Willow could tell that Rias was in disbelief. “You’re really going to come back? You’re also going to meet the man I found for you? What about the boyfriend you love to the core?”

Willow said softly, “I don’t like him anymore. I never want to see him again.”

Rias was delighted, but after he calmed himself, he noticed that something was wrong, and his voice turned cold. “Did he do something to you?”

The harsh words, the intimate videos Andrew had mentioned so casually, and his cold voice immediately rose to Willow’s mind.

Her heart ached, but she had to maintain her rationality.

Rias had always been protective of her. If he learned the truth, he would surely come straight to Northvalley.

She could not let Rias be worried about her anymore. She had to deal with these problems on her own.

“He didn’t.” She forced herself to calm down. “Once I’m done with my stuff here, I’ll come back.”

After telling her to take care of herself, Rias reluctantly hung up, and Willow went home.

She first went to the bathroom to take a shower and get rid of all the dirt and tears on her. Then, she went to the tea table, took out a piece of paper, and started listing out the things she had to do.

On the paper, she wrote down a list.

[Throw my things away. Pack up. Resign. Say goodbye to my friends. Delete the videos.]

These were the things she had to do before she left.

But her eyes lingered on the last few words on the list for a long time, and her hands trembled.

When she remembered that the people in the private room had talked about her birthday, she knew she had to leave before that.

At that thought, she picked up the calendar from the tea table and drew a circle around the date of her birthday with a red pen.

“Are you circling the date because you’re worried that I won’t remember it?”

The door to the mansion swung open, and she heard Andrew’s voice behind her. It had a lazy, amused tone to it. Willow’s hand froze, and the pen left a long scratch on the paper.

She turned around and saw Andrew leaning against the door with his suit jacket draped over his arm. His shirt was slightly unbuttoned at the top to reveal his collarbones.

His eyes landed on the calendar she held, and he smiled. “How could I possibly forget your birthday? I’ve prepared a huge surprise for you that day.”

Willow gripped the pen tightly before she looked up and met his gaze. She smiled. “I’ve prepared a huge surprise for you as well.”

Andrew was stunned for a moment, then he laughed. “Why would you prepare a surprise for me on your birthday?”

He went to her and caressed her hair as he said affectionately, “Will you be asking your brother to come here on your birthday?”

Willow’s heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively tightened her grip on the edge of the table.

She looked at him and feigned composure as she asked, “Would you like me to ask him?”

As Andrew met her gaze, a complicated look flashed in his eyes before he laughed and said, “Go on. It’s time for us to bury the hatchet. I’ve been fighting against your brother for years, and I don’t want to admit defeat, but I just love his darling sister too much. Giving up something for love is never shameful, anyway.”

Willow felt as if something was stuck in her throat, and she could not say a thing.

Andrew wanted to kiss her, but she turned her head to the side and whispered, “I’m feeling sick today. Let’s not do it.”

Andrew froze for a moment before he chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Alright. You should rest, then.”

He went to the bathroom.

Willow stood where she was. As she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom, she gripped the edge of the table again.

Her eyes landed on the phone Andrew threw casually on the couch, and her heart raced so quickly that it almost jumped out of her chest.

Quietly, she picked up the phone and tried a few passwords, but none of them worked.

Her hands trembled, and she felt helpless.

In the end, she could only put the phone back and force herself to calm down. She would think of a plan later.

The next day, when Andrew woke up, he found Willow packing her things.

By her feet were all of their matching items: their matching cups, slippers, pillows…

Andrew frowned and walked to her. He asked in confusion, “Why are you suddenly throwing these away?”

Willow did not even look up when she said, “I don’t like them anymore. We can buy more later.”

Andrew did not push further and just laughed. “Stop wasting your time on this. I’ll ask a servant to help you pack these up later. It’s almost time for you to go to your dance studio, anyway. Shall I take you there?”

Willow shook her head. “No need. I’ve already called them and told them I’m resigning.”

