Kim_Li_0078

#DARK ROMANCE 
Lin Yueyao spent five years of her youth married to Shen Xiao, a man whose heart was as cold as steel. She believed that her gentleness would eventually melt his indifference, but the only thing that melted was her own dignity.

Every night, she endured his cruel touch, his words like blades, and his silent disgust. But no matter how much it hurt, Yueyao clung on – for the sake of their son, Xuanxuan, and for the sliver of hope that someday he might see her.

That hope shattered completely when his first love, Bai Zhi, returned from abroad. The very night Bai Zhi came back, Shen Xiao left Yueyao alone to dine with her. His gaze, once cold and dismissive, turned tender only for Bai Zhi.

Then, just as Yueyao discovered she was pregnant again, Shen Xiao handed her divorce papers. Abandoned while carrying his child, betrayed by her husband, and discarded like a stain on his life, Yueyao’s world collapsed.

Even their son, Xuanxuan – the little boy she’d nearly died giving birth to, the one she raised with unwavering devotion – rejected her, clinging instead to Bai Zhi with innocent adoration.

But fate was crueler still.

Kidnapped straight from her hospital bed by men demanding ransom, Yueyao realised no one was coming to save her. Her husband hadn’t even noticed she was missing. As she lay in that abandoned factory, trembling in pain, all illusions crumbled.

She was done waiting for love from a man who treated her like dirt.

This time, she would save herself. And when she returned, it wouldn’t be as the pitiful Mrs. Shen, but as a woman reborn from ashes – with a heart no longer beating for Shen Xiao.

But will he realise her worth only when it’s too late?

Love After Divorce: Her Second Chance

The moonlight spilled into the room, cold and pale, illuminating Lin Yueyao's face as she lay curled up on the edge of the king-sized bed.

She didn't know what time it was. Her eyes burned from crying, but the tears had dried up hours ago, leaving only an empty hollowness in her chest.

The silence pressed down on her like a suffocating blanket. It was so quiet she could hear the faint ticking of the antique clock on the wall and the lonely echo of her own breathing.

The space beside her was untouched. The sheets were smooth and cold, his pillow pristine and unwrinkled.

Shen Xiao hadn't come home again tonight.

Her hand reached out to that side of the bed, trembling as her fingertips brushed against the crisp linen.

She closed her eyes, imagining his warmth there. For a moment, she let herself pretend he was lying next to her, that his arms were wrapped around her, that he was whispering her name softly in the darkness.

But when she opened her eyes, there was only emptiness. Only her.

She curled her fingers into the sheets and pulled them close to her chest, pressing her face against the fabric as silent sobs racked her body.

Her tears soaked through the pillow, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She bit down on her lip so hard she tasted blood, trying to stifle the sounds of her broken cries.

The moonlight flickered as clouds passed overhead, casting shifting shadows across the room.

In that dim silver light, Yueyao felt like she was lying inside a graveyard.

She had long been buried in this marriage.

Her heart had been buried under his coldness, her dignity buried under his cruelty, her hope buried under the suffocating reality that no matter how much she loved him, he would never love her back.

The wind howled outside, rattling the window panes. It sounded like a woman's wail in the night, lonely and desperate, just like a ghost.

Yueyao clutched the sheets tighter, curling into a smaller ball as her body trembled violently.

Her phone lay on the nightstand beside her, its screen dark and silent.

She reached for it with shaking hands, unlocking it to stare at their wedding photo, which she had secretly taken on their registration day because he hadn't allowed an official photographer.

In the photo, she was smiling shyly at the camera, dressed simply with her hair tied back. Shen Xiao stood beside her, his gaze indifferent and his posture stiff. He didn't even look at her.

A tear slid down her cheek, dripping onto the screen and blurring his face.

She wiped it away with her thumb, but the blur remained. The more she wiped, the more his face disappeared under her tears until all she could see was herself, alone, pathetic, and broken.

She put the phone back down, covering her mouth with her hand as another sob threatened to escape.

Her stomach twisted painfully again, nausea rising to her throat, but she swallowed it down. She had no strength left to even get out of bed.

Above her, the chandelier swung slightly with the wind blowing through a crack in the window. Its crystal pendants tinkled softly like a funeral chime.

Yueyao closed her eyes, tears slipping through her lashes as she whispered into the darkness:

"Why… why can't you just love me back… just a little…?"

And in that moment, Lin Yueyao realised something she had never allowed herself to admit before.

She was completely, utterly alone.

Chapter 1; The darkness felt endlessly