It was in the evening. The last light in the room had turned blue, and everything had gone dim.

Jason hugged me from behind and rubbed my earlobe, his slender fingers trailed slowly over my skin. "Are you hungry for food? Or are you hungry for something else?"

I turned around and answered him with a heated kiss.

"You've made up your mind?" Jason held himself back, his self-control almost gone.

I nodded. Maybe I should have made this choice a year ago, instead of stubbornly holding on to Samuel.

No one knew Jason was my landlord.

This apartment was his private property.

I needed a studio with a river view, so the agent had recommended this apartment to me.

When I first met Jason, I did not know he was Samuel's friend. I had only heard from the agent that Jason had been born rich. His family was powerful, but he rarely relied on them.

Later, I saw him again at a gathering. He seemed out of place among Samuel's friends due to how cold he was.

Samuel had played this game of seduction before. He would pay others to seduce me. I found out the first time, naturally.

I kept making scenes, and Samuel simply told me to stop with the drama. "I was only testing you. Did you have to react like that? If you have nothing to hide, why are you so angry?"

In the end, Samuel threw an even bigger tantrum than I did. I had no choice but to stop and calm him down instead until his anger passed.

The second time, I found out again that he had arranged for someone to get close to me on purpose. After I exposed him, Samuel wouldn't stop telling people how great I was. "I told you. My Nina isn't that kind of person! She only loves me. No one can steal her away!"

The praise he gave me in front of other people was also meant for my ears.

When I found out Samuel was playing this game a third time, I hid in the stairwell and cried until I almost fell apart.

That was when Jason appeared.

He lived downstairs from me.

I did not know whether it was guilt from someone who knew the truth, or it was from something else. He started becoming more proactive with me on his own.

When I came home late from overtime and hungry, he would knock on my door with freshly cooked ravioli. On rainy days, his car would always appear right on time along the road I had to take. If I asked, he would always say that his housekeeper had made too much pasta, or that it was raining and he happened to be passing by.

I had always been wary of him, worried he was another player in the high-priced game of seduction.

But once a game had been played too many times, it stopped being interesting. Staying on my guard had become meaningless too.

Maybe I should have controlled myself and not grown attached to Jason's embrace. But when Samuel made me so miserable I could not sleep night after night, Jason was right downstairs. With one text, I could call him to me.

He would hold me in silence and stay with me until dawn, his body pressed against my back, his body heat had broken his silence long ago.

And now, Jason pressed me down onto the bed. "Have you really made up your mind? Aren't you afraid I'm lying to you?"

I looked at him, such a pathetic sight. "Just stay with me tonight, okay?"

When he did not answer, I burrowed into his embrace and added one more sentence. "Then... Maybe we should forget about this?"

Jason's eyes narrowed, and I guessed he regretted asking. "Don't even think about it!"

He lowered his voice, and his whole body pressed down over mine.

Although Jason was forceful in bed, he cared a lot about how I felt. I had never realized this kind of thing could feel so perfectly in harmony.

Maybe it was my desire for revenge.

But tonight, I enjoyed myself more than ever.

Jason was much better than Samuel, in both physique and stamina. I even wondered why I had not made this choice sooner. Why had I insisted on holding on to Samuel despite his so-called game?

Jason wore me out until I had no strength left.

I sent him off to shower and make me something to eat. Now, I really was hungry.

Then, I used my birthday to unlock the phone he had left beside the pillow as if something had driven me to do so.

To my surprise, it unlocked at once.

Jason even knew my birthday, which meant he had been paying attention. The screen was still left on his chat with Samuel.

[Jason, why didn't you accept that 5,000?]

[Too little? I'll raise the bet.]

I opened my alternate account and saw that Jason really had not accepted the transfer in the group chat.

I suddenly found myself a little curious about him.

He almost never wrote anything in the group chat.

Maybe because Jason had not replied, Samuel sent another message about ten minutes later. [How is it? Are you two talking?]

Jason replied with one word: [Yeah.]

[Isn't she boring? That's just how she is. So cautious and dull.]

[She's not even a tenth as interesting as Gemma.]

[But to be fair, Nina is still quite pretty.]

I really had to thank Samuel for branding me as pretty but boring.

Jason replied very slowly. More than half an hour passed before he answered: [She's pretty interesting.]

I guessed Samuel had not expected Jason to say that, as his reply seemed a little awkward: [Oh, good luck then. Try to get that 100,000 soon.]

[Remember to accept the 5,000.]

Jason answered that one quickly. [I don't need the money.]

[Everyone knows you have money, Jason. Stop messing around. I said I'll give it to you, so it's yours.]

Why did Samuel sound a little upset when he said that?

