Under the dark sky, the entire city was illuminated by various colors of light emitted by numerous buildings, cars, street lights, traffic lights, and such.

Stephenie Green was looking out over the bustling city from the top floor of a skyscraper when her phone lit up with a message. Upon looking at it, it came from John Wilson.

John: [Baby, I'm still drinking with my friends, and it's gonna be all night. Don't wait for me anymore. Go to sleep now. Love you.]

Deadpanned, Stephenie replied: [Okay, don't get drunk.]

Just a second later, John texted back: [Okay, Babe.]

While Stephenie stared at the reply, she suddenly heard the bathroom door creak, followed by the sound of footsteps that soon stopped behind her.

Stephenie turned her head only to see Edward Smith with his wet hair combed back and a towel hugging his waist, revealing his well-defined muscles and making him even more attractive.

"I don't hang out with my friend's girlfriend," he said, but his eyes betrayed him, looking seduced as he stared at her filmy slip dress after she removed her down long jacket.

Stephenie closed their distance and replied, "But you still let me in."

Edward looked down at her and succumbed to her pure temptation, which was perfectly highlighted by her low-cut slip dress. Staring at it, his lips curved into a lascivious smirk.

Based on his smile, Stephenie thought Edward was now looking down on her. But she soon shook that thought off as she firmly believed that all men were the same. For her, no man would ever refuse a woman who was already throwing herself into him. Besides, Edward's reputation among John's friends had never been good. In fact, he was known as a playboy in their circle, but his girlfriend had no idea about it since no one had ever told her that her boyfriend of eight years was like that!

Putting that thought aside, Stephenie touched his chin with her index finger and snorted, "You're not friends. You don't even know that John is just hanging out with another good friend next door."

Edward's eyebrows shot up upon hearing her, but he didn't say anything. After all, it was not beyond everyone's knowledge that John and Edward were not close.

Stephenie leaned on his shoulder and stood on tiptoe to kiss him despite the fact that she was totally immature in this regard. She had no prior experience, so she relied solely on her instincts to determine what she needed to do. Surprisingly, it worked on Edward as his breathing became heavy and his body began heating up.

"So you're actually a devil dressed up as an angel, huh," he suddenly remarked in an emotionless tone, then pushed Stephenie to bed.

Although his tone was devoid of emotion, his words sounded mocking to Stephenie.

Unbeknownst to everyone, she had always been a conservative and traditional woman, never rebelling against anything. The only thing she fought for against her auntie was her relationship with John.

"Isn't it a good thing to be a bit naughty?" Stephenie asked, her back sinking into the soft bed and staring at her reflection in Edward's brown eyes. As she did so, she nearly didn't recognize herself due to the heavy makeup she was wearing.

With a hint of playfulness in his sharp, almond-shaped, cold eyes, Edward rubbed off some lipstick from the corner of her lips with his rough thumb.

During the coitus, no one dared to speak as they were so focused on and enjoying what they were doing.

In the middle of it, Stephenie suddenly remembered something her best friend Joyce had told her. According to the latter, experienced men knew how to please a woman. However, she couldn't relate to her friend at that time since John was her first love and vice versa. Thus, Joyce felt sorry for her, for that matter. But thanks to Edward for giving her a good experience tonight; she could finally understand what Joyce had said before. Edward was, indeed, a good choice.

But that fantasy didn't last long as Edward headed straight to the bathroom to take a shower as soon as he reached the climax, unabling them to cuddle afterward. It was a slap in the face to Stephenie because it only proved that no feelings were involved in that intercourse.

Even so, Stephenie didn't mind it as she also used him as a tool as he did to her. For her, it was simply releasing her repressed desires, and then she would return to her original as if nothing had happened.

Just like that, Stephenie got out of bed without feeling sentimental after Edward went into the bathroom. But upon picking up her clothes, she discovered that her skirt had been torn and could no longer be worn. Thus, Stephenie took Edward's shirt and wore it instead. Then she wrapped herself in her down long jacket and quietly exited the hotel the same way she had arrived.

Meanwhile, because Eason's wedding was the next day, John and his friends threw a bachelor party for him at the hotel where the ceremony would be held, and they all decided to stay there the entire night.

Hence, Stephenie came to that hotel again at noon the next day for the ceremony, but she happened to meet John in the restaurant where he was having his brunch. Upon seeing her, people started to tease her. "Are you here to check on John, Stephenie?"

Even though Stephenie didn't have even the slightest doubt about John, the latter affectionately snaked his arm around her waist and immediately defended himself, "They can testify that we didn't do anything stupid last night except drinking and chatting."

Stephenie chuckled and jokingly said, "How would I know if you guys aren't covering for each other?"

Suddenly, Eason waved in the direction behind Stephenie and shouted, "You are late, Edward! I can't believe you let the bridegroom wait for you."

