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

"Aunt Mei…" her voice cracked, thick with grief and self-loathing, "Please… please wake up… don't leave me too… please… I can't… I can't do this alone…"

She bit down on her lower lip so hard she tasted blood, trying to muffle the sobs threatening to break through her chest.

Behind her, quiet footsteps approached.

"She can't hear you," Bai Zhi's gentle, pitying voice floated into the silent room like poison, "She's in a coma. Even if she wakes up, she might be brain-damaged. But don't worry… she's old… at least she lived a full life, unlike some who waste it chasing love that was never theirs."

Yueyao's shoulders immediately stiffened knowing what she was insinuating.

She turned her head slowly, her red-rimmed eyes locking onto Bai Zhi's delicate face.

Today, she wore a pale peach chiffon dress, her hair pinned up in a graceful bun, her makeup flawless. She looked every inch the dignified madam of the Shen family.

Bai Zhi smiled softly, tilting her head as she examined Yueyao's disheveled hospital gown and bruised, tear-stained face.

"You should be grateful, Yueyao," she continued, her tone sweet but her eyes cold, "Ah Xiao was so worried about you five nights ago. He even missed an important investor dinner to carry you back to the hospital himself. Isn't that enough to make you feel special?"

Yueyao's lips twitched into a bitter, twisted smile. 'Carry her back to the hospital? Were they trying to confuse her? She knew someone else had brought her back even though she didn't know the person...

"Special…?" she rasped, her voice hoarse from screaming the nights before, but five nights? She has been sleeping for five days? "Is that what you call it… when your husband watches you being dragged away and says 'get rid of her'… is that special?"

For a split second, Bai Zhi's smile faltered, but she quickly regained her composure, letting out a soft, sympathetic sigh.

"You brought it upon yourself, didn't you?" she whispered, stepping closer until her expensive perfume suffocated Yueyao's senses, "A woman who can't keep her husband's heart has no right to complain about how he chooses to deal with her."

Yueyao's knees buckled under the weight of her words. She gripped Aunt Mei's bedsheet tightly, her nails digging into the coarse fabric until her knuckles turned white.

Bai Zhi patted her cheek lightly, careful not to bruise her wounded face.

"Don't worry, though," she said with a soft smile. "Ah Xiao and I will take good care of Shen Xuan. He won't even remember you after a while."

Yueyao's entire body shook with silent fury and grief. Tears streamed down her battered face, dripping onto Aunt Mei's motionless hand.

'She's right,' she thought numbly. 'He won't remember me… and maybe that's for the best…'

Behind them, the door opened again.

Shen Xiao stood there his eyes unreadable as they flicked from Bai Zhi's gentle smile to Yueyao's trembling form.

His cold indifference sliced through her chest sharper than any knife.

Slowly, Yueyao let go of Aunt Mei's hand and stood up, swaying unsteadily as she turned towards him.

"Thank you…" she whispered, her cracked lips curling into a smile so broken it made his chest tighten painfully. "Thank you… for everything…" Without his money, Auntie Mei wouldn't have been tended to, and without his actions, she wouldn't have given up this marriage completely.

She bowed her head slightly and limped past him out of the ICU, her thin hospital gown fluttering behind her like a torn, discarded shroud.

Chapter 33; Thank you