Prologue

"Oh my god! I'm pregnant! I'm really pregnant!" Anna Beatrice Lee almost jumped in excitement when all three of the test kits she used were positive. All her efforts that fateful night worked.

She had been single for a long time even though she was already twenty-nine and wanted a child for herself. And now, she's finally pregnant. She had been on edge the past month waiting for the signs.

"My goodness! I'll have my own cute little angel soon," Anna couldn't contain her excitement. She called her Grandma right away to inform her of the good news.

"Hello, my dear, do you miss your Grandma," her grandmother said in a weak voice. She was in the hospital.

"Grandma! Grandma, I'm pregnant!" Anna eagerly informed her.

"What?! How did that happen? You are single. Did you really go and find some random guy to make a baby?" her Grandma sounded worried.

"Grandma, don't worry about the details. What's important is I'm pregnant now," Anna said in a cheerful voice.

"You must be pranking me. Child, stop it right now. My heart and my health won't be able to take it. Do you want to kill your Grandma?!"

"Geez. It's true. I'll go to a clinic and get an official test to show you," Anna said, ending the call before her Grandma could say more.

She went to the clinic to get an official test and she didn't know just how much she would regret that. Because of all the people she could have met, she encountered her baby's father; Lexus Damien Park.

Someone no she no longer wanted to meet.

* * *

Anna smiled as rechecked her result. She was indeed pregnant.

"Grandma would believe me now," she hummed. She had visited her Grandma and personally told her the news but she still did not believe her. Her Grandma thought that she was just saying things to make her feel better.

She was about to leave the clinic to go see her grandparents when someone suddenly stole the test result from her hands. She froze when she realized that it was the man she had a steamy night with. In short, the father of her baby.

"Excuse me, sir, please return that," she pretended not to recognize him.

"Come with me," he said and dragged her out of the clinic. She had no choice but to follow because there were a lot of people watching and his grip on her wrist was tight.

"Let go. You're hurting me," she hissed when once they were out of the clinic.

"You are so fond of eating and running away aren't you?" he asked with a grim look on his face.

"What are you talking about? I don't even know you," she continued her act and attempted to escape when he freed her wrist.

"Stop your lousy acting," he said and suddenly scooped her up in a lover's carry.

"Put me down," she gasped but did not struggle, afraid that she might fall and hurt her baby. He brought her into a private room in the restaurant beside the clinic.

"I'm the father aren't I?" Lexus loomed over her once they were alone.

"You are not," Anna lied. He was. But she didn't want to be associated with him anymore. All she needed was her baby.

"I know that I am. The dates add up," he insisted.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lexus, we only had one night together. And that was a safe day. This has nothing to do with you," Anna continued with her lies. She implied that just one night with him couldn't possibly make her pregnant so soon.

"I read this," he said and slapped the test result on the table. "You are pregnant. And it's easy to tell you had it after the night with me."

"You are not the father. I have a boyfriend. He is the father of my baby," Anna made up a boyfriend that did not exist. She kept denying that he was the father but Lexus still said:

"Let's get married. I'll take care of you and our baby."

But Anna didn't want to get married. She didn't need a husband. All she wanted was a child.

'Marriage is a nightmare,' she thought. It was a burning hell that Anna would never want to voluntarily enter.

It was crystal clear from her experience with her parents and the people around her. They were all living in a nightmare. All of them regretted opening the gates of hell and voluntarily venturing into it due to mistaking it for the doors to a paradise that did not exist.

"I will never get married," she repeated the vow she had made to herself a long time ago. She had promised that she would never allow herself to be wrapped in someone's shackles and stay trapped in a cage just as her mother and friends did.

* * *

"This is my body! I decide what I do with it," she hissed in fury, the flames of hatred burning strongly in her heart as her wounds from the past reopened. She threatened to abort the baby if Lexus kept pestering. But she would never hurt her baby. She had to lie to make Lexus back down and stop insisting to marry her.

"You dare to abort my child?!" Lexus seethed. "I would never allow it! Don't try my patience. I'll have you stay at my estate and never allow you to go out," he threatened and held her wrist tightly. "I will bring you home tonight."

"No fucking way! Are you crazy? Fine. Do as you please and I'll do as I please. Imprison me and I'll kill myself," she defiantly said.

'Don't ever get married,' the voice of her best friend echoed in her mind and it strengthened her resolve. She recalled what her best friend looked like in her last days. And once again, the resentment inside her burned stronger.

Anna never wanted a husband and never will. She had promised not to ruin her life. And she wouldn't.