The sun beamed its radiance all through the glass windows, giving the house a warm and illuminated view, which rarely happens.

Emily, dressed in an apron, heaved a deep breath as she wiped the beads of sweat lurking on her forehead using her arm. But then, as she looked at the perfectly baked apple pie, she couldn't help but smile wider.

'This is going to be the best day! I am sure Roger will love it,' she thought.

"Ma'am, do you want me to help you prepare the other dishes?" A maid suddenly came and asked with a glowing smile on her lips.

Chuckling, Emily shook her head. Then, she looked at her, saying, "There's no need. It's Roger and I's second anniversary, so I want to prepare everything myself. Thank you, though."

Amused, the maid nodded in respect and left.

The sun's rays had already been intense, making Emily look at the display clock in the living room.

'It was already eleven thirty?' she inwardly asked. 'It's fine. I still have time to prepare everything until dinner,' she thought and quickly went to prepare red wine on the table she had already decorated a while ago.

Emily watched how the red wine poured and circled in the glasses as the thought of Roger coming back before dinner excited her.

Today marked Roger's arrival from a month-long business trip. She told him she would prepare a feast for their second anniversary, and he replied, saying he would return home before dinner.

Hence, Emily exerted all of her efforts to make everything possible.

Once done, she smiled and drew herself backward for a moment. A profound sense of accomplishment lingered in her heart as she stared at Roger's favorite dishes that she had prepared and fancily placed on the table.

There was fish and chips, steak and apple pie.

Emily and Roger grew up together, and when they graduated, she finally married him.

She was living her dream!

However, as Roger gradually devoted himself to his career, he soon neglected her more and more without any known reason.

Suddenly, Emily's eyes slowly fell into her belly, wrapped and supported by her hands.

Since she was pregnant, she believed their relationship would gradually get better and that he would start treating her as his wife.

Her pregnancy, she thought, could be an excellent chance to redeem their once trouble-free connection.

Emily sat at the table and placed her elbow on the surface, her dreamy face buried in her upright hand.

A smile soon flashed to her lips as a happy and warm future with Roger played in her brain.

As time passed right before her eyes, the door she had her eyes on still never opened. Hours continued ticking forward with her sitting expectantly there, waiting for her husband to come home, to eat dinner with her, even just this time after a month of being on a business trip.

After a while, Emily's eyes had already whitened. Three hours had already passed since she sat. Her lovely eyes started to become gloomy, and even the smile on her face started fading.

Her downcast eyes stared at the cold dishes on the table as she called Roger again, but he didn't answer, just like earlier.

Concerned, the maid that asked her earlier came back. "You've already waited long enough, ma'am. You need to rest. Sir Roger might not come."

Her eyes were full of worry, but Emily forced a smile on her lips. "Don't worry about me. I'll wait for him, even until morning." She chuckled and reclined on the chair, stretching her curved back from too much sitting. "Maybe he was just stuck in a traffic jam."

The maid wanted to open her mouth to say something, but she quickly stopped herself from doing so. She was just a maid, after all.

As much as she didn't want to see Emily draining herself that much from a man who had been ignoring and neglecting her lately, she was in no position to intervene.

Without any more words, the maid went back to her work.

Emily, understanding as always, prayed for her husband's safety, worried that he may have been through a lot on the way.

Halfway through her silence, a small, faint voice suddenly sounded from the porch, making her excitedly run over to the door. She smiled and was about to hug Roger tight, but she suddenly froze on the spot when she saw the woman beside Roger.

'Fannie?' The corner of her smile melted.

Questions surged in her mind, thinking, 'Why did the woman I saved and the woman whom Roger loved deeply here?'

'Isn't she being treated abroad?' Emily confusedly asked herself as her eyes couldn't stay on just one of them.

"Emily! Long time no see! Nice to see you!" Fannie smiled and gently greeted her.

Upon hearing her words, Emily was suddenly brought back to reality. She smiled at her. "Fannie... nice to see you too." Even though her heart seemed dragged down, she still forced herself to speak.

Emily was suddenly brought back to reality upon hearing the woman's words. Helpless, she smiled at her. "Fannie... nice to see you too," she kindly greeted.

