Caleb’s final sentence carried an eerie sense of pleasure that left Sienna feeling panicked.

"W-why did you change your mind?"

Caleb looked up at the calendar, his eyes slowly becoming occupied by nostalgia.

"Because today is the twelfth anniversary of Luna and me falling in love. Why did you think that on such an important day, I would accompany you to the Civil Affairs Bureau to occupy a position that only belongs to her?"

Sienna looked over in that direction, seeing the date circled in red at a glance.

For some reason, the nausea that had stopped for a long time suddenly surged up again.

She forcibly suppressed the discomfort, her voice trembling and out of tune.

"But... but the baby is going to be born in five months. He can’t grow up without a father..."

"Don't worry, the baby—won't be born."

Chapter 24

Caleb’s voice was as flat as a still lake.

But to Sienna, it sounded like a thunderous boom.

She instinctively shielded her stomach and backed away, her eyes filled with terror and pleading.

"Caleb, this is your own flesh and blood. How could you bear to harm him? If Uncle and Aunt knew, they would be furious."

Watching her cower in the corner, Caleb gave a light chuckle.

A second later, those cold eyes instantly became sharper than a blade.

"I wouldn't do it myself, of course. My hands aren't exactly light, and if I ended up killing both mother and child, your brother would probably kill me, right? After thinking it over, I decided abortion pills are the safer option. Don't you agree?"

Hearing the word "abortion pills," Sienna’s face turned deathly white.

She looked at the empty glass, her first instinct to shove her fingers down her throat to induce vomiting.

Watching her collapse on the floor, retching violently, Caleb felt nothing but absolute gratification.

He stood up, towering over her, his tall silhouette like a mountain casting a shadow over her.

"I told you countless times to bear the consequences, why didn't you listen even once? Everything I gave Luna was given willingly. But you? You were nothing more than a dog I toyed with when I was in a good mood. What gave you the right to think you could compare to her?"

"She was driven away by your despicable, filthy schemes. Did you really think I would agree to let you take her place? How could you be so stupid? Every bit of pain she endured, I will repay to you a thousand, ten thousand times over. I’ll make you understand what it means to wish you were dead!"

By the time he finished, Caleb was smiling, but his eyes were brimming with tears.

He looked up, gazing at this "home" that was now unrecognizable. A sense of infinite pain pierced his heart, as if he were being carved by a thousand knives.

He stumbled, pushed open the door, and walked out.

But as he looked out at the world, he found himself aimless.

He only wanted to be by Luna's side.

Yet he had no idea where he should go.

After the lights in the emergency room went out, a nurse came out to inform the family of the results.

"The patient ingested a large quantity of abortifacient medication. Although she induced vomiting in time, the fetus still absorbed quite a bit. For the sake of the child’s health, we recommend inducing labor, but the patient adamantly refuses. We are here to consult for your decision as the guardians."

Hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. He felt their hearts go cold and pressed for more details.

"What impact will these drugs have on the child? Isn't there any other way to save him?"

"I’m sorry. Due to a lack of clinical trial data, the hospital doesn't know the exact impact. The child might be weaker, or perhaps there will be no negative impact at all. But for the sake of caution, inducing labor is still our recommendation."

Even with the doctor putting it so plainly, Mr. and Mrs. He remained unwilling to give up.

They deliberated for a long time before finally deciding to take the gamble and give birth to the child.

And so, for the following five months, Sienna stayed in the hospital.

Knowing the child hadn't been aborted, Caleb sneaked in time and time again, trying to find a way to end the pregnancy.

Time after time, Mr. He’s patience finally reached its limit.

He slapped his son hard across the face, roaring at him to ask why he would harm his own flesh and blood.

Caleb lifted his head, his face filled with unwillingness, madness churning in his eyes.

"She doesn't deserve to give birth to my child! In this life, I only want Luna!"

The child was already eight months along, and he was still harping on about Luna.

Utterly disappointed, Mr. He had Caleb sent away and locked in a psychiatric hospital.

A month later, the child was born, appearing perfectly normal.

Sienna felt as though heaven had finally opened its eyes.

She gave the child a name.

Caden.

Chapter 25

As the child grew, the He family gradually realized that Caden seemed to lag behind his peers in speech, though he was brimming with restless energy.

They didn't take it to heart, assuming it was just a late developmental milestone, and bought him plenty of nutritional supplements.

By the time the child reached four years old, he could still only utter simple monosyllables and couldn't even speak in complete sentences. Only then did they realize something was wrong and hurriedly took him for an examination.

Upon investigation, they discovered that the abortion drugs from years ago had caused irreparable damage to the child’s brain.

Caden’s IQ would forever remain at the level of an eight or nine-year-old.

Hearing this news, Sienna felt as if the sky had collapsed.

She had never imagined that the child she had fought so hard, through so much suffering, to keep would be mentally disabled.

She spent every day holding the child, washing her face with tears, complaining endlessly. The He family also started finding fault with her from time to time.

Mrs. He, burdened by the heavy heart of it all, could not bear the blow and died of anger less than two months later.

In a fit of rage, Mr. He kicked Sienna and the child out of the house.

As the tree fell, the monkeys scattered. Looking at his empty home, he finally remembered his incompetent son.

But when he rushed to the psychiatric hospital to take Caleb home, he learned a new piece of tragic news from the doctor.

Due to long-term alcoholism and a deteriorating psychological state, Caleb had suffered a complete mental breakdown.

Mr. He didn't believe it, but when he entered the room and saw the man with graying temples and vacant eyes, he couldn't hold back his tears.

"What a tragedy... what a tragedy!"

Watching the old man weep so bitterly, Caleb had a fleeting moment of lucidity.

He didn't recognize the person before him, thinking it was just a fellow patient, so he handed him the apple he was holding.

"Why are you crying? Is there no one to play with you? If so, when Luna comes back, shall we be friends?"

Mr. He hadn't expected that after all these years, Caleb would still be fixated on Luna.

He reached out and gripped his son’s palm, his tone filled with sorrow and despair.

"You don't even recognize your father anymore, yet you still remember Luna?"

Caleb couldn't understand what he was saying.

He could only catch the name "Luna," and thinking she had finally returned, he immediately jumped up, wanting to rush out.

The medical staff hurriedly held him back, cooing and coaxing him until they finally got him back to bed.

"Be a good boy, Luna will be back tonight."

"You promised Luna this morning that you wouldn't make a fuss today, remember?"

Watching them coax Caleb as if he were a child, Mr. He finally realized that his last shred of hope had been severed.

He hunched his back and walked slowly out of the ward, only to be stopped by the medical staff following him.

"You are Caleb’s family, right? We’d like to understand—who exactly is this 'Luna' the patient keeps talking about? Is it possible to invite her to the hospital? It might improve the patient’s condition."

Luna?

Looking at Caleb, who was slowly quieting down in the room, Mr. He shook his head.

"I don't know."

Dropping these three words, he lifted his feet and slowly headed downstairs.

Passing through the courtyard, he saw a familiar figure.

It was Arthur.

It had been nearly thirty years since he had seen him; he was now so aged and frail it seemed he might pass away at any second.

Yet, he was still muttering a name over and over.

"Elara... Elara..."

It took Mr. He a long time to remember the person.

Elara was Luna’s mother, who had suddenly disappeared on a morning many years ago.

So, is there truly such a thing as fate in this world?

Mr. He did not know. But through the current state of Arthur, he could imagine what Caleb would look like in another twenty years.

As aged as him, as confused as him, and just as fixated on a name he would be unable to forget even in death.

As for those who were being missed—would they ever come back?

They probably... would never come back again.

The End