Chapter 1: Nightmare
The room was dim.
A man leaned over her, his brilliant, almond-shaped eyes just inches away. They stared at her, filled with a dangerous, predatory air. He casually removed his gold-rimmed glasses and tossed them onto the nightstand.
"Wait..." Caroline Whitman placed a hand against his chest, but he cut her off before she could speak.
Slender fingers threaded through her hair as his thin, scorching lips pressed against hers.
Warm and soft.
She struggled to open her eyes, trying to make out his face in the sensual dimness of the room.
"Baby, don’t get distracted," the man’s hoarse voice rasped.
His hot breath roamed over her skin.
"Who... who are you..." Caroline murmured, lost in the sensation.
The moment she spoke, the body above her stilled. The hand over her eyes was removed, followed by a low chuckle near her ear.
"Take a good look and see who I am."
Caroline opened her eyes. The blurry contours of the face above her sharpened until she could finally see his handsome features clearly.
Adrian Grant.
Damn it!
Caroline snapped awake, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
’Holy crap! My wet dream just turned into a nightmare.’
’How could it be him? How could it be Adrian?’
Caroline just couldn’t understand.
If life was a script, she’d gotten her hands on it fourteen years ago.
At the age of ten, Caroline had unexpectedly awakened her memories and realized she was living inside a novel—a Mary Sue novel, no less.
And what was her role? The villainess’s cannon-fodder sidekick. Because she’d followed her in bullying the poor, gentle female lead at their elite academy, she was eventually dealt with by the male leads, leading to her family’s ruin and her own demise.
As for Adrian, he was a major cast member: the villain who constantly opposed the male protagonist in the business world throughout the book.
Luckily, she’d awakened early. She developed quietly like a background character. Using her knowledge of the plot, she accurately capitalized on several investment booms, elevating the Whitman Family from ordinary wealthy merchants to the new elite of Kingsport.
She did everything she could to avoid the protagonists, but she never expected to run into the book’s main villain, Adrian, in college.
Only she knew that beneath his scholarly and gentle exterior, the man was an absolute psychopath. Offending him was far more terrifying than offending the male protagonist. She walked on eggshells every day, terrified of provoking the villain.
At night, her nightmares were of Adrian grinding her under his heel.
Who would have thought that tonight’s dream wouldn’t be about being ground under his heel, but being pinned beneath his body...
’That was... certainly something to savor!’
Caroline lay in bed, her initial shock giving way to a pleasant afterglow.
"Mommy, did you have a nightmare?"
Just as she was savoring the memory, CLICK, the lights flicked on.
Caroline instinctively turned her head, and a miniature version of Adrian appeared before her eyes.
’Ho-ly, ho-ly, ho-ly crap!’
"A-A-A-Adrian?!"
Caroline shot up in bed, her voice cracking with horror.
The little boy’s fair face was etched with confusion. He glanced at the space on the bed beside her, then looked back at Caroline. "Mommy, Daddy went on a business trip. He isn’t back yet."
Caroline replied automatically, "What Daddy?"
"Adrian Grant."
Caroline was so scared she almost fell out of bed, her mind completely blanking for a moment.
’What the hell? I just had a wet dream, and now I’ve suddenly got a son this big?’
’Am I still dreaming?’
She discreetly pinched herself. It hurt.
She glanced at the time again. It was 3:00 AM, May 16, 2030.
The little boy leaned over to peek at her phone, scratching his head in confusion.
"Mommy, isn’t it 2036? Did you change the time on your phone?"
A prank! This has to be a prank!
Horrified, Caroline scrambled out of bed. The front door was locked tight, and the security feed showed nothing out of the ordinary.
It was as if the child had appeared in her home out of thin air.
Caroline’s mind was a mess, but she decided to get the facts straight first.
"What do you mean, 2036? What’s your name? And whose kid are you?"
"Are you testing me again, Mommy?" the little boy mumbled, starting to count on his fingers.
"My name is Ryan. It’s the year 2036, and I’m three and a half. I’m the baby of Caroline and Adrian. Grandpa is Jonathan, Grandma is Grace, Nana is Yolanda, and Pop-pop is Franklin..."
The child sat on the bed, continuing to tick off names on his fingers as he chattered on...
Caroline grew more and more shocked as she listened. In the end, the child even recited all of their phone numbers from memory.
She didn’t know Adrian’s parents’ numbers, but she certainly knew her own. He even recited her phone number flawlessly.
Caroline was utterly dumbfounded. She glanced at the year on her phone in disbelief, then back at the child before her.
’What is going on? It’s bad enough that I transmigrated into a book, but now a child has time-traveled to me from the future!’
’Is this right? Is this even possible?’
But then again, she had awakened memories of a "life script." In that context, a child appearing out of thin air didn’t seem so impossible after all.
She closed her eyes, deciding to confirm it one more time. Opening her phone, she found a photo in her album and held it in front of the child. "Which one is your daddy?"
It was a commemorative photo taken with her college research group.
The little boy leaned in to look, his eyes lighting up as his small finger pointed precisely at a man in the back row. "This one! Daddy’s handsome!"
The man in the photo was strikingly handsome. His thin, black-framed glasses only accentuated his brilliant, almond-shaped eyes. Below a high-bridged nose, his thin lips were pressed into a firm line. Though he wore the same white lab coat as the others, he exuded an air of noble aloofness that set him apart.
"..."
Caroline’s heart went cold. The little boy then twisted the knife by adding, "Mommy really does like this photo of Daddy."
"..."
’What’s that "really does" supposed to mean?’
Caroline took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to dwell on it. She needed evidence—more scientific, irrefutable evidence.
She waited anxiously until dawn, then called out of work and took Ryan for an expedited DNA test first thing in the morning. By that evening, she had the results.
The words on the report—"A biological parent-child relationship has been established"—struck her like a bolt of lightning.
Caroline sat on the sofa, staring at that line for a full ten minutes, nearly passing out.
"..."
"Mommy, why isn’t Daddy back yet? I miss Daddy. I want to eat the noodles Daddy makes."
A small boy rushed into Caroline’s arms, his innocent, childish voice snapping her out of her daze.
Caroline looked down at the adorable child. His elegant, almond-shaped eyes made her picture the man’s face from the photograph.
The resemblance... It was too strong.
Anyone who had ever seen Adrian would instantly recognize this boy as his son.
"Daddy will be back soon. How about I make you some noodles, okay?"
’I can’t let my family find out about this yet,’ she thought. ’The whole thing is too fantastical. What if they turn around and force me to marry the big villain?’
’I can only placate him for now. Maybe one day he’ll just return to his future parallel universe.’
Ryan shook his head.
"Mommy’s cooking isn’t good. Usually Daddy, Miss Lynch, or Miss King cooks."
Miss Lynch was her family’s housekeeper.
’As for Miss King, from the sound of it, she must be the housekeeper from Adrian’s side.’
’But saying my cooking isn’t good? I’m an amazing cook!’