Because of losing a bet, Tom Hardy had the heart to tell my mother to go all the way to Tinsel Town. He wanted her to pick the freshest lychees of the season.

As a result, my mother had to spend more than fifty hours trip while sitting on a seat train. The journey was too much for her. In the end, she lost her life because of sheer exhaustion.

Even when she was in her final moment, she clutched those lychees tightly, asking the train attendant to deliver them to me.

After the attendant called me, I immediately came and retrieved my mother’s body. As I was kneeling in front of her casket, I was so furious and tried to call Tom, wanting to confront him.

However, I had to call him several times before his secretary finally picked it up.

"Tom is picking lychees right now. Is there something urgent?” she asked.

Hearing this my body trembled with rage.

“My mom is dead! Tell him to come back now!” I shouted.

On the other line of the phone, Tom's irritated voice cut in, "Are you out of your mind? Are you that crazy that you'll say anything just to keep me away from Ava Turner, huh?"

Before I could say anything to him, he had ended the call.

A moment later, I saw the WhatsApp status uploaded by his secretary. In the photo, I could see Tom peeling lychees with so much care for her. His body bathed in summer sunlight.

The caption said, "It is so sweet to have you by my side in this summer heat."

I calmly sent him a divorce paper.

However, he still had the audacity to come back. Not only that, he bought someone with him.

***

It was already late when I arrived at home and I was so tired. Having to deal with my mother's funeral and added with being heavily pregnant, it was no wonder I was extremely exhausted.

The moment I sank into the sofa, I heard the sound of the passcode lock turning.

I thought it was Tom, so I got up to welcome him. However, the one I saw was the sight of Ava unlocking the door. Her hand froze over the lock as she saw me.

Tom was leaning against her. His face flushed red and his breath reeked of alcohol.

When our eyes met, Ava immediately explained in an awkward manner, "I always bring documents for Mr. Hardy here. So, I figured it was easier to register my fingerprint."

In the past, I would’ve demanded an explanation.

However now, I felt nothing, like a pool of stagnant water. Not even a ripple stirred within me.

My child wasn’t even twenty-eight weeks in my womb and after exhausting myself to handle my mom’s funeral, I was at my breaking point.

I turned to the bedroom to rest, but Tom blocked my path.

He smiled and with his glazed eyes, he stumbled toward me. "Natalie, I bought you some lychees. Come on, eat quickly.”

As he spoke, he grabbed a bag from Ava’s hand and handed it to me. When I opened there were lychees that had been oxidized and turned black.

Lychees. Lychees!

As I remembered my mother who was lying in the morgue with a pale face. A burning sense of rage surged inside of me. I ripped the back apart, spilling the lychees all over the floor.

Tom just stood there, stunned. When he came back to his senses, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Natalie Johnson, what the hell is wrong with you? I picked those lychees for you, straight from Tinsel Town!"

I laughed bitterly. "For me! No! Clearly, they're for her!" I pointed at Ava. My eyes filled with unshed tears.

Ava and Tom had grown up together. Ava had admired him since childhood and after she returned from studying abroad, she immediately started working as his secretary. They traveled together on business trips, spending more time with each other than I, his actual wife, ever did.

However, I did not blame Ava. After all, “where there's smoke, there's fire."

In the five years we’d been married, it was Tom who had slowly forgotten the promises he once made.

However, one thing they should never have done was cause my mother's death.

After I exposed them, Tom’s voice turned colder, "Ava is my secretary. She goes wherever I have to deal with my work. Stop making a scene."

I glared at him. My voice shook with anger, "If you were going to Tinsel Town, why did you tell my mother to go there?"

Tom’s face registered a brief surprise before an understanding look came into his face as if everything suddenly clicked in his mind. “Oh … was Mom upset? I was stuck at a drinking event and couldn’t leave, so I asked her to go to my place. She didn’t actually go, did she?”

He sounded both shocked and dismissive.

So, my mom died because of one of his careless jokes?

Thinking the "misunderstanding" had been cleared up, Tom’s expression relaxed and he laughed.

