"If... if I... hmm... were to find someone else in the future... Ke'Er... could you accept it?"
Lady Lan's halting words exploded beside Ouyang Ke's ears like a clap of thunder.
His body went rigid as if struck by lightning. He froze on the spot, his mind a complete blank.
'What?'
'Someone else?'
'My mother... is getting married?!'
This sudden revelation was completely beyond his comprehension.
Ouyang Ke had never imagined such a day would come, much less ever heard his mother express such a desire.
To him, his mother was his mother—no different than if she had given birth to him. That role, that relationship, was supposed to be eternal.
He instinctively rejected the very idea.
After a silence that lasted for a dozen breaths, Ouyang Ke slowly turned his stiff neck.
He stared blankly at his mother, his voice dry and laced with disbelief as he asked tentatively,
"You... you're joking with me, aren't you?"
'How could that be?'
