantha. Her exquisite features matched well with her striking red dress, and she was oozing confidence.

"What are you doing here?" Joseph asked sternly after he got over his initial shock. "Didn't you want to divorce Daddy? Why are you following us?"

Samantha gripped her handbag tightly, her nails digging crescents into her palm. "Filing for divorce and having dinner aren't mutually exclusive. I'm not following you. This is pure coincidence."

She turned around, wanting to leave after saying her piece.

"Don't go." Lydia grabbed her wrist. "Since we ran into each other, we should have dinner together. Oh, but we ordered all of my favorite dishes."

She looked at Harry with a troubled expression. "Harry, can you order a few of Ms. Knott's favorites?"

Harry frowned as he flipped through the menu before he suddenly froze up. He raised his head to look at Samantha. "What do you like to eat?" he asked.

Samantha suddenly felt like bursting into laughter. In order to prepare nutritious meals for them, she learned how to cook from scratch. Joseph was a picky eater, so she created her own dishes by studying dozens of cookbooks. Harry had a weak stomach, so she would make herbal soup for him every day.

They had been married for five years, but Harry had no idea what she liked to eat.

"You don't have to care about her," Joseph interrupted. "Your steak is getting cold, Ms. Yeager."

"I'll order myself."

Samantha grabbed the menu and ordered foie gras and red wine-braised beef. She had always been a fan of those dishes but never ordered them because they were considered luxury foods.

Harry and Joseph looked at her in surprise. Unable to help himself, Joseph asked, "How do you have the money to afford those dishes, Mommy?"

"Don't forget. I'm the lady boss of Wright Corporation. Half of the Wright family's fortune rightfully belongs to me," Samantha explained calmly. "I used to focus all my attention and spend all my money on the two of you. This time around, I want to treat myself a little better."

The furrow between Harry's brows deepened. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I want to eat dinner," Samantha said as she stared into his eyes. "Once the divorce papers have been processed, I'll disappear from your lives completely."

The waitress approached the table to serve the dishes just as Samantha finished speaking. However, she tripped over her feet right in front of the table, causing the pot of hot soup on the tray to spill in their direction.

Samantha watched with wide eyes as Harry turned around in that split second to protect Lydia in his arms. No one protected her. The scalding soup splashed all over her arms and chest, making her skin burn like it had been set aflame.

She cried out in pain, but before she could regain her senses, Joseph shoved her to the ground with a loud wail.

"Out of the way! Don't block my path!"

Samantha crashed to the ground. Her elbow collided harshly against the tiles while the blisters on her skin ruptured and started bleeding profusely. Still, Joseph didn't spare her a single glance as he rushed to Lydia's side.

"Ms. Yeager, are you alright? Does it hurt?" Joseph asked while sobbing.

His small hands were trembling. He wanted to touch her but was afraid he would hurt her further.

Harry held Lydia close to him. His voice was impossibly soft when he asked, "Did you get burned? Let me see."

They surrounded her, checking her condition in a panic. They used a tissue to wipe the soup off her, treating her like she was a precious jewel that could shatter at any second.

Meanwhile, Samantha was sprawled on the ground. The skin on her arms and chest was swollen and inflamed, but no one spared a single glance at her.

"It's all your fault!" Joseph suddenly turned his head to glare at her. His little face was twisted with hatred. "You're nothing more than an unlucky star. If you didn't follow us, Ms. Yeager wouldn't have asked you to sit with us. If you weren't sitting with us, she wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

Harry looked at her coldly as if she were a criminal. "Are you satisfied now?"

They supported Lydia as they took her away. Before they left, Joseph turned toward her and shouted, "You should disappear forever!"

The patrons in the restaurant pointed and whispered among themselves. Some handed tissues to Samantha, while some muttered, "What a pitiful woman."

Supporting herself with the table, Samantha staggered to her feet. The boils on her arms had turned red and shiny, but she didn't feel any pain. She hailed a cab that took her to the hospital.

The doctor frowned after he was done checking her condition. "The wounds are a little infected. You need to stay in the hospital for a few days for us to observe you."

Samantha simply nodded and calmly filled in the hospital admission form. Harry and Joseph seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth during the few days she was admitted to the hospital. They didn't call her or send her any text messages. They didn't even bother asking her how she was doing.

The nurses tended to gather at the nurse station to gossip among themselves. "The father and son duo in the VIP hospital room sure know how to spoil their mother. She only burned a small patch of her skin, but they were so anxious over such a small injury."

"You're right. They even insist on personally feeding her water. They even bought the best ointment for burns from abroad just because they were worried her injury would leave a scar."

At first, Samantha wasn't bothered. But that changed when she walked past the VIP hospital room on her way to her checkup. She could see what was happening inside since the door had been left ajar.

