Johan panicked when he saw me turn and leave. He opened the door and rushed out of the house, but I continued forward without looking back.

Because of the rain, my high heels unfortunately became stuck in the mud that was seeping out onto the roads. I couldn't pull them out.

Just then, Lucy's shrill, whiny voice rang out from inside the house.

"Are you leaving me alone in the room for the sake of another woman, Johan?" she scolded. "You're not allowed to go after her! If you take one more step forward, I'll break up with you!"

My clothes were soaked through, my shoes were stuck in the mud, and my aggravated leg injury was causing me unbearable pain. All in all, I looked downright miserable right now.

Just as I was struggling to get my high heels out of the mud, a white light suddenly illuminated the night.

A car stopped in front of me, and Christian got out of it, the rain quickly soaking through his suit.

He had still been at a press conference an hour ago, defending himself against the accusations thrown at him by Johan and Lucy in front of the media. However, he was now standing in front of me and leaning down to pull my feet out of the mud.

"Why are you here?" I asked, staring blankly at him as Johan's angry shout rang out behind me.

"Christian? Since when did you get together with him, Raelyn? This is an act of betrayal toward me!"

I turned and looked into Johan's bloodshot eyes. They looked the same as they had five years ago.

In the first few years after joining the Rivera family, I lived in Rivera Manor with Scott, Edwin, and Alice. As such, I was often subjected to dirty looks from them.

The household staff employed by the Riveras was extremely observant. Seeing that the Riveras disliked me, they would bully me with increasing brazenness.

"She's freeloading off other people without doing any work. What a shameless brat."

"Exactly. Why don't you help us with some work so that you don't look too much like a beggar?"

The Riveras would turn a blind eye to the dirty, menial work that I did for the household staff.

This continued until the time that the staff banded together to pour dirty cleaning water all over me.

Johan, who had coincidentally returned to the manor for a visit, happened to witness that scene.

It was the first time I had seen him get angry.

He scolded all those staff members, kicked them out of the manor, and then took me back to live with him in his villa in the suburbs.

It was also at that time that Scott assigned me to monitor him.

The first thing Johan had said to me back then was devoid of any kindness.

"Are you an idiot? You don't fight back even when being bullied by others. I already told you that the Riveras are all a bunch of bastards."

As that was the first time anyone had ever genuinely helped me, I had stood there and looked at him blankly. "Are you… Are you helping me?"

Johan had sneered and turned around at that. "Don't overthink it. They should've thought of who you belonged to before messing with you. I just couldn't stand to see them playing dirty tricks right under my nose."

He was later punished by Edwin for his actions and ended up having to stand miserably in the rain.

My heart had gone out to him back then, and I felt a hint of genuine affection for him.

But after five years of interacting with him, I realized that he was just as despicable as the other Riveras at heart!

The young man, who used to despise the Riveras' dirty methods the most, had now also adopted their ways and teamed up with Lucy to slander Christian.

As I looked at Johan through the rain, his face seemed to overlap with that of the Johan in my memories. He felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.

When I heard his accusations toward me, I looked at him and sneered. "You say I betrayed you? I never belonged to you, Johan. And what's more, you were the one who betrayed me first."

Johan showed a rare look of confusion at my words, but quickly reverted to his angry expression. "I can give you one more chance, Raelyn. If you come to me and choose to stand by my side unconditionally, I can forget everything that happened in the past!"