Cinderella Tears

Story Abstract

Hailey Walker is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Sam Brown, but doesn't want to leave him. Their affair is not only abusive, but extremely romantic at the same time. Sam is good at sweeping a girl off her feet.

Hailey grew up believing that true love and happiness with a romantic man is a fairy tale come true. It becomes an obsession. She believes her relationship with Sam is what true love is supposed to be, so she continues to lie to herself and stays with this abusive man.

Sam doesn't love Hailey, and only wants to keep her as a trophy to prove that he can have a woman as beautiful as Hailey addicted to him. Despite being together with Hailey for over ten years, Sam is married to a rich woman named Nichole Stanmore.

Nichole doesn't love Sam and is ready to divorce him the second he does her wrong. She knows that Sam needs her family fortune to keep his business, so Sam won't do anything to anger his wife.

Nichole's father, Jeff Stanmore, owns a successful trucking company, but owes all his success to his wife, Sabrina, who has a doctorate in business. She transformed Jeff from a high school dropout into the successful businessman he is today. Jeff's affair with a nineteen-year-old Chinese exchange student angers Sabrina so much that she dies of a stroke. Soon after, Jeff starts to plan his next wedding.

Who will be crying Cinderella Tears in this intense novel?

First-time author Jui-Wei Yang lives in Australia. The issue of abuse to women was the inspiration for the book.

Wednesday Night, 8th June, Sydney

Hailey Walker, 27, walks on the streets of Sydney. It was a cold night, but the streets of the city at night were as busy as ever. In front of her, there are McDonald's, cinema, 24-hour Korean restaurant and 24-hour Chinese restaurant. There is a five-storey shopping mall across the street and a 20-storey apartment building above the shopping centre.

There are two ways to get into the apartment building above the shopping center. One is through the elevator in the shopping center, but you need an elevator key to get there and only the residents got it, the other way is through the doorway on the side of the apartment building.

Almost at 10:30 in the evening, the shopping center is closed. Hailey turned to the apartment door on the side of the apartment building. Hailey doesn't live here. Instead, this is where Chan lived. Hailey wanted to press the buzzer into Chan's apartment, so he would let her in, but instead she was frozen there for a second, and she remembered that Chan no longer wanted to have anything to do with her. An old man living in the apartment building turns the key and opens the front door.

"Do you want to come in, Miss?" said the old man.

Hailey hesitated. "Yes, thank you," she finally said.

She followed the old man and went in.

The ground floor of the apartment building looks to some extent like a big hotel, the floor and walls are decorated with tiles, making this place look very elegant, there is a reception desk in front of the wall, there is a security guard behind the desk, sleeping at work . On the wall facing the front, there are two elevators.

The old man walked into the elevator and Hailey followed him.

"Which floor?" asked the old man.

“Level sixteen please.” Hailey said

The old man pressed 9 and 16 on the control panel of the elevator. When they reached level 9, the elevator stopped and the old man went out. Then the elevator reaches level 16 and the elevator door opens again. Hailey went out. There is a corridor in front of Hailey, with three apartments on either side, at the end of the corridor, there is a balcony where you can see the city's night and the glass roof to the shopping center below.

Hailey went to Chan's apartment and she knocked at the door.

Chan opened the door and he was not happy to see Hailey.

"Oh, great, what do you want?" Chan said impatiently: "Let me guess, Sam again?" Hailey nodded. Sam is Hailey's boyfriend. They have lived together for two years. Sam is inclined to be physically and emotionally very abusive to Hailey.

"Look, I told you, I don't want to have anything to do with you, when you are still with that looser, okay?" Chan said.

“Ok” Hailey said, as she slowly turned around

“Wait” Chan said

Hailey turned to Chan

Chan sighed “Get in” he said

“Thank you,” Hailey said as she walked into Chan's apartment.

The apartment's door is located on the north side of the apartment. Once you enter the apartment, you enter the huge living room with three bedrooms on the east side and a large L-shaped balcony at the back of the bedroom that extends to the back of the south side of the living room. The balcony part behind the bedroom is connected to the neighbor's balcony. Chan’s balcony has a hot tub.