Harry was sitting next to the bed and carefully applying the ointment for Lydia with his fingers. Joseph was balancing a glass of warm water in his hands as he gently fed her the water.

Lydia said coquettishly, "I'm almost fully recovered. You should visit Ms. Knott. She's still insisting on getting a divorce, isn't she?"

Harry didn't even bother raising his head when he answered coldly, "She's just using the divorce as a threat. The truth is, she'll never willingly divorce me."

Joseph giggled. "She loves Daddy and me too much. Her life orbits around us. She probably won't survive if she leaves us."

"Maybe she's truly upset this time. Don't you need to coax her?" Lydia asked with a sigh.

"There's no need to do such a thing." Harry's voice was so icy that it sent a chill down Samantha's spine. "We just have to leave her alone for a few days. Things will play out the same way as always. In the end, she'll be the one who apologizes to us first."

Samantha stood outside the door, clenching her fists so hard that her nails were digging crescents into her palms. She knew now that in their eyes, every time she compromised, tolerated, and humbled herself to make peace with them, they saw her as nothing more than a laughingstock.

However, she refused to do the same this time. She would never concede to them ever again!

On the way back to her room after completing her checkup, Samantha bumped into Lydia in the hallway.

Lydia looked a little stunned when she saw Samantha. She fixed a gentle smile on her face, saying, "Ms. Knott, Harry and Joseph left to buy lunch for me. Do you have some free time? Let's talk."

As Samantha looked at her, she was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to find out what Lydia had to say to her.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky above the yard. Lydia ran her fingers gently through her long hair before she started speaking in a nostalgic tone, "Harry and I went to the same college. At the time, he searched the whole city to buy a limited edition artbook for me.

"When I was down with a fever, he watched over me for three days and three nights.

"When I casually said that I wanted to eat the food from a Frandalian restaurant that was located in the south of the city but was too lazy to travel that far, he acquired the entire store for me. He had the chef personally cook for me whenever I wanted."

Samantha was quiet as she listened to Lydia, but her heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand. It turned out that Harry wasn't incapable of loving someone. He just didn't love her.

She had lived with him for 50 years in her past life, but he couldn't even remember her birthday. Lydia had only suffered a small burn on her skin, but he had been so anxious as if the sky was crashing down.

"We lost contact when I moved abroad and only started speaking to each other again recently." Lydia's eyes sparkled gleefully when she noticed the upset expression on Samantha's face. "Don't worry. We're just old friends. We just have a meal together every now and then. Don't misunderstand."

Samantha tempered her emotions before slowly lifting her eyes to look at Lydia. Her voice was calm when she said, "I won't misunderstand. Besides, I've already filed for divorce. It doesn't matter to me if you want to have a meal together, travel together, or get married and have a family together."

She rose to her feet and prepared to leave after saying her piece, but Lydia suddenly grabbed her hand and stopped her. "Listen to me, Ms. Knott. You're misunderstanding—"

Before Lydia could finish her sentence, she suddenly lost her balance and fell backward. She dragged Samantha with her, and they fell into the pond together.

Samantha's entire body was immediately submerged in the icy water. She didn't know how to swim and struggled wildly to stay afloat. Water rushed into her nostrils, nearly suffocating her.

She saw Harry dashing in their direction through her blurry vision. He didn't hesitate for even a second as he dove into the water and hauled Lydia out of the pond.

Meanwhile, Joseph used several tissues to wipe the water dripping from Lydia's face. He didn't spare a single glance at Samantha, who was still struggling with all her might in the pond. "Are you okay, Ms. Yeager?" he asked.

"Help… Help me!" Samantha shrieked, clawing her fingers against the wall of the pond.

Harry only glared at her coldly. His voice was colored with loathing when he asked, "Did you push Lydia into the pond on purpose?"

Samantha was shaking violently.

She tried to explain herself through trembling lips, but Joseph interrupted her impatiently, "I saw what happened, Daddy. She's the one who did it. Leave her be. She's paying for the consequences of her own actions!"

A few good Samaritans tried to help Samantha, but Joseph threw his arms out to stop them. "Don't save her! That's my mother, and she deserves what's happening to her!"

Samantha's heart was frozen to the core. She sank beneath the water's surface, choking on the water rushing into her lungs as she slowly lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, she was alone in her hospital room. She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, grabbed her phone, and booked a flight ticket out of the country.

When the airline company called her to confirm her itinerary, she calmly answered, "Yes, I want to leave in a week's time."

The words had just left Samantha's lips when the door was thrown open. Harry and Joseph stood at the entrance, staring at her unwaveringly. "Where do you think you're going?"