Seven years ago, I had transmigrated into a book as the female lead, Jessie Martin, and my mission was to save the antagonist, Perry Grayson, from himself.

I had to change him from being the dark, jealous, ruthless, and merciless antagonist into a bright and cheerful young man with a positive outlook on life.

I would then be rewarded with 100 million dollars as a reward if I could get him to like me 100%.

However, after being with him for seven years, I had only managed to turn into a victim of his perverted paranoia as he tortured me the whole time.

All of a sudden, I could hear Perry's last words ringing in my ear once again.

"Jessica Martinez! You'll never get rid of me even if you die!"

Since I stood rooted in place without moving, the young man asked me again, a little more guardedly, "Hey, I'm talking to you. Who are you?"

It was only then that I snapped out of my memories and stared at him with fear.

"I…"

My first instinct was to flee. Just as I'd taken a few steps backward, someone suddenly patted me on the shoulder.

I turned around to see who it was and saw Ophelia there.

"Peregrine Garrison, don't be rude. This is Ms. Martinez."

"Peregrine Garrison?"

"Yes. This kid has been with us from a young age. He's already 18 years old, so he's past the age for any legal adoption. He's now on summer break from the local college here, so he's helping me out in the orphanage."

I secretly sighed when I heard Ophelia introducing him to me. Luckily, he wasn't Perry Grayson…

"Peregrine Garrison? That's a pretty unique name."

I pushed my emotions aside and gave Peregrine another once-over.

After some scrutinizing, I realized that Peregrine was quite good-looking too, but he differed from Perry.

Although Peregrine's eyes were dark, his gaze was still clear and innocent. However, when Perry looked at me, his eyes would be filled with dark lust.

This was what set them apart.

Also, Perry would never allow me to stand such a distance away from him. He also wouldn't be looking at me with such a guarded expression.

He would only tug me closer by my wrists and force me to promise him that I would forever stay with him.

Ophelia saw that I was developing some sort of interest in Peregrine, so she nudged him to come closer to me.

"Go on; greet her. Call her Ms. Martinez."

"No, it's fine. He can call me Jess."

Peregrine was very tall. He looked down at me with a look of curiosity in his eyes.

"Hi, Jess."

"Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked, immediately shifting my gaze.

"You look familiar, like someone I know."

I felt my heart starting to thump loudly against my ribcage. Maybe it was because Peregrine's eyes looked too much like Perry's.

"I've got something else going on after this, so I'll be leaving now."

I turned around, planning to leave, but someone grabbed the hem of my shirt from the back.

Peregrine was smiling shyly at me, his lips curved upward. He was so much taller than me that his shadow even managed to completely envelop me in darkness.

"Jess, I keep thinking that we were fated to meet. Can you please bring me back with you?"

Peregrine blinked innocently at me, looking at me longingly with his quiet charm.

I was so stunned I was rooted to the ground. My heart continued to pump wildly.

No one could ever resist temptation from such a handsome young man—never mind that he was only 18 years old this year.

However, wasn't sponsoring an orphan with excellent academic performance part and parcel of my job as a rich billionaire?

I also just had to provide him with food and shelter. That was just too easy for me!

So, of course, I didn't bring Peregrine home with me purely for his looks.

While I was still trying to convince myself, Peregrine, who'd followed me home, suddenly spoke up.

"Wow, your house is huge, Jess."

His smile was too handsome. I couldn't look away from him.

While taking a tour around the house, he suddenly said, "Jess, do you wanna eat me?"

What?

I thought I misheard him. I hurriedly shook my head and held my hands up. I could barely speak from the shock.

"No, no way! How could I? I'm not sponsoring you just because I want to do things to you! That's out of the question!"

Peregrine turned around to look at me in confusion. He was holding a tomato in his hand. Then, he smiled innocently.

"You don't want to eat with me? I thought I'd make some pasta. I saw that you had all the ingredients in your fridge."

My breath caught in my throat as my face began to burn. I felt like a pervert!

As it turned out, I had definitely misheard him!

Peregrine then went over to the stove and started up the fire. Then, he said, "Jess, are you hungry?"

I just wanted to tell him that I wasn't when my stomach suddenly let out a dying whale sound.

Peregrine chuckled. I was completely mesmerized by his laugh.

"Dinner will be ready soon."

I stood rooted to the spot. I could tell that Peregrine wasn't Perry after all. Perry would never treat me with such kindness.

In the end, Peregrine didn't make pasta for me. He made a whole Thanksgiving spread instead!

I hadn't had much to eat for the whole of today, and I was starving. Also, Peregrine was a very good cook, and I kept shoveling the food into my mouth.

Peregrine sat opposite me, watching me eat as he propped himself up with an elbow. He wasn't eating at all.

"Slow down," he said, reaching out to wipe off a bit of mashed potato from the corner of my mouth.

I felt touched. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have brought him home after all. It helped that he was a marvelous cook as well!

When it was time for bed, I figured that since Peregrine was an adult now, he should be fine sleeping on his own. That was why I went back to my own room without worrying too much about him.

However, I didn't expect that he would suddenly appear at the door in the middle of the night. He quietly pushed my door open and said, "Jess, I'm scared. Can you please sleep with me?"

His voice was low and tempting, making my legs turn to jelly as soon as I heard him speak.

Seeing my hesitation, Peregrine took another step closer to me. "Is that a 'no'? Then, can't you just stay with me for a little while?"

He kneeled down next to my bed and rested his head on my legs, looking up at me with his watery eyes like a forlorn little puppy.

My face was burning up. My heart was also starting to thump wildly out of control.

For some reason, I wasn't able to refuse him when I saw the pleading look in his eyes. So, I gritted my teeth and agreed.

"Alright. But I'll leave as soon as you've fallen asleep."

"You're the best, Jess!"

Peregrine smiled as he led me back to his room.

That night, I was still groggy from sleep when I suddenly felt a huge weight on me, as if something was pressing me down.

I hurriedly opened my eyes and saw a handsome face right in front of me.

Was I dreaming?

If that wasn't the case, why else would I suddenly see Peregrine holding me down with a lustful look in his eyes?

"Jessica Martinez, you'd better give me a good explanation for that love bite on your neck. Who did this to you?"

I was so shocked that I fully woke up at once.

The slow, steady, yet suffocating way Peregrine spoke was exactly how Perry used to speak to me!

I sat up and instinctively wanted to run away, but Peregrine caught me and dragged me back. His hold on my wrists was so strong and forceful that it felt as if he was going to crush me to bits!

He smirked happily when he saw how frightened I was.

"Didn't I tell you before, Jessica? You'd never get rid of me even if you died!"