Nicole's POV".... I am now at the scene. There has been no word from the Martinez Family until now, so I can only report from the front fence of the conglomerate family's house."A reporter broke the news on television, looking calm and holding a cell phone in his hand. The front of the family home also looked ordinary and devoid of activity, very different from the news the reporter was about to deliver."This is the video evidence of the violent acts committed by the alleged husband and wife Martinez and their family's only child against the servants. Let's watch."The chaos soon replaced the calmness of the reporter's demeanor heard from the television screen showing the video evidence. I could see several figures of servants neatly lined up in a row to the side, looking scared and clasping their hands together in front of them."What incompetent servants!" Mia shouted in front of the servants, who immediately frowned in fear. "What are you doing that you dare to make such a mess,
Nicole's POV"Richard... are you okay?" I asked after calming down somewhat, approaching my son, who immediately nodded but still rubbed his forehead a few times. I also held his slightly reddened forehead. "Does it hurt?"Richard shook his head. "No, mom. Just a little sore."I blew gently on my son's forehead as I whispered comfort to Richard, who wasn't crying, while the other boy was quiet and seemed fine. I was just about to ask the boy when a woman came up to us with an angry frown on her face."You! Did you hit my son on purpose?" He suddenly screamed, looking at me angrily and then at Richard, who was no longer holding his forehead.The little boy, who had been silent earlier, immediately hugged his mother's hand tightly, not looking at me or Richard, who hadn't done anything since then but walked outside the house. I had only intended to take a walk with my son, but my son was just a little excited, so he ran.I stared at the woman unacceptingly, feeling unhappy with her accu
Nicole's POVI wouldn't say I liked the look of the woman still talking to her husband on the phone. She obviously exaggerated what happened between our children, and her husband swallowed all of his wife's information whole.Naturally, the man didn't see what happened, and his relationship with his wife was likely good. I sighed with Richard still by my side. My son remained calm and even tried to comfort me by pulling my hand lightly."Mom is okay, right? You're holding on too tightly, I'm afraid." Richard looked at me intently, frowning deeply enough for me to touch his forehead lightly.I shook my head, quickly loosening our overly tight hand grip before muttering in a low voice so that the Mother and Son pair in front of us could not hear. "It's okay, I'm just a little upset.""You're okay too, Richard?""I'm fine, Mom." Richard smiled a little. "I was already walking carefully, then that kid suddenly appeared before me and crashed."I sighed again, relieved to have a son who cou
Nicole's POV"Hah! Are you trying to threaten me as a businessman?" Zedd seemed to take no notice of Key's words, pointing at him and then at me with a furious look. "You're the figureheads of unscrupulous charlatans!"Key tried to calm down the man, who was raging again. "Mr. Zedd-""Shut up!" The man immediately rebuked Key, returning his gaze to me, who hadn't given him the reaction he wanted. "If you want to be forgiven by us, you must prepare accountability and compensation for my family that you've played!"I looked at the woman and her child, who were now hugging each other tightly, looking pitiful even to my own eyes. I didn't expect that the woman's haughty figure could be easily hidden and then replaced by something like this. Her son could follow his mother's great acting.The woman grabbed her husband's hand, suddenly saying something contradicting her words. "Honey, just forgive them. I want to go home now.""Yes, Father. I'm afraid of what the people around us think...."
Nicole's POV"Damn it, is something wrong with my phone?" The man asked himself, but it could be heard by everyone there, including me, Richard, and Key.She fiddled with her phone for some time with a deeply furrowed brow and then spoke again. "Did you really check it, Mila?"No answer could be heard from the phone because the call speaker was not activated. I could only watch the man's face for guesses, but it didn't take long for him to falter."Zedd! Honey! Are you okay?" His wife asked as she tried to hold back her husband's body, which seemed to collapse at any moment."Dad! You're going to fall like that!"One of their guards wanted to help, but the woman was stubbornly trying to bear the weight of her own husband's body along with their son, who was holding his father's other hand.Zedd touched his forehead, no longer unsteady but still holding on to his wife and son, who still looked worried when they saw him at this moment. The man hung up the phone in silence and then immed
Nicole's POVI didn't comment, leaving the responsibility to Key, who was already well-understood by the man. As long as I didn't have to get involved, then Key could handle a problem like this on his own.One of the higher-ups came forward, looked at me, and bowed. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss, but we have something to discuss with Mr. Key."I raised an eyebrow, looking at Key, who immediately turned around and looked sharply at the bigwig who had just spoken to me. "You're being very impolite.""Mr. Key, we just-"Key clucked. "If you continue like this, you should be expelled. I've already told you you can't go into this area because it's Miss' private residence, right?"The bigwigs fell silent, as did the bigwig who had just spoken, then was pulled back by his partner. I sighed softly, tired of attending to another troublesome matter even though Key was taking care of it."You're not allowed to be here, nor do you intend to come here again, understand?" Key asked the higher-ups.
