Sean spotted me curled up in the corner. His brows tightened with visible anguish as he took off his coat and gently draped it over me.

"I'm sorry, Sheri… I shouldn't have asked you to come pick me up this late. It's my fault." His voice trembled with guilt. "Believe me, time will ease everything. People will forget about the CD eventually. Until then, I’ll stay by your side—always."

On the way home, he held my hand firmly, refusing to let go.

After a long silence, assuming I had fallen asleep, Gregory—who was driving—sighed heavily.

“Brother,” he said, his voice laced with frustration, “let someone else handle this kind of thing next time. I really can’t take it. Didn’t you see how those scumbags looked at her? If you had been two minutes later… they would’ve stripped her in public!”

Gregory's next words hit me like thunder.

“Her father had just been rehabilitated. Their family was finally catching a break… and because of Christy’s one sentence, everything fell apart. And you, the person closest to her, are still thinking about how to keep her from rising again? Do you want to destroy her completely?”

My heart froze.

The drunkards outside the hotel… they were arranged by Sean.

I bit down hard on my tongue, tasting blood, forcing myself to stay silent.

Sean gently shifted me to the side. Then suddenly lunged and gripped Gregory by the throat, his voice low and hoarse with rage.

“You’ve had enough of the Noble Family’s food, haven’t you?! You want to bring this up now? If Sheri hears any of this… your wife and children will pay the price! Do you think this is yours to decide?”

There was the sound of choking and struggle. The car swerved wildly.

Just when it felt like we were about to crash, he finally let go.

Gregory coughed violently, gasping apologies in the silence.

Sean pulled me close again, his arms tightening around me. He pressed a kiss on my forehead and murmured to himself:

“Just hold on a little longer, Sheri… even if it's for me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

But this wasn’t love. It was cruelty dressed in concern. And I couldn’t take it anymore.

That night, when he finally fell asleep, I quietly snuck into the study. My hands trembled as I wrote a letter to my aunt, who worked at the National Conservatory of Music and Drama.

Sealing the envelope, I felt—for the first time in a long while—a sense of hope.

I couldn’t stay in this hell any longer.

The next morning, I had barely opened my eyes when I heard Sean speaking to Gregory outside the bedroom.

“Today is the opening ceremony at the girls’ school. When she wakes up, find a way to convince her to go.”

“But sir… she can’t even go out to buy groceries without being stared at. At an event like this—so many people…”

“Think about your wife and kids,” Sean said coldly.

Gregory went silent.

Moments later, the bedroom door creaked open. I felt a familiar hand gently ruffling my hair.

“Sheri,” Sean said softly, “it’s the opening ceremony today. Our family sponsored a lot of students—I have to go. There’ll be a crowd. You don’t need to come. Just rest.”

I forced a smile. “Alright.”

Once he left, Gregory lingered, nervously watching me eat. Finally, he spoke, hesitating.

“My son said when you substituted at their school, the kids really liked you. Today’s the opening ceremony… I think they’d love to see you again.”

I looked up, eyes calm. “I’ll go. Pack the car.”

But as soon as I arrived at the venue, I saw Christy’s smirking face in the crowd.

And I realized—

Sean didn’t want to protect me.

He wanted me humiliated again.

When it was time for the new teacher representative to speak,

Christy stepped forward, holding the microphone, her gaze sharp and piercing as it landed on me like the tip of a blade.

“Today,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “my speech is about self-respect and self-love. And now, I’d like to share a short promotional video.”

The moment her words fell, my scream tore through the campus.

On the three-story-high LED screen—just recently donated by Sean to the girls' school—the video began to play.

It was that video - the one that should never have seen the light of day.

My naked body lay on a mottled bed, writhing under the lash of three long whips.

Welts and bite marks littered my skin.

Blood seeped into the once-pristine white sheets, turning them into a sickening shade of red.

Pain surged again, not from my body—but from my soul, as if a thousand insects crawled beneath my skin, gnawing away.

Before I could even react, a harsh slap struck my cheek.

A mother beside me pointed at my face, shrieking, “How dare a woman like you step foot in a girls' school? You shameless whore! It’s revolting!”

Another hand yanked my hair, dragging me from my seat and throwing me to the ground.

Voices thundered above me, raining down curses like stones.

“Your father gave up the government job he fought so hard to get for you—because of this filth! Your mother died holding his ashes! And you? You still have the audacity to live? You should’ve been buried with them!”

“You slut! A disgrace to this entire town! You deserved every second of that torture!”

I curled up, numb, as fists and feet landed again and again.

Compared to the night of the video… this was nothing.

Then Christy stumbled forward, her voice trembling with false concern.