"Who is it?" Chan's girlfriend Emma came out of the kitchen.

"Hailey again" Chan said

"So, what are you waiting for? Let her in." Emma quickly said, let Hailey enter the house.

Chan sighed, “Get in” Chan said

"Thank you," Hailey said as she walked into the house.

"Why hell, we must always bring her in, when her man assaulted her?" Chan said unhappy.

"Oh, come on, because you are a lovely person, this is why I love you." Emma said

"Yes, I suppose." Chan said: "I think, Hailey can sleep on the sofa tonight."

"No, come on, she will take up the spare room." Emma smiled and led Hailey to the spare bedroom.

Hailey had a bruise on her face and she was beaten again by her boyfriend, this time because she didn't make Sam's favor food correct enough.

Chan and Emma own this apartment, they are all out going types, so they like to live in the city. They all make a lot of money, so they can afford such a place in this city.

Emma let Hailey enter the guess room and the two girls sit together on the bed. Emma looked at Hailey’s black eye.

"Jesus, what happened in your sweetheart? Your eye is swelling, let me see that." Emma said she looked at Hailey's black eye." You stay here. I will give you an ice pack." Emma Said, then she left the room.

Emma walks into the master bedroom that she shares it with Chan

"Hey babe, have you seen the ice pack we bought last week? Hailey's eye is swelling." Emma said

"She will be fine. Come to bed." Chan said

“No seriously come on, where is the ice pack?” Emma said

“I think it’s on the top shelf.” Chan replied

"Can you help me reach it, babe?" Emma said

"Of course," Chan said, he went to Emma, ​​but did not reach for the ice pack. Chan grabbed Emma's waste from behind, and put his body in front of Emma's back and began to kiss her neck.

"Come to bed, beautiful." Chan whispered to Emma's left ear.

Emma giggled. "No, really, come on, give me an ice pack." She said she still giggled.

"Come to bed." Chan said again, he began to kiss Emma under her left ear.

"Come on, help me get the ice pack." Emma giggled and said

"Okay, okay, you win." Chan said, he grabbed the ice pack on the top shelf and gave it to Emma.

"Thank you," Emma replied, and she kissed Chan's lips before returning to Hailey's room. Chan went back to sleep.

Emma walked into the room, and in the room, Hailey was still sitting on the bed.

"Here, this is for you." Emma said, hanging Hailey the ice pack.

“Thanks” Hailey said.

Hailey saw the election poster in front of her "Vote 1 Chan Wong". It wrote

"I can't believe he is actually a federal MP." Hailey said

"I know, who thinks he really succeeded? You know? He said that he wants to be a politician in law school. I never thought he would succeed." Emma said

Hailey smiled.

"Press the ice pack against your eyes and try to sleep, okay?" Emma said.

“Okay,” Hailey said with a smile.

Emma left the room.

Hailey tried to sleep, but in the next room, she could hear Emma and Chan having sex, they tried to keep the volume down, but considering that Hailey's bed was right next, to Emma and Chan's room, she could still hear it. But in the end Hailey finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Thursday morning, 9th June, Sydney

Hailey woke up around 7:30 in the morning.

Chan and Emma and their children Long and Ming have woken up and are having breakfast.

Chan was wearing a suit, his suitcase was sitting on a chair, next to him. Emma is wearing scrubs. She is a surgeon in the hospital. The older child is dressed in school uniforms, he is in the first grade. After breakfast, Chan will bring Long to the school and Ming to go to daycare and go to work. On the other hand, Emma only works part-time and will pick up the children after work.

"Good morning," Emma said after seeing Hailey out of the room.

"Hey," Hailey smiled.

Chan looked at Hailey and turned back to his food. He can't be bothered to pay attention to Hailey.

“Hi” Hailey smiles faintly to Chan.

"Mmm," Chan gave Hailey a slight acknowledgment, not even looking up.

Hailey's hair is messy, but she still looks like an angel. She is one of the hottest girls most men may have encountered in their lives.