Despite her heartbeat suddenly giving rise to terrible ideas in her head, Emily still composed herself and looked at her husband, saying, "Roger, I prepared a bunch of food for you. I cooked your favorites! Shall we eat—"

"No. I'm full," Roger quickly refused.

The facade Emily put on her face as soon as she saw Fannie stiffened like a corpse's look. Roger's words didn't help either as they struck her heart like sharpened blades.

Gathering all her strength, Emily gulped and stared at the man's cold eyes, then at Fannie beside him, who was noticeably too close to her husband.

"Something is not right here,' she thought.

Roger had already promised her they would eat the dinner she had prepared. However, it turned out that he had already eaten with Fannie outside.

With all the confusion going on in her head, Emily quivered to the extent of deflecting her husband's unusual cold gaze.

"Shall we talk?" Roger suddenly stated, which made her forcefully look at him.

Emily nodded and bit her lower lip to suppress her nervousness. "O-Okay."

She didn't know what had happened or was about to happen, but a strange idea kept flooding her mind.

"Go upstairs and have a rest. I'll be there shortly," Roger said as he turned to Fannie. He looked at her with a gentle gaze Emily had never seen from his eyes in the two years of their marriage.

Because of that, Emily felt like all his "I love you" were only empty words. He couldn't even gaze at her as gently as he looked at Fannie.

For the last time, Emily smiled at Fannie before the latter went upstairs.

Emily, on the contrary, prepared to go to the living room but stopped mid-way. She turned to Roger, smiled, and asked, "Do you want an apple pie? I specially made it for you."

But then, Roger only shook his head and replied, "No." Then, he sat on the sofa without looking at her.

Emily moved and followed him, but she intentionally slowed her pace. She tried gathering her strength and courage to face the unusualness of the man in front of her.

Her heart beat so hard, not because she was flustered about having him by her side, but because of the uneasiness running through her veins.

Before she could even sit beside the man, she heard him speak, causing her to freeze right in her spot.

"Let's get a divorce," Roger coldly remarked.

He only said four words, but they were long enough to shatter Emily into pieces. Her heart fell into chaos, her jaw sagged, and she couldn't move even an inch.

Roger's voice lacked warmth, giving Emily an impression of him never taking his words back.

Still in disbelief, Emily slowly walked toward Roger and stood right before him as soon as she regained herself. "You want to divorce me? What kind of prank is this, Roger?" she asked as her voice trembled. Still, she tried to squeeze a smile on her lips.

For once, Roger locked his eyes on her. "Do you think I'm pranking you?" The corner of his lips curved up, full of mockery and ridicule. His eyes even seemed bored to death just looking at her.

Emily seemed to lose all the energy in her body. "W-Why?"

Tangled confusion ran through her brain's neurons, scrutinizing her depths about why this suddenly happened.

For the two years of their marriage, she never, even for once, failed in her duty as a wife. She did everything he asked, so she didn't know what had gone wrong.

"Why?" Roger snickered and shook his head. "You should ask your parents about what they did two years ago!"

Emily's eyebrows arched. "What did they do?"

Roger stood up. His muscular figure blocked the light, darkening her eyes for a moment.

Emily looked up and locked her gaze on him with his brown eyes only full of disgust.

"They forced me to marry you, which was a big mistake!"

Emily quickly stepped back involuntarily upon hearing his unkind words. She shook her head and looked at him incredulously. "H-How could that be possible?"

Roger stepped forward, prompting Emily to stride back. "Do you remember when you saved Fannie? That comes with consequences—threats, Emily!" He kept walking until he finally cornered her to the wall. His nostrils were flaring, but Emily was already shrinking in her stance. "They said that they won't save her if I don't marry you! They also threatened to ruin my company—all of my business!"

Emily gulped as her eyes heated and tears lurked inside them.

"But, surprise! My business has been improving in the past two years, and the opposite has been happening to yours. It was already so close to its grave!"

Over the past two years, Emily watched how Roger strived. He worked until midnight, and he became even more of a workaholic. And as soon as he achieved his goal, he started acting differently toward her.

