All But a Dream

Claudia Hepburn had seduced his fiancé, Arthur Maxwell, ninety-nine times. However, he was still into her sister, Fione Hepburn.

Not only was he nowhere to be seen on the day of the wedding, but he even went ahead and registered his wedding with Fione instead. Claudia was turned into a laughingstock after that.

While she was drowning in despair, Arthur’s brother, Brett Maxwell, showed up and took her into his arms. He confessed that he had been secretly in love with her for ages and beckoned her to turn to him.

Enchanted by his devotion, she decided to marry him instead.

Even after five years of marriage, Brett still doted on her endlessly. That was until a shipwreck took him away.

On the day of the funeral, she was so heartbroken that she felt the urge to smash her head against his coffin to end it all right there.

It was only when she found she was pregnant that she gave up on the idea of ending it all. She decided she would live on and grieve her late husband for the rest of her life.

Just when she was expecting the rest of her life to play out that way, she happened to eavesdrop on a conversation between her ex-fiancé and his friends.

“Brett, your brother was the one who died in that shipwreck, but here you are pretending to be him. Did you do it so you could be together with his wife? Aren’t you worried about someone finding out about this?”

“I can't be bothered to worry about all that now, I’ve loved Fione from the beginning. I had to endure so much humiliation and marry Claudia just so I could prevent her from ruining Fione’s happiness. Now that God has given me such a perfect chance, I will not sell myself short anymore!”

Claudia Hepburn had seduced his fiancé, Arthur Maxwell, ninety-nine times. However, he was still into her sister, Fione Hepburn.

Not only was he nowhere to be seen on the day of the wedding, but he even went ahead and registered his wedding with Fione instead. Claudia was turned into a laughingstock after that.

While she was drowning in despair, Arthur's brother, Brett Maxwell, showed up and took her into his arms. He confessed that he had been secretly in love with her for ages and beckoned her to turn to him.

Enchanted by his devotion, she decided to marry him instead.

Even after five years of marriage, Brett still doted on her endlessly. That was until a shipwreck took him away.

On the day of the funeral, she was so heartbroken that she felt the urge to smash her head against his coffin to end it all right there.

It was only when she found she was pregnant that she gave up on the idea of ending it all. She decided she would live on and grieve her late husband for the rest of her life.

Just when she was expecting the rest of her life to play out that way, she happened to eavesdrop on a conversation between her ex-fiancé and his friends.

“Brett, your brother was the one who died in that shipwreck, but here you are pretending to be him. Did you do it so you could be together with his wife? Aren’t you worried about someone finding out about this?”

“I can't be bothered to worry about all that now, I’ve loved Fione from the beginning. I had to endure so much humiliation and marry Claudia just so I could prevent her from ruining Fione’s happiness. Now that God has given me such a perfect chance, I will not sell myself short anymore!”

Claudia felt like her heart had broken into pieces.

This entire time, they were all in love with her sister Fione.

This entire time, Brett loved Fione more than his brother Arthur did.

He had to “endure so much humiliation” back then to marry Claudia.

And now, he would go as far as to pretend to be Arthur just so he could be with Fione!

It was devastating news that she could not bear to accept. She ran into the rain and cried her heart out.

The next morning, she hobbled into the hospital completely drenched in rain.

“Doctor, I want an abortion!”

“Miss Hepburn, your fetus is already four months old and it’s going to be a pair of twins! Your pregnancy is progressing very well, are you sure you want an abortion now of all times?”

Claudia felt more anguished than ever when she heard the doctor’s advice. No sane mother would have willingly aborted her own child, she would never have wanted to do this unless she was desperate.

Ever since “Brett’s” passing, the entire Maxwell household had been drowned in grief. This was why she had not told anyone of her pregnancy yet.

This meant that Brett was also unaware that she was already pregnant with his child even before he assumed Arthur’s identity to be with Fione.

Claudia decided there was no need to tell him about the pregnancy since he was so head over heels in love with Fione.

“I am sure, doctor. Let’s get on with the operation.”

After a three-hour operation, Claudia's face was horridly pale by the time she stepped off the operation table.

She slumped against the wall and allowed her weight to collapse onto the bench in the corridor. The entire time, she felt a mild throb of pain in her lower abdomen. Suddenly, she heard a round of commotion somewhere in front of her.

She saw a familiar figure show up carrying another person in his arms. Shortly after that, the same person hurried past again, fixing his eyes on Claudia.

This time, she recognized the man.

It was Brett.

“Quick, come with me!”

He proceeded to grab Claudia’s arm after that and dragged her in the direction he came from.

Claudia had just stepped out of an operation and was still recovering, and her face was pale as a sheet of paper now.

However, it was clear that Brett was not paying attention to the state she was in and could not tell she was feeling upset.

It was only when they reached the blood donation room that he finally stopped.

“She has the same blood type as Fione, use her blood!”

Claudia frowned on instinct and wanted to object but it was too late. Brett had pinned her into the chair and instructed the nurses to hurry up and draw her blood.

Throughout the entire process, Brett never even bothered to explain the situation to Claudia. As soon as he saw the syringe injected into her arms, he anxiously ran off again to check how Fione was holding up.

“What's going on? Why is Mr. Maxwell so riled up?”

“Why else did you think? His wife was bleeding a lot. They came here right from the bedroom, those two must have been going at it.”

“My, he must love his wife very much. They have been married for five years but it looks like their passion hasn’t died down yet.”

Claudia observed the way the nurses threw suggestive looks at each other and pieced together what had happened.

So that was it…

Brett was going at it with Fione and ended up getting so rough that she started bleeding!

When the hospital’s blood reserve ran out, Brett happened to notice Claudia who was trying to catch a break after the operation. He proceeded to grab her and forced her to draw blood for Fione.

Upon realizing what happened, Claudia felt as if someone had torn her heart out. The pain was so agonizing that her entire body screamed with pain.

Little did Brett know, Claudia had aborted their child while he was seducing the woman he had been longing for.

If Brett had cared about her even the slightest bit, he would have noticed something off with her.

And yet, he did not.

He only had eyes for Fione.

Claudia laughed until she cried.

'Very well, Brett. Since you love Fione so much, I will grant your wish.

'From here on, you will never see me again!'

After leaving the hospital, she put on some makeup so nobody could tell there was anything off with her before returning back to the Maxwell household.

This time, she did not retreat to her room to grieve for her late husband.

Instead, she walked straight into the study and knelt ceremoniously in front of Phillip Maxwell.

“Grandpa, I have decided to move on from Brett and leave the family!”