Disheveled and only wearing hotel slippers, Edward slowly walked to his reserved seat, which was on Stephenie's right side.

As he walked past her, a familiar cold cedar scent filled her nose, reminding her of the coolness and sharpness of a snow-covered mountain. But instead of sensing coldness from him, his scent brought back the memory of the fiery night to her mind.

As Stephenie delightedly took the glass of juice John had poured for her, she heard Eason ask Edward.

"Aren't you the first one to go back to your room last night? And now you're the last to arrive. So, why do you look so tired?" Eason wondered, his forehead creased in perplexity.

But before Edward could say anything, John answered impliedly, "Edward, don't you dare say you had some special guests in your room last night."

Hearing the latter's tease, Eason became immediately excited and couldn't help but exclaim, "No way! Is it true?"

Alan Carter, who had just returned from the bathroom, heard the chaff and butted in, "Really, that woman's voice was very loud. I slept in the same room with John last night, next to Edward's, and I heard it faintly."

Stephenie subconsciously tightened her grip on the glass of juice as she heard Alan. It never occurred to her that she had moaned so loudly the night before. Not to mention that John didn't recognize her voice, which she found odd.

With that in mind, Stephenie turned to Alan and asked, "Was John drunk last night?"

Alan, who was a seat separated from her due to John and wearing glasses, smiled politely and replied, "No, he wasn't. Don't worry, Stephenie. I'll look after him for you."

John leaned closer into Stephenie's ear and whispered, "Baby, I really did what you told me last night."

Meanwhile, the rest continued to tease Edward. Eason nudged Edward slightly and chaffed, "Good job, bro! You told us you'd go back to make up for some sleep, but you just actually wanted to have fun right a day after you came back."

Edward's grandfather had sent Edward to Australia for some reason two years ago, and he had just returned to Woodlake City the other day.

"It was boring, and she was difficult to deal with," he said slowly, his slender fingers playing with glass and staring at it.

His every word heavily fell on Stephenie's ears, and her brows twitched. But she wasn't sure if he simply didn't care about her presence or if he said it on purpose for her to hear.

Last night, Stephenie thought she did a good job pretending it wasn't her first time, but it turned out that he easily saw through her trick.

"But you still went on it?" Eason pried, which was unusual as he wouldn't take such a topic seriously, thinking that taking one's first time only brought trouble. Furthermore, he believed that even though virgins were like fresh, pure flowers, they lacked experience, resulting in unsatisfactory performance and pleasure. However, with Edward's words, the girl appeared to be a virgin, with whom Edward had impossibly tangled, so Eason's interest was suddenly aroused.

But before Edward could respond, John suddenly interjected, "Hey, Stephenie is here. Drop the topic, please."

Not wanting to tarnish his reputation in front of the ladies, he quickly dropped the subject, smiled at Stephenie, and defended himself. "Don't get me wrong, Stephenie; John and I are strictly controlled by our wives; it's only Edward who likes to play around. But we're now advising him to settle down."

Hearing how the latter attempted to clean up his name and tainted his, Edward cast a sidelong glance at Eason, sneered, and challenged, "Try if you can. Introduce someone who can control me."

"Didn't your family set you up with..." Eason uttered, but soon zipped his mouth when Edward threw a dagger-like glare at him.

After brunch, they went to pick up the bride. Upon arriving at the place, the bridesmaids were also present, so as agreed upon, Eason introduced them to Edward and let him freely choose who he wanted to be his partner.

Earlier, after Edward told Eason his preference, the latter advised the former to first establish a relationship with the bridesmaid. But Eason's efforts were not needed because the moment Edward appeared, he had already captured the attention of every bridesmaid. Well, it wasn't surprising, given that Edward stood out among the five groomsmen, despite the fact that they were all wearing the same suits.

Stephenie couldn't deny that fact as well, but as far as she remembered, when John and Edward were chosen as the "Dashing Duo" by schoolgirls in Woodlake, John had gained more fans by then. But now, Edward had clearly and quietly surpassed John.

"What's the matter with your shirt?" John queried upon noticing Edward's shirt.

The groomsmen's attire was unified, with a suit and a shirt inside. But Edward was not wearing that shirt.

Looking at his shirt, Edward remembered the last night and implicitly answered, "A thief stole it."

Stephenie was close enough to hear their conversation that when Edward said the word "thief," she knew he was referring to her, making her face flush instantly. Indeed, taking something without the owner's permission was no different than stealing, so technically, she was a thief. But it was not her intention; Stephenie just couldn't bring herself to face him after sharing that intimate scene with him, so she randomly grabbed one of his shirts and flew away before he got out of the bathroom. As such, she didn't notice that it was for the wedding ceremony; besides, he had too many clothes in his cabinet for her to notice.

