After being Conan Stone’s secretary and girlfriend for seven years, he was going to be engaged to someone else.

Ninian Springs was dejected. She was going to resign, but he decided to cancel the engagement in public.

During the auction, just when everyone thought that Conan was going to propose to Ninian, his crush showed up.

When everyone saw that Ninian had the exact same face as Conan’s crush, they began to whisper.

At that moment, Ninian finally realized: she was just a replacement.

“Ninian, you’re already thirty. You’re no longer young. Are you going to devote yourself to work for life? If you still won’t get married, come back and go on a blind date. Your aunt will introduce you to a boy. He’s coming back next month, and he seems like a good catch. Why don’t you meet him?”

When it was almost time to clock off work, Ninian received a call from her mother.

This was not the first time she called to urge her to get married. In the past, Ninian would always hesitate.

But this time, she agreed to it. “Alright. Once I resign, I’ll go back.”

Yvonne, her mother, was stunned. “You’re coming back?”

“Yeah.” Ninian hung up and grabbed her handbag to go back when the intercom rang.

“Come in.”

When she opened the door, Ninian immediately saw the man standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

He was tall, and even though he was just standing there, his presence was incredibly daunting.

Ninian walked over, and Conan Stone turned around. He whispered, “I’ll go to your place tonight.”

“I’m not free tonight.” Ninian took a step back, but Conan grabbed her wrist.

“Your period will come in another ten days.”

“I have to meet a client.” Ninian rejected him again.

Conan tugged off the scarf around her neck.

The red marks under the scarf looked like flowers.

“You know that I don’t like it when you don’t listen to me.”

He started kissing her.

Ninian tried to push him away, but she could not.

So, she let him kiss her, but she felt empty inside.

Yesterday, when she went to a bar to deliver some documents to him, she overheard his conversation with a few rich men.

“Mr. Stone, I heard that your grandmother got you a fiancee. What’s going to happen to your girlfriend?”

Conan answered nonchalantly. “What do you mean by what’s going to happen? We’re just friends with benefits. What am I supposed to do? Marry her?”

Everyone knew that Ninian loved Conan so much that she would always be at his beck and call, no matter what.

But Ninian never expected that Conan would only treat her as a friend with benefits.

At that moment, Ninian came to her senses.

Conan sent her back home, and right after they opened the door, he pinned her against the wall beside the door and took her.

Even though it was supposed to be fun, to Ninian, it was torture.

After that, he sat on the edge of the bed while holding her and breathed against her ear.

“I’m about to be engaged.”

“I know.”

She did not react strongly. She already knew, so why would she need to give him any sort of reaction?

“Aren’t you mad?” But Conan was not actually surprised by her nonchalance.

From the moment they got together, Conan had never seen Ninian lose her composure.

She was as cool as a robot. It was as if she had no feelings for anyone or anything.

She also had a great sense of propriety.

But most importantly, she looked quite similar to that person.

That was a major reason why Conan chose her.

“No. Just go to sleep. I’m tired.”

Ninian turned around and put some distance between herself and Conan.

Conan stared at her thin frame. Then, he held her in his arms.

Ninian stiffened up and shut her eyes, but she could not sleep.

The next morning, when Conan got up, Ninian was no longer beside him.

Even after he went downstairs, he did not see any breakfast prepared for him.

In the past, whenever he stayed overnight, Ninian would prepare the clothes he was going to wear the next day and a matching tie.

He was picky about what he ate, too. He insisted on eating steak in the morning, and he wanted the freshest meat.

Ninian would go to the market to choose the beef in the morning and rush back so that she could cook the steak for him before he came downstairs.

But this morning, she did not prepare his clothes nor his breakfast.

When Conan went downstairs, he found Ninian watering the plants in the garden.

She wore a black professional suit and tilted the watering can forward. There was a faint smile on her lips.

Conan seldom saw her in such formal wear. He always preferred it if she wore dresses, because when she wore a dress and had her long hair let down, she looked like “that person.”

Of course, Ninian did not know about this.

He walked over and asked, “Where’s breakfast?”

When she heard his voice, Ninian put down the watering can, and her smile vanished.

“I didn’t make it.”

“Why didn’t you? You know that I want to eat breakfast cooked by you once I wake up.” Conan frowned. He had a feeling that Ninian was acting strangely today.

“I have to meet a client soon, and I don’t have time to make it for you. Have the servant make it.”

Ninian turned around to leave, but Conan stopped her.

“You’re going in this suit?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Ninian looked at him. She knew that Conan did not like it.

But she did not care anymore. She only cared about what she liked.

She did not like wearing dresses. She always did think that she should dress more formally while at work, but Conan liked her in dresses and in makeup that gave her a refined look. He liked her looking like a doll.

She was no longer going to listen to him.

“What’s wrong?”

Once he noticed that something was off with Ninian, Conan spoke to her gently. “You don’t like that I got engaged, do you? You must know that this is what my parents want. I didn’t agree to it either.”

“You’re mistaken. Mr. Stone, you’re free to marry whoever you want. No matter what, you told me from the start that our relationship is purely physical with no emotional strings attached.”

She broke free of his grip and left.

