After giving it some thought, Steven concluded that what Gavin said was reasonable.

He planned to drink a little bit more before Annalise came. If they were going to put on an act, he should make sure that everything seemed believable, after all.

Still, he had lots of work to do in the afternoon. It was a shame he couldn't see the worried look on Annalise's face if she came. He wasn't too bothered about it, though. After all, he already knew that she still loved him. Now that he'd gotten the answer he sought, he felt like going back to the office to settle his work.

Steven got up from the couch and bid his friends goodbye. After he left, all the others in the room crowded around Gavin.

Curious, they all asked in unison, "What happened just now?"

"I think Annalise might not be pretending that she doesn't love Steven anymore," Gavin said slowly after a while. "She might actually have lost her feelings for him."

The others around him weren't pleased with that. They said, "You should've just told him that!"

Gavin rolled his eyes at them, annoyed. "Didn't you guys see that look on his face just now? He looked so upset and listless when I said Annalise didn't love him. But when I said she did, he smiled immediately." Everyone in the room stared at each other at the realization. A moment later, someone asked uncertainly, "Did he fall in love with her?"

"That's most probably the case," said Gavin, his expression grave.

"Then, why did he... " someone muttered but stopped halfway through the sentence. They all fell silent when they recalled what Steven had done to force Annalise to divorce him. Eventually, Gavin stated what everyone was thinking, "He dug his own grave."

"Indeed," everyone else agreed.

...

It was about time to pick Willow up. Zane and I tossed our work aside and headed to the kindergarten to wait for her at the entrance.

Seeing the first group of kids come out of the kindergarten, I turned to him and said, "Oh, right. You can tell Richard and the others to dig in first. They don't need to wait for us." "Why?" Zane asked coldly.

He spoke the same way he did when he spoke to his subordinates at the company, but his tone became a little softer when he was around his family.Property © of .

It was new to me. I had never heard him speak in that tone. Still, I didn't show the surprise on my face.

"I want to treat you two to a meal," I said with a smile.

"You don't need to," said Zane. "You gave me a necktie today, so dinner's on me."

"We're not strangers. You don't have to repay me," he insisted.

I knew he simply wanted me to save some money. I tried to persuade him by saying, "It's not every day I get such a huge bonus. It's something worth celebrating!" Seeing how persistent I was, Zane eventually gave in. He took out his phone to inform Richard about us eating out.

When the younger children had all gone home, the older children started walking out of the kindergarten. Willow stood at the end of the line.

When she saw me, she tried forcing a smile, but to no avail. I instantly knew that something unpleasant had happened to her at school.

Willow walked through the opened gates, slowly making her way to me. She stopped in front of me and, after some hesitation, murmured, "Mommy..."

Crouching next to her, I looked into her eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know what happened, but the kids in my class avoided me today." Willow's voice was so soft, making her seem all the more pitiful.

She continued, "I don't mind it, though. I don't like talking to them anyway."

I glanced at Zane, thinking if I should ask him to go and ask Holly about this matter. But before the words could leave my mouth, he'd already nodded and headed into the building. Sighing in relief, I patiently turned to Willow and asked, "Are you upset, Willow?"

She thought long and hard about it before deciding that she would be frank with me. "Yes. They weren't like this before. They all changed so suddenly."

I ruffled her hair and asked, "Do you want to know why?"

She bobbed her head at the question. At that moment, she looked so pitiful and fragile that my heart ached for her.

"Then, you have to work hard to overcome your challenges," I said to encourage her.