In the middle of the night, I felt thirsty. I got out of bed to go downstairs to get myself a glass of water, only to see Leo taking a call on the balcony. He spoke softly, but I could hear his conversation clearly. "All right. Be good. Just bid for whatever you fancy at the underground auction tomorrow. Don't worry about how much it will cost. Be a good girl, all right? I'm a little busy during this period, and I can't be by your side all the time."

What a loving tone. It was a tone that used to belong exclusively to me, but not anymore. I listened for a while as I stood behind him quietly with the glass of water in my hand. I listened as he spoke gently to the woman on the other end of the call, cajoling her and telling her to be good, just like how he used to say to me.

After a while, I found it pointless and turned away, but he suddenly called out to me, "Bella? When did you come downstairs?" He had hung up. "I was just…" He attempted to explain.

"I was thirsty and came down for a glass of water," I interrupted him. "Feel free to continue. I'm fine."

Leo came over to me and tried to grab my wrist, but I had already turned to walk upstairs. When I turned the corner, I could see him watching me go upstairs from the corner of my eye. If this were before, I would have run back toward him and jumped into his arms to coyly ask him who he was on the phone with and what he was talking about for such a long time. However, this time, I did not even look back at him.

The next morning, Leo poured me a glass of milk during breakfast. It was a habit of his to do it for me, and I would finish the glass of milk every time. After which, he would smile softly at me while reaching out to wipe away milkstains from the corner of my mouth and leaning down to kiss me on the forehead. He would say, "Take it slow. No one is going to take that milk away from you."

I would reply, "Of course I have to be quick. You never stay to have breakfast with me." He would sit back down at the table after that and accompany me a little longer for breakfast.

However, this time, I did not touch the glass of milk. I poured myself a warm glass of water instead, and saw his smile freeze on his face, but he said nothing.

Leo picked up his coat to leave. "I'm going out for a while."

"Okay," I replied.

When he got to the door, he stopped to look at me. "Isn't there anything you want to ask me?"

I did. If this was before. I would have asked every detail I could think of. I would have wanted to know where he was going, what he was doing, how long he would be out, and who he would be with. I wanted to know if the person he was with was a man or a woman, what time he would be coming back, and whether he would make it back in time for dinner.

Somewhere down the road, I had lost all sense of security and lived in constant fear that he would leave me. This was probably caused by the first time when I caught a whiff of unfamiliar perfume on his shirt, the first time he stayed out until 3 in the morning, and the first time when I realized that his loving look at me had transformed into annoyance.

Fortunately, this was all in the past for me. I replied nonchalantly, "Nope."

Leo stood at the door for a few seconds. His lips moved, as if wanting to say something, or he could be waiting for me to call out to him, but he stayed silent in the end, and turned to leave.

After he left, I returned to the room to unpack my luggage. There was nothing much in there as I did not want to bring back any of the clothes I had worn at the sanatorium. Those clothes only gave me painful memories. I did not want to be reminded of how I was forcefully held down and force-fed medications, nor did I want to remember listening to the echoes of my screaming while being locked up in the room next door, or how my limbs were tied down as I bit onto a rubber bit while I experienced electroshock therapy.

My luggage contained a photo of my parents and me, and a diary I wrote while living in the sanatorium. I flipped it open. Every page contained only one sentence.

[First day: Isn't he coming to pick me up?]

[Third day: He might be busy. I just need to wait a little longer.]

[Seventh day: The nurse's aide told me I had called him 137 times, but he never picked up any of my calls.]

[15th day: I called him again. I called him 30 times, but he never picked up my calls.]

[23rd day: The treatment hurt really badly today. I wish he could hold me in his arms.]

[31st day: I miss my parents so much. Nobody loves me anymore, and even he is bullying me.]

[40th day: It's my birthday today. No one remembers it. The nurse's aide gave me an extra meal portion, saying that it counts as a birthday cake.]

[63rd day: I haven't thought about him for three days. The doctors say I'm getting well soon.]

[120th day: If I get out of here alive, I don't want to love him anymore.]

I closed the diary and threw it into the garbage bin.

Leo returned very soon with three of his buddies. They stayed in the study to discuss family business, but the door was not closed properly, and I could hear their conversation from the living room.

"How are things between you and Bella, Leo?" It was Nico, the man who had commented about how flexible I was in bed.

