Chapter 1

“Ninian, you’re already thirty. You’re no longer young. Are you going to devote yourself to work for life? If you still won’t get married, come back and go on a blind date. Your aunt will introduce you to a boy. He’s coming back next month, and he seems like a good catch. Why don’t you meet him?”

When it was almost time to clock off work, Ninian received a call from her mother.

This was not the first time she called to urge her to get married. In the past, Ninian would always hesitate.

But this time, she agreed to it. “Alright. Once I resign, I’ll go back.”

Yvonne, her mother, was stunned. “You’re coming back?”

“Yeah.” Ninian hung up and grabbed her handbag to go back when the intercom rang.

“Come in.”

When she opened the door, Ninian immediately saw the man standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

He was tall, and even though he was just standing there, his presence was incredibly daunting.

Ninian walked over, and Conan Stone turned around. He whispered, “I’ll go to your place tonight.”

“I’m not free tonight.” Ninian took a step back, but Conan grabbed her wrist.

“Your period will come in another ten days.”

“I have to meet a client.” Ninian rejected him again.

Conan tugged off the scarf around her neck.

The red marks under the scarf looked like flowers.

“You know that I don’t like it when you don’t listen to me.”

He started kissing her.

Ninian tried to push him away, but she could not.

So, she let him kiss her, but she felt empty inside.

Yesterday, when she went to a bar to deliver some documents to him, she overheard his conversation with a few rich men.

“Mr. Stone, I heard that your grandmother got you a fiancee. What’s going to happen to your girlfriend?”

Conan answered nonchalantly. “What do you mean by what’s going to happen? We’re just friends with benefits. What am I supposed to do? Marry her?”

Everyone knew that Ninian loved Conan so much that she would always be at his beck and call, no matter what.

But Ninian never expected that Conan would only treat her as a friend with benefits.

At that moment, Ninian came to her senses.

Conan sent her back home, and right after they opened the door, he pinned her against the wall beside the door and took her.

Even though it was supposed to be fun, to Ninian, it was torture.

After that, he sat on the edge of the bed while holding her and breathed against her ear.

“I’m about to be engaged.”

“I know.”

She did not react strongly. She already knew, so why would she need to give him any sort of reaction?

“Aren’t you mad?” But Conan was not actually surprised by her nonchalance.

From the moment they got together, Conan had never seen Ninian lose her composure.

She was as cool as a robot. It was as if she had no feelings for anyone or anything.

She also had a great sense of propriety.

But most importantly, she looked quite similar to that person.

That was a major reason why Conan chose her.

“No. Just go to sleep. I’m tired.”

Ninian turned around and put some distance between herself and Conan.

Conan stared at her thin frame. Then, he held her in his arms.

Ninian stiffened up and shut her eyes, but she could not sleep.

The next morning, when Conan got up, Ninian was no longer beside him.

Even after he went downstairs, he did not see any breakfast prepared for him.

In the past, whenever he stayed overnight, Ninian would prepare the clothes he was going to wear the next day and a matching tie.

He was picky about what he ate, too. He insisted on eating steak in the morning, and he wanted the freshest meat.

Ninian would go to the market to choose the beef in the morning and rush back so that she could cook the steak for him before he came downstairs.

But this morning, she did not prepare his clothes nor his breakfast.