"My own mom, of course!" Cedric Grant blurted out. But a troubled look quickly crossed his face. "I like Auntie Joanna and the little sister more. Auntie is super awesome, and the little sister is so pretty!"

Cedric Grant looked at Joanna Sherman. "Auntie Joanna, can I live with you and Dad?"

So they’re already living together.

Sophia Shaw had always thought Vincent Grant would act with propriety and restraint, that he wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.

But when it came to Joanna Sherman, he was always so eager.

"You can’t," Joanna Sherman refused flatly. "If you come to live at my place, your mother is bound to show up."

Cedric Grant pouted in disappointment. "Mom is so annoying!"

Her son turning against her to this extent, Sophia Shaw felt as if she was back in childbirth, the pain tearing her whole body apart.

Vincent Grant frowned, giving him a warning look.

It has nothing to do with me, Sophia thought. It was just that Cedric’s words were impolite.

The baby in the stroller started to cry, and father and son rushed to her side to soothe her. The tenderness in their eyes was more piercing than a needle’s point.

In the days after Bun was injured, she had cried incessantly from the pain, and the only one there to soothe her, to ache for her, had been Sophia herself.

Unable to intrude on their moment, Sophia Shaw dialed Vincent Grant’s number. The man looked at his phone, his brow furrowed, but he answered it anyway.

"Vincent Grant," Sophia Shaw called his name, suppressing the ache in her chest.

"What is it?"

The man, so close to her, had a cold expression and a distant voice.

Sophia Shaw gave a desolate smile. He was as warm as a spring breeze with his "goddess," yet with her, he couldn’t even spare a shred of gentleness in his voice.

Suppressing the bitterness in her heart, Sophia Shaw asked, "Our daughter... have you thought of a name for her?"

"Let’s talk about unimportant matters later!"

The unexpected words were like a row of needles piercing her chest, the pain suffocating.

So Bun was unimportant in his heart! She should have guessed the outcome long ago. His indifference toward the child since her birth was enough to show his stance.

It was her own resentment, her own foolish hope that she could still make a difference.

"I see."

Before the word was even fully out of her mouth, the man had hung up.

The group walked further and further away, and Sophia Shaw’s hands and feet turned ice-cold.

Just let it go.

She could wait hopelessly, but her daughter would not be despised any longer!

Sophia Shaw dialed Vincent Grant’s number again. "Let’s get a divorce."

Sophia Shaw returned to her hospital room. A tall man came to greet her, looking behind her. "Vincent Grant and his son didn’t come back with you?"

The man before her was her senior from university, Levin Sawyer.

He had been in the desert conducting an experiment when she gave birth. He’d calculated her due date and made a call back home.

He happened to call just as Bun ran into trouble.

After Levin Sawyer found out, he immediately canceled an important experiment and rushed back without stopping.

Sophia Shaw walked over and stroked Bun’s little hands and feet, which had just had their bandages removed. She tucked the baby in before replying softly, "Mm."

Levin Sawyer looked at her haggard profile. His expression was a mixture of heartache and regret. After a long moment, he asked in a low voice, "What are your plans?"

"I asked for a divorce," Sophia Shaw said, doing her best to calm herself.

"He... agreed?"

At the time, Vincent Grant had just responded with an "Mm." That was the only sound he’d made, so he must have agreed.

In truth, Sophia Shaw could have guessed he would agree.

This marriage was never what he wanted in the first place. The one Vincent Grant had his heart set on marrying was Joanna Sherman. He was probably thrilled that she was the one to bring it up.

"He agreed pretty readily, didn’t he!" Levin Sawyer was furious. "You just gave birth. Does he have any humanity at all!"

"It doesn’t matter anymore."

Sophia Shaw closed her eyes, forcefully suppressing the waves of dull, persistent pain surging in her chest.

Was she resentful? Of course she was.

Back then, Joanna Sherman’s mother had twisted right and wrong, pushing her own mother to the brink. Now, Joanna Sherman was here to ruin her.

But what good did her resentment do? His heart was with them; it was useless to force things.

She didn’t want to follow in her mother’s tragic footsteps and become so miserable.

"Since you’re planning to divorce, come back to the company," Levin Sawyer said. "Your talent shouldn’t be wasted on the most basic aspects of rocket launches."