Hailey comes from a family with a drunk and unemployed father who bash up her and her mother every day. Hailey's mother work as a maid to sustain the family income. When Hailey was ten years old, Hailey's mother died of bow cancer. A few months later, after her mother's death, Hailey was severely hit by her father. She was eventually hospitalized and finally sent away to a foster home. First, she was sent to live with her long-lost brother, Johnson, who left home at the age of Haily. But a year later, the military commando sergeant Johnson died in a training exercise. Since then, Hailey has moved from a foster home to another foster family until she is sixteen years old, working as a Supermarket checkout girl, completing high school and entering university for herself.

In her first year at the university, when she was eighteen years old, Hailey met Sam, a person who was studying hospitality at TAFE. It turned out that Sam was the kind of person who would attack his girlfriend. He is violent and he can't be bother to control it. If you walk down the street, you look at Sam in the wrong way, he will approach you and want to hit you, he does not respect Hailey or take care of Hailey.

But at the same time, Sam is also the kind of man who swept a girl off her feet. From the first day they started dating, Sam will tell Hailey how beautiful she is, how special she is, take her to a romantic restaurant on her Birthday, Valentine's Day, Christmas and some time, for no special reason, he does everything he can to portray himself as a role for Hailey to be safe with him, as a protector and probably, also because of her own long-term looking for Cinderella's romance that Hailey desire and believe in so badly, Hailey unconsciously trap herself into this relationship because of the romantic gestures Sam offered. It is like a loving mother, enduring bad relationships, just to be able to be with her children.

For some people, it sounds stupid, but Hailey is too much in the mist of things to see things clearly. In addition, how does she accept the fact that the fairy tale she believes and the romantic story of Cinderella are just stories?

Related to Sam's abusive nature, Hailey chose to believe that this was just a "no pain, no gain" situation and chose to believe that true happiness requires sacrifice.

Chan actually likes Hailey very much, when they first met, but Hailey had already dated Sam for a month, so Chan moved to other girls.

Chan noticed there is something wrong about Sam from the beginning, but because he likes Hailey, during that time, he believes his judgment may be compromised, so he decided to remain silent.

For some strange reason, no one really understand, when she had a relationship problem with Sam, Chan became the person, Hailey turned to. Although Chan moved to other girls, he initially treated Hailey like a friend, so he listened to her wining emotional problem, in the beginning.

However, over time, Chan finally began to loose his patience with Hailey, especially considering the fact that Hailey would defend Sam at all costs, when Chan said Sam is not good. In addition, Chan never trusts Hailey 100%, he always remembers that there may be a small possibility, the plot is distorted, and Hailey is the problem.

Chan is not a mind reader, but his instincts tell him that Hailey is in denial and lying to herself, but he doesn't know why, the only advice he can give to Hailey is that no one can help her, except herself and she need to admit her got the problem, whatever it is, and talk to psychologists about it. One suggestion, Hailey is unwilling to accept.

In the end, Chan lost his patience with Hailey and no longer wanted to have any relationship with her. After a year after Hailey and Sam dated, Chan completely cut off Hailey. If it wasn't for Emma, ​​Chan still want nothing to do with Hailey.

Emma and Chan met in a bar. When they first met, Chan was looking for a one night stand. He got one from Emma, ​​but a week later, his mother came from Hong Kong and trying to stop his mother from nagging him to find a girl and settled down, he called Emma and asked her to go out. Chan only asked Emma because he wanted his mother to stop nagging him.

Unlike most people, Chan and his brother Tang and Wang and his sister Mulan did not see the importance of finding a girl, getting married, building a family and having children, as far as they think they can live with or without it. Therefore, they are not eager to find a soul mate. In fact, they do not care whether they have found the one or not, and that worries their conservative mother.

Chan originally planned to dump Emma, the second that his mother returned to Asia. If it wasn't because his mother stay for three months, Chan would never find quality in Emma, ​​which made him finally decide to give Emma a real shot. That is Chan got everything to gain from this relationship, and nothing to loose. He actually likes to spend time with Emma, so, he does not feel suffocated. And considering the fact that Emma is an extremely hot ex swimsuit model, showing her off, to his friends is very cool, so after two years of dating, Emma signed a preen-up and she agree to put their house under the name of Chan's mother, so he would not lose everything, in the separation, Chan and Emma moved in together.

