7"Sorry, but I'll drive Katherine back later, so I can't drink."Tony didn't take the wine. He just raised his eyes and looked at Chole playfully.Being rejected, Chole didn't want to give up like this and showed no intention to leave.Tony added, "If there's nothing else, please leave us alone. I have something to talk to Katherine about. It's something quite personal."It seemed like Harrison had told Chole that they could not afford to offend Tony.Even though she felt very wronged, Chole returned to her seat silently.As soon as she left, Tony sneered and said, "She's such a scheming bitch!"It turned out that he had seen through Chole's trick.After dinner, Tony and I drove home.As I drank some wine at dinner, I leaned against the back of the seat to rest with my eyes closed. Suddenly, I heard Tony's hesitant voice, "Well, are you free next Saturday?I opened my eyes and turned to look at him.Tony stepped on the brake in the dark parking lot, saying, "I want to invi
9I had never painted since graduating from college.Harrison didn't want me to paint.One time, I took a picture of him sitting by the window with beautiful golden clouds behind him. After I finished painting according to the picture, I showed it to him excitedly and asked him to hang it on the bedroom wall.I thought he would be pleased. However, he just glanced at it coldly and said, "I don't like hanging things on the wall."His company had just started back then. I was busy with work and didn't have time to paint anymore after that.Besides, we had moved once, and my easel and paint were left in the old house.Later, Chole produced a digital painting. Though the paint was out of the line, Harrison cherished it very much. He framed it and hung it above the head of his bed.It wasn't that he didn't like my paintings. It was that he didn't like me.When I came to my senses from my memory, I finished the last stroke of the painting and showed it to Tony.Tony ran over cheerf
11The sharp pain spread across my face in an instant. I touched my inner cheek with the tip of my tongue, turned to him, and suddenly raised my hand to slap him hard.Harrison's face darkened instantly. He gritted his teeth and roared angrily, "Katherine Nicholson!""Harrison, I really wish you could see how your sweetheart pleases my boyfriend and his uncle."I looked at him with a smile. “It's unfair to say that I snatched the contracts from you. I won the contracts because I was competent. It's the company of you and Chole. What does it have to do with me? Why should I show mercy?"Like Chole, Harrison was probably used to me being humble before him, and he just looked at me blankly, unable to believe I would have said something like that.I sneered and left without looking back.Harrison didn't use too much strength when he slapped me, but it still left faint red marks on my face. When I got home, Tony looked at my face and his eyes immediately turned grim. "Who did it?"
13I moved out of Tony's house.I was in such a hurry that I didn't even take away the paintings I painted.When I left with my suitcase, Tony caught up with me with tears in his eyes. He was about to explain, but I raised my hand to stop him. "Tony, I didn't completely lose faith in you. I believe in your sincerity, but this is an unpleasant beginning. I think we both need to calm down and think it over."I wondered how come I was so calm when I said this.Tony was obviously hurt. He looked at me pitifully and said, "Katherine, I can apologize, but I really didn't mean to..."I was determined to leave.However, I wanted to surrender almost in the next second when I met his misty eyes.It was also at this moment that I realized how much I liked him."Anyway, let's separate for a while."I closed the car door and urged the driver to start the car.Although I was moving, I felt like I was fleeing.The next day, I went to the office to submit my resignation application. Becaus
15Since I moved out of Tony's house, he hadn't contacted me for a couple of days.I thought he was thinking carefully about our relationship, but when I got home from work that night, I saw him squatting pitifully at the door of my apartment. When he saw me, he jumped up excitedly and called out, "Katherine!"Then, his body swayed. I hurried forward to help him up. Tony fell into my arms and buried his face in my neck, blowing his warm breath on my skin."Katherine," he said with grievance, "my feet are numb."I was speechless.I had no choice but to take Tony home.After walking into the room, he put down his backpack and took out a painting from it.It turned out to be me in the painting. My red dress swept the desolate ground, as bright as flames. My soft brown hair hung down, matching well with the golden-red setting sun in the sky.However, the face in the picture was a little different from mine."It's you two years ago."Tony said, "After that time, I often dreamed
Drifting halfway between sleep and wakefulness, I mistakenly sent the R-rate story on my mobile phone to Ryan Herdman I had a crush on, as a paper.To be exact, I sent it to a WhatsApp chat group with him and my classmates in the laboratory.What worried me the most was that the hero and heroine of the story were named after Ryan and me.By the time I woke up, the document could no longer be recalled.1I held my phone and leaned against the headboard, feeling a shiver down my spine.The text on the screen said, "Ryan narrowed his eyes with a faint smile on his face and ripped off Yolanda's slip dress, revealing..."I really didn't have the courage to continue reading, so I closed the document in despair.Here was the thing.Last night, my friend Chloe Vernon, a huge fan of literature, sent me a document and hinted that I should read it before going to bed.She often shared her work with me and let me be the first reader.I figured out what she meant and didn't open it immed
3It was Ryan.Although I really wanted to run away without looking back, the last bit of reason left in my mind made me stop.When I turned, I saw Ryan strode up to me in a few steps.I forced a smile and stammered, "R-Ryan?"He glanced at my face coldly. Then his gaze landed on the meal card in my hand.His indifferent voice sounded. "Are you nervous?""No... I'm not."After I denied it, I lowered my head, only to find that my fingertips had turned pale from grabbing the meal card too tight.I didn't know if it was an illusion, but I seemed to hear Ryan chuckle.However, when I raised my head again, he resumed his cold manner."When will you give me your paper?"My heart skipped a beat at the mention of the paper. I whispered, "Well, I've sent you the draft of the paper."Ryan took out his phone from his pocket and tapped twice on the screen.After a quick glance, he put away his phone and looked at me again. "I saw it. Would you like to have dinner with me?"I should
6Half a year ago, when I was still with Zoey, he borrowed 1,000 dollars from me to pay the rent.But he never returned the money to me.Obviously, he didn't expect me to mention it. After a long while, he sent me another message.[I'll pay you back to your face. Can you come out and meet me?]If I said no, he would have a chance to refuse to pay me back, so I agreed to his request.I promised Zoey that I would meet him at the school gate on Friday evening and have dinner with him.I stayed in the laboratory for a whole day on Friday, but a set of data still did not come out.The more anxious I was, the more mistakes I made and the more time it took.Zoey had called me twice, but I disconnected it. He then messaged me again.[Yolanda, are you ready? How about I pick you up?]I grabbed my phone and was about to reply when a slender finger with distinct knuckles suddenly appeared before me. Then, it bent and tapped on the table gently. "Did you submit the data?"I looked up a