Roger used to come with Emily to their house, but now that she had thought about it, he had not done it for half a year.

Emily bit her lower lip as she gathered all her courage to look Roger in the eyes. "You hate my parents so much, but you kept going home to me as if nothing wrong was going on."

Lips quivering, she asked, "So, was everything a mere act?"

The warm and happy atmosphere that Emily wanted her house to have earlier became the opposite because of Roger's gaze.

"So you get it now, huh?" the latter scoffed. "For all the times I ate with you, slept with you, and even treated you nicely these last two years, didn't it even cross your mind that all of those were fake?"

Hearing no response from Emily, Roger's eyes grew even bigger and more intense. "Your parents made me lose the love of my life, Emily! How could you think I could be with you and truly love you? How, Emily? How?!"

Emily shut her eyes, trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face.

Roger, on the contrary, remained unbothered. Etching a playful smirk on his face, he drew himself closer to her and ridiculed, "Your parents used my business once against me, but now, let's see how the product of their sweat and blood throughout the years crumble right in front of your faces."

Waves of thoughts splashed on Emily's face as she quickly lowered her head.

Two years ago, Fannie had a car accident. She crucially needed a blood transfusion, but since she was an orphan, Roger couldn't find anyone that could match her blood, only Emily's.

Little did Emily know that her parents took advantage of the situation and threatened Roger not to let her donate blood if he would not marry her. Their conditions also included not allowing Fannie to return to the country and that she must be treated abroad.

Emily wanted to step backward, but because her back had already reached the corner, she could only shiver at the man's gaze in front of her.

Hell of a plot twist there was, Roger appeared to have endured staying with her for two long years until he finally had something to show off. He strived for success, thinking one day he could get rid of her and her family like rubbish.

Emily's brain fell on the verge of exploding upon knowing her parents did something like that to the man she loved.

"I-I didn't know," she kept on murmuring as she glued her gaze to the tiles in embarrassment.

What she only knew at that time was that Fannie was sent abroad, where there were more advanced treatments and skilled physicians to get her treated after falling into a permanent coma due to severe brain injury.

Shortly after, Roger's words finally registered in Emily's mind. So, she looked him directly in the eyes with a vast amount of confusion. "What did you say? What happened to my family's company? Roger, what did you do?"

"Your family's company is falling into pieces, Emily. If you want to see it one last time, I suggest you leave and see for yourself."

As soon as Roger finished his words, Emily didn't waste any time and shoved her husband her way. She ran outside, not minding if she was still on her slippers, which she solely used at home.

In a hurry, she went outside the villa and hysterically took a taxi.

As soon as she arrived at their family house, a crowded, seemingly unfamiliar place greeted her.

There was a pile of reporters outside their gate.

Nervous, she got out of the taxi and squeezed herself through the sea of reporters. She ran inside their house, ignoring the numerous inquiries thrown at her at once, which already clogged her ears.

When the maid saw it was her, she quickly let her enter.

"Ma'am, please hurry up inside. Your mother had a serious heart attack!" the maid nervously said as she kept her company until they reached her mother's room.

Emily strode in and saw her pale mother's complexion lying in bed. Her eyes were full of tears as her mother looked at her. "I will never forgive Roger, Emily! He's an ungrateful beast!"

Emily quickly ran beside her and knelt on the tiles. She held her hand gently and said, "Mom, I'll take you to the hospital."

However, her words fell into the air as her mother quickly dismissed her hand. "No," she said with eyes filled with worry as she saw how reddened Emily's eyes were. "Did Roger do anything to you?"

For a moment, Emily lowered her head but still raised it and looked at her mom. "What can he do to me, mom?" she stated, smiling reassuringly.

Suddenly, her mother, Elicia, grabbed her hand tightly.

Emily's eyes and voice couldn't lie to her, and even if she would, Elicia would quickly point out her facades. "What did he do to you, Emily?" she asked, but with more emphasis that froze Emily in her spot.

Seeing her mother in such a state made it hard for Emily to look straight into her eyes. Sure enough, how could she tell her he wanted to divorce her?

