"Ah!"

The boiling tea splashed all over Sally's face, leaving painful red marks and breaking her fair skin. The teacup shattered on the floor, while the sharp edges cut into Nora's calf.

Mr. and Mrs. Riley rushed upstairs quickly. Sally covered her face and cried uncontrollably in their arms, hiding her right hand to keep them from seeing the wound.

"Mom and Dad, don’t blame Nora," Sally said, sobbing.

"She got angry when she saw what I posted on Instagram Live ... but I didn’t expect this … "

Hearing this, the usually gentle Mr. Riley frowned and pointed at Nora.

"What did Sally do wrong? Yes, you were wronged … but Sally kindly brought you warm tea, but you treated her like this!"

Mrs. Riley also looked distressed.

"Nora, we’ve always taught you to be sensible. But today you’ve really disappointed us."

Nora’s head felt heavy and her chest felt tight as if it were blocked by cotton. She was pale, struggling to defend herself.

"It wasn’t me who splashed the tea. It was her..."

"Did Sally splash it on herself? If she did, how culd her face be burned? She’s a lovely girl! How could you be so cruel, Nora?" Mr. Riley scolded, then told Mrs. Burnett to take Sally for a cold shower.

"Sir, Miss Sally shouldn’t have splashed the tea deliberately … " Mrs. Burnett tried to speak up for Nora, but Mrs. Riley shot her a fierce look.

Sally, with tears in her eyes, pulled off the necklace.

"This necklace was given to Nora by Grandpa. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have said I wanted to wear it just because it looked pretty..."

"Good girl," Mrs. Riley said with care.

"If you like the necklace, wear it. We’ll make the decision for you. Don’t be afraid of her."

With that, Mrs. Riley shoved the necklace back into Sally’s hands and helped her out the door to go to the hospital. Nora was exhausted, her calf wound still bleeding, but her parents turned a blind eye. She could only watch as the necklace was snatched away.

Before leaving, Sally gave Nora a mocking smile, covering her face as she left. Nora was left behind to be scolded by Mr. Riley.

"We’ve had a plan in mind for a while. We didn’t want to mention it before because we were afraid it would upset you. But today, you splashed tea on Sally. Let’s take it as your apology to her," Mr. Riley said in a firm tone.

He then told her the plan, "Your mother and I have decided to let Sally change her surname to Riley and give her half of the 10% of the shares that are under your name, so Sally can truly become part of the family."

Nora’s body swayed when she heard it. In fact, she almost collapsed. She looked at Mr. Riley in disbelief. It was her who had been hurt, but she was being forced to apologize to the person who had caused the harm.

Mr. Riley then continued, "Also, you have such a cruel tendency, Nora. You won’t be able to maintain a good relationship with the Hunt Family when you marry. The wedding ring will be handed over to me for safekeeping and I will give it to you when you are older!"

Finally, he added, "I’ve already decided on these two things! Don’t think about complaining to Grandpa!"

After that, Mr. Riley rushed to the hospital. Mrs. Burnett came in with a first aid kit and quickly bandaged Nora’s wound. Nora was faint with fever and pain. The physical pain from her calf and head was unbearable, but the pain in her heart felt like a sharp knife piercing her chest.

The whole mansion was empty. She could only call the number her grandfather had given her.

When the call connected, Nora apologized hoarsely, "I’m sorry, Mr. Hunt. I wasn’t able to keep the wedding ring you gave to me yesterday."

There was silence on the other end for a moment before a low voice responded, "Have you been crying?"

The long-lost concern, once offered by a stranger, now felt warm. Nora’s nose turned sour. Immediately, the tears she had just managed to stop came rushing back.

"Don’t worry too much about the wedding ring. I’ll take you to choose one you like when I have some free time. You can call me anytime at this number. By the way … " he then paused.

"Just call me Sebastian from now on."

"Okay," Nora agreed through her sobs.

At the end of the call, Sebastian gave her an address and invited her to come play golf to relax.

Nora had a fever for two days. But once she recovered, she went to the golf course. She wore a sun hat, radiating her quiet elegance.

Unfortunately, Nora was quickly stopped at the entrance of the golf course. She gave her membership number, but the staff said it had already been used.

"How could that be?" Nora asked, confused.

After all, she hadn’t played in five years. But such a high-end venue wasn’t supposed to allow anyone else to use her membership. The staff confirmed again that the membership number didn’t belong to Nora.

"There’s already a Miss Riley at the venue," the staff said apologetically.

Not far away, Nora saw the "Miss Riley" they were talking about. It was Sally.

"Let's do this," the staff member said, looking at Nora's outfit and instinctively thinking she must be a part of the Houston’s high-society.

"It just so happens that our head of golf course is also here today. I'll go ask him. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding."

