Chapter 1

My boyfriend wanted us to get engaged and get a marriage license.

But what he didn't know was that the little brother in my family, the one registered as my parents' son, was actually my son with my first boyfriend.

And the little sister was my daughter with my second boyfriend.

At the engagement banquet, with the elders firing questions at me, the whole thing was one breath away from falling apart.

Except my boyfriend's family turned out to be even more of a circus than mine.

His older cousin suddenly showed up with a foreigner sporting an eight-pack, announcing he was done pretending and was going to live his truth and chase real love.

The younger cousin insisted on dropping out of a top university to go make big money with some people he'd met online, and was pushing the whole family to sell the house and invest.

The girl cousin came in crying that she was pregnant with some domineering headmaster's baby, loudly declaring she'd rise through her child and live as a kept woman.

In a matter of minutes, the engagement banquet dissolved into chaos.

The elders wailed to the heavens, all of them insisting something had gone wrong with the family graves.

And my full-of-holes family background? Nobody cared anymore.

……

I'm a cheater appraiser.

As long as I marry a designated cheating man on a client's orders, I collect a massive settlement.

My daughter is waiting for cleft-lip surgery. My son is waiting for a kidney transplant.

I gritted my teeth and took the last job.

If this one went through, both kids' surgery money would be covered.

But at the engagement banquet, Aunt Gloria Fox held her cup of tea and looked at me like she was interrogating a thief.

"So you're telling me your parents had your little brother at fifty, and then had your little sister at fifty-five?"

"A woman's long past menopause by fifty. You think we're idiots?"

My back went damp in an instant.

Those two children were mine, from my first two boyfriends.

To keep them from being whispered about at school, I'd registered both of them under my parents' names.

To the outside world, the story was simply that my parents had children late in life.

But I'd forgotten to do the math on the ages.

I opened my mouth, ready to make up some excuse to smooth it over.

Then Zachary Fox suddenly stepped in front of me.

"Aunt Gloria, there's a limit to how hard you can nitpick! What's wrong with having a baby at fifty? Joy Bennett's parents are in good health, so what?"

"People have kids at sixty! Just because you couldn't doesn't mean nobody else can!"

Aunt Gloria's face went sour, and she slammed her teacup down on the table.

"Zachary Fox, what exactly are you implying? I couldn't? Then what's Hunter? Did he just pop out from between two rocks?"

"I'm looking out for you here. Don't go marrying some girl who bleeds her whole family dry for her brother and cleans out everything we've got!"

Zachary laughed coldly.

"My parents died young. I raised my little brother and sister on my own. So Joy takes care of her family, and I understand that! From now on, her family is my family, and I don't need any outsiders worrying about it!"

Zachary was just like me, someone who put family first at his own cost.

Back then, these relatives hadn't lifted a finger to help. They'd even schemed over the compensation money from his parents' deaths.

Bringing them here today was purely to go through the motions.

Watching him stand up for me, something in my chest twisted.

But my daughter's surgery slot was almost here, and my son finally had a kidney donor. All that was left was the money.

The doctor had messaged, asking me to pay the deposit as soon as possible.

I secretly reached out to the client, asking if they could pay half the fee up front.

The reply came back instantly: "No marriage license, not a cent."

I pinched my thigh hard, and my eyes went red in a heartbeat.

"Aunt Gloria, I know you've always wanted to push your coworker's daughter on Zachary, the one who's divorced with a kid, but he wasn't interested, and that's still no reason to come after me."

"Yes, I don't have much going for me. I've got elders at home, a little brother and sister to raise. But making up things about me at my own engagement banquet, with no proof, how are my parents supposed to hold their heads up? How is my little brother and sister ever supposed to face anyone?"

By the end, tears were sliding down my face.

Zachary's heart ached even more. He gripped my hand tight. "Don't listen to their nonsense. The second this banquet's over, we're going to get the license!"

But before I could even nod, Vanessa Abbott, the daughter from the elder uncle's household, suddenly leaned in and asked me,

"Joy, the more I look at you, the more familiar you seem. Why is that?"

"Three years ago, didn't you go to Metro City Women's & Children's Hospital for a prenatal checkup?"

Back then, pregnant with my daughter, I'd bundled myself up head to toe and driven to the next city over for my checkups. I never imagined I'd still be recognized.

My whole body stiffened, but I forced myself to deny it.

"Vanessa, you've got the wrong person. Three years ago I wasn't even married..."

But Vanessa had no intention of letting it go.

"The name matches, the face matches too. It can't be a mistake. I remember that pregnant woman had a petal-shaped birthmark on her waist. Just lift it up and we'll know, won't we?"

And with that, she reached out to yank at the hem of my dress.