Chapter 2Never to Return

On the other end of the line, Professor Hans sounded quite surprised.

"However, if you do that, your existence will be completely wiped away. Even your husband and son won't know where you are. Didn't you reject our invitation before, just for them? Why the sudden change of heart now?"

Quinn tightened her grip on her phone, and memories of the past uncontrollably surged in her mind.

Daniel and Levi had no idea that she had never been a useless housewife.

Seven years ago, she was the youngest doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences at Eastwood University. She possessed exceptional talent in research and spent almost twenty-four hours a day immersed in the laboratory.

Then came a day when she finished an all-night experiment. She was walking unsteadily along the riverbank when her vision went black, and she collapsed toward the raging river due to exhaustion.

Amid a chorus of piercing screams, she felt a pair of powerful hands firmly grab her before losing consciousness completely.

When she woke up again, she was already lying in a hospital bed. In the adjacent bed was Daniel, covered in scrapes and bruises while nurses applied medicine to his wounds.

Only from the nurses did she learn that at the critical moment Daniel had charged forward and grabbed her.

However, the immense force pulled them both downward, and Daniel had to expend a massive amount of effort to grab a tree branch just a second before they fell into the water, barely stabilizing them both.

Seeing her grateful yet remorseful gaze, Daniel comforted her, even though the wounds on his own body were still bleeding. "It's fine. Just be careful when you walk next time."

In that moment, the man's image quietly settled into Quinn's mind, which had previously been filled only with scientific research.

On the day she was discharged, she gathered her courage and asked Daniel for his phone number.

Fearing rejection, she quickly explained that she simply wanted an opportunity to repay him for saving her life.

Daniel stared at her in silence for a very long time before he finally asked, "You want to repay me? Then are you willing to marry me?"

Quinn looked at him in sheer disbelief. Once she realized that he was not joking, she heard her own answer amidst the violent, rapid beating in her chest.

"I am."

Just like that, she became Daniel's wife.

Not long after their marriage, she became pregnant with Levi. However, the doctor said her body was weak, so she needed quiet rest to protect the pregnancy and could not overexert herself.

She stroked her lower abdomen, and after immense internal turmoil, she rejected the invitation from the Medical Research Institute and returned home to become a full-time housewife.

Daniel also fulfilled his duties as a husband completely. He accompanied her to every prenatal checkup, brought her gifts whenever he returned from business trips, and even wept out of heartbreak when he saw her in pain during childbirth.

Quinn truly believed that she was fortunate enough to have married for love.

That belief lasted until a heavy, rain-drenched night one month ago, when a thoroughly soaked woman knocked on the villa door.

The moment the door opened, the woman collapsed to the ground. Daniel, who was always calm and composed, showed undisguised panic on his face as he picked up the woman and rushed to his car.

Only then did Quinn learn that this woman was Charlotte, Daniel's first love.

Back then, he had proposed only because Charlotte had cut all ties with him and moved abroad, leaving him wanting a marriage simply to move past the shadow of that heartbreak.

After learning the truth, Quinn received a second invitation from the Medical Research Institute.

Yet, even after learning the real reason behind their marriage, Daniel was still the man she had loved for seven years, and they had a five-year-old son together.

Quinn thought that, no matter what, she and her son must still hold a place in their hearts. She could never make up her mind to leave.

Finally, on this very day, her husband and son helped her make that final decision.

Quinn lowered her eyes, concealing the bitterness in her gaze.

"From now on, those two have nothing to do with me."

Professor Hans let out a soft sigh but did not press her further.

"These procedures will take seven days to complete. When the time comes, I'll send someone to pick you up."

After hanging up the phone, Quinn scrolled through her social media feed.

Charlotte's latest post appeared right at the very top.

[Family.]

The attached photo showed Charlotte and Daniel holding Levi between them, all three faces radiant with bright smiles.

It turned out that the very first thing they rushed to do after leaving her was to take a family photo with Charlotte.

With a soft chime, Charlotte updated her feed once more.

[I truly hope this beautiful dream never ends.]

Quinn stared at those words for a long time as the familiar smiles on those two faces haunted her mind.

Ultimately, she slowly tapped the like button.

Starting today, she no longer wanted to have anything to do with this family.