Chapter 1
I sponsored Henry Gardner for ten years. He finally said he wanted to marry me, but on the condition that I got sterilized and adopted a child from an orphanage.
When I prepared to adopt a girl named Noreen Rye, words appeared before my eyes.
[Congrats to the side character for becoming the ultimate sucker. Noreen is the child of the male and female leads.]
[Noreen will kill the side character soon, and all her assets would belong to their perfect family of three.]
[Serves her right. After all, she ruined the leads' romance just because she had a bit of money.]
My breathing froze. I turned and walked toward the corner of the yard, where a child who just finished fighting sat, looking sullen while putting on her shoes.
Words flew past again.
[No! That's the future ultimate villain who would oppose the leads to the end!]
[Did the evil side character lose her mind? I wish I could slap her right now]
Well, evil side characters and ultimate villain belonged together, right?
*****
On the way to the orphanage, Henry kept giving me the cold shoulder. He only started to relax a little when he saw that girl, Noreen Rye.
Trying to make him happy, I rushed over and eagerly asked Noreen if she wanted to be my daughter.
"You crazy woman, you think you could ever be my mom? I can't stand you," Noreen snapped.
That totally blindsided me.
This girl, who looked all sweet and innocent, like she didn't belong in a place like this, stormed over and kicked me, hard.
"Get lost, you bitch. Go drop dead already," Noreen yelled.
She put everything she had into that kick, and pain exploded in my knee. I went down, hitting the ground hard.
Noreen gave a cold snicker, then darted straight to Henry, hiding behind him and watching me.
"Who told you to go talk to Noreen on your own? What if you freaked her out?" Henry snapped.
Henry gave me a cold, disgusted look.
"She's just a kid. How much damage could she do? Are you really pretending to be hurt so I'll care about you? Get up and say sorry to Noreen," Henry barked.
As I was about to say something, words suddenly appeared in front of me.
[Noreen, you nailed it. Way to get revenge for your mom. And congrats to the side character for the sucker. Noreen's actually the main leads' kid.]
[Noreen's gonna finish off the side character soon, and then all the money will be the main leads' and her.]
[Serves the side character right. She thought just because she's got money, she could mess with the main leads' relationship!]
I couldn't believe my eyes. What did they meant by me being the sucker.
Just then, Noreen started fake-crying, and Henry totally lost it. He stormed over and yanked me to my feet.
He yelled at me, "I told you to apologize. Did you hear me?
"I'm counting to three. If you don't apologize, I'm calling off the wedding."
He gave me a cold, hard stare, like he was totally in control.
Words exploded, cheering him on.
[Father and daughter teaming up for revenge for the female lead. The homewrecker side character stole the female lead's husband and kid. Serves her right to get treated like this.]
[Savage move. He's not afraid to stand up to the big shots. No matter how loaded the side character is, she'll never get one over on the male lead.]
I gritted my teeth, fighting to keep my cool as I pushed myself up from the ground.
I said, "I'm the one paying for this adoption. I'm the one who just got insulted and knocked down. And now you expect me to keep pandering to this ungrateful brat?
"Henry, you don't have to say it. I was going to call off the wedding myself. As for Noreen, I don't want her anymore."
Suddenly, everything went quiet.
After a moment, Noreen was the first to scream in protest, "No way. I don't want to stay in this place and get teased for not having a mom. I can't stand it here.
"I want to eat delicacies, not bland boiled veggies. And there's no way I'm living in that dirty dorm with these kids anymore. It reeks in there."
Henry's eyes widened, his chest heaving, but then he let out a cold, mocking laugh and shot me a look.
He said, "Lauren, don't forget you went and got yourself permanently sterilized. Didn't you love kids? If you don't adopt, you'll never get to play mom.
"I get it, you're pissed I didn't stick up for you just now. Sure, Noreen was out of line, but she's just a kid. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?
"Look at the rest of these kids. They look dumb. No one here can compare to Noreen. A little attitude just means she's got brains.
"Be good. Let's just get the adoption paperwork done, okay? We can hash out the rest at home."