Then, two years ago, Sam and Hailey moved in together. Before Sam and Hailey moved in, Sam only hurt Hailey on the emotional basis, but after half a year, they lived together, Sam also started violently assaulting Hailey.

When Hailey encountered problem with Sam, Chan began to be this person, she turns to. Chan still hopes to have nothing to do with Hailey, but considering that he hasn't seen Hailey for nearly nine years, he believes that any problem that caused Hailey to stay in the relationship has disappeared and decided to help her again and let her sleep on the couch.

But it turns out that Hailey still hasn't changed. Once it is obvious, to Chan, he starts to want to have nothing to do with Hailey again.

Coincidentally, Emma and Hailey went to high school together, and now because of Sam and Chan, Emma and Hailey re-contact, now BFF.

Chan has once again lost his patience with Hailey. If it wasn't for Emma, ​​he would have go from only letting Hailey sleep on the couch, to only letting Hailey sleep in the hallway outside his apartment and to stuffing her into the motel somewhere, he couldn't see it and finally closed the door on Hailey again.

"Are you going to work today?" Emma said

“Yap” Hailey said

“Are you coming back here, afterwards?” Emma asked

"I will go home." Hailey said

"Why I am not so surprised, it is always the same." Chan said. "I swear to God that if my children are in the school you teach, I will immediately pull them out of that school." Chan said

"So, do you think that I will not be a good mother?" Hailey asked.

Chan frowned. "Is this a fucked joke? Look at you, you can't even take care of yourself and you got terrible taste in men. AKA jack ass guy. I swear to God. Why don't you do this, just dump his, looser ass?" Chan said

"Don't call him that. He's not a loser. If you keep calling him that, I'll be angry." Hailey said

“Why am I not so surprised?” Chan said. He can't pay more attention to Hailey and turn his attention to the children.

"Come on, kids. Let's go." Chan said.

Chan stood up and began to move to the front door. The children got off their chairs and ran to the front door.

"I will see you tonight." Chan told Emma.

Emma smiled "See you tonight."

Chan and Emma kissed on the lips.

“Bye.” Hailey said

“Yeah, whatever” Chan replied

Then, Chan went to the front door to open it, then he and the children left the house, and then Chan closed the door behind him. Inside the house, Emma and Hailey can hear the sounds of Chan and the children outside for a few seconds, then it begins to fade and finally disappears.

"You must try my cooking" Emma said

“Thank you, but I am not hungry,” Hailey replied.

"Try it, or I will be angry." Emma smiled.

Hailey looked at Emma. Hailey smiled and tried some food. Only now, Hailey realized how hungry she is, she felt she could eat an entire cow, but she chose to be polite and only eat a little.

"It's good." Hailey smiled after she ate it.

"I told you." Emma replied: "Come on, I will take you to work." Emma said

Hailey let Emma gave her a ride to work.

Hailey is a primary school teacher. Emma drove her car to the elementary school where Hailey worked. Hailey got off the car.

“Thanks.” Hailey smiled

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to my place after work?" Emma said

"No, I am fine, thank you," Hailey replied.

"Well, I will see you around," Emma said, then she drove off.

Hailey walked into the school.

"Good morning," Angela said, when she met Hailey at the school corridor.

“Good morning.” Hailey replied

"Jesus! What's wrong with your eyes?" Angela asked when she saw Hailey's black eye.

"I stumbled in the bathtub last night." Hailey lied. Hailey never told anyone to work, anything about her problem with Sam, they only knew she had a comitted relationship with her boyfriend, that's it.

At lunch time, Hailey went to the staff room for lunch, and there was a big basket on the table with dozens of roses, a huge teddy bear and a box of chocolates. There is also a card in the basket. Hailey looked at the card, it came from Sam.

"Oh, how is sweet, you see my husband will never do such a thing for me. He doesn't even remember our wedding anniversary. He goes home on the wedding anniversary after work, eats dinner, and then goes balling with his mates from high school."Angela said

Hailey smiled. "Yes, I am really lucky," Hailey whispered.