The Houston’s high-society circle was small, so everyone knew each other to some extent.

Nora nodded and casually asked, "Who is the head?"

"Mr. Benjamin Hunt."

It turned out that this was the Hunt Family's property. When she realized Benjamin was the head of the golf course, Nora frowned. Just as she was about to refuse, the staff member hurried away, looking guilty as he left.

After a short while, the staff member returned and said apologetically, "Sorry, Miss, Mr. Hunt said he doesn't know you."

Nora felt a wave of disappointment. She was about to leave when another person ran over, lowered his head, whispered a few words and then took her inside. The court was large and Nora initially wanted to play alone.

Unexpectedly, a ball rolled right to her feet. It was hit by a girl next to Sally.

"Hey, pick up the ball!" the girl shouted at Nora.

Benjamin, who was with them, looked amused, while Sally was already aiming at a spot and preparing to swing. Nora hit the ball, but the girl wasn’t happy.

"I told you to pick it up, why did you hit my ball?"

Nora didn't respond, but the next moment, a ball flew straight at her at high speed.

Before she could move, it struck her face hard. The force of the hit made her take two steps back to steady herself. Nora's head rang, a strand of hair fell out of place and her right cheek quickly became swollen and red.

The accident shocked everyone. The ball had come at her as if it was aimed deliberately. Sally looked pale, clearly not expecting it to hit Nora in such a way. She put down her club, ready to run over and apologize, but Benjamin stopped her.

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't hit her on purpose. Nora is just unlucky. She couldn't avoid it in such a big space."

Then, as if remembering something, Benjamin walked over to Nora with the others. Nora covered her face with her hands, tears falling uncontrollably from the pain. When Benjamin saw the blood on her face, he froze for a moment.

Then, he seemed to recall something and sneered, "Why are you pretending? It's just a ball. How painful can it be? Is it as painful as when you deliberately poured hot tea on Sally’s face?"

"If you ask me, this is just divine justice. You deserved it!"

Nora’s eyes filled with tears.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, she was deeply disappointed with Benjamin and just wanted to leave and end this whole mess. She stepped back, but Benjamin took a step closer and grabbed her wrist.

"I invited you here today so you could apologize to Sally in front of me!"

It was clearly her who had been hurt!

Nora felt shaky, knowing Benjamin would never believe her, just like her parents hadn’t. Yet, she remained stubborn. Her long brunette hair covered the wound on her right cheek, while her beautiful profile was now marked by a pair of tear-filled, determined eyes.

Suddenly, Benjamin remembered the heavy rain from that day and realized he might have gone too far.

A girl, who had once treated Nora like her caddy, came over, grabbed Sally's hand and said as she sneered, "Isn’t she the one who splashed hot tea on Sally? Now, she looks like very ugly!"

Hearing Nora being humiliated like this made Benjamin feel irritated.

He tightened his grip on her wrist, pushing her to apologize quickly. The sharp pain from her wrist made Nora tremble slightly. She didn’t understand why Benjamin kept treating her like this when she hadn’t done anything wrong and hadn’t let him down.

As Nora refused to back down, Benjamin became more frustrated. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t yield. Especially when her wrist was on the verge of being crushed.

The two of them were stuck in a standoff. Nora's wrist was turning red with her lips being pale from the pain. Finally, Benjamin couldn’t take it anymore and shoved her away.

"Benjamin! You can’t just let her go!" the girl yelled, stamping her feet, eager to defend Sally.

"It’s fine, Benjamin ..." Sally spoke softly, trying to calm the situation.

Benjamin curled his lips, as though showing mercy.

"Who said I would let her go? Here’s what we’ll do, Nora. I’ll hit another ball. Whether you dodge it or not, I won’t hold you responsible for bullying Sally anymore."

Without waiting for Nora's response, he walked back to the spot and swung the club.

The ball immediately hit Nora’s leg, right on the spot where she had been cut by a piece of broken porcelain two days earlier. The wound was just starting to heal and had almost formed a scab. But now, because of the ball, it started bleeding again.

Nevertheles, Nora tried to keep walking even though it hurt. She limped away, trying not to show how embarrassed and hurt she was. But Sally’s close friend didn’t care. She laughed loudly, mocking Nora without any kindness.

On the other hand, Benjamin just stood there as he watched everything. For some reason, he felt a strange pain in his heart. He remembered that Nora wasn’t always like this. She used to be confident and strong.

But then he reminded himself that she had made a mistake. And, people who made mistakes had to face consequences.

When Nora finally got home, her parents saw the red and swollen marks on her face. They looked surprised, but they didn’t ask her any questions. They didn’t ask if she was okay. They didn’t comfort her. Instead, they just stayed quiet.

Later that night, Nora opened her diary. She sat at her desk for a long time, thinking. Finally, she picked up her pen and wrote something simple about Benjamin.