Nicole's POVA few days passed. Richard and I were now having lunch in the dining room, enjoying a meal from a chef who had been summoned directly from a famous restaurant to save time, rather than us going to the restaurant where he worked.After that troublesome day, I decided to minimize our outdoor activities if they weren't too important. Although going out is important, it would be better to do it around our spacious house instead of doing it like yesterday.If I had to, I would have relied on the car and booked the place privately in advance so that no random people could enter.I returned my gaze to Richard. He seemed to enjoy his meal so much that I immediately noticed the smear of sauce at the corner of his chewing lips.I smiled, feeling quite happy to see his occasional childlike behavior like this, before telling him. "Richard, there's sauce on your face." I tapped the corner of my lips.My son's eyes widened before reaching for the cloth beside his hand. She quickly wipe
Chris' POVMy head felt heavy when I opened my eyes. My gaze fixated on the familiar ceiling of my room, and looked down at my work clothes that hadn't been changed last night."Shit!" I hissed, touching the front of my head as I looked down, accepting the consequences of my carelessness yesterday of drinking without control.The memories of what I did last night slowly returned as I woke up. Starting from my stumbling walk and that woman who approached me simultaneously. It was annoying to begin with.I sighed before finally turning to the small table beside my bed, seeing a glass of water and a hangover cure. I quickly drank both before another memory came to me."Chris, you can't be so stubborn! You can't even stand up properly." The woman woke up again after I pushed her to the ground.I looked at her, who looked blurry to my eyes, but could find her annoying face. "Go away." I tried to say with my numb mouth."No, I can't. "You'll fall if you go to your room alone, Chris." The wo
Benny's POVI was looking for Catherine around campus.She was usually in a project room doing her own work, but she was nowhere to be seen. I checked the room she usually used and then a few other rooms, to the surprise of a few people.I apologized and continued to search around there for a while.My search turned to the classrooms used by her department, but she still needed to be seen. She was supposed to let me know if there was a schedule change or if she was leaving early, but I still need to get that from her."Could she be in the library?" I asked myself.I was busy, but I had seen her enter or leave the library several times in the past few days. I always went up to her at those times if I could, but sometimes I just said hello to her before walking away to finish my business.I never found out why or asked her directly. Still, perhaps she was looking for a new atmosphere after only doing her assignments alone for some time, other than the group assignments, which were both
Catherine's POVA week had passed. After that incident, the things Edwin talked about made me feel that the guy wasn't so bad after my first bad impression of him.He was still cold and annoying, but we had met several times, either by accident or because our classes were near each other on several occasions. Although our class schedules are different, the end times are pretty close.This time, I accidentally saw that guy who was in the library and quite close to the transparent window. I tried to attract his attention from the outside, but he didn't look at me and was still focused on the book he was reading.With a smile, I finally walked in and sat down in front of him, putting down the lecture book that was previously in my arms and looking at him. At that moment, he seemed to notice my presence and looked at me."Why are you sitting here?" he asked in a low voice and frowned.I was still smiling, following his way of speaking while flipping through my book. "You're not waiting fo
Catherine's POVThe things Edwin said surprised me. I was thinking of freedom when I said the previous thing, but I didn't say it directly until I felt like he could read my mind.He smiled faintly, but I could see in his gaze that it wasn't a smile at all but something more akin to sadness that I had only seen once before. The man chuckled, shifting his gaze to another direction."Whether you're a man or a woman, freedom is a difficult thing to obtain."I was silent but intrigued by his words. All this time, I only knew that my family life on the female side had always been stuck with the male side, so I didn't really care about the things that men had to face.Men always got the upper hand and the favor of everyone more easily than women unless the woman followed the Varma family rules to the letter.Sarah never told me about her family, while Benny only listened to my stories so far, so I didn't know it too well.Maybe things weren't that different in other families, so he could sa
Catherine's POVI don't know how I ended up in this situation, where I just followed my father's words to attend a high society meeting and then met Edwin by chance.That man had the same expression as me. He looked bored, listening to the words of the people around him who were actually of a similar age to us. Their words were mostly unconvincing and more like lies.I drank the tea in my cup, took a sip and bumped into the man unintentionally. I ignored him, pretending that I didn't recognise him or realise that we had locked eyes. I could still feel his directed gaze on me.I should have been able to mingle more if I really wanted to follow my father's words so that our family could expand our connections and look for other potential husbands, but I couldn't do that at all. I could only join the gathering and listen to every word of the people who took turns talking.I came out of the restroom after finishing my business, staring at the meeting room that seemed crowded with the peop