"how many men still remember to send his girl flowers like this after all these years?Angela’s husband doesn’t even remember their wedding anniversary. I am really lucky.” Hailey talks to herself, ignoring all physical and emotional abuse Sam done, including a year ago, Sam legally married a daughter of a rich man living on the Gold Coast, after only knew the rich girl for two months.

Hailey smiled.

The school ended at around 3:30 pm, and at four o'clock, all the children in Hailey's class went home. Hailey quickly packed her things, walked out of school and started walking home to the train station.

The familiar sound of "hi" prevented Hailey's footsteps. It is Sam.

Hailey turned around. Sam stood next to his car.

“Hi” Hailey said

"Have you got the basket I gave you?" Sam asked.

“Yes, it is nice, thank you.” Hailey replied

"I know you like Lilly, but they only have roses, but here is a Lilly." Sam smiled and gave the one Lilly he got to Hailey.

Hailey took the flower. She smelled it and smiled. "Thank you. I like it."

"I am sorry that I lost my temper yesterday..." Sam's sentence was cut off.

“It’s Ok.” Hailey said

Sam smiled and said: "I don't know what I did, to deserve you. You are such a great girl." Sam said: "Come on, let's go home." Sam continued.

“Ok,” Hailey replied.

"Hey, Hailey!" Emma's voice suddenly appeared from behind.

Emma noticed Hailey, put her cell phone in her and Chan's apartment, then decided to drive to Hailey's school and hand it to her.

Sam turned his head and saw Emma for the second time. Everything was like a marfia stand off.

“Emma Simpson” Sam looked seriously and said

“Sam Brown” Emma replied

“What do you want?” Sam asked Emma

"None of your business" Emma replied, then she turned to Haley. "You left the phone." Emma said

"You stay the fuck away from my girlfriend, you fucked lesbian!!!" Sam finally lost his temper. He waved his fist at Emma, ​​ignoring Emma, ​​is a girl.

Emma quickly moved to the left and kicked Sam into her stomach. Her two-years of kick boxing training, is paying off.

Sam fell to the ground. Emma stepped back and waited for Sam to take action.

Sam grabbed the metal rod on the ground next to him. He stood up and waved at Emma. Emma jumped back, then she kicked Sam twice, once in her stomach and once on his face.

Sam fell to the ground. Emma went to Sam's metal rod, to throw it into the river, across the road. Sam was in too much pain to refuse. Emma grabbed the metal rod away from Sam, and when she did it, Hailey thought Emma, ​​was going to hit Sam with a metal rod, and she quickly ran to Sam's defense.

"No, Emma, ​​don't do this." Haily said quickly.

Emma quickly glanced at Hailey and threw the metal rod into the river.

"Come on, you are coming to our house tonight." Emma said

"I will be fine. I will go home." Hailey said

“You sure?” Emma frowned

Hailey nodded.

Emma looked at Sam, who was still on the ground. "You better not let me down punk." Emma said, then she walked back to her car and drove away.

“You Ok, sweetie?” Hailey went to Sam’s side and said

Normally, in this case, Sam would hit Hailey, putting out the anger he got from the embarrassment on Hailey, but considering what happened yesterday, Sam decided to refrain from hitting Hailey, today.

"I am fine." Sam replied as Hailey helped him stand up.

"Look, I really don't want you to go out with that Emma girl, anymore, Ok?" Sam said

Hailey nodded "OK," she replied.


Hailey helped Sam enter the passenger seat of the car, then she sat in the driver's seat and drove the car home. 


Hailey and Sam live in suburban apartments. It is actually interesting to call this place the apartment of Hailey and Sam, especially considering that Sam only stays here for a day or two every other week or two. Sam works in the Gold Coast, which is where he spends most of his time.

Sam and Hailey got off the car.

"Go take a bath, dinner will be ready soon," Sam said.

Hailey nodded.

Hailey walked into the bathroom, where the bathtub was filled with a steaming hot bubble bath.

"No one has done this for me. I am a lucky girl." Hailey said to herself.

Hailey took off her pink sweater and dark blue jeans and placed it on the chair next to the bathroom door. There were some bruises on her back. She got those from yesterday. When Sam hit her, there was a scar that was scratched by a belt. She got it from Sam six months ago.

Hailey slowly walked into the water and sat down to relax.

