"Fine. It's your own private matter. Sorry for intruding. Maybe I asked for too much." Rain fidgeted, his lips turning into a wry smile. From her frown, he could tell the question had annoyed her.

  "No. I want you to be clear. Who was this other man?" Annie would never admit to doing something that didn't happen. Rain obviously held a misunderstanding.

  "Annie, oh no, Mrs…… I don't know……You have kids, don't you?" He recalled the photo of the two adorable children on her phone. Rain wished they were his kids, instead of some unknown bastard's.

  "You…… How did you know that?" Annie turned white. She should have guessed this would happen. Janice was Duke's right hand; she would have told his boss everything.

  "It's easy to know. You must love the man a lot, so you had his kids." A wretched look dominated his expression, revealing his prolonged suffering. He felt as though his heart was sinking.

  "Yes, I love him very much." Annie gazed at him profoundly. Rain, having lowered his head, missed the deep feeling in her gaze.

  Her answer almost tore his heart apart. It was time for him to move on. Finally, he had her answer. She truly fell in love with someone else.

  "I should have known." Rain picked up his cup of bitter coffee and swallowed it neat. It tasted like water to him, overcome as he was by disappointment and sorrow. His chest felt heavy.

  "What should you have known?" Annie frowned, wondering if he knew the man was him. She was in love with Rain, but he was already a married man. She couldn't tell him the kids were his and ruin his family in the process. Besides, he didn't love her. Why would he care?

  "Nothing. Is he nice to you?" Rain smiled sardonically. There was nothing he could do now but wish her happiness.

  "He……" Annie bit her lower lip. Her heart felt like it was being stabbed. "No, he is not," she finished.

  "What?" Rain didn't expect her answer to be in the negative. His head snapped up to her in confusion.

  "Rain, can't we just move on? I don't want to talk about it anymore." Annie was unwilling to linger on the issue. The man they were talking about was right in front of her. How could she criticize him when he was around? The only thing she could do was cover up her feelings for him.

  "That's why you came here all alone, with your kids?" Rain cast his eyes down, miserable. He wished he were that man. He would have never left her in the lurch.

  "Yes

  Drugged one night by her ex-boyfriend, a mysterious man took advantage of her in an ecstatic night filled with sex.

  To take her revenge, she married the man, and used him.

  "As long as I'm alive, I'm still his legal wife, while all of you are just his mistresses."

  She remained adamant even when he was involved in scandals with other women.

  Eventually she stormed off after she learned that he had betrayed her again.But life brought her back to him a few years later, to his astonishment.

  e, I will introduce her to you. You're both girls. Since you are in S City, you can ask her for advice anytime." Rain would be the first one to step up when Annie was in need, but after all, he was a man. If Annie had girl problems, he could scarcely help.

  "Okay. I am looking forward to meeting her." The real reason Annie wanted to meet Leena was because she was a mother too. They could share experiences of raising kids with each other. Even though Leena's kid was younger than hers, there were always new things Leena could tell her.

  "I thought you already knew her since she came to the party too. Maybe you didn't notice her." Rain frowned. He remembered Leena talking to him all night. Annie couldn't have missed Leena if she noticed him.

  "No. It seems I didn't see her." Annie had panicked when she saw Rain with his wife, so she hadn't paid attention to anyone else. She still felt the sharp pain in her heart at the image of her laughing with him.

  The misunderstanding between them could easily be solved as long as both of them were on the same page, but neither of them wanted to press the issue. They kept a lid on their feelings in fear and deviated when they got close to the truth, again and again.

  After meeting Rain, Annie went to a shopping mall instead of going home. She didn't carry a lot of clothes with her as she had two children to take care of, so she wanted to buy a few things for them.

  She had realized something when she was with Rain, earlier. She couldn't help but want to get close to him, even though he was a married man now. It was awful. How could she be so shameless?