"What?" asked John, perplexed.

Luckily, the bridesmaids were asking something, and Edward noticed it, so he tilted his head in their direction, motioning John to attend to their needs.

Meanwhile, Eason had to complete a series of 'challenging tasks' before he could pick his bride up from the suite and bring her to the hall for the wedding ceremony. The first task was to get through a door full of trickery games devised by the bridesmaids.

As a good friend, John bravely and actively participated in every game to help Eason rescue his bride so he could marry her. The first game he participated in was push-ups, in which he was assisted by Alan. However, he quickly became exhausted and collapsed into Alan's arms. Then it was followed by a chocolate-eating contest, in which Alan was once again his partner. In that game, their hands were tied behind their backs, and the chocolate was hanging in the air by a thread. Their goal was to consume the entire chocolate bar using only their mouth. But because the chocolate was only hung by a thread, it occasionally swayed, making it hard for them to eat it. As a result, their lips sometimes landed on each other's, causing everyone to burst out laughing and cheering. However, Stephenie, who was watching the game, couldn't stomach the scenes and immediately left the area.

She'd be one of the laughing and cheering crowd now if she hadn't seen John's explicit chat records and intimate photos with Alan on his phone. But her eyes were now wide open with the truth—her boyfriend's true identity. And seeing John and Alan hooked up together in the name of friendship now, she couldn't help but feel miserable.

Nowadays, men cheat on their girlfriends with other women or, in some cases, men.

After five minutes of sitting on the toilet cover and calming herself down, Stephenie finally went out of the cubicle and washed her hands. Unexpectedly, she ran into Edward as she exited the restroom.

Edward leaned against the railings on the balcony next to the bathroom, facing inside. His towering stature was enhanced by his dark suit. He was wearing a silver stainless steel watch in his left hand, clipping a cigarette between his index and middle fingers, and swiping his phone screen with his right.

Against the grey and gloomy sky in the background, he seemed melancholy, as if he was in a bad mood.

Hearing a door creak, Edward automatically raised his head in its direction. Doing so, his adam apple protruded, adding to the sexiness of his appearance.

For a brief moment, his emotionless, indifferent eyes met Stephenie's, but he quickly returned to his phone and continued to browse as if nothing had happened.

As Stephenie was ashamed of what had happened the night before, she wanted to walk away quietly, but she suddenly remembered something. "I'm the one who took your shirt. I didn't have time to wash it today, so I'll just send it to the laundry tomorrow and return it to you afterward."

With what she said, Edward returned his gaze to her again and put his cigarette into his mouth, causing the thin white smoke slowly puff out of his thin lips. His eyes then boldly scanned her body and commented, "The skirt is good. It's better than the one last night."

Stephenie instinctively looked at her skirt. It had a slit at the side as its style. Seeing this, she soon realized he preferred implicit sexiness.

But she couldn't fathom why he suddenly commented on his skirt. So, she just ignored it and pulled the topic back. "How can I return your shirt? By delivery, or..." Stephenie asked, but she was abruptly cut off by Edward.

"I don't lend things for free," he stated calmly and restrainedly.

After a few seconds, she understood what he meant and found him ridiculous. Hence, she scoffed, repeating what he had said earlier, "Didn't you say it was 'boring' and I'm 'hard to deal with'?"

Using his words against him, Edward's eyebrow shot heavenward and remarked, "What a sharp hearing you have."

"Thank you," Stephenie sarcastically replied. Then she bluntly added, "And you're annoying, by the way."

Edward squinted at her. "No matter how boring it is, it at least solved our crying needs," he snapped as the cigarette between his fingers burned quietly.

After all, Stephenie initiated it, so she had no choice but to accept all of his comments without questioning or refuting him.

Unable to snap back at him, she soon turned around to walk away. Suddenly, she heard John's voice faintly, calling her name and looking for her. But before Stephenie could respond, Edward's arm snaked around her waist from behind and dragged her into the bathroom. After they had entered, he pinned her to the wall and looked down at her. With a distance of only two fingers, he chuckled and asked, "Do you want to play?"

Stephenie hitched her breath when her back hit the cold wall. Their stare-down lasted about a minute until they heard a knock on the bathroom door, followed by a voice.

"Stephenie, are you in there?" John asked, knocking repeatedly.

In the cramped space of the bathroom, Stephenie pursed her lips and propped her arm on the sink countertop. She expected to feel no tension because she was prepared for it, but she was mistaken.

That feeling was heightened when Edward pinched her waist with his large hand.

In contrast to his aggressive hand, his face appeared so calm that his voice didn't waver as he uttered a watertight lie. "It's me," he said loudly enough for John, who was standing outside, to hear.

"Edward?" John asked, leaning even more to the door to confirm if he was right. But he didn't wait for Edward to respond and hurriedly fired another question. "Are you in the bathroom alone?"

