Outside the hospital, Roy stared at his phone in disbelief. He could not believe that Willow hung up on him.

Willow never terminated his call. She would always make sure to pick up right away. As such, Roy dialed her number again.

The call connected moments later, but it was quiet on the other end of the line. Roy, not one to cave in, said nothing. A tense silence lingered in the air, broken only by their breathing.

Roy felt bad as it just occurred to him that Willow’s foot was bleeding when he left. He was going to get her patched up. However, Willow was stubborn, as always. Despite her kind heart, she was headstrong. No one knew her better than Roy.

At the time, her uncompromising stance had rubbed him the wrong way. Hence, he said nothing and took Sierra away.

“Your foot–”

“It’s over between us, Roy.”

They talked over each other.

Roy paused for a minute before sneering. “What did you say, Willow?”

Willow remained indifferent. “If there’s anything between us, to begin with, that is. Else, you can say that you left me.”

Roy smirked. “Have it your way, Willow.”

After that, Willow ended the call, and Sierra came out of the assessment room to find Roy laughing away while staring at his phone.

She drew close with a smile. “Roy, what’s so funny–”

Roy hurled his phone, smashing it to the ground with a loud bang. Sierra clammed up in fright.

Roy’s chauffeur burst in. “Mr. Chester, I got a call from Hailey, saying that something isn’t right with Ms. Croyton. She left with a suitcase in the middle of the night…”

He trailed off when he saw the shattered phone on the floor.

With a grin, Roy uttered, “She better not come back.”

In less than a week, the city buzzed with the news that Roy had moved on to a younger model and finally ditched Willow after three years for a nineteen-year-old Sierra.

Unlike with Willow, Roy gave Sierra the world. Someone commented that Sierra’s long hair looked like Willow’s from behind, and Roy responded by kicking him into the pool. Since then, no one spoke of Willow in front of Roy anymore.

Still, everybody noticed that anything could set Roy off lately. Due to his unwarranted outbursts, his friends stopped the jokes.

One night, Roy lounged in the club after a business meeting, his eyes heavy with drink. It did not take Sierra long to join him, and Roy caught a whiff of her perfume. Then, at the faint sound of a click, his eyes snapped open.

With her back facing him, Sierra was busy texting away. From where he was sitting, Roy picked up that it was a photo of him lying down.

“Did you take a picture of me?” he murmured.

Sierra shuddered and dropped her phone on the sofa.

Roy’s eyes fell upon the phone screen, where a photo captured him reclining, his hand resting on the sofa, while Sierra leaned in, their poses suggesting an intimate embrace. Willow’s profile picture on the dialog box caught his eye right away.

Sierra swiftly grabbed her phone and put it behind her back.

“Roy, I-I…” Caught in the act, Sierra stammered for words.

Roy fell silent for a moment. “Come here.”

Before Sierra knew it, Roy pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. While that was happening, he held Sierra’s phone to take a picture of them and tapped to send the photo.

Willow stared at the photo on her phone.

With his eyes closed and shirt collar undone, Roy’s relaxed posture belied the underlying intensity and revealed the sensuality of a man accustomed to the finer things in life. In the same photo, Sierra was snuggling up to his chest, smiling smugly at the camera.

A new photo, though slightly blurred, jumped out, showing the man leaning in to kiss the woman. The fluster and joy in the woman’s eyes were so real.

Six months ago, Willow would be hurt and upset to tears by the photo. Now, her gaze lingered on Roy’s aroused face before she deleted the photos with a tap.

Over the past few days, Sierra had been sending photos and text messages to get a rise out of her. Willow had yet to block Sierra to keep tabs on Roy. She had unfinished business to deal with, and the last thing she needed was for Roy to ruin things for her.

Men had fragile egos, and when she walked out on him, Roy’s response left a lingering doubt that things were far from over.

The next day, Willow went to her advisor’s office.

“When can I expect the recommendation letter for my PhD studies abroad, professor? Next week is the deadline.”

The advisor remained silent. The swelling on his face had subsided.

Willow gritted her teeth and flipped over her bang, dropping all its contents out to prove she did not have him on tape.

“I can understand that you’ve changed your mind about writing me a recommendation letter, but why did you have to stop Professor Anderson from writing me one too?”

The advisor pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose and replied, “We’ve received an anonymous complaint, calling your personal conduct in question. You have a history of promiscuous behavior.”

“Is there a rule against dating while enrolled in the school?”

“Ha… Are you saying that you were dating the young heir of the Chesters? What a fancy way of putting it.” The middle-aged man mocked, “He should have no problem sorting your recommendation letter out if he was your boyfriend. You won’t have to grovel at my feet.”

“That’s my business. I’m earning my way to study abroad. If it weren’t for your abuse of power and your vendetta against me, I wouldn’t be wasting my time here.”

With a scowl, the advisor jolted to his feet and lunged closer. “Do you think I don’t know Mr. Chester got sick of you and dumped you? You better drop your attitude now that you don’t have a sugar daddy to back you up.”

He was utterly humiliated when Roy beat him up. Now, consumed by rage, the advisor grabbed Willow by the hair.

