Chapter 9

Anne was actually mindful of her alcohol tolerance and hadn't drunk too much. However, it was past midnight by the time she walked out of the bar. There weren't many cars or people on the streets at that hour.

There was quite a distance from the bar back to the villa, yet it was hard to call a taxi around this area.

Anne leaned against the railing as she made her way down. Just as she was about to steady herself and walk home, a black Bentley stopped right in front of her.

Alerted, she hurriedly backed away into the bar.

At that moment, a man in his 50s, with salt-and-pepper hair, came out of the car. "Are you Ms. Anne Stafford?" he asked from a few steps back.

Anne pursed her lips and replied, "I am."

The man immediately smiled. "Hello, Ms. Stafford. I'm Mr. Stone's driver, Walter Elman. Mr. Stone asked me to come pick you up and send you home."

Anne wondered if "Mr. Stone" referred to Harvey and quickly dug her phone out.

As expected, he had texted her about it.

"I sent Walter over to pick you up. Get some rest soon."

She felt relieved seeing his text. "Thank you so much."

Walter was a chubby man with a kind face. He said, "Don't worry about it!"

Anne was filled with confusion as she got into the car. She had assumed Harvey was just a regular employee—at most a high-level one. The fact that he could afford the most expensive villa in the city and even had a personal driver surprised her.

Walter said, "Mr. Stone also said you can call me whenever you need a ride, Ms. Stafford. Feel free to inform me if you need any help as well."

"Alright." Although questions flooded her mind, Anne wasn't particularly curious.

…

Once Anne returned to the villa, she sent Harvey a message letting him know that she got home safe. She wasn't expecting him to reply, but he sent a "good night" back.

In return, she replied, "Good morning."

After her shower, Anne noticed her bedroom was illuminated by the outside lights. She could vaguely hear voices. She walked over to the balcony connected to the bedroom and saw a car parked diagonally across the street.

Caesar and Zachery were in front of the villa discussing something.

"No way, Zach. Isn't this your house? How do you not even know the passcode to the door?" Caesar said with an exasperated look.

Zachery scratched his head irritably. "I've always made sure she was home whenever I came over. I just have to knock, and she'll open the door for me."

"What about your fingerprint?" Caesar asked.

Zachery replied, "I've never registered it."

Caesar let out a sigh. "We can only call Anne, then. You call her."

Zachery kicked the door and exclaimed, "She blocked me!"

"Then, there's nothing we can do," Caesar said.

Zachery said, "You call her, then."

"Me?" Caesar pursed his lips and replied, "She told me she'd stop being my friend if I ever called her just to talk about you again."

Zachery gritted his teeth. "You guys can stop being friends, then!"

Caesar replied, "No way! You can break up with Anne, but I can't stop being friends with her!"

"Are you looking for a fight, Caesar?" Zachery said.

Caesar chuckled. "Just try to remember. Is the passcode either of your birthdays? Or is it the date of your special anniversaries?"

Zachery contemplated with a darkening expression, seemingly able to recall it then. "I think it's the date of our first day as a couple."

Caesar snapped his fingers. "You've finally recalled it! Hurry and open the door now."

Zachery huffed, "I don't know which day that is."

"You actually don't know?" Caesar asked.

"What's so special about it? There are too many anniversaries for me to remember them all!" Zachery replied.

Caesar said, "But this is a special date!"

Zachery said, "There's nothing special about it."

"It's 160805," Caesar replied with a sigh.

Zachery frowned. "How did you know?"

Caesar said, "That's because it's also Anne's birthday. You confessed to her on her birthday, and she agreed to it. That's how you got together. Jul and I were also present. We were even so touched back then!"

"It's her birthday?" Zachery asked.

Caesar replied, "That's right. But you haven't been celebrating her birthday for the past few years the two of you were together, right?"

Zachery asked, "What's so special about a birthday?"

"But you'd throw a birthday party for Sophia each year—a grand one at that!" Caesar said.