“Ah, it’s not a big deal. You know how much your mom dotes on me. I’ll just buy her a little gift and apologize. I'm sure she’ll forgive me.”

He then glanced at Ava before turning to look back at me. “Okay, wife, go make us some hangover soup.”

After saying that, he held Ava and sat on the sofa with her.

In the past, I would have rushed to make that soup the moment I saw he had been drinking. I knew how hard he worked at social events and he always told me my hangover soup was the best in the world.

I had spent countless nights waiting at home, tried comforting myself with those words. However now, I was at my limit.

When I didn’t move, Tom got up. Seeing at my red, swollen eyes, he frowned.

“Is this still about me not telling you about the trip with Ava? We’re just friends! It’s nothing. Do you have to make such a big deal out of it?”

I looked at him, my voice filled with pain. “Is this nothing to you? My mother sat on a hard train seat for over fifty hours because of your stupid joke!”

Tom stood there, momentarily dazed by my outburst. Ava, who was standing beside him, said in a soft, pitiful voice.

“It’s all my fault. I was the one who wanted the lychees. I never thought Natalie would mind it so much.”

She even started crying as she spoke.

Before I could say anything, Tom stepped in front of her to shield her from me as if I was the one who was attacking her.

“Natalie, when are you going to stop? I brought you the lychees, didn’t I? We didn’t mean for anything to happen to your mom. Why didn’t she just take a plane instead of the train?”

Smack!

I slapped him hard across the face.

“Are you seriously blaming my mom? Do you remember when your company was on the brink of collapse and she gave you her entire life savings to help you survive? After that, she scrimped and saved every penny, terrified something would go wrong again.”

“It’s only been five years, Tom. Are you seriously saying that you have forgotten everything that she had done for you?”

I met Tom in high school.

I was the obedient class monitor, while he was the troublemaker. He always sat in the back row.

We were destined to never interact with each other, I found him in an alley, beaten and covered in blood.

I was terrified but my sense of responsibility as a class monitor and inexplicable sense of justice pushed me to call an ambulance.

When I visited him in the hospital, Tom was lying on the bed with a scowl on his face. He was cold and ungrateful, even when he thanked me for my help.

I did not dare to get involved with him, so I just nodded and rushed home.

After that, me and Tom kept our relationship strictly as classmates, but something changed in him. Whenever I enforced class discipline, he would fall silent and his group of friends followed suit. Yet, we kept a quiet, unspoken distance.

Then, one day, I was cornered by a group of thugs on my way home from school. They knew I had helped Tom and wanted to punish me for it.

I had never encountered something like that before, I was panicked, unsure of what to do and ran.

In the end, it was like a clichéd story that Tom showed up out of nowhere to save me.

Well, actually it was not like that. Tom shielded me while I called the police.

That night, after giving our statements, my mom insisted on bringing Tom to our home to thank him.

Tom’s parents had died in a plane crash when he was in high school, which was partly the reason he had become so rebellious. When my mom found out, she doted on him like he was her own son.

At the dinner table, she piled his bowl with so much food and that was the first time I saw him so nervous. Two piled of foods later, Tom finally finished eating. He had never eaten so much food that by the time he left, he was sweating.

The next day, he showed up outside my apartment, riding an old bicycle. I was surprised to see him, but he just said, “Those guys from yesterday won’t let this matter go.”

I didn’t fully understand the gang dynamics, but I didn’t want to relive the nightmare either.

From that moment, I took the bus to school while he rode his bike behind the bus to make sure I was safe. After school, he would follow me home and only leave once I was inside.

My mother noticed his concern, so she purposedly waited for us to arrive and invited him over for dinner regularly. At first, he was reluctant, but eventually, he gave in and even helped with housework.

He washed dishes, moped the floor and repaired the furniture. Sometimes, if my mother was late from work, he would make one or two dishes for us.

One day, Tom was sent to the hospital again, so I rushed out to visit him. When I arrived, he was getting stitches. He only winced in pain but it was obvious that he was trying to look tough.

Seeing him like this made me cry in distress.