I thought the chat history should have ended there, since there was a long gap during which Jason did not reply to Samuel. In the end, Jason sent a comparatively long message back to Samuel. [What's the point of playing games? If you don't like her anymore, you can just break up with her.]

Samuel replied with a question mark.

[She's too clingy. She would cry and make a scene every time and ruin things for everyone.]

[Breaking up is even more complicated. If you're good enough, you can take her away.]

Jason did not reply again, and the chat history ended there.

I did not plan to keep prying into Jason's privacy. However, the pink cartoon cat profile picture was impossible to ignore, and it sat right at the top of the list. I had not expected Gemma, Samuel's so-called sister, to be chatting with Jason too.

My curiosity got the best of me, and I opened the chat. The first message was: [Jason, I don't think you're suited to seduce Nina.]

[You're more suited to seduce me. Nina is so boring. She's just a blockhead.]

After reading through the whole chat history, I realized Gemma had quite the appetite. Not only was she hanging onto Samuel, she also wanted to have a little something with Jason. Unfortunately for her, Jason almost never replied.

I could feel a sudden desire to win pulsing inside of me.

"Seen enough?" My head was lowered, so I did not notice Jason standing in front of me with only a towel wrapped around his waist, looking down at me.

As soon as I looked up, I was met with his eight-packs and the faint V-lines disappearing beneath the towel.

That being said, I had gone through his phone, so I knew I was in the wrong. "Sorry. I was just curious."

The phone screen was still open to his chat with Gemma.

Jason looked as if he had just breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled me into his arms, and the steam from his shower mixed with the scent of cedar on him made me burn inside a little.

"It's fine. You can look through my phone whenever you want. But please remember to give me a chance to explain things," Jason said to me.

Well, he had used my birthday as his password. His feelings for me could not have been more obvious.

I buried my face in his shoulder.

Samuel and I had been together for so many years, but I had only gotten his phone password after crying and becoming a drama queen. Then, the password for his phone was Gemma's birthday.

Thinking about it now, it was almost funny. I continued making a fuss about it and demanded that he change it to my birthday, but Samuel mocked me for being childish and for insisting on comparing myself to the person he considered his little sister.

After that, he gave me the silent treatment for a month. In the end, I was the one who went to him to apologize. Samuel seemed to have gotten a taste for it after that, and he insisted on doing it again.

He left me completely exhausted.

Maybe both Jason and I had secrets we could not say out loud. But, so what? Being happy mattered most.

I had gone more than six hours without messaging Samuel.

I did not even realize it. Instead, I saw it in the group chat when I opened my alternate account. Samuel was announcing it as if he had won his first round.

[Jason really has some skill. Nina hasn't bothered me in more than six hours.]

Really? So I had gone that long without contacting Samuel.

[Nina has never gone more than four hours without contacting me.] Samuel added another message.

I admitted that it was true. Even when I had already gone to bed, I would send him a message if I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I had once admired him so much that I hoped I could be with him every moment. If my parents had not stopped me, maybe I would have moved into the Sanders' residence and lived with him the day I graduated.

Now, I thanked my parents from the bottom of my heart.

I watched the people in the group chat cheer him on. Some had already started betting on how long it would take before I contacted Samuel.

The group chat started placing bets.

I did a quick count. The pool was already close to 10,000 dollars. I checked Samuel's bet in particular. He bet that I would contact him within ten hours.

Just as I was considering whether to contact him, Jason gently carried me to the dining table. There were four dishes and a bowl of soup on the table. "You were saying you were hungry earlier. You must be even hungrier now."

Jason patiently helped me pick the crab meat out of its shell.

I had to admit, I was not used to being treated this well. No one had ever been so patient with me. Even when I first got together with Samuel, I was the one chasing after him.

I slowly savored the sweet crab, and all those mentions about bets whether it was six hours or ten hours had all just faded away.

After Jason wore me out, I slept deeply until nearly noon the next day.

When I woke up, Samuel had sent me several messages.

Last night was the first time in the five years we had been together that I had not said good night to him. Seeing that he had sent several messages in a row, I knew he must have panicked a little. I casually told him I had caught a cold last night and fell asleep early.

Figuratively speaking, why would I think about some cheap car when I could have a Ferrari?

Finally, he sent another message. [Gemma's birthday party is tonight. Why don't you come along?]

I replied with one word. [Sure.]

-

That evening, I put on a full face of makeup and arrived at the party in Jason's car. Then, Jason opened the car door for me like a gentleman.

The party suddenly went silent.

Samuel was standing beside Gemma. When he saw me get out of Jason's car, he froze.

I lifted the hem of my dress and walked over. Then, I took Samuel's arm with a bright smile.