"Get rid of the child." In the hospital, as Shi Yu passed the stairwell, she froze at the sound of a familiar voice. *Jiang Yichen?* After three years, was he finally back? Her breath hitched. Compelled by some unseen force, she stopped, a pang of guilt striking her as she listened in. A woman was crying. "I don't want to get rid of the baby... Please, I'm begging you..." "We can have other children in the future..." The man’s voice was ice, leaving no room for argument, devoid of any attempt at comfort. So he wasn't just back—he'd returned with a pregnant woman. A knot formed in Shi Yu’s chest. Unable to bear another word, she turned and fled. Back in her office, she pulled up his familiar number on her phone but couldn't summon the courage to dial. He hadn't breathed a word to her about his return. It had to be deliberate. "Dr. Shi, are you not leaving yet?" a passing nurse asked. "You go on ahead. I still have a few things to finish up." She knew Jiang Yichen would move back into the Jiang residence upon his return, and to avoid him, she deliberately stayed at the hospital until late into the night. She and Jiang Yichen were 'strangers' who had lived under the same roof for nineteen years. In their case, 'strangers' meant they shared no blood, were not kin, not friends, and certainly not husband and wife. The memory was still seared into her mind: she was eighteen, and he had discovered the portraits she had secretly drawn of him, the diaries filled with her feelings. The look of utter disgust on his face… Her secret crush had been dragged into the light, laid bare for him to dismiss as worthless, something to be ground under his heel. From the moment she had stepped into the Jiang family home at the age of five, he had loathed her. She would never dare hope for his love; in its absence, her own felt utterly ridiculous. She didn’t turn on the lights when she entered the house. After nineteen years in the Jiang residence, she knew the place by heart—every detail, every piece of furniture. As she reached for her bedroom doorknob, a searing heat pressed against her from behind. In the darkness, a man pulled her into an embrace, his mouth descending on hers. His familiar scent enveloped her, heavy with alcohol, as a trail of cold, frantic kisses traced a path from her lips to her neck... She had never been able to resist him, especially not after three years apart. Just as she felt herself begin to sink, the memory of that afternoon flashed through her mind. He had another woman, one who was carrying his child. She couldn't debase herself like this again. Mustering her courage, she shoved him away, hastily straightening her clothes. "You’re drunk." His fingers closed around her chin with unnerving accuracy. "You think I'd want you sober?" he sneered. "Isn't this how you crawled into my bed in the first place? What, have three years apart made you a saint?" Shi Yu bit her lip, saying nothing. She was long immune to his venom. Countless times before, even in bed, he had never failed to degrade her with his words. Her silence only infuriated him. His grip on her chin tightened. "You knew I was back, and you still dared to come home this late?!" She lowered her gaze, her voice trembling from the pain. "You didn't tell me." He leaned in close. "Everyone knows. How could you not?" It was true. She'd 'run into' him and the pregnant woman at the hospital, then seen the news later. Everyone knew he was back. She was the last to find out, and in such an accidental way. She had assumed he wouldn't even want to see her. His patience gone, Jiang Yichen swept her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He threw her onto the bed, dispensing with any foreplay and driving straight to his purpose. In a panic, Shi Yu’s hands flew to his chest. "Brother!"