She was about to open her mouth to speak, but the maid's sudden intrusion abruptly made her lose all the courage she mustered up.

She turned her head, and as soon as her eyes fell on the man behind the maid, she couldn't help but feel downcast.

It was Roger's assistant.

The maid then quickly lowered her head and apologetically said, "I'm sorry, Miss Emily. I couldn't stop him."

Roger's assistant strode forward and handed out a paper to her. "Miss Emily, this is the divorce agreement that Sir Roger wanted me to give you. I hope you can sign it as soon as possible."

Elicia's eyes quickly widened as her gaze froze on Emily's face. "H-He wanted a divorce? W-What are you talking about—"

Before her mother could even finish her sentence, her breath suddenly became heavy. Her chest rose up and down as she chased her life.

"Mom! Mom!" Emily hysterically called as she looked at her fainting mother and ordered the housekeeper to prepare the car.

In the hospital, the gloomy atmosphere made Emily bury herself in her mother's bed. Her gaze remained glued on her ill mother until she caught a glimpse of her father, Lynden, from the glass window of the ward.

Concerned, Lynden entered the room with dull eyes. His exhausted face made him look older than his actual age.

Wordlessly, Emily instantly stood up. "Dad," she weakly greeted.

"How's your mother?" he asked and sat beside her vacated seat.

"She's already in a stable condition, but, Dad…." She heaved a deep breath as she looked her father in the eyes. "T-The company..."

Upon hearing the word, Lynden lowered his head, his eyes full of grief.

Seeing his father's reaction only confirmed what Roger said earlier. Depressed, Emily bit her lower lip and tried to suppress her heart from permanently breaking into pieces.

"It was all my and your mother's fault," Lynden remarked regrettably, his voice dropping off as he tried to raise his head to look at his daughter. "We thought everything was good and that Roger soon learned to love you. But your mom and I didn't expect him to have been enduring it all the time and waiting for the best time to get back at us."

His eyes were full of reminiscent of what he had said to Roger from the very beginning, where it all started.

Fascinating as it might sound, Emily had a gist of what her father was thinking. Suddenly, the day Roger asked to marry her flashed before her eyes. That day, she was so petty, asking only three questions and falling into the trap.

"Roger, can you hear yourself?"

"Don't you have someone you like?"

"Are you sure you want to marry me?'

Those were the exact words she asked that she didn't know would lead to everything happening to them now.

Now that she thought of it, Emily found herself a fool who wasn't thinking right. She let her heart handle everything and ended up being thrown up like rubbish.

Sure enough, how could a man who had always loved someone quickly change his heart?

That was indeed impossible, but she still slid into the pit.

Emily, however, couldn't blame everything on her parents. As someone who had received nothing but genuine care since childhood, she knew her parents did what they did because they loved her so much. They just wanted her to marry the man she always dreamed of— the man she always loved.

So, how could she be mad at them when all they did was go to such lengths for her sake?

"Dad, how's the company?" Emily asked as she mustered all her courage to look at her father, even with sorrowful eyes.

Dejected, Lynden heaved a deep sigh and shut his eyes. "It's all Roger's now."

Emily froze as her father's words struck a flash of lightning in her brain.

'H-How?' she asked herself and bit her quivering lips. Mad, she averted her eyes from her father and lowered her head. 'That's the company dad has founded! It was one of the biggest companies in the city. There was no way it could be Roger's right way!'

"Emily," Lynden called in an indescribable tone. "Roger will certainly not let you go. I still have savings in my bank account, so use that and go abroad. Leave us here. You need to live away from him, or else you'll suffer."

Emily hysterically shook her head at what her father said. "Dad, no! We'll divorce, so I'll be fine."

"He wants to divorce?" Her father was surprised for a moment before he heaved a deep sigh and nodded. "Then I guess that's for the better."

Emily forced herself to smile. "Yes."

Roger, however, seemed firm and decided not to let them off.

Not long after Lynden arrived at the hospital, the housekeeper came and bolted with the news, saying their house had been taken away by the bank. She stated that Lynden owed a lot of debt and needed a mortgage.

