Chapter 2

My encounter with Zoran was incredibly dramatic.

It was a classic prince-and-Cinderella story.

During college, I tutored kids as a part-time job.

That day I was running late, hurrying down the street, and didn't see a black car turning the corner.

Naturally, I got hit.

At the time, Zoran hadn't gotten his driver's license yet and was joyriding in his dad's car. He never expected to hit someone.

While I was in the hospital, he took care of me tirelessly, terrified I'd take him to court for driving without a license.

Watching this rich kid nervously tiptoeing around me every day, my anger from being hit gradually faded.

We were both students, after all. What was the point?

I promised not to press charges, and he was overjoyed that day.

If I hadn't been lying in a hospital bed, I think he would have come over and spun me around in a hug.

After being discharged, I went back to my ordinary life, thinking Zoran's appearance was just a freak accident.

Fairy tales can't be real, right?

I ignored the slight disappointment in my heart. That weekend, I brought gifts to visit the kids at the orphanage where I grew up.

To my surprise, I saw Zoran there.

I still remember how Zoran looked that day.

He was wearing volunteer clothes, crouching among the children, smiling warmly like sunshine.At that moment, I thought to myself, he would definitely be an amazing father someday.

That chance encounter filled us both with surprise and delight.

From then on, we gradually started keeping in touch.

We went from having nothing to say to each other to sharing everything.

I slowly began to open up my heart, which had been closed for over 20 years, to this warm and gentle rich boy.

The day he confessed his feelings to me, he gazed at me with such tenderness,

As if I were the only person in the whole world.

"Delilah, from now on I'll be your rock. I'll never leave your side and I'll give you a real home."

Home.

What an unfamiliar word that was to me.

I longed for a home so desperately.

Ignoring my classmates' disapproving looks, I threw myself into Zoran's arms without hesitation.

We remained loving and sweet with each other, and after we had a child, he embraced his roles as a gentle husband and a wonderful father even more.

This happiness lasted until his first love returned to the country.

Melody was Zoran's first love, but she was also his childhood sweetheart from a suitable background.

The Shaw family had always looked down on me, the daughter-in-law who came from an orphanage.After Melody returned, they intensified their passive-aggressive jabs at me, even suggesting that Melody stay with the Shaw family.

I couldn't take it anymore and had my first explosive argument with Zoran.

"Melody just got back from abroad and isn't familiar with this place. I need to stay with her."

"Melody needs me. Can't you understand that?"

"Melody isn't feeling well. Don't disturb her."