No Pain, No Gain

The news of my death brought Logan momentary shock. He hurriedly made a phone call, and by the time Anna left, members of the Bowen family had already made their way to the restaurant.

These family members had already found out about recent matters from the trending articles online, but when they saw Lumi, they were still greatly shocked.

"What have you been doing? How did you not know that you had a child? And now she's come looking for you at a time like this!"

Arthur Bowen, the most senior man in the Bowen family and Logan's grandfather, was the first to speak. When he slammed his cane against the floor, his authoritative presence was just as palpable as it was when he was younger.

Logan had always respected his grandfather, so he dared not argue back. After all, it was true that he had only just learned of Lumi's existence. When I had left all those years ago, I had hidden everything related to my pregnancy.

And just that afternoon, Logan had tried calling me multiple times, but the number he called was a disconnected one.

I had already taken care of all records related to me. He had people looking into me the whole afternoon, but the only thing he could confirm was the news of my death.

Just then, Lumi once again displayed her strengths. She walked up to Arthur and gave him a big bear hug. When Arthur looked into her eyes—that were the exact same as Logan's—he swallowed his request to have someone redo a paternity test.

In the end, he merely patted Lumi on the head and said, "Let's go home."

That meant that he had now accepted Lumi.

Raising a child was nothing difficult for the Bowen family.

Lumi started leading the life she deserved as a wealthy heiress. I hadn't lied to her. Her new bedroom was indeed bigger than our previous house.

She didn't even need to dress herself in the mornings. She just needed to raise her arms, and the household staff members would put her clothes on for her.

All her clothes were custom-made by a designer, and all her food were imported, organic food.

Previously, she only had me by her side. Now, she was surrounded by innumerable household staff members. And since people knew that she was Logan's daughter, a constant stream of playmates had been sent there by their families.

However, Lumi wasn't like the average wealthy heiress. She had a maturity and understanding of things well beyond her years, making even Logan bring her to work with him.

Lumi was never loud. She would always sit quietly to the side and read a book while Logan was in meetings. And when she grew tired, she'd just curl up and take a nap.

It was only at night that Lumi would become especially attached to her father, and she would need him to keep her company.

"Daddy, I'm scared of the dark. Can you hold me while I sleep?"

"Daddy, can you read me a fairytale? Then I'll go to sleep, okay?"

Because Lumi stayed close to Logan most times, the amount of time Anna spent with him decreased. Even if they had plans together, Lumi would always be sitting between them.

I had thought up various ways to secretly trail after them these past few days. I wanted to see Lumi as much as I could while my body was still up for moving around.

I both laughed and cried when I saw how Lumi kept preventing Anna from getting close to Logan. Lumi probably believed that I would eventually return to Logan's side and that we naturally belonged together. Unfortunately, she was wrong this time.

Sometimes, Lumi would look especially sad while nestled in Logan's arms.

"Daddy, I miss Mommy. Mommy must be really lonely all by herself."

How could she forget my instructions so soon? I was a bad mother. She wasn't supposed to miss me.

After making sure that Logan was truly good to Lumi, my body started to fail. I desperately missed my dearest Lumi, but I pushed my yearning down and didn't go to see her anymore.

I lay quietly on a bed in the small community hospital. It was a hospital without any good medical resources and was just a place for me to wait out my death.

Unexpectedly, however, when I opened my eyes the next day, I was shocked to see Lumi standing next to my bedside.

In the end, Lumi had disobeyed me. With the money I gave her, she had snuck out when Logan was at work. She then went back to our old place, asked the neighbors, and eventually found out about this hospital.

She patted me on the cheek to wake me up. When she saw me open my eyes, she yelled out in joyful surprise, "Mommy! Mommy, you're awake! I told you that I'd wake you up, Mommy!"

Her tears started to fall as she said those words.

My heart ached for her, but I pretended that I was mad. "Why are you so disobedient? I don't want to see you! Go back to your father."

Lumi opened her backpack and retrieved a wad of scrunched up cash as well as a lunch box, then stuffed them in my hands.

"Mommy, Daddy gave me this money, and I've saved it so you can see a doctor. Also, these are the cookies that the chefs at home made for me. They're really yummy, so I saved some for you too. Here, Mommy.

"There's a lot of people around Lumi now. There's Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, and all the people working at the house, but Mommy has no one. Please don't send Lumi away."

I looked at the cookies stuffed in the lunch box, and the image of Lumi resisting her urge to eat the cookies and placing them in the box instead flashed across my mind.

Tears already streamed down my cheeks, but I still forced myself to push Lumi out the door.

"Go find your father. If you come back, you can only be the stray that no one wants. The only way you can lead a better life is by going back to your father."

Just as I was struggling with Lumi, the door was suddenly pushed open, and an angry roar filled the space.

"Rafaela Wayning! I knew you weren't dead! You're still as cruel as before, using your own child as a pawn. What schemes are you up to this time?" shouted Logan as he strode in, his whole presence exuding a frosty chill.