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?"

Samantha calmly looked at Harry and Joseph, who were standing at the entrance of the ward. "It's only natural for me to leave this place since we're divorcing. I want a fresh start."

Harry and Joseph exchanged a look. Disbelief was written all over their faces.

"Stop causing trouble, Mommy." Joseph frowned impatiently. "Aren't you doing all of this just to catch our attention?"

Harry looked at her coldly. "You should know when to stop."

Not bothered enough to explain herself to them, Samantha said in a disinterested tone, "It's up to you if you want to believe me or not."

It was obvious they didn't believe her.

Harry ordered, "Apologize to Lydia."

She raised her head to look at him. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize to her?"

Harry's glare turned icy. "You made her fall into the water. Don't you feel any remorse?"

Samantha started chuckling suddenly, her eyes reddening. "Will you take Lydia's side forever? Have you ever considered my feelings?"

"Of course!" Joseph answered without hesitation. "Ms. Yeager is wise, gentle, and kind. How can a housewife like you, who spends all day in the kitchen, ever compare to her?"

His young face was filled with disdain. "No matter what happens, it must certainly be your fault!"

Harry added coldly, "You behave suspiciously all the time, and you don't respect Lydia. You won't admit it when you've done something wrong. You have no manners at all." He pinned her with a hateful stare. "A mother like you will only lead a child down the wrong path."

He grabbed Joseph's hand and led him away after he was done speaking. Before they disappeared from her sight, Joseph turned his head to glare at her. "You'd better apologize to Ms. Yeager quickly!" he demanded.

The door slammed shut behind them.

As Samantha sat on the bed, she felt like she couldn't breathe. It was as if there was a heavy weight pressing down on her chest. However, she didn't shed any tears this time. She looked at the sun shining brightly outside the window and smiled.

Since they were so fond of Lydia, Samantha would let her take up the position of Harry's wife and Joseph's mother. She wasn't going to lift another finger for them.

…

Samantha's wounds eventually recovered during her stay in the hospital. No one dropped by to visit her, but she had gotten used to it a long time ago.

Coincidentally, the day she was discharged from the hospital was also her birthday. She stood at the entrance of the hospital and savored the feeling of the sun on her face. It was warm but not blinding.

She suddenly recalled how in her past life, although she had yearned for it for 50 years, Harry and Joseph never once remembered her birthday. Sometimes, she would excitedly prepare a feast for herself, but they would either return home late or not return at all.

Even when she called them and asked them to come home, they would just carelessly have a few bites. They wouldn't even bother wishing her "Happy Birthday".

Samantha had stopped expecting anything from them in this life. She dropped by a bakery and bought a small butter cake for herself. She stuck a few candles in it before closing her eyes in the empty villa. "I'm going to live for myself in this life," she murmured.

The moment she blew the candles out, the villa's door swung open.

"Mrs. Wright, Mr. Wright asked me to pick you up."

Samantha lifted her head to see Rosalia Finch, Harry's secretary, standing in the doorway. She looked like she was just smiling out of formality.

"Pick me up?" She frowned. "For what reason?"

Rosalia's smile was unchanging. "It's your birthday today. Mr. Wright and Mr. Joseph have prepared a surprise for you."

Samantha was stunned before she scoffed. "You must have made a mistake."

"I didn't," Rosalia said determinedly. "Today is May 20th, which is also your birthday. Mr. Wright made special note of this."

Samantha stared at Rosalia for a few seconds. She couldn't help but think that the situation was ridiculous. There was no way that Harry remembered her birthday.

But Rosalia sounded so confident in herself. She even reached out to help Samantha up to her feet. "The car is waiting, Mrs. Wright. You shouldn't make Mr. Wright wait too long."

Using the excuse that they were running out of time, Rosalia dragged Samantha into the car. It eventually stopped in front of the grand hall of a high-class hotel.

Samantha was stunned when she pushed open the doors to the hall.