Zachery glared at Caesar before lowering his head to key in the passcode. The door soon opened.

Caesar said, "Just get your passcode changed to Sophia's birthday or your wedding date later—you surely won't forget it afterward."

"Fuck off!" Zachery said.

Caesar ended up never giving Anne a call, and Anne felt she hadn't lost him as a friend even after breaking up with Zachery.

She slept soundly that night.

She still wanted to buy back her parents' house, but now wasn't the right time. Zachery would surely make things hard for her.

She decided to wait a little longer. Once Zachery married Sophia, he might lose interest in making things hard for Anne anymore.

…

Anne remained at the outpatient clinic in the morning. During her consultation break, Mindy showed her a trending topic online.

She said, "Sophia's team had responded to the recent controversy. They claimed that she had no relationship with Sean and intended to sue the rumormongers.

"In their statement, they also mentioned that she and Mr. Judd had been in a romantic relationship right after they started university, and the two of them have been loyal to each other all these years. They claimed that the infidelity rumors were false."

Anne scoffed upon hearing the mention of "being in a romantic relationship" and "loyal to each other".

Mindy said, "But they did not deny the news about Sophia's suicide attempt. They only mentioned that she was troubled by certain issues recently, but she chose to believe in her fiancé."

Anne frowned, finding something off about that statement.

Mindy exclaimed, "Of course something is off about this! They clarified the scandal between Sophia and Sean, yet they did not clear things up for you! They even implied that you seduced Mr. Judd, ruined their relationship, and drove Sophia to attempt suicide!"

As expected, the comments below were cursing at Anne.

"Everything is clear now. This Dr. Stafford used her position as Sophia's attending doctor to get close to Mr. Judd and tried to seduce him. She continued to harass him after being rejected, which eventually led to Sophia committing suicide because she couldn't bear it."

"She's just too disgusting. How is she a doctor in the first place?"

"How much can a doctor earn? It's definitely easier to go after a wealthy man—no labor needed, and you'd only have to satisfy him in bed!"

Mindy read through a few comments and turned off her phone, unable to bear reading them anymore. She grumbled, "See, Anne? Just because you didn't mind it doesn't mean they would let this go."

Anne frowned. She wasn't part of the entertainment industry, and she really didn't want to get involved in this matter.

But Mindy was right—both her life and work would be affected if such rumors continued to spread.

Just as Anne was figuring out a way to solve this, a woman in sunglasses walked in.

"Hello, please take a seat." She composed herself, deciding to deal with this matter after work. Giving her mouse a slight shake to wake the screen up, she turned to look at the woman. "What seems to be the problem?"

The woman neither sat down nor spoke up.

"You—" Before Anne could finish asking, the woman suddenly took out a bottle of opened ink and threw it at her.

It all happened too fast—Anne had no time to dodge. The cheap, pungent ink splattered onto her face and clothes, staining her white coat in black patches.

Mindy quickly came to her senses and yelled, "What are you doing? Security! Get over here, security!"

The woman smiled smugly. "Just how desperate are you for a man that you have to seduce someone's fiancé? If you're so desperate, just go on the streets and get a random guy to go to a love hotel with you. You can have all the fun you want as long as they don't reject you!

"Also, you should just take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Do you really think you're better than our dear Sophia with that horrendous appearance of yours?"

The woman turned and fled after she was done cursing. Anne was left stunned, unable to fend for herself.

A crowd of rubberneckers had started to form outside. Some were even recording with their phones.

"Go away! This has nothing to do with you! Get going with your appointments!" Mindy hurriedly closed the door. She stomped angrily when she saw how disheveled Anne was now.

She quickly wrung out a damp towel to wipe Anne's face. It took several passes before the ink was finally cleared off, but there was no saving her clothes.

"Are you okay, Anne?" Mindy asked.

Anne had been quietly sitting since the start. "Do we have any ink?"

"What?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Get me a bottle of ink, Mindy."