Chapter 2

The old Charles Torres, not so much.

He and I met at a party.

At that time, he was the crown prince of the capital that everyone fought to please, while I was just a second generation of the demolition of the people looked down upon.

The Princes and Princesses of the capital met each other early on, and have long since formed a united xenophobic alliance with each other.

They looked at me with unmerciful taunts in their eyes.

"Who do I think it is, the daughter of a thug, how can she have the nerve to mingle in a banquet like this."

"Yanzhi, don't you think so?"

Charles Torres, who had been asked, merely frowned, his handsome face turned and scanned the group impatiently.

"If you have nothing to do, go out and find some amusement, don't gather around here to make noise and annoy people."

The crowd disperses and Charles Torres looks me in the face and leans over and snorts softly.

"Empty gestures."

I'm not slow to drop the slate I've hidden behind my back.

If Charles Torres hadn't relieved himself, the gent at the front of the party would have been opened up.

Looking back at Charles Torres's cold face, I returned it with the same flirtatious tone.

"Sick in the head."

And yet, I didn't realize that Charles Torres was stalking me because of those four words.

In his words, no one had ever dared to call him sick in the head to his face, and he made sure to show me what he was made of.

And when I found out, I just left a faint comment.

"No one ever dares to say it to your face, is it because everyone talks like that behind your back?"

And that, unfortunately, fell on the ears of Charles Torres.

He was furious and declared to the group of followers who held him up almost as an emperor that he would not take Gu's name if he didn't make me apologize to him on my knees in front of the whole school.

I rode by on my bike and fished out a handful of mud to throw on his handmade custom shirt.

Emperor Gu instantly turned into a little beggar, and while his followers couldn't hold back their laughter, I had already ridden away in a puff of smoke.

I thought we'd keep looking at each other like this.

But the very next day, he saved me from a robbing van.

Just one step away from being knocked to my bones, I gasped in Charles Torres' arms.

I didn't even notice that my back was pressed against his chest and his body heat was ironing through the thin layer of his shirt.

I thanked him in shock, but Charles Torres laughed.

It was the first time, I had ever seen him smile that softly.

"If you want to thank me, be my girlfriend."

Maybe it's because of the danger they've just experienced.

My heart was beating violently in my chest like a drum.

But I knew I could never say yes to him.

Let's put aside for a moment whether or not he did it on a whim.

Just that huge gap in family history between us was enough to torment me and him.

I righted the strap of my book bag and unceremoniously distanced myself from him.

"I'd better go to the school gates and apologize to you on my knees."

I didn't end up on my knees.

Because the van wasn't an accident, it was a plot devised by the robbers.

They want to kidnap me and use me to get money from my parents.

I told them calmly.

"My dad remarried, and they can't wait for you to get me killed, there's no way they're going to pay you."

But how could the kidnappers believe it.

They approached step by step with sharp knives.

Just then, a silhouette rushed out.

It's Charles Torres.

Protecting me, he only dropped it coldly.

"Run, go to the police."

I wasn't in the mood for any you-go-now-you-don't-go-now I won't-go-now drama with him, but instead exerted the fastest speed I've ever had and darted to a public phone booth to bring in help.

When the police arrive.

Charles Torres has a knife in the small of his back and has been unconscious for many hours.