[Benjamin Hunt was my classmate from high school, but we’re not that close anymore.]

Nora knew it wasn’t the truth, but she didn’t want to write anything more. She was tired of everything.

The next morning, something unexpected happened.

Nora received a phone call from Sebastian Hunt, Benjamin’s powerful uncle, for the first time after what happened in the golf course.

“I heard what happened at the golf course,” he said calmly.

“I’ve already punished Benjamin. Our lawyer will visit your house later today to give you some property as compensation.”

Nora was surprised since no one had protected her like this in a long time.

“I’ve been too busy lately,” Sebastian continued.

“I haven’t had time to look after you. I’m sorry. I’ll bring Benjamin to apologize to you in person in a few days.”

Nora didn’t know how to respond. She felt flattered and awkward at the same time.

After a few more words, Sebastian added kindly, “There’s no need for us to act like strangers.”

Not long after that, he hung up.

Later that morning, a lawyer came to the Riley Family’s house.

The lawyer brought a very thick folder full of legal documents. He explained that these were for transferring property to Nora’s name. One of the properties was the golf course where the incident had happened.

Nora stared at the documents in shock. Was this what Sebastian had meant by ‘some property’? She thought Sebastian was only trying to be polite. She never imagined he would really try to give her something so big. Now, she realized Sebastian really was someone worth hundreds of billions.

“I can’t accept this,” Nora said quickly, her voice full of confusion.

The lawyer looked slightly uncomfortable.

After thinking for a moment, he handed her a business card and said, “Miss Riley, this is my contact information. If you change your mind later, we can transfer everything to your name at any time.” Nora took the card and quietly walked the lawyer to the door.

Just a few minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Riley came home in a hurry. Their faces were full of anger and panic.

“Nora!” her father shouted.

“What happened between you and Benjamin?! Do you know that he was punished by the Hunt Family last night? He had to kneel all night as punishment! Now he’s under house arrest!”

“Really?”

Nora said softly. She didn’t smile, but deep inside she thought to herself, ‘That’s good. I also walked alone all night in the cold rain.’

But she didn’t say it out loud. Even though Benjamin had been punished and her parents were now so angry about it, Nora didn’t feel happy at all. She just felt empty and bitter.

Her younger sister, Sally, quickly came to Benjamin’s defense.

“Nora,” Sally said as she shed tears.

“I heard Benjamin was punished very badly. You’ve always liked him so much. You wouldn’t want him to suffer like this, right? Please, go to the Hunt Family and ask his uncle to forgive him. Do it for Benjamin.”

Mr. Riley added, “This whole thing started because of you. I don’t care what exactly happened at the golf course. Young people fight sometimes, but now Benjamin’s family is angry. You need to go there and apologize.”

Nora’s heart felt like it was breaking all over again.

She looked at her father and said, “You’re blaming me without even asking what happened?”

However, Mr. Riley frowned and said, “Benjamin’s wealth was taken away. That’s serious. You must come with me to the Hunt Family and ask for forgiveness.”

After that, it suddenly became clear to Nora.

The property the lawyer had brought to her was all under Benjamin’s name. But now, because he was punished, it was being taken away and given to her. She thought about Sebastian’s words. He had said he would bring Benjamin to apologize.

But now her own father was asking her to go beg for Benjamin’s forgiveness. It was unbelievable. She couldn’t help but feel that the whole thing was ridiculous.

“Dad,” she said clearly, looking into his eyes.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I won’t beg for him.”

Her father’s face turned red with anger.

“I’m doing this for your own good!” he shouted.

“Benjamin is your future husband! Why are you being so stubborn? It’s not good for you to fight with him like this!”

Nora suddenly felt tears filling her eyes. She couldn’t understand her father anymore. He said he loved her, but this didn’t feel like love. If he really cared about her, why didn’t he stand by her side?

With a voice filled with sorrow, she said, “Dad, he’s not my future husband.”

Her father didn’t take her words seriously. He thought she was just being emotional. But Sally looked at him with hopeful eyes. After a moment, Mr. Riley let out a long sigh and rubbed his aching forehead.

“If you’re going to be like this, then fine,” he said.

“Sally will take your place in the marriage. She and Benjamin already like each other anyway.”

The next moment felt like time had frozen. Nora couldn’t breathe. She watched as her father, right in front of her, gave the wedding ring that was supposed to be hers to Sally. Sally smiled sweetly and said softly, “Nora, don’t be sad. You and Benjamin were never meant to be happy together.”

Nora slowly wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her heart felt like it had completely shattered. She didn’t say another word. She just picked up her phone and called the lawyer.

“Mr. Capello?” she said with a quiet but steady voice.

“I’ve changed my mind. I want the property.”