Stunned, Andrew frowned. “But I thought you loved dancing! Why did you suddenly resign?”

Willow looked up at him. With a calm face, she said, “I’m tired and want to take a break.”

After a few seconds of silence, Andrew patted her head. “Then, it’s a good thing for you to resign. Dancing can be too tiring. Also…”

He slid his hand across her waist and whispered, “I don’t want other people to see just how flexible your waist is.”

Willow avoided his touch and said coolly, “You should go to work already.”

Once Andrew left, Willow spent most of the day packing up and finally threw away all the matching sets of things.

As she stood in the empty living room, she felt as if something was pressing down on her chest, and she could not breathe.

At that moment, her phone suddenly vibrated.

She picked it up and checked it. It was a message from an unknown number.

[Meet me at Blue Mountain Cafe at 3 p.m. I’m Andrew’s fiancee.]

Willow gripped the phone so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

When Willow pushed the door of the cafe open, the wind chimes rang.

She looked around and soon fixed her gaze on a woman sitting in a corner.

She wore a Chanel set that was tailored to her figure, and her makeup was done very delicately. Every move she made exuded an air of superiority that she seemed to be born with. Willow walked over to her, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Her face betrayed no emotion.

“I’m Eve Jenkins, Andrew’s fiancee.” Eve got straight to the point, and she spoke with a bold tone.

Willow said nothing and just stared at her. Her eyes were as calm as still water.

Clearly, Eve was not expecting this reaction from her. She frowned. “You’re Andrew’s girlfriend, and I suddenly popped up to proclaim that I’m his fiancee. Don’t you have any questions for me?”

Willow just smirked, but her heart felt full of despair.

Questions? What questions could she possibly ask? Ever since she had heard the conversation in that private room, she had completely given up on Andrew.

No matter what he did, she no longer felt surprised.

Willow’s silence made Eve’s face darken.

She had stated her position just to see Willow losing her mind and having her heart broken, but she was like a block of ice, and Eve had no idea how to break her.

Gritting her teeth, Eve spoke even sharper words. “Andrew has agreed to marry me soon. No matter who you are, he’s going to break up with you. I suggest that you leave him on your own, or you’re going to end up embarrassing yourself. I can even give you some money.”

Willow looked up and stared at Eve calmly. “When are you announcing your wedding?”

Eve was stunned at first, but then she grinned. “At the beginning of next month. We haven’t decided on a precise date, but we won’t be waiting too long.”

At the beginning of next month? That was after her birthday.

By the looks of it, Andrew had long since planned to play the videos on her birthday, dump her, and then marry Eve.

‘Andrew… Andrew… You truly are heartless,’ she thought.

Willow said flatly, “Have you looked into who I am? If you did, you’d know that I don’t want money. If you sought me out to humiliate me today, then you only wasted your time.”

Eve’s expression turned dark. Willow cast her a glance before she added, “Also, a word of advice: Andrew is heartless. He loves no one but himself. You can get married to him for the sake of getting what you want from it. But if you fall in love with him, you’re done for.”

She stood up and turned to leave, but Eve shot to her feet and grabbed her wrist. She screeched, “You have no right to say that about him!”

Before Willow could react, Eve grabbed the coffee on the table and threw it at her. The warm liquid flowed down Willow’s hair and cheeks before staining her clothes.

Eve was still seething. She shoved Willow to the floor.

Willow crashed into a corner of the table before landing on the floor. Her head crashed against the tiles, and a sharp pain spread through her head. Her vision blurred. When she touched her forehead, her fingers were stained red with blood.

At that moment, someone shoved the door open.

“What’re you doing, Eve?!”

Suddenly, a cold voice tinged with suppressed anger rose behind them.

Willow looked up and saw Andrew striding over. Behind him were a few of his friends. He wore a black trenchcoat that made his dark expression look even more frightening.

He shoved Eve away and grabbed the other cup of coffee on the table before throwing it at her.