A few minutes later, Sam walked in with a glass of champagne and gave it to Hailey.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Sam said.

“Thanks” Hailey said

In the same time in Chan and Emma’s apartment

"I heard that you went to see Hailey after work today." Chan told Emma. They had just finished eating and were washing dishes in the kitchen.

“She forgot her cell phone at our house. I went to the place where she worked and gave it to her.” Emma said

“Was Sam there?” Chan asked

"Yes, how do you know?" Emma asked.

"I am psychic. I know everything. " Chan joked "It is just a lucky guess. In this case, I think he will appear in the place where she works, just in case some good friends talked some sense, into, her." Chan said

"He appeared, but I am not sure about the intention." Emma said

“I am never certain about his intention either. It is just a guess, assuming Hailey is speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, when it comes to her relationship with Sam.” Chan replied

“What do you mean?” Emma asked

“Maybe she is telling the truth when it come to her relationship with Sam, maybe she is not, maybe she is not telling the whole truth, maybe she is telling the whole truth, maybe she is telling some truth and some lie. I don’t know.” Chan replied

“You don’t trust her?” Emma asked

“No” Chan replied

"Well, I believe her. Sam tried to attack me today." Emma said. This is not something she wants to tell Chan, it just slipped out of her mouth.

"He what?!" Chen frowned and said

"But it doesn't matter, my two years of kick boxing training have paid off. I knocked him down." Emma said quickly.

“Well, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Chan asked

"Yes, I’m fine. I was so good that he didn't even have an opportunity to touch me." Emma said.

"Is the children there?" Chan asked

"No, they are not," Emma said.

"Look, I don't want you to have anything to do with them. It has gone too far. I mean trying physical attacks. I mean, I don't mind giving Hailey a place to crash when she says she is being bashed up by her man, assuming she was telling the truth, but that was when I knew you, the children would stay safe. I really don't want you to have anything to do with her, okay?" Chan said

"I can take care of myself and the children. I won't let anything happen to them." Emma said

"You are very lucky this time, but what if he brings a knife next time?" Chan said

"Look, Hailey is one of my best friends, I can't give up on her." Emma said

“This is not a laughing matter…” Chan’s sentence was cut off

“I’ll be fine.” Emma said

Chan knows that he can't stop her by saying anything, unless he tied her to the house and didn't let her go, he didn't plan to do that.

Chan sighed. "Okay, just promise me one thing. Make sure the children are safe?" Chan said

"Of course," Emma smiled. She kissed Chan on the chick.

"We don't have milk, I will go to the supermarket, downstairs to buy some, by the way, look at the new music store, downstairs. You want anything?" Chen asked

“Yap, some shampoo too, would you? The brand I normally use.” Emma said

Chan smiled “Alright” he said

Review for Barnes & Noble

Cinderella Tears by Jui-Wei Yang is a romance that touches upon a woman’s desperate desire to be wanted by a man. Hailey is being abused by her live-in boyfriend, Sam, but she refuses to leave him. Sam showers her with gifts and attention, when he isn’t using her as a punching bag. But Sam also has a wife, Nichole. Nichole’s family has money and Sam wants it, plain and simple. Nichole is looking for an excuse to divorce Sam, and when she finds out about Hailey, the marriage is over. The second story line in this novel focuses on Nichole’s father, Jeff, whose affair with a young exchange student named Rita is detrimental to the family. Rita’s plan is to get all of Jeff’s money, use their marriage to gain citizenship, and then divorce him and marry her high school sweetheart. But things don’t always go according to plan, and eventually enough is enough. Will Hailey finally decide that abuse doesn’t equal love? Will Jeff wise up to Rita’s plan to use him for his money? And if so, how will Sam and Rita react?

Cinderella Tears touches on some heavy topics like spousal and domestic abuse. Jui-Wei Yang explains some of the reasons that women would remain in a volatile relationship of that sort, and he does it in an interesting story about friendship and love. I was really surprised by the action that was present in these pages. Many of the characters have a martial arts background and use their knowledge to protect those being abused. I wasn’t expecting that much action from a romance, but it was a pleasant surprise and helped move the plot along.

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