10
In an instant, my blood began to flow backwards.
The camera was hidden behind the painting in the living room, very well concealed.
Recently, only a technician had come to repair the TV.
Ignoring Lucas’s gloomy expression, I rushed out the door.
It wasn’t out of fear, but anger.
Downstairs, Noah leaned against his Bentley, the night accentuating his tall, slender silhouette.
He tried to light his lighter several times, but it only produced empty clicks.
My slap, however, landed solidly on his right cheek.
Have you really gone crazy? Why do you have to ruin my life?”
“Do you know how hard it was for me to get where I am today? Where were you all this time? Who are you trying to impress with this deep love act now?”
Noah’s head was turned to the side by the slap. He prodded the inside of his cheek with his tongue, his voice carrying a hint of barely suppressed madness.
“Hehe… You don’t even like Lucas, why do you insist on serving him every day, watching his mood, why marry him?”
11:00 AM
<
I blurted out: “Who says I don’t like him? What does an outsider like you know?”
Noah stood up straight, forcefully wiping my lips, tears seeming to glisten in the corners of his eyes.
“I just know, I just know.”
“When you loved me before, you didn’t have that fake expression at all.”
I suddenly felt very tired, wanting to end this endless entanglement.
“Enough, take me somewhere we can talk.”
I voluntarily got into the passenger seat.
Noah stubbed out his cigarette and slammed the car door shut efficiently.
The wind carried Lucas’s shouting voice: “Ava, stay here, don’t go with him!”
I hurriedly looked back, but Noah stepped hard on the accelerator, making me lose my balance.
After getting out of the car, Noah pulled my arm towards the hotel he had booked.
Noah held his head in both hands, taking several deep breaths in pain.
“Ava, I’m begging you, can you not marry someone like that? Can you stop degrading yourself?”
A stack of photos was thrown in front of me.
The male lead was always Lucas, but the female leads were different faces.
The common point was that they were all young and beautiful, all in intimate contact with Lucas.
The photos had watermarks in the bottom right corner, all taken within the last three months.
“If Lucas had rejected temptation for you even once, I would be willing to hand you over to him.”
My expression remained unchanged as I flipped through the photos, as if admiring a beautifully illustrated book.
“Mr. Noah, aren’t you just as rotten?”
Noah’s body stiffened, and he slowly raised his head.
“Ava, what’s happened to you? You weren’t like this before…”
I looked at the dark clouds pressing down on the city and called his name after a long time.
“Noah, when I broke up with you, I thought you’d be the worst man I’d ever meet, but after entering society I found that was far from true.”
The year I broke up with Noah and came to this city.
I job–hunted with a resume boasting top grades in my major, but what the boss was interested in was my face.
Because the benefits I could create for him at drinking parties were far greater.
Men old enough to be my uncles would pin me on their laps, not letting me leave, while my superiors smiled.
My second job was at a famous company, and I was promoted quickly.
I thought my abilities had finally been recognized.
Until my boss locked me in his office, undid his tie, and started telling me to “be sensible.”
That boss was Jack.
1:00 AM
<
A sleazy man with a wife and daughter.
The consequence of my resisting Jack was not only being framed as a mistress, but also having my reputation ruined.
For two whole months, I didn’t receive a single job offer.
“Jack was very influential in the industry, he almost completely cut off my career path. My four years of university studies were all wasted.”
Noah’s eyes turned cold, his fists gradually clenching, his teeth gritting audibly.
“Beast.”
I was forced out of my professional field and into the mundane world.
Without protection, beauty became more of a disaster.
Enticement was already considered light; some beasts would block my way every day, causing trouble to force me to give in.
But I was stubborn.
I had heard all kinds of insults calling me a slut.
I was almost gang–raped.
I just wanted to work hard, get promoted, and give my mom a good life.
But every time I was about to be promoted, those men in suits would play dirty, saying I still had to accompany them before it could happen…
I couldn’t fight against men, and I didn’t want to be chased around like a rabbit by them.
I could only find myself a mountain to lean on.
“!Lucas is my mountain.”
