Till the Flower Blooms

Upon returning home, Cassiopeia’s first thought was to go to Anya’s room.

The room was tidy and looked the way it did when she had left home that morning. However, she knew the sound of Anya’s joyous laughter would never echo against these walls again.

She scanned every item in the room before finally settling her gaze on a toy placed at the head of the bed.

It was her birthday gift for Anya. The doll came with a built-in recorder.

When she played the tape inside, she heard a voice that sounded drearily familiar.

"Wow, you got a doll for me, Mommy! I’m going to sleep with this doll every night. I love you, Mommy!"

She felt like she was reliving the pain again. Every word struck her with the force of a sledgehammer. The tears she had been suppressing all this time burst out in an instant!

She hugged the doll tightly and curled up on the bed, desperate to feel the slightest trace of Anya’s warmth.

She regretted everything—handing Anya over to Lucas this morning, not getting divorced from him five years ago, and most of all, ever falling in love with Lucas.

She clutched the capsule strapped around her neck.

'Anya, wait just a little longer. Mommy will take you someplace better.'

Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and dropped into the depthless dark.

When she woke up the next morning and went downstairs, she spotted a new face in the living room.

Lucas was gently holding Freya's hand with an attentive look in his eyes while applying a healing cream to a fresh cut on her hand.

Freya's eyes were slightly rimmed red. However, she had her head turned to the other side and stubbornly refused to look at him.

"Mr. Cadell, don’t go thinking that I’m going to cede custody of Liam to you just because you have been taking care of me. I will be his only parent."

Despite her insolent tone, Lucas did not seem upset at all. He gently attended to her cut and carefully wrapped it with gauze before giving her a sincere expression.

"I won't take Liam away from you, but you cannot deny that he is our child. All I want to do is make up for the past five years you two had to live through without me."

Cassiopeia clenched her hands so tight that her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palms.

Make up for the past five years?

At the expense of Anya’s life?

Soon, Lucas noticed Cassiopeia from the corner of his eye. He quickly set the gauze aside and approached her to embrace her.

Then, he explained shiftily, "Cassie, Freya is just here to borrow our kitchen to make Liam some soup to drink while he recovers. She accidentally cut her hand just now, so I had to help her dress her wound. Don’t overthink. How is Anya, by the way? Is she awake?"

Cassiopeia’s eyes twitched.

"No."

Anya would never wake up again.

Lucas was taken aback.

How much anesthesia did they use on Anya in the surgery for her to still be asleep?

Just as he was about to say something, the sound of the notification on his phone cut off his stream of thoughts. He frowned as soon as he read the message.

"Cassie, there’s something I need to do for work. I’m heading out for a bit."

Then, he turned to Freya and advised her gently, "Be careful not to burn yourself when cooking. After the soup is done, I’ll come pick you up and take you to the hospital to see Liam."

Cassiopeia felt something brutishly wrapping around her heart when she noted the gentle timber in Lucas’s voice when he addressed Freya.

In the past, he would only show his gentle side to her and Anya, but now, he reserved it for Freya and her son.

After Lucas left, Cassiopeia and Freya were the only ones left in the living room.

Freya reverted to her usual mild expression.

"Mrs. Cadell, there’s nothing for you to worry about. Even though Mr. Cadell saved Liam, I don’t plan to give custody of my son away. I’m not going to let him become the illegitimate son of another man."

"It’s just the two of us here; you can drop the act now." Cassiopeia was very hostile and tore off her mask without a thought. "I know you don’t want your son to be an illegitimate child. If I had to guess, what you want is for him to become the true heir of the Cadell household."

Five years ago, Lucas not only gave Freya a significant amount of hush money, but he even had his men buy certain medicines for her to consume to abort the baby. However, she did not take the medicine as she was instructed and ended up giving birth to the child.

Five years later, she intentionally went to Cadell Corporation for an interview and manufactured a "coincidental" meeting with Lucas.

Cassiopeia was born rich. She was familiar with the likes of Freya and saw through her in an instant.

Freya seemed to do a double take. Then, she suddenly got up and expressed in a way that suggested she felt humiliated.

"Mrs. Cadell, please don’t look down on me just because you’re richer than me. The only reason I kept Liam was because I couldn’t bear aborting him! It was just a coincidence that Mr. Cadell recognized Liam!"

Cassiopeia glared at her icily before heading back upstairs without another word. She decided she no longer cared what Freya thought of her. Freya could claim the title of Mrs. Cadell if she wanted to.

She returned to Anya's bedroom and started packing right away.

Every item in the room was infused with Anya’s scent. She was going to take them with her.

When she spotted a picture album that Anya had placed on the table, she reached for it and flipped it open. It contained family pictures of the three of them together.

In one picture, Lucas was holding Anya with one hand and taking Cassiopeia’s hand with the other. They were posing with Mount Fuji in the background.

In another picture, Anya and Cassiopeia were chasing each other on the beach while Lucas spectated them with deep affection in his eyes…

In every picture, the trio were smiling from ear to ear. They exuded joy and love that seemed to spill through the pictures.

Unfortunately, the happy times were long behind them.

Cassiopeia took out the pictures and tore off Lucas's figure from each one of them before throwing them into the trash can. Anya and she were the only ones that remained.

Halfway through packing, she caught the whiff of a repulsive smell.

She frowned instinctively. When she went to open the door, the smell grew sharper.

When she had taken a few steps forward, she was hit with a heavy wave of nausea and almost lost her balance. She staggered a few steps before planting herself against the wall. Her head felt like mud.

Suddenly, a thought came to her. It was a gas leak!

She quickly wet a towel and used it to cover her mouth and nose before plucking the strength to head downstairs.

When she reached the living room, she found Freya who had fainted on the couch.

She felt like she was going to pass out again and no longer had the strength to keep her balance. Her legs folded underneath her and she collapsed. She tried to reach for the phone to call the emergency hotline, but her eyelids were getting heavier by the second.

Seconds before she was going to pass out, she heard the abrupt sound of the door opening. She bit down on her tongue to force herself awake, and then she put her hand out toward Lucas.

"Lucas, save... me."

"Freya!" Lucas rushed to Freya without hesitation and carried her in his arms. "Hold on, I'll take you to the hospital now!"

He ran off as frantically as he entered and did not seem to notice Cassiopeia who was begging for his help.

Cassiopeia lay by herself on the ice-cold floor and watched as the man, who vowed he would protect her for the rest of his life, waltzed off with another woman. Shortly after that, she was overcome by the gas and passed out.