Chapter 1

Yasmine Smith had been married to Charlie Listford for seven years when their adopted fraternal twins accidentally fell down the stairs, leading to them needing urgent blood transfusions. Yasmine thought of using the blood that Charlie had previously donated to the blood bank, but their doctor shook his head and explained, "My apologies. We cannot accept blood transfusions from direct blood relatives." Yasmine froze in shock. Then, she replied, "My husband isn't biologically related to the twins." However, the doctor simply showed her his computer screen. "Our system clearly states that Charlie is the biological father of these twins. Their biological mother is Zara Lane." Seeing her disbelief, the doctor showed her the paternity test. It read, "Charlie Listford has a 100% probability of being the biological father." The black ink against the stark white paper burned into her retinas, making her eyes ache. "Zara Lane…" she muttered. Zara was a poor student whom the Listford family had funded. She was also a teacher at the orphanage from which Yasmine had adopted the twins. Back then, Zara had relentlessly pursued Charlie, who eventually grew frustrated at her advances. He had cut off all of her funding. Now, though, Yasmine was being told that her adopted fraternal twins were actually Charlie and Zara's biological children. … The kids were in a critical condition. Amidst Yasmine's panic, Charlie's best friend had shown up and told the blood bank to go ahead with the blood transfusion. He looked perplexed and was about to say something to Yasmine, but a phone call had him hurrying down the corridor. Yasmine tiptoed behind him and heard his conversation with Charlie. "Charlie, the kids are no longer in critical condition. Yasmine hasn't noticed anything yet. Maybe you should come here and take a look yourself." "Thank you," Charlie said. His strained voice grew slightly more relaxed. "I'm with Zara. She fainted when she heard what happened to the kids. Once she's better, I'll go to the hospital." His friend sighed. "Making Yasmine raise your and Zara's biological kids is just a bomb waiting to explode. Even though Yasmine is infertile, you shouldn't have…" He trailed off before continuing, "Zara was just a low-income student that the Listford family decided to help through funding. You used to claim it felt gross to even look at her. If it hadn't been for Mrs. Listford Senior and the drugs she slipped you, you would never have had children with Zara!" Charlie spoke, his voice so raspy that it sounded painful. "Don't say that about her. Zara is a great person. It was cruel of me to make her part from her own flesh and blood. As for Yasmine…" His voice shook and he sighed before continuing, "She's loved by me and has an adorable son and daughter. Compared to Zara, she has nothing to complain about." The call ended, and Yasmine dragged herself back to the ward. She felt numb, as if life had been sucked out of her. She stared at her children sleeping peacefully and began to feel a sharp ache spreading out from her chest. Charlie and Yasmine had been childhood sweethearts. Everyone used to talk about how much he loved her. When they played house as a kid, he would only want her as his bride. He would dress up in his kid-sized tuxedo and hold her hand like a gentleman. "Yasmine, please be with me for the rest of my life!" In high school, he would tear apart all the love letters she received and fight any guy who dared to confess to her. While she was exasperatedly applying ointment to his injuries, he would be smiling as if he had just won the lottery. The night he proposed, he yelled her name a thousand times from the roof of the observatory. Yasmine remembered how the diamond on the ring had glowed under the moonlight, and how the sky had been littered with stars. He went down on one knee and carefully slipped it on her finger. "Yasmine, I will spend the rest of my life dedicating my love to you, and only you." She thought they would live happily ever after, until the incident on their wedding day happened. Charlie had been an assassination target. Before the dagger could pierce into his heart, Yasmine had taken the blow for him. The dagger landed squarely in her lower stomach, causing blood to seep through the pure white fabric of her wedding dress. The injury left her highly unlikely to ever conceive a child. At the time, Charlie had knelt by her bedside with eyes that were red from crying. He clutched her hands tightly as he swore, "Yasmine, even if we can't have kids, you'll be the only woman I'll ever marry." During the first year of their marriage, she had been pampered and treasured by the Listford family. After the first year, though, Josephine Green, Charlie's grandmother, began to loathe Yasmine for being infertile. That day, she had been forced into seclusion by Josephine once again. Charlie stood up for her every time Josephine forced her into seclusion, but that night, he only returned at around 3:00 am. He smelt like alcohol and held her tightly in his embrace as he murmured over and over again, "I'm sorry. I love you." Yasmine didn't understand why. All she knew was that Charlie treated her ridiculously well for ten months after that. Even Josephine was being much more agreeable. Ten months after that, Zara Lane, who was a teacher at an orphanage, brought a pair of fraternal twins to their doorstep. Yasmine looked at Zara, whose eyes bore a striking resemblance to Yasmine's own. She thought about how desperately Zara had once pursued Charlie and felt disgust forming in her chest. "Yasmine, shall we adopt them?" Charlie said, holding one child in each arm as he approached her. "I don't want you to miss out on the joy of being a mother." She had felt tears in her eyes from how touched she was. At the time, she thought Charlie loved her more than he did himself. Yasmine had only just realized that Zara had been pregnant for those ten months in between the two events. As for Charlie, he had simply guilt-tripped her into raising his biological children for him. He was only nice to her to hide his own guilt. … Yasmine's face simply grew paler at the sight of the blood seeping through her children's bandages. They had gotten injured because she had been tidying their room and had happened to pick up a photo album, which caused them to start clawing and scratching at her to get it back. However, after they snatched the photo album away from her, they had been in such a hurry to run away that they tripped and fell down the stairs. "Is this how you take care of the kids?" Charlie said, suddenly walking into the hospital room. Yasmine turned back and frowned at the sight of a teary-eyed Zara leaning against him for support. Zara stumbled on her feet at the sight of the kids on the hospital bed and said in a choked voice, "Ms. Steele, did you do this to them just because they aren't your biological children?" The twins began to stir and slowly opened their eyes. Zachary Listford pointed at Yasmine with a weak finger. "Mom pushed us down the stairs." "Tell Mom to go away! I don't want to see her!" Rachel Listford cried out. Yasmine's face turned paper-white. "I didn't!" The kids began to cry and reached out to Zara. "Mom is evil! We only want Ms. Zara to be our mom!" Yasmine's heart ached. She opened her mouth to speak. "Enough!" Charlie barked sharply. His deep frown emphasized his disappointment. "Yasmine, get out. You're disturbing the kids' rest." The door closed loudly, but Yasmine could still hear Zara sobbing as she said, "It's all my fault. The kids got bullied because I sent them to live with someone else." There was still a gap in the door, and Yasmine could see Charlie kissing Zara. Yasmine went back to their mansion as if she were escaping from everyone else. The photo album was left open on the floor. Every time she flipped a page, she felt her heart being sliced open. The photo album was filled with pictures of Zara, Charlie, and the twins. Yasmine's tears landed on the pages. Eventually, a smile appeared on her face as she looked at their bright, happy grins. If Charlie was willing to lie to Yasmine, then he would have to suffer the consequences of her leaving him.