Unable to take it anymore, Lynden wailed after trying so hard to restrain himself.

Emily's eyes became downcast, but she neglected him for a while and headed directly to where Roger was.

She came to his villa and ran upstairs. However, as she opened the bedroom door, two people hugging each other came into her sight.

Roger gently kissed Fannie's cheek while the latter bit her lower lip.

As soon as Fannie saw her, she quickly pushed Roger away. Then, she looked at Emily and smiled. "Emily," she gently greeted.

Emily ignored her and glared at her husband for doing such a thing in their bedroom. "How could you be so heartless, Roger?"

"It was just your house mortgaged to the bank, and you can't stand it already? I'm afraid you will lose yourself sooner or later if I go all out. You might not be able to see your father anymore."

Emily gritted her teeth as she drew herself closer to the man. "What are you planning to do to my father?!" she asked, her words full of emphasis.

Roger sneered and playfully looked at her. "He might be on his way to prison."

"What the—" Emily's eyes widened, and she planned to stride away. However, when her gaze fell on the red mark on Roger's neck, she drew closer and put all of her strength into her clenched fist.

She hit him with her steel fist without thinking twice, and his face forcefully sided right.

"What the hell, Emily?!" Fannie exclaimed as she looked at Roger, feeling sorry.

Emily's life had gone havoc in a day.

As Roger told Emily that her father would be in prison, she didn't waste any second and turned around to leave. But she hadn't even taken two steps away when he grabbed her by the arm.

"Emily!" Roger shouted in a menacing tone. His hands held Emily's arms firmly, not wanting to let go.

Although Emily wanted to escape from Roger's tight grip, she couldn't get away quickly. He was a man – a lot stronger than her physically – so she struggled hard, pulling her arms until she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

Roger looked at Emily in disdain as she almost cried, holding her lower abdomen nervously. Suddenly, blood dripped down between her legs, causing her to stop moving momentarily.

"Roger…. My baby," Emily said with her trembling voice. "Our baby! Save our baby, Roger! I'm pregnant!" Frightened to her core, she touched the red viscous liquid flowing out of her with her quivering hands.

With his blank thoughts, Roger bent over and carried Emily.

On the other hand, Fannie, who had been standing and watching the scene from aside, clenched her hand and followed them.

…

Without anything in his mind, Roger took Emily to the hospital. He couldn't help but worry about her deep inside. After all, she was innocent. And the words she said, about the child being his, had pierced his conscience.

Slowly, the room's door opened. "Roger, I just went to ask the doctor about Emily's condition. He said she was fine. She just needed to rest for a while," Fannie said and walked near him. When her gaze went from Emily to him, whose eyes had unspoken admiration for the woman in front of them, her hands clenched again, and the rage inside her kept increasing.

Roger just nodded. He already knew it as he had just talked with the doctor earlier, but she didn't tell Fannie about it.

…

Late at night, Emily woke up and looked at the man sitting next to her. Under the bright light of the hospital, she could clearly see Roger's darkened aura. He looked like statuary with his arms crossed, looking straight at her as if waiting for her to wake up.

Emily's forehead creased. Slowly, she met Roger's deep glares and sat down on the bed, trying to register in her mind what was happening.

"Abort the baby and get out of the house," Roger said sternly. Gone was the care he had felt a while ago, and his demeanor changed into a cold one.

Confused, Emily asked, "What are you talking about?" She felt like she had become deaf when he heard what he said, so he wanted to ensure she had heard it correctly.

"Abort the baby," Roger replied forbearingly.

"But…" Emily's voice trembled. She couldn't understand where Roger was coming from when she had already told him she was pregnant with his child. "This is your baby… And you wanna kill it?" She asked in disbelief.

Quickly, Roger stood up. He looked at Emma with contempt. "My baby?!" He scoffed. "Emily, I was on a business trip!" Then, he reached out for the stack of photos at the bedside table and threw it all to her.

Emily's eyes followed the photos that abruptly flew into the air and slowly landed on the floor and her bed. Her eyes darted to the picture that showed her records of checked-in of a hotel and a strange man she didn't know.