Tom gently patted my head and said, "Natalie, I'm done with this kind of life. I want to go to a good university with you."

I nodded and something shifted inside me. At this very moment, a tiny seed of affection for him began to grow.

Senior year was tough. Tom and I were on completely different academic levels, but I tutored him and he studied hard.

Everyone noticed how much he had changed and I felt proud like his transformation was a secret shared only between us.

His academic was not as high as mine, so he could not attend the same university as me, but he found a way to study in the same city.

There were moments when I tried to show him how I felt, but Tom always kept his distance. He kept disappearing for a long time. I even started to think he had a girlfriend.

Then, on my birthday, he took me to a small studio, knelt down on one knee and confessed his love to me.

Years later, he told me that he had to establish his career first, so I would not suffer with him. Only then did he feel worthy of loving me.

His business thrived and although he was busy, he always made time for me and called my mom often.

My mom loved him like a son and he treated her as his own mother.

When his company hit a financial crisis, everything was in chaos. I started working part-time, saving every penny, even avoiding small luxuries like buying myself a cup of milk tea.

In the end, it was my mom who gave Tom her entire life savings with no strings attached. After that, she was constantly on edge, afraid that another crisis would strike our family. She did not want something like that to ever happen again. That was why she could not bear to spend money, even on a plane ticket.

Tom had always been good. Me and him worked hand in hand to overcome many difficulties. Finally, we got married.

After married, he did not change. He took good care of me and my mother and I became the envy of our friends.

However, everything changed when Ava appeared in our life.

Ava and Tom were childhood friends. Before Tom's parents died in the accident, Ava moved abroad with her parents.

When she came back from abroad and found out that Tom opened a company, although she had an excellent resume, she refused to work somewhere else and chose to become Tom's little secretary.

Gradually, Tom did not return home and preferred to stay in big hotels. Whenever I questioned his whereabout, he used work as an excuse.

I had been through so much with him and loved him. I was determined to stay in love with him.

Although I had a vague sense of crisis, I did not dare to think about it. I had spent all my youth with Tom.

If he really lost his love for me, this family would fall apart and I would be torn apart. So, I chose to deceive myself and others.

Until my mother died because of Tom's careless joke. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The cloth of shame finally lifted and my love for Tom was exposed in the scorching sun, not allowing me to escape.

With my mom's remains turned into ashes, my love for Tom also turned into one.

When I brought up our heartbreaking past, Tom's face turned gloomy.

"Enough!" Tom snapped. "Am I not kind to Mom? It's just a joke. If it matters too much for you, I'll personally go there and pick her up."

I calmly said, "Don't bother."

I wiped away the tears that had fallen without me even noticing. “When are we getting a divorce?”

Tom's face turned dark.

"Natalie, I've already apologized to you about the whole Tinsel Town thing with your mom. What more do you want? I’ve been putting up with you because you’re pregnant.”

“Fine. Do you want a divorce? Bring your mother here to talk about it. I doubt she’ll agree to us splitting up,” he growled.

After saying that, he stormed out of the door while pulling Ava with him.

I knew Tom was furious.

In the past, just the sight of him frowning would make me panic and I would stop arguing with him and be too scared to push back. I would grovel, trying to make things right.

Not this though.

I packed all my things and moved back to my old family house.

After resting for two days, both physically and emotionally exhausted, I finally went to bury my mother’s ashes.

When I finally got back, Tom, who had already broken into the house, was waiting for me. His face was so gloomy and of course, he was not alone. Ava was standing next to him.

The moment I walked through the door, Tom got up, strode over and grabbed my hand to drag me out.

"Come with me to the hospital," he said.

I stared at him with a dumbfounded expression as I instinctively pulled my hand back.

"Tom, have you lost your mind?" I asked.

Tom looked at me franticly. "Ava is sick. The doctor said that she needed the placenta of a twenty-eight-week-old baby to treat her.”

My mind couldn’t comprehend what I was hearing. “You want to use my placenta to treat her illness?”