“Sheri, I… I’m sorry. I don’t know how this happened. Someone must’ve switched the video…”

She reached to shield me from the beating, muttering apology after apology.

But in her tear-glossed eyes, pride sparkled like glass shards.

She wasn’t sorry.

She was victorious.

As the daughter of the influential Thornton Family, no one would question her. No one would dare.

A commotion behind me—

Sean rushed through the crowd, panic written on his face as he pulled me into his arms.

“Sheri! Why are you here? Didn’t I tell you to wait at home? It’s okay now, I’m here…”

His performance was perfect.

If I hadn’t heard everything with my own ears,

I might’ve believed him again.

Might’ve melted into that familiar, deceiving embrace.

But the humiliation at school shattered me all over again.

My mind broke. I screamed at the sight of any man who came near. I thrashed, cried, cowered from invisible terrors.

Sean held me tightly, tears streaking his face, his voice raw with heartbreak.

But even his sorrow felt like a lie.

Eventually, I was sedated and carried away in an ambulance.

When I opened my eyes, everything was dark. The bitter smell of antiseptic stung my nose.

I realized I was still in the hospital, my wrists and ankles restrained tightly to the bed. Outside the ward, muffled voices floated in.

Sean’s voice.

“Christy, are you satisfied now that Sheri’s like this?”

Another voice, low and sweet—Christy.

“Of course. Jason dated her for eight years. I had to be sure there were no lingering feelings between them. If I hadn’t done this, who knows what might’ve happened?”

She sighed.

“It’s hard for you, too, having to live with a woman like her. I feel bad every time I think about it. But because of our families, we can’t be together in this life. In the next life, I’ll repay you—no matter what. Even if I have to be your horse or ox.”

Through the glass door, fogged with condensation, I watched them laugh and lean into each other.

I saw Sean pulling Christy into his arms.

His hoarse voice trembled with the bitterness of unrequited love.

“No… Christy, you don’t owe me anything. I did all this willingly. Now that you’re carrying my child… that’s the greatest blessing I could ever ask for. Besides, Sheri’s always been kind to me… you don’t need to feel guilty.”

Outside the ward, the man and woman embraced, kissing with abandon.

His voice, thick with sobs, revealed everything—he truly loved her.

They were going to have a child. The pain tore through me like an old wound ripping open all over again.

Tears spilled silently down my cheeks.

So, I was nothing more than the extra… the unnecessary one… from beginning to end.

I tried to shut out their voices, to silence the intimate sounds coming through the door.

But they wrapped around me like a curse, refusing to let go. I buried my face in the quilt, biting it until my gums bled. I didn’t know how long I lay there like that—

Until the door creaked open, and the soft scent of powder drifted in.

Before I could react, a pair of slender hands gripped my chin.

“Don’t be scared, Sheri,” came the voice. “It’s me. Christy…”

Hearing her name made me flinch and thrash wildly in the dark.

She let out a soft laugh and calmly began untying my restraints.

“Sheri, the proud girl everyone admired, reduced to this—what a joke. The men of the Noble Family… either of them would choose me over you in a heartbeat. Especially Sean. He gave up everything for me…”

Her voice turned cold, laced with pride.

“He’s such a noble man, isn’t he? But for my sake, he forced his own mentor to death, just to get me a job at a girls’ school and fulfill my marriage. What kind of love do you think that is?”

I stared at her, stunned.

“After your father died, you begged Sean to look after you. Your pathetic mother probably thought he was your family’s savior. So pitiful. But it was Sean who scattered your father’s ashes with his own hands!”

Her words struck me like lightning.

I had always believed my father died by suicide from depression.

But no—Sean, the man my father mentored, the one he treated like a son, had driven him to death.

Fury exploded in me. I shot up and wrapped my hands around Christy’s throat.

But before I could squeeze, the door slammed open.

Seeing Sean, Christy immediately threw herself into his arms, sobbing.

“Sean! I only wanted to help Sheri. I felt sorry for her, so I untied her restraints… but she said I stole everything from her and tried to strangle me!”

I opened my mouth to explain—

But the slap came before I could utter a word.

“Sheri!” Sean’s eyes blazed. “People are trying to help you and this is how you repay them?! Why blame Christy for everything? You’ve completely lost your mind!”

He didn’t give me a chance to speak.

He just left me there, trembling on the cold floor, while he wrapped his arms protectively around her.

As the door shut, Christy looked back at me with a slow, mocking smile.

She had every reason to laugh.

I was a failure. A discarded thing.

But what they didn’t know—Even a cornered rabbit bites.

After they left, I forced myself to stand.

I discharged myself from the hospital.

And once I got home, I followed the instructions from my aunt’s letter.

With everything in place, I left... Without looking back.