“Why don’t you get down on your knees and beg?” He leaned close, his breath hot against her ear. “Show me how you got all over the Chesters’ heir. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll write you that recommendation letter.”

Forced to look up, Willow could feel the outline of his junk against her skin. With a blank face, she snapped up a pot of boiling tea near her and threw it at him.

The man let out an excruciating scream. Then, with a smack, Willow took a hit to the face and fell to the ground.

She grabbed her things on the floor and scurried out of the office without another word.

“Willow…”

Sierra caught up to Willow in the corridor.

Taking a good look at Willow’s face, she said with a smile, “What happened to your face?”

Willow looked at her. “You were the one who went and told the school, didn’t you?”

Since Willow kept her academic life separate from Roy’s world, her advisor would not have found out unless someone leaked the information.

Sierra beamed. “I was only telling the truth. Did it upset you, Willow?”

Roy had one too many drinks that night. Usually, he would have a good measure of his intake and stay tipsy, or sometimes, he would pretend to be wasted just to tease Willow.

However, he got hammered pretty quickly that night. Either the booze was kicking in or his friends kept filling his glass, but he felt like crap halfway through.

Roy hurled his phone to Adrian. “Call Willow to pick me up.”

Silence weighed heavily in the air.

Roy looked up to Adrian spacing out, his phone in hand.

“I’ll do it.” Another friend snatched the phone from Adrian and said with a smile, “Willow will be here in no time, but you’re giving her an excuse to come back, Roy. She’ll hold on tight to you and refuse to let go.”

The remark cleared Roy’s head. It hit him that Willow had broken up with him, and it had been two weeks since they got in touch.

“Remember how Willow first forced herself into Roy’s life by staging an encounter at the café?” One of his friends teased. “It was so cheesy, but hey, it worked.”

“Then there was the time she waited outside the hot springs in the bitter cold. Apparently, she brought a coat for Roy, and we all saw right through her. She was probably looking to join Roy for a soak.”

“And they say gold diggers don’t put in the work, but look at Willow. She sure pulled out all the stops.”

Amid the roaring laughter, Roy recalled that he invited Willow over on a whim, only to forget about her while chatting with a friend.

As it was a private estate, the security guards turned her away, and because Roy did not have his phone with him, it took four hours for her call to reach him after his soak.

The place was in a remote suburb, with no taxis or other public places around. Willow stood by the road in the dead of winter, clinging to his coat as she waited patiently. Her nose was flushed against her fair skin, and snow lightly dusted her white fur hat, making her look like a winter fairy.

He thought she would throw a fit, yet she simply handed him the coat in front of everybody, expressing kindly that was the reason why she was there.

Roy found her somewhat endearingly naïve. Something about her there and then sent a rush to his loins. He pulled Willow into his arms and led her inside.

The next two hours were spent in the hot springs. When they got out, Willow could barely feel her legs. Roy had to carry her back to the room.

Willow’s eyes were red-rimmed, her lips lusciously flushed, and her gaze held a sultry allure for Roy. She certainly had a hold on him.

Roy tugged at his collar, overcome by irritation. He staggered to his feet and snatched his phone from someone’s hand.

“I’m done. I’m out of here.”

Back at his villa, the housekeeper met Roy at the door.

“Where’s Willow?” Roy asked.

Dumbstruck, Hailey replied, “Ms. Croyton left two weeks ago. I asked her where she was going, but she wouldn’t say.”

Roy frowned. He never thought Willow would walk away from him. His anger stemmed from her threat of a breakup. That was why he left her high and dry, not contacting her or coming home, but to his surprise, Willow moved out.

He smirked in rage and thought, ‘Fine! Be that way!’

Upstairs, he took a quick shower and headed to the wardrobe to grab his pajamas. There, he saw Willow’s usual sleepwear hung neatly next to his, just like always.

Roy paused for a minute before striding to the walk-in closet. The gowns, bags, and jewelry he had gifted her were untouched, some boxes left ajar. The state of the closet suggested Willow slapped some clothes on and stepped out for a moment.

Roy sneered, “We’ll see how long you’d keep up this act.”

A weight lifted from his chest.

Still, it was a rough night for Roy. His sleep was plagued by dreams of that night with Willow at the hot springs.

Willow was not at all the sweet little girl she had put herself out to be. During their first time, she was timid, trembling, and whimpering in pain. However, by the next day, the roles were reserved as she straddled him and cuffed him to the headboard. Roy let her have her way, enjoying the contrast of shyness and uninhibition in her.

The following day, he woke up feeling agitated, with Willow’s scent lingering in the air. He sniffed the pillow, surprised that the shampoo’s fragrance could last so long.

“Women need a little bit of TLC. Even the sweetest girl has a breaking point. You should try and meet her halfway.” Adrian’s words when he saw Roy off came to mind.

Roy scoffed and dismissed the idea at the time. Now, Roy realized that Adrian may have a point.

He sat up and called Willow. If Willow was still upset, Roy did not mind sweetening her up a bit.

Seconds later, Roy grimaced. Willow had blocked his number.