"And if I say no, will you believe me when I say I'm here with a chick?" Edward teased, smirking while looking straight at Stephenie's eyes.

Stephenie was at a loss for words about how shameless Edward was. Vexed, she grabbed Edward's collar, ready to curse him.

Meanwhile, thinking that Edward was just fooling around, John only chuckled and replied, "You nasty man."

"Did you see Stephenie, by any chance?" This time, it was Alan, who was with John, asked.

Edward leaned over Stephenie, their chests touching, and kissed her nape before he lied again. "Nope."

Stephenie froze in place as his warm breath touched her bare skin, and the hair on her arms stood on end.

After a long time, Edward finally returned to his friends, but he was welcomed by Eason with his long face.

"Where the hell did you go and slack off? The bridesmaids were waiting, and I couldn't find you anywhere; I was so embarrassed in front of my wife!" Eason complained, looking stressed.

Edward creased his forehead and pointed to John and Alan as he asked, "They didn't tell you I was constipated?"

Eason was dumbstruck by the latter's reasoning, but he couldn't bring himself to refute it because he didn't know whether his friend was telling the truth since neither John nor Alan denied it.

While Eason was busy bandying words with Edward, John kept trying to connect with Stephenie's phone when his gaze fell on Edward's disheveled collar. His brow furrowed as his thoughts began to wander, but the phone was patched through, and Stephenie's voice came in, saying, "John, sorry, my phone was in silent mode. I just saw your calls."

"Where are you?" John asked worriedly.

"Shopping," Stephenie answered sparingly.

John was skeptical of her response but brushed it off because he was certain his girlfriend would never lie to him.

Five minutes later, Stephenie finally arrived at the event hall, where the wedding ceremony had just begun.

Naturally, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids sat at the same table, but since Stephenie was John's girlfriend, she was also there, and Edward, who sat diagonally across from her, chatted happily with several bridesmaids throughout the party.

When the party ended around 9:30 pm, John noticed Stephenie's strange walking posture, so he concernedly asked her, "Is there something wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine; it's just that I've been wearing high heels for too long," Stephenie reasoned, then secretly glanced at the culprit, who Eason instructed to send the bridesmaids home.

The wild scenes from earlier flashed through her mind, how Edward rough was to her. Due to that frenetic activity, her legs were still sore up until now, and she couldn't walk properly.

Alan, on the other hand, was more observant than John as he noticed her socks. "Stephenie, did you change your socks? The color appears to be different," Alan observed.

Stephenie licked her lips unconsciously, tucked her hair behind her ears, and lied through her teeth, "Well, it had a stain on it, so I asked the hotel waitress for a new one."

She clearly reminded Edward to be careful, but he didn't listen and tore her socks in the end. Fortunately, the skirt she was wearing matched the one she had worn earlier.

Stephenie leaned into John's ear and whispered, "My menstruation came earlier than expected. I have to buy tampons."

John bought her reason and sweetly scolded her. "You're careless; you've even drunk a cold wine earlier."

As always, he was like an ideal boyfriend, which was why Stephenie had been ultimately duped in the past.

"Sorry, darling, I forgot," she sweetly apologized as she wrapped her arms around John's neck and secretly glanced at Alan.

John was slightly stunned by her sudden embrace, for she rarely took the initiative to have intimate behavior with him in public, but when he noticed the change in Alan's expression, he immediately but gently pulled away from Stephenie's hug and said, "You should go back now for you to have a rest, okay?"

With that, Stephenie excused herself and said goodbye to Eason and his wife. Afterward, she left the hotel with John and Alan.

Just like before, John would drop Stephenie off at her place first. They weren't under the same roof. They had their own apartments. But Stephenie usually paid John a visit on the weekends. The reason for their set-up was that their workplaces were far apart, so staying in the same place together was not a wise decision. She used to believe that before, but now Stephenie knew that the real reason was for John to have private space with Alan.

John sent her door to door and was being considerate as usual. After confirming that John had already left, Stephenie went to a nearby pharmacy to buy contraception.

Upon returning to her place, she immediately took the pill and went to the bathroom to take a bath. When she finished cleaning herself up and exited the bathroom, her eyes were drawn to Edward's shirt in the laundry basket. She then picked it up as well as her phone and typed a message on Whatsapp.

She and Edward became Whatsapp friends an hour before she arrived at the hotel last night, but there was nothing special about their conversation.

To cut to the chase, Stephenie did not greet him and directly sent the message, [Netflix and chill?]

Five minutes had already passed, so she thought Edward had no plan to reply to her and was about to put her phone down on the bedside table when her phone vibrated. She opened the messenger right away, only to see a hotel room number, which was obviously Edward's hotel room number.

As such, they shared the same heat for the third time.