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

"Mommy! Mommy!" Shen Xuan's small voice cried out desperately behind her as he wriggled out of Bai Zhi's hold and ran after her, "Mommy, where are you going? Don't leave me… please… I will be good… I promise I will be good…"

Yueyao stopped briefly in the doorway, her shoulders trembling.

But there was no softness in her eyes as she turned back to look at him.

Only a dull, suffocating disgust twisted in her chest at the mere sound of his voice.

His cries grated against her ears like rusted metal scraping against bone. Her temples throbbed painfully as nausea clawed up her throat.

"Don't… don't call me that," she spat hoarsely, her voice shaking with cold fury, "Don't ever… call me that again."

Since he had a new mommy, she didn't need to hear that word coming from him. And now, she hated that word.

"Mommy… please… I love you...."

"Shut up!" she snapped, her eyes narrowing into dead, icy slits as her fingers curled into fists by her sides. "Just shut up… I can't stand your voice… I can't stand the sight of you…!"

His small face crumpled as tears streamed down his flushed cheeks, his little body trembling with silent sobs.

"Yueyao…." Shen Xiao's deep voice rumbled out, tinged with shock and confusion.

His dark eyes narrowed as they flicked between his sobbing son and Yueyao's stiff, trembling back.

Did something happen that suddenly changed their relationship? Was it because of Bai Zhi? Or had something inside her finally snapped beyond repair?

She didn't answer. She didn't even look at him.

Instead, her lips curled in bitter revulsion. Even Shen Xuan's cries felt like tiny demons gnawing at her sanity, threatening to pull her back into the suffocating abyss she was desperately trying to escape.

"Yueyao," Shen Xiao called again, his tone low and dangerous now as he stepped forward, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

But she kept walking, ignoring his voice entirely.

For the first time, his hand shot out to grab her wrist, his fingers tightening like steel around her fragile bones, "I asked you a question."

Slowly, she turned her head to look at him, her eyes dull and empty as a dying corpse. Her lips twitched into a small, lifeless smile.

"Don't touch me..." She swatted his hand away. Now, more than ever, she hated a man's touch...

But Shen Xiao tightened his grip around her wrist.

"What am I doing?" she echoed in a whisper, her voice hoarse and raw from screaming, her dead gaze locked onto his dark, furious eyes, "I'm finally… letting go."

His brow furrowed, his grip tightening painfully around her wrist, "Letting go of what?"

"Of everything," she rasped, her lips trembling as tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks, "Of you… of this marriage… of that child… of this life… I'm done."

And with a sharp jerk, she tore her wrist out of his grasp and walked away, her bare feet leaving faint, bloody smudges on the sterile white floor as she disappeared down the corridor without looking back.

Shen Xiao stood frozen, staring after her retreating figure, his chest tightening with an unfamiliar, suffocating heaviness.

He turned his gaze to Shen Xuan, who sat sobbing uncontrollably on the cold tiles, his small shoulders heaving with each broken breath.

For the first time, a deep, unsettling fear twisted through Shen Xiao's chest.

A fear… that he had finally pushed her past the point of no return.

No matter how much he cried, Yueyao only turned away, her lips curling in bitter revulsion. Even his cries felt like tiny demons gnawing at her sanity, threatening to pull her back into the same hell she was desperately trying to crawl out of.

Chapter 34; Letting go....