When she returned to the office, Ninian found a gift box on her table.

Her colleague came over to tease her. “Ninian, you got another admirer giving you a gift?”

With a schooled expression, Ninian opened it. In the box was a limited-edition handbag.

This was the third handbag she received.

She knew who gave it to her. This was a gift with no effort put into it, and only Conan would do such a thing.

Whenever they lay together, Conan would always give her a gift.

Once, she told him that she liked handbags. After that, all that Conan gave her were handbags.

He gave her handbags of the same style in different colors or of the same series but in different styles.

He even gave her the exact same handbags multiple times.

In the past, she loved all his gifts. Even if she knew that he did not put any thought into it, she still felt happy.

But she no longer cared for them anymore.

“Do you want it? I’ll give it to you.”

She passed the handbag to her colleague, who was so happy that she tried carrying it.

“Really?! This is a limited-edition handbag! Ninian, you’re so generous!”

She went off to show off her new handbag to their other colleagues. Just then, Conan walked out of the elevator.

Immediately, he saw that Ninian had given the handbag he had given her to someone else, and he felt angry.

He dragged her into his office. “Ninian, why are you being so difficult? I told you before when we first got together that I won’t ever marry you.”

“I know,” Ninian said coolly. “Of course, I know that.”

“What’re you trying to pull, then?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just that this is the third exact same handbag I have received, and I am sick of it. So, I don’t want a third one.”

Conan was stunned. Did he really give her three of the same handbags?

Those were the newest, limited-edition handbags, and they were all expensive. Though he bought them without putting any thought into them, he still thought that she would like them.

“I’ll give you something else next time.”

“You don’t need to. There won’t be a next time.” Ninian checked the time. “It’s 9 a.m., Mr. Stone. It’s time for your meeting.”

She went out. As Conan watched her retreating figure, he sank into deep thought.

While Ninian was preparing the documents Conan needed for the meeting, her stomach spasmed in pain.

If it were in the past, she would have just endured it.

But this time, without any hesitation whatsoever, she turned on an app that would help her make a reservation in a hospital.

She wanted to take leave and visit the doctor.

When Conan was in the meeting, he found himself unable to focus on it.

All he could think about was Ninian. His eyes were fixed on her, but Ninian never looked at him.

Once the meeting ended, it was time for lunch. He wanted to ask her to go out for lunch with him, only to realize that she was no longer in the office.

“Where’s Ninian?”

“Didn’t she tell you? She took leave for the afternoon.”

“Where did she go?”

She took leave? She had been working with Conan for years, but she had never taken leave before.

Even when she was sick and nearly fainted, she still continued working.

Why would she suddenly take leave and not tell him?

“I don’t know. Let me check where she went.”

At the hospital, the doctor told Ninian that her stomach had grown weaker due to her not having any proper meals.

That made sense. Over the years, she had worked hard for Conan, and she had almost forgotten how it felt like to sit down and have a proper meal.

After her visit to the doctor, Ninian did not hurry back to the company. Instead, she sat down beside a window in a cafe.

The afternoon sun was bright and warm. As she leaned against the window, she took her time sipping coffee.

It had been a long time since she had relaxed and drunk coffee while admiring the view.

She had practically drained herself working for Conan over the years.

And funnily enough, her efforts were nothing to Conan. Still, it was about time for Ninian to live for herself.

Her phone started vibrating. Ninian looked down and saw that it was a call from Conan.

She just glanced at it but did not answer.

Her lack of response seemed to have made Conan anxious because he kept calling her.

Ninian found it annoying and turned her phone off.

“You turned off your phone?! How dare you, Ninian?!”

When he realized that she had turned off her phone, Conan nearly smashed his phone.

Ninian had never turned her phone off over the past seven years she was with him. What happened this time?

Ninian ended up in the cafe for the entire afternoon. For the first time, she felt as if she was the master of her own time. When the sun went down, she turned on her phone and found that she had a bunch of missed calls and countless WhatsApp messages.

[Where are you?]

[I’m waiting for you at your place. Come back now.]

[Ninian, I’m giving you half an hour. Come back right now.]

The last message was sent at 3 p.m. It was already 6 p.m.

Ninian sneered at Conan’s message. Judging from the words alone, she could tell just how mad Conan was.

She took a stroll outside, ate some food she liked, and took her sweet time going back home.

It was dark inside. She bent down to change into her indoor slippers. Once she turned on the lights, she saw Conan on her couch.

The sight of Ninian coming back so late made Conan furious.

“Where did you go? Do you have any idea just how long I’ve been waiting for you?”

No one had ever dared to make him wait for so long, Ninian was the first person to do so. Not to mention, this was also the first time she had done something like this.

Ninian ignored him. She went to the kitchen countertop and poured herself a glass of water.

In the past, she was the one who waited for him.

So long as Conan said that he was going to visit her, no matter how long it took for him to arrive, she would always sit on the couch to wait for him.

If he said that he was going to visit at 10 p.m., then she was going to eagerly wait for him starting from 6 p.m.

If he said that he was going to visit the next day, she would change the sheets, air out the blankets, and change the covers before putting them back on the bed.

But she was exhausted and no longer wanted to wait for him.