Chapter 2

I walked to the bus stop, completely soaked. Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot.

And I was. Even at this moment, my mind was replaying all the good things Liam used to do for me.

The news about my mom being a mistress broke when I was eighteen.

She drove his wife, and the baby in her womb, to their deaths, thinking she could take her place. But after his wife and child died, that man had a complete change of heart and cut off all ties with my mom.

Even when my mom tried to use me to threaten him, he remained unmoved.

In the end, my mom was forced to give birth to me.

The reason the story resurfaced eighteen years later was because the man posted a letter of repentance online.

While condemning him, netizens also dug up my mom's past.

After my mom was exposed, I was dragged into it too.

Even after my mom was cyberbullied to the point of jumping to her death, those women who had suffered because of mistresses didn't let me off the hook.

It happened both inside and outside school.

The classmates in school were milder; they'd just point at me and say "mistresses deserve to die" to my face.

But some of the middle-aged women outside school were much more violent. Every day, a group of them would wait by the school gate to throw rotten eggs and vegetable leaves at me.

They'd say, "A mistress's daughter will definitely turn out to be a mistress too!"

"Look at her, with that seductive air, even more brazen than her mother!"

I knew my mother was guilty, and I wasn't innocent, so I never resisted. I let them vent their anger on me.

This went on for half a year, until Liam stepped in and saved me.

"Who says a mistress's daughter has to become a mistress?"

He grabbed one of the middle-aged women and asked, "What does your daughter do?"

The woman proudly replied, "My daughter is an accountant at a big company."

Liam then asked, "And what about you?"

The woman stammered, unable to answer, so another woman answered for her. "Oh, she sells burgers at a construction site."

Liam said, "See? Your daughter is different from you."

After that, fewer and fewer people came to harass me.

My life gradually returned to normal, and then Liam began his intense pursuit of me.

He held an umbrella for me when it rained and shaded me when it was sunny.

Every evening after study hall, he would quietly walk me to my dorm building.

When we ate in the cafeteria, sometimes I'd see a few classmates indignantly splash leftover food and drinks onto my seat.

He would also step up and lecture them, "Which of you chose your parents before you were born?"

The students were silenced.

Liam continued, "And let me ask again, can you guarantee that all your parents and ancestors were upstanding individuals?"

The students bowed their heads in shame, and I, too, was captivated by his twisted, yet incredibly persuasive, way of looking at things and his eloquent speech.

I agreed to start dating him.

To be honest, before meeting him, I hadn't even thought about dating. My mother's situation had left me with severe psychological trauma.

He was like a light, gradually shining on that shadow, making it completely disappear.

And now, standing in the pouring rain, I was utterly confused.

How could someone who used to be so, so good, turn into this?

Suddenly, my vision went black, and I collapsed.