Chapter 2

When I got home, I took a shower and treated my wound.

Only then did I notice that Simon Turner had also returned.

His face looked very bad.

I understood a little: “Did you have a fight with Cecilia Bell?”

“Diana Rivera!”

He scolded coldly, walked up to me in big strides, grabbed my wrist, and pressed me against the edge of the bed.

I struggled to push him away, but Simon Turner's strength was completely different from mine.

The lamp flickered, and the light pierced my eyes, causing me to instinctively close them, but tears kept streaming out.

His movements paused for a moment, he pinched my chin, forcing me to lift my face. “Why are you crying? Do you feel wronged?”

“Diana Rivera, didn't you say that as long as you can stay by my side, any status is fine with you?”

The kiss that landed on my lips had a vicious force.

Soon I tasted the sweet and metallic taste of blood.

Simon Turner commanded me, “Everything I taught you before,

“Did you forget it? Close your eyes.”

“Your eyes are the least like hers.”

In his harsh movements, the pain intensified.

In the moment of confusion when I opened my eyes, I happened to meet his inexplicably gloomy gaze, as if it were some kind of emotional outburst.

Suddenly, I understood.

I have upset Cecilia Bell, and Simon Turner is punishing me.

I am engulfed in a huge sense of shame, and I faintly remember past events.

When we first met, I was a poor student with nothing.

And he was the esteemed Mr. Turner.

In the bar where I worked, he got drunk and glared at my face:

‘‘Don’t use a face so much resemble hers to be such a cheap bitch here!‘‘

Later, my grandmother, who I depended on, fell ill, and I borrowed money from every possible platform, still short of three-hundred-thousand dollars.

For that, I sold myself to Simon Turner.

I willingly threw myself at him.

The price was that he wouldn't let me continue my studies and pursue a master's degree.

“A stand-in must look like a stand-in.”

His tone was calm, and in just a few simple words, he decided my fate.

“You said you liked me, didn't you? At least for these three years, stay by my side and don't go anywhere.”

Cecilia Bell left him because she went abroad for further studies.

Simon Turner would not allow the same situation to happen again.

From that day on, my dream of pursuing scientific research and further education truly became an unattainable dream.

My grandmother didn't survive the complications after surgery; she held on for six months but still passed away.

I was mentally numb, sitting in the cemetery all night.

In the middle of the night, rain began to drizzle.

A parasol suddenly appeared above my head.

It was Simon Turner.

He looked down at me, his eyes lowered, and his tone unusually gentle: “How long do you want to stay here? I'll stay with you.”

We were together for three years.

I took care of him attentively.

In some moments of our time together, there were brief moments of tenderness.

But I knew that Simon Turner actually looked down on me.

That time, he and a few friends set up a situation, and when I went to pick him up, they stopped me with jeers.

They sized me up and laughed, saying, “Indeed, you do look a bit like Cecilia – heard you were a talented student at Stanford, and you even worked on a patent project?”

“Is it true? Hey, how about you show us a performance here, talented student?”

I pinched my palm and looked at them: “Scientific research is a serious matter, not something to be made fun of or performed.”

The man leading the mocking sneered, “What are you pretending for? You talk about scientific research, but isn't it just to sell yourself for a good price?”

A bottle of alcohol was pushed in front of me: “If you're willing, then drink up. Once this bottle is finished, Simon will go with you.”

Throughout the whole time, Simon Turner leaned against the couch, playing with his lighter between his fingers, watching me.

Perhaps due to intoxication, when the usually indifferent person looked over, his lips curved slightly, and his gaze became lazy.

“Drink up, let everyone see your drinking capacity.”

I paused for two seconds and asked him, “If it were Cecilia Bell standing here today, would you make her drink as well?”