Thinking about a hotel, Emily was confident that the last time she went to one was to check in for Daniel. At that time, he had just returned from abroad, precisely the day of Roger's business trip.

"No… No, you misunderstood it. It's not what you think," Emily said, starting to defend herself. "The baby is yours!" She grabbed his arm, getting his attention, wanting him to believe in her, but all she got from Roger was a deadly glare.

"You've been pregnant for a month! How dare you say it was mine when I didn't even touch you a month ago?!" Roger thought the baby should be at least two months old, but the ob-gynecologist had already talked to him and informed him that the baby was only a month old.

In grimace, all the conscience feeling he had a while ago vanished instantly. He was unsure what to feel the first time he received the photos, but now, anger had consumed him. Merely thinking that he would be helping in raising another kid that was born out of her wife's disgrace made him want to puke.

"No… You were drunk that day! Don't you remember?" Emily asked with her eyes full of hope. "You were drunk that night, and you forced me! Don't you remember that?"

No matter how much he ransacked his memories, Roger couldn't remember anything Emily said. He thought he was just reasoning out when in fact, it was all true. "I'm afraid no one will believe what you say. "I've already contacted a doctor for you. You'll get an abortion today." His eyes looked at the photos and evidence of her coming in and out of the hotel. "Don't try to change my mind. Even if it were my child, which was impossible, I would still not want you to bear them," he added, trying to be firm with his decisions.

Tears streamed down Emily's eyes as to what Roger had just said. It rumbled her heart and crushed her to pieces.

When two bodyguards opened the door, Emily quickly shrunk her body to the corner of the hospital bed. She looked at Roger, asking for help. "No, no! Roger, please, this is your baby! It is yours!"

Without looking back at Emily, Roger gestured for the guards to come in and take her.

With just one look, the bodyguards already knew what Roger wanted to happen, so they dragged Emily out of the room.

Emily cried, following the two guards that were holding both of her arms. Her neck craned to look back at Roger. "Roger, please… No…"

But all Roger did was watch her cry, hear her protests from his right ear, and then let it pass from his other ear.

In the hallway, chattering and hearsay went on from mouth to mouth. Patients, even nurses, were whispering, asking why two bodyguards were dragging Emily and why she was crying. Some of those who had heard a story from others had shared it with others, saying, "She's shameless. I heard that she cheated on Mr. Roger. It was all reported by many relevant journalists!"

And so the other person replied, "Yes! And she even bears a child! It is really for the best to abort it!"

Emily was in despair, she could hear their speculations about her, but she didn't care about it. What she was most worried about was the baby that might not be able to see the world.

Fannie barged in as Emily forcedly lay down on a frigid surgical table in the operation room.

Thinking Fannie would save her, she cried for help as she saw her. "Fannie… Please, help me. I don't want to kill the child. Please, convince Roge. This child is his…."

"Give us a second. I just have to talk with her," Fannie said, shooing the guards away.

Emily thought she would be safe with Fannie, but her hands registered on her face. The loud slap echoed at the four corners of the room as the room was theirs alone.

"Of course, I know that the child is his," Fannie said smugly. "Do you know how much time, money, and effort I spent to make everything foolproof?" She walked towards Emily and touched her reddened face as if mocking her.

"The man you didn't know testified that he impregnated you because I told him to do so. Now, how would you let the child live when Roger's about to divorce you and marry me," Fannie said, looking at Emily ferociously.

Emily's eyes were full of questions, and when she had the courage to ask, she looked at her with doubt. "What are you talking about? You did all this?"

"You think I am joking? Who else do you think would be behind all this? For the past two years, your good friend, Daniel Harris, has always been abroad, and you always stay at home. However, fortunately, you went out a month ago, so I grabbed my one and only chance!" Fannie laughed frantically, taking the time to confuse Emily.

She wanted the child gone as she saw in Roger's eyes that he cared for the child. Obviously, she hated that Emily's baby might be a reason for him not to continue the divorce.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" Emily struggled again to escape from her clamped wrists and ankles, but the more she resisted, the more it hurt her.

Fannie scoffed. "Why? You dared to ask me why when you took advantage of my car accident?!"