Goodbye, Mr. Regret

They all ran in the same circles, so Ines had, of course, heard rumors about this woman.

What she hadn't expected was that the team had managed to survive all this time thanks to Jessica's financial support.

Jessica continued her gentle deception, using sign language to deliver a white lie: "I don't want Timothy to know about this, so... could you keep the money for me for now?"

Ines agreed without hesitation, promising to keep the secret safe.

As Jessica left Ines's studio, she couldn't help thinking-if, when she was a child, she and her grandmother could have sold their paper cuttings for this kind of money, maybe her grandmother wouldn't have died so young.

Back in that tiny town, they never had access to anyone from high society. They had no idea there were people out there who collected paper art, let alone paid such a high price for it.

Jessica's heart felt unbearably heavy.

Her grandmother had done everything she could to cure Jessica's voice, sacrificing so much in the process.

On her deathbed, her grandmother was wracked with guilt-not for dying, but because she hadn't been able to cure Jessica's mutism, because she would never again hear Jessica call her "Gran."

All these years, Jessica had longed to speak.

Once she started earning her own money, she'd gone to see doctors.

Every appointment ended in disappointment.

Later, she married Timothy.

she loved Timothy and

she could talk, she would have told them-face-to-face-that she

a blessing, after all, that she'd never spoken those words out

more humiliating would it be

Smith's movie role, and

Should she try again?

pulled up. Jessica pushed her thoughts away

Lawson Group,

away. She'd seen enough business dramas to know that regular people never just waltzed into a place

couldn't speak, and nobody at the company knew she was Mrs. Lawson. If she tried to explain herself to the receptionist, she'd probably be laughed

the school security guard had accused her

about to humiliate

Instead, she texted Timothy:

I need to talk. Could you send Secretary Allen

He needed her to keep up appearances as Mrs. Lawson, to cover for

pretty sure

in the middle of a meeting when his phone

to him

message, stood

entire boardroom

at its most critical point. Why end it

Timothy was

waited quietly by the main entrance-her back to the building,

and spotted her slim figure from behind. His voice softened as he called,