I stared at him, unable to believe this was real. However, my world shattered when Tom nodded. His expression filled with regret as he looked at me.

“Natalie, I’ve looked into it. The baby is fully developed at twenty-eight weeks. Once you have induced labor, everything will be fine ….”

Smack!

Before he could finish, my hand flew across his face.

“Tom, do you even have a conscience? That’s your biological child you're talking about! Your flesh and blood!”

“Have you even bothered to check the side effects of inducing labor early? There’s a chance both the baby and I could die!”

Tom held his cheek. Guilt flashed in his eyes. He knew that he was in the wrong so he softened his voice and coaxed me, "Natalie, I know you're upset but Ava is really sick. If you deliver the baby now, she can be the child’s godmother and she’ll love the baby like her own.”

“And besides, didn’t your mom always dream of this grandchild? Once the baby’s here, it’ll help her let go of the anger about what had happened in Tinsel Town.”

He wanted to put my baby and my life at risk and make the culprit to be my baby's godmother. And he thought he would be able to make my mother calm down? What kind of logic was that?

I was so furious at his twisted logic that my vision blurred. I almost vomited blood and fainted. Probably aware of my emotions, my abdomen had begun to ache faintly.

My whole body trembled as I pointed at him with shaking hands. “Get out! You already killed my mother and now you want to kill me and my child? It’s not happening!”

I tried to leave, but Tom blocked my path.

"Natalie, what do you mean by saying "killed your mom", huh? Don't drag her into this matter. We're dealing with our issue."

“The baby has to be born anyway. Having it a few months early will save Ava’s life. Don’t be so heartless," he coaxed.

"No!" I yelled.

I glared hatefully at Tom. My stomach was already aching badly. I could feel the distress of my baby in my womb. Feeling dizzy and nauseous, I was scared that I was about to miscarry because of the stress.

Tom finally noticed something was wrong with me and helped me to sit down by holding my waist.

"Natalie, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

I was in too much pain to respond.

Ava, who had been crying softly, finally spoke up. “Natalie, I know you hate how close Tom and I are, but I’m really sick and only you can help. I promise, once the baby is born, I’ll love them like my own.”

She pulled out a bracelet and tried to put it on my wrist. “Look, I even got this for you and the baby when I went to Tinsel Town. It’ll protect you both.”

I glanced at it and my chest filled with rage.

Just a few days ago, I’d seen this exact bracelet in her social media post. She and Tom had matching red bracelets and she’d captioned the photo: “The one unloved is the real third party.”

In the corner of the picture, there it was, the very same bracelet in a trash can.

Fury surged through me and I pushed Ava away. If I hadn’t been in so much pain, I would’ve slapped her again.

I barely touched her, but Ava fell back onto the ground, her hand landing on a stone and drawing blood.

Tom's concern for me vanished in an instant.

“Natalie, Ava got that for you out of kindness. If you don’t want it, fine, but did you have to hit her?”

“I’ve been too soft on you, but enough is enough. The hospital is ready. Let’s go.”

His eyes flicked to the bodyguards standing behind him and they started moving toward me.

Terror shot through me as I clutched my stomach, my scalp tingling with pain.

"Tom! Let me go!" I cried out.

However, Tom had become cold like a heartless bystander.

As he had said, this child carried all the hopes my mother had for me. She had dreamed of meeting this grandchild, but now she was gone, never to meet them.

There was absolutely no way I could let anything happen to the child!

“Tom, don’t touch the baby. My mother is dead and this child is all I have left. Please, don’t touch the baby…”

I fell to my knees sobbing miserably. I used every ounce of strength to beg him.

For a moment, Tom’s eyes softened and he looked over at Ava.

“Fine, we’ll find another pregnant woman. If none are available in this city, we’ll look in another one.”

A fleeting shadow passed through Ava’s eyes before she dabbed at imaginary tears.

“If that’s how you both feel, then let it go. It’s fine. If I miss my chance to get better, I’ll just accept my fate.”

Tom hesitated for only a few seconds, his gaze shifted between the both of us before he made up his mind.

“Let’s go to the hospital.”