Leo replied calmly, "Not bad."

Luca, who had said I should be more adventurous in bed, spoke up next, "She's acting much more normal now. All she's doing is reading in the living room. She didn't even react when she saw us. I thought she would go crazy at the sight of us."

Nico continued, "To be honest, isn't your little lover, Sophia, being a little too high profile? She didn't even blink when bidding for that 70 million pink diamond necklace at the auction today. She's even going around telling everybody that you gave it to her."

Leo’s voice chimed in, "I'm fine as long as she's happy."

Luca said, "Aren't you worried your woman will find out about it? It wasn't easy for her to finally leave the sanatorium. She might get agitated again and get sent to the sanatorium once more."

Leo replied nonchalantly, as if this were a normal situation, "It doesn't matter if she finds out. She'll calm down after making a scene. I've always wondered how she never tires of repeating this cycle."

Marco was heard speaking next. He was the one who said that I needed to be 'taught a lesson'. "She's much easier on the eye than before. At least she's keeping to herself now. Did you teach a good lesson after you brought her back, Leo? Is she still tight as before?"

"That's enough," Leo's tone sounded colder.

The study was instantly silent as I continued flipping through my book while sitting on the sofa. I did not read a word in the book, but my heartbeat and breathing remained stable. If this were a year before, I would have barged into the study and thrashed it while screaming and crying at Leo, asking for the reason why he was treating me this way.

However, all I did now was turn another page in the book.

Luca was the first to exit the study. He came to the sofa and started looking at me. A smile appeared on his lips. "You look better than before, Miss Bella. If you have any urgent needs in bed, feel free to see me."

I stayed silent.

He came next to me and sat down. "I'm serious. I still remember that night from last year."

Marco and Nico came out after him. Nico's gaze stopped at my waist, and he said to Luca with a laugh, "She looks much skinnier now. I wonder if that grip still feels as sultry as before."

This elicited a burst of laughter from Marco. "It’s no wonder Leo got bored with her body. Just look at her wooden face. She looks just like a dead fish. That must kill a man's enthusiasm in bed."

The old me would have sobbed and trembled and questioned Leo hysterically about why he would allow someone to humiliate me this way. This time, I did not even look up at them.

Leo was the last to walk out of the study. He glanced at me, and his gaze fell onto my calm expression for several seconds before saying, "There's a family alliance dinner event tonight. Prepare for it because you're coming with me as my fiancée, understand?"

"What time does it end?" I asked.

My question seemed to puzzle him slightly, as he had no idea why I would ask something like that, but he answered me in the end, "It ends at 10."

I nodded in agreement as my flight was at 11pm.

His buddies looked at each other and laughed, thinking that I was going to humiliate myself at the dinner event again by making a scene and going crazy. They had no idea that I was about to leave.

Leo brought me around the dinner event, entertaining and introducing me to his associates. It was not necessary for him to do such a thing. The debacle back then had caused a huge commotion in Novena. Everyone remembered me as the crazy woman who slept with her fiancé's three buddies, and ended up being sent to the sanatorium by her fiancé.

Everyone smiled at Leo, but I could tell they looked at me differently when they turned to me. They looked at me with sympathy, pity, or like I was a joke.

Someone started whispering, "Is that her? The one whom Don Vitaly sent to the sanatorium?"

"I heard that she slept with three of Don Vitaly's buddies for revenge because he cheated on her with her best friend."

"Tsk. She's crazy, and so is Don Vitaly. Why would he still keep her as his fiancée?"

Their words did not bother me as I continued smiling politely.

"My dear Don Vitalty," Sophia's sickly sweet voice was heard calling out to him. She was wearing a silver dress with a low cut, revealing the pink diamond necklace around her neck, which attracted a lot of attention. She sauntered naturally over to Leo and put her arms around his. "Thank you." She puffed up her chest further, and the brilliant reflection from the 70-million-dollar pink diamond necklace nearly blinded everyone who set their sights on it.

Leo's expression looked normal, but he did smile gently at her, "What matters is you're happy."

They acted as if I were non-existent. The exchange disgusted me, and I pulled my hand away, which had been holding onto Leo's arm. "I need to use the washroom."

Leo whispered in my ear, "Wait until we're home to make a scene. Watch where you are before you act, understand? Don't take too long in the washroom." He spoke as if berating a disobedient dog.