Edwin's POVThe thing that always made me remember Catherine was her innocence, like a child or an adult who still acted naively among many people who had other traits that were unpleasant to look at.In a way, I felt that she was annoying. She was too meddlesome and found it difficult to follow the words of others, and her daily life didn't seem to be far from her own carelessness.I knew that she was quite active in class and had taken on the role of class president several times in some courses, but she also didn't always show the role of a class president who should be able to manage herself well and without any mistakes.Is it normal for there to be students like her? She wasn't acting like she should. I wondered and wondered to myself about the existence of that woman who had caught my attention.She was bothering me in that way.I always did everything perfectly. There was nothing I wanted to miss, no mistakes or details. I always made sure my work had no flaws, and I had to be
Edwin's POVI was already in the car, looking at the suit that Catherine had given me a moment ago.I noticed that the appearance of the suit was not at all similar to the suit I lent her, but it was good enough to wear. In between my daydreams, my attention was slightly distracted by the memory of that woman's face when I found out she was eavesdropping and hurriedly handed me this new suit.She was so stubborn.I knew that she followed me after I deliberately ignored her voice calling my name, but I didn't know that she could eavesdrop on conversations that had nothing to do with her. I exhaled, already putting the suit back into its box and stuffing it into the paper bag. "She's a pretty annoying woman."I started the car, exiting the campus grounds to head home.There was no denying that the annoying woman was also quite interesting and easy to remember. As many said, she was a beautiful woman who provided a boundary for the people around her, but not all.There are other rumors
Catherine's POVEdwin was receiving a declaration of love.I realized that when I heard the words of the woman who was looking at him expectantly. She seemed to be waiting for his answer, but he was silent. I moved my body slightly, looking at the woman who had not completely given up.I couldn't help but listen to the woman who again said something else to declare her love for the man."I'm not doing this suddenly. We've been together many times, and I'm always comfortable when I'm with you," she explained.Her gaze seemed to be trying to captivate the man in front of her, who seemed to flinch. "I remember that you also helped me with my assignments recently. That was very helpful. I want us to get to know each other better after we start this relationship, Edwin."I listened to everything and watched silently. After a while, I was finally able to recognize the woman who turned out to be from the White Family. Many men liked her and even received proposals for marriage, but she had d
Catherine's POVI had put the newly bought suit into a plain paper bag without any brand logo on the front or back. I had deliberately done that so that no one from my family would wonder about what I was carrying besides my college needs.They still talked about Edwin at every opportunity, especially when I was in the same place as them, so I was even more careful. My father would definitely get excited if he found out that I intended to meet that guy, no matter the reason, and felt that I could approach him for us to get married someday.Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps. I didn't know him yet, and he definitely didn't show any interest in me as the opposite sex; I was just a woman who happened to be a student in the same class and university as him.I just wanted to quickly give this suit to him so that whatever was between us could be resolved.I arrived at the campus earlier than my first class today. He should have arrived as well because he's a very diligent student. I
Benny's POVI felt that my day was going quite nicely. I met Catherine, went out together, spent time together, and many other things.I've never seen her anywhere near Edwin. What I felt before was just my feelings. I felt relieved again, especially when she returned to her usual self, although perhaps a little more reserved.I didn't hear any more stories about her family, and I could see her daydreaming long enough for me to watch her face even longer.She felt like she was about to turn her head, and I quickly averted my gaze.We were now sitting side by side in the campus garden. Her class hours had a long break this time, while I had already finished today's schedule. She had been silent the whole time we were there, as had been the case more often lately, but her hand was suddenly holding one of mine.I looked at her in surprise, then stared at our two hands piled on each other. Why is she like this? She doesn't usually make physical contact like this when she refuses to hold h