Only Levin Sawyer knew that she had been helping Vincent Grant anonymously.

Sophia Shaw fell into a long silence. Finally, she said softly, "Just give me a little more time. I need to wrap things up here first."

She had been working at Vincent Grant’s company ever since they got married.

She’d agreed to come back. Levin Sawyer couldn’t hide the excitement on his handsome face. "Good. We’ll wait for you!"

Vincent Grant sat in his office at the base, a fiery glow visible through the window behind him. His long fingers tapped, and vast streams of data scrolled across the screen.

Cedric Grant was sitting on the sofa nearby, looking at a tablet. His expression turned grim when he saw a news story.

He carried the tablet over to Vincent Grant. "Dad, the news says a little girl who was only a week old got snatched by some crazy person and had to spend a whole night in the deep mountains. That’s so sad!"

Vincent Grant glanced up and nodded in agreement. The baby’s face was blurred out, and so was the mother’s.

Cedric Grant’s gaze fell on the ring the mother was wearing, and he froze for a second. Pointing at the ring, he said, "Mom has one exactly like it!"

But Mom didn’t have a baby. It couldn’t possibly be her.

Cedric Grant swiped the news story away and promised seriously, "I’ll protect my little sister forever and never let her get hurt by any bad guys!"

The mention of Sophia Shaw made Vincent Grant recall that she’d said something about saving a child a few days ago, and then had called him.

At that moment, Cedric had been asking him a question, and he had replied, "Mm."

He hadn’t clearly heard what Sophia Shaw said before the call disconnected.

Vincent Grant didn’t realize that Sophia Shaw had been the one to hang up. Because she never deliberately hung up on him, he just assumed it was a bad signal.

The two of them only had one child, and that was Cedric.

Just then, Jack Holloway walked in. Vincent Grant asked, "Has anything happened with the Shaw family recently?"

Jack Holloway thought carefully for a moment. "I heard the Young Madam’s uncle just had a child. It was a late-in-life birth, and the baby had to be resuscitated in the hospital."

So that was it. She was probably just calling to ask him to contact a doctor he knew.

...

One month later, Sophia Shaw’s postpartum confinement ended, and she returned to the company.

"Have a good annual leave?" her supervisor, Timothy Morgan, asked.

Sophia Shaw had taken annual leave, not maternity leave. Her figure wasn’t the slender type, and with the thick winter clothes she wore, Timothy Morgan didn’t even know she had been pregnant.

Sophia Shaw hadn’t actually intended to hide it. It was just that before she joined the company, Vincent Grant had his assistant, Jack Holloway, tell her not to seek special treatment and not to let her personal issues affect her work.

So, in her years at the company, she had never taken a single day off.

Several years’ worth of accumulated annual leave was just enough for her postpartum confinement.

Sophia Shaw gave a few polite replies.

Timothy Morgan looked at the document in his hand, and though he was reluctant, he still handed it to her. "Your application... it was rejected again."

Sophia Shaw took it.

It was her application to transfer to the rocket development department.

Rejected for the eighth time.

Vincent Grant personally selected everyone in the rocket development department. He didn’t even look at her application before having his assistant reject it.

Timothy Morgan was one of the few people who knew about her marriage to Vincent Grant. Knowing she wanted to be closer to him, he offered some comfort. "President Grant has his reasons for rejecting it. Don’t overthink it."

Sophia Shaw swallowed hard.

Back then, she had indeed had ulterior motives for wanting to join the rocket department. She wanted to stand openly by his side and fight alongside him.

Ever since she found out he was doing all of this for Joanna Sherman, her heart had grown completely cold to the idea.

Taking the rejected application, Sophia Shaw still said gratefully, "Thank you."

Timothy Morgan looked at her and sighed.

Sophia Shaw was a serious worker, willing to endure hardship. In her many years in the Publicity Department, she had never put on airs and always completed her assigned tasks to the best of her ability.

With her qualifications, she should have been promoted long ago. But after four years, not only had she not been promoted, she had been gradually marginalized.

Even employees who had only been with the company for a year had a higher rank than she did. The reason for this...

Timothy Morgan shook his head. He wanted to help her but knew he was powerless in many respects.

"The higher-ups want a follow-up promotional article for the successful rocket launch. You and Judd can go to the base to gather material," Timothy Morgan said, which was his way of giving her a perk.