Then, he removed his coat and wrapped it around Willow. With a quivering voice, he said, “Are you okay, Willow?”

In disbelief, Eve stared at him. “I’m your fiancee, and you threw coffee at me for her?!”

Andrew ignored her. He only stared at Willow and spoke very gently. “Be good now. Wait for me in the car. Once I’m done with this, I’ll come to you.”

Willow said nothing and let him help her up before she walked to the entrance.

Her mind was still blank, and her ears rang. She only recovered slightly from her shock when she was inside the car.

Soon, Andrew’s friends walked over.

One of them knocked on the window.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Willow. Andrew’s family found him a fiancee. He never told you about it because he wanted to take care of the problem himself. He just wasn’t expecting Eve to provoke you like this. He likes you, so he doesn’t want to be together with someone else.”

He liked her?

She found that hilarious, but she lowered her head with no expression on her face as she sat quietly like a lifeless statue.

Soon, Andrew came out of the cafe. Eve ran away while crying, and she looked pathetic.

Once he chased his friends away, Andrew got into the car and helped Willow put some balm on her wound with a worried gaze.

His movements were so gentle that it felt like he was treating her like a fragile piece of treasure. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.

“Willow, my family is the one who arranged an engagement with Eve. I won’t marry her and will make things clear with my family soon. Please don’t overthink this.”

Willow said nothing and just stared ahead. “I know. You should start driving, Andrew.”

Andrew cast a glance at her. He looked like he had more to say, but in the end, he just started the car.

The atmosphere in the car was suffocating. Willow shut her eyes. Her thoughts were a mess.

Suddenly, a piercing screech rose.

Willow’s eyes snapped open, and she saw a truck come straight at her.

Her eyes flew wide open. In the next second, Andrew lunged at her and hugged her tightly.

Bam!

There was a loud crash, and her world spun.

Willow fainted in a puddle of her blood.

When she woke up next, she found herself lying in a hospital bed. The white light above her pierced her eyes.

Andrew sat by the bed. Despite his pale complexion, his eyes lit up with pure joy. “You’re finally awake, Willow! I was so scared.”

Willow parted her lips and asked hoarsely, “How’s your injuries?”

Andrew caressed her hair and said calmly, “I broke a bone, that’s all. I’m fine. I failed to protect you.”

He then got up. “Keep lying down and don’t move. I’ll call a doctor over to check on you.”

After he left, Willow’s phone suddenly vibrated.

She picked it up and saw that Eve had sent a video to her.

It was taken not too long ago and from within the cafe they had met in.

Andrew’s friends were animatedly explaining something to Eve.

“Miss Jenkins, how many times do we need to tell you before you believe us? Andrew is with Willow only because he has a plan. He’s only pretending to love her to take his revenge on Rias Warma. Since the two families have agreed to the marriage, he’ll definitely marry you. Look, he’s a man of his word when it comes to business deals. So don’t go ruining his plans already, seriously!”

Eve just stared at Andrew and said in a trembling voice, “Are they telling the truth, Andrew? You don’t love her but are using her to take revenge?”

His friends quickly said, “Of course! How could he possibly love his rival’s sister? That’s not how Andrew does things. If he really was in love with her, Andrew wouldn’t be trying to humiliate Rias. Instead, it would be Rias insulting Andrew! Holy… I can’t even imagine that!”

“I want Andrew to tell me this himself!” With teary eyes, Eve looked at Andrew. “Tell me, Andrew.”

Andrew had a complicated look on his face as he stared at the car where Willow was.

In the end, he nodded.

Eve threw herself into his arms and said in a choked voice, “But I still don’t feel confident. We’re about to get married, but you’re pretending to be in a relationship with another woman. Why don’t you just pretend that your brakes fail and turn your car so that the front passenger’s seat crashes into something? Just make Willow get into an accident, and I’ll believe you, okay?”

After a moment of silence, Andrew said, “Okay.”

The video ended.