I had no idea how many times he had warned me about 'making a scene'. When I wanted him to accompany me to the movies, I was making a scene. When I wanted him to remember our anniversary, I was making a scene. When I wanted him to explain the lipstick print on his shirt, I was making a scene. When I made a fuss about not wanting to go to the sanatorium, I was making a scene. Every emotion of mine was nothing but 'making a scene' to him.

All I did was grunt in response and turn to leave for the washroom. I threw up badly inside there and became dizzy. At that moment, I was reminded of my time back in the sanatorium when the nurses' aides would force open my mouth to feed me medication to make me quiet down.

They would hold me down and grab my jaw as they poured crushed pills mixed with water down my throat. I would choke, cough, and throw up, and they would repeat the process. They kept at it until I finally learned to open my mouth obediently. Fortunately, I no longer went crazy as I did before, and no one would ever force-feed me medication again.

When I walked out of the washroom, I passed by the balcony and saw Luca and Marco. They were leaning against the rails, smoking. They started talking when they saw me.

Luca blew a smoke ring in the air. "Just look at her. Do you think she's just holding it in when she's actually feeling jealous?"

Marco laughed. "Sophia's too much. She just had to show off her necklace tonight. It's going to agitate someone soon and make her go crazy. That would cheer Sophia up."

I walked right past them to return to Leo's side. Leo looked down at me approvingly. I could smell Sophia's perfume on him and wondered what they were doing while I was in the washroom, but that was not important. I looked at my phone and saw that there were thirty minutes to go before 10 pm.

Leo leaned close to my ear and said, "We'll have the wedding next month. I've visited a few potential locations. I'll get my underboss to email you the information tonight. You can pick your favorite venue."

I looked up at him. "I've said before that we can forget about the wedding."

Leo's tone started to get threatening. "There should be a limit to your temper. I've said before that you'll be my Donna. What else do you want me to do? Do you want me to get on my knees to beg you?" He was getting a little annoyed as he translated my indifference as an attempt at creating a scene.

"I don't want you to do anything," I replied. "I just don't want to marry you."

"Enough," he snapped coldly. "Do I have to send you back to the sanatorium again before you come to your senses? Don’t be ungrateful."

I took a deep breath.

"You still think I’m just making a scene, don’t you?"

"What else?" he sneered. "You're just losing your temper over what's going on between me and Sophia. How many times do you plan on doing this?"

I wanted to tell him that I really did not care anymore, but before I could say anything, Sophia approached us. She was stumbling about and looked like she was drunk, and she fell right into Leo's arms. "I feel so dizzy." She leaned into Leo's arms weakly while circling her arms around his neck. "I think I had too much to drink, Don Vitaly." She glanced at me as she spoke.

It was clear that she was not drunk, but was taunting me. Leo's three buddies looked straight at me while sniggering, gleefully waiting for me to go crazy and hysterical. They were waiting for me to become the laughingstock of the dinner event.

Leo put his arm around Sophia's waist while frowning, but he did not push her away. He glanced at me. If it were before, I would have gone crazy and hit Sophia, but now, all I did was say calmly, "You should see Miss Sophia home since she's drunk."

My reply seemed to upset Leo. He wanted to say something, but Sophia interrupted him coyly, "Take me home, Don Vitaly. I'm so dizzy. I only want you to take me home, just like before. Please?"

Leo hesitated before saying to me, "Go home and wait for me. I'll be back after I see her home. Don't make a scene, all right? Be good and wait for me at home."

I nodded with a smile. "Okay."

Leo grabbed Sophia by the waist and left with everyone watching as he carried her in his arms.

Luca clapped while walking up to me and looking me up and down. "Wow, Miss Bella. How effective was that sanatorium you went to? Have you really changed, or are you planning something big?"

Marco came up to me as well. "I have to admit that you've become much more pleasing to the eye now compared to your crazy self from before. You might really wrap Leo around your little finger by taking a step back to let things be. That's a genius move."

I ignored them as I turned to leave. I could hear Nico saying behind me, "Are you really going to go home like a good girl? Aren't you going to wait for Leo to come and cajole you?" I did not stop, nor look back. I called a cab to return to the villa to grab my luggage.

After that, I went to the airport and boarded my flight while setting my phone to flight mode. When I woke up and got off the plane, my phone started vibrating violently as a flurry of messages finally reached it.