Shawn left for the interview and Thora took my hand.

“Elvira, you’re so beautiful! I heard Shawn’s ex-girlfriend of six years is here today. Do you know who she is?”

I didn’t bother to guess whether she was telling the truth.

I pulled my hand away and wiped it on the handkerchief because of mysophobia. “Sorry, I’m a germaphobe.”

Thora lowered her head. Her face was flushing with embarrassment.

“Elvira, why are you pretending? You’ve been a jerk since college. Even after two years, you’re still as pretentious as ever.”

Jeff sat across from me and his face was nonchalant.

“Jeff, don’t say that. Miss Barnes isn’t that kind of person.”

“Thora, you only met her once and you were deceived by her. I’ve known her for six years. If it weren’t for her, how could my brother have gone bankrupt?”

“What do you mean?”

“Thora, don’t you understand? She’s my brother’s damn first love.”

Jeff provocatively spat the gum in my direction.

I blocked it with my bag, stood up and slammed it in Jeff’s face.

“Elvira! What do you mean? Do you think I’m the same as you? I’m the second son of the Garraway Family! Who do you think you are? You dare touch me? Believe it or not, my brother will chop off your fingers!”

“I don’t care about you, or the Garraway Family. If I can bankrupt him once, I can bankrupt him a second time.”

The sudden fallout disrupted the flow of their interview.

Shawn rushed back.

I looked down at the candy stains on the white bag.

I was mysophobic.

I raised the bag and looked at the person in front of me. “13,000 dollars.”

“How dare you ask my brother for such a small amount? Are you doing it on purpose? I see you haven’t been doing well these past two years, but your ability to seduce men has improved a lot.”

I picked up the bag and was about to throw it, but Shawn tightened his grip on my wrist.

“What did you say?”

“13,000 dollars.”

“After that.”

I thought about it.

I wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted.

Since he wanted to hear it, I’d repeated it to him.

“If I can bankrupt you once, I can bankrupt you a second time.”

Shawn smiled. I laughed from the bottom of my heart for the first time tonight.

“I like you better when you’re not pretending.”

I pulled my hand away, my movement to hit him paused midair. But he thrust his face towards me.

“If you slap me like that, I’ll paralyze your mother’s upper body too.”

I was disgusted and didn’t want to hit him, but after he finished, I slapped him hard.

Jeff rushed over first.

“How dare you hit me! Are you fucking crazy?”

He pinched my neck and I pulled his hair. The clear glass stool smashed against Jeff, blood dripping from his head.

I picked up the shards of glass and cut Shawn’s arm. With absolute force, Shawn pushed me into the pool.

We ended up in a disgraceful fight. “I heard you’ve been taking care of your mother for the past two years. It must be tough, right? How about I help you create an accident? That way, you won’t have to work yourself into it again. You have beautiful eyes. If I gouge them out and propose to Thora, it’ll be a beautiful sight.”

I didn’t buy his words. Meanwhile, I stared at his chest and stabbed it. I wanted to see him act cocky and tough.

Then, trembling, he asked me to use more force. The scene I imagined didn’t happen.

Thora stood in front of him. Blood splattered on her white dress.

“What’s wrong with you? Come at me! Why hurt her?! Don’t you know she can’t stop bleeding?”

I twisted my hand even harder.

“Now I know.”

“Elvira! Don’t let your family suffer!”

“Oh, so my mother deserves to be paralyzed?”

I pushed Thora into the pool without mercy.

The blood from the knife smeared onto Shawn’s shirt. In this sudden situation, no one dared to step forward.

Shawn called me crazy, but his eyes were clearly filled with throbbing.

“Crazy? Isn’t this what you want?”

He had been pushing me since I arrived at this party.

I had been fighting Shawn for so long, I had almost forgotten what our love was like in the beginning.

The day Shawn proposed, I sold his company’s official documents.

The day I agreed to marry him, he had someone remove my mother’s oxygen tank.

The day I was in a car accident, I had to go abroad for treatment.

He checked all the tubes on his body.

When he saw me, he personally removed his oxygen mask and bit the corner of my lip.

“Elvira, if I die, in the next life, you marry me. We won’t torture each other anymore, okay?”

He slowly collapsed from lack of oxygen. I looked into his expectant eyes and shook my head. “We don’t have a next life.”

In the hospital, Shawn rolled up his sleeves. “We have the same blood type. Take mine. If it’s not enough, drain it all.”

When he emerged from the blood-drawing room, he was staggering. He pressed my shoulder, desperate to prove himself.

“Elvira, did you see? I know how to love.”

“Shawn, you took too much blood. You’re unconscious. Shawn, I’ll hold you.”

Shawn pushed Jeff away. “Get out! I’m not unconscious yet.”

He looked at me again. “Did you see? I already know how to love. I can find anyone and love them deeply! Don’t you understand?”

Red and blue police lights shone on the sides of my face and his.

I pushed him toward Jeff. My obsessive-compulsive disorder patted the spot he had just touched.

“The police are here. It’s time to take a statement. I’ll pay for her medical expenses.”

“Elvira, I’m begging for mercy. Let’s let each other go.”

I didn’t answer him. I had let him go two years ago. At the police station, we were locked up in two interrogation rooms.

After taking my statement, I sat here. The chatter in the next room grew louder.

“Shawn, you can hide this from others, but not from me? Another new trick of yours, right? You know she doesn’t want to marry you, so you’re determined to marry her and disgust her. What about Thora? She is so obedient, she’d be willing to be your mistress.”

“I’m serious. But I won’t break up with Thora until she agrees. She’s young and if I suddenly proposed, she won’t be able to handle it.”

“Shawn, won’t Elvira hear us?”

After a long moment, Shawn’s voice reached me.

“If she hears, she’ll rush over and slap each of us without mercy. She didn’t come, which means she can’t hear.”

I found it amusing and lowered my head to make a phone call. “Hey, come get me.”

Within ten minutes, the police came calling. “Elvira, your family’s here to pick you up.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“You can go home after you sign.”

Leaving the room, passing by theirs, Jeff asked jokingly, “Family? Doesn’t she only have one mother? Isn’t her mother paralyzed?”

“Friends, perhaps.”

Jeff suddenly couldn’t help but smile and opened the door. “Officer, who was here to pick up Elvira?”