The messages were soon deleted, as if nothing had ever happened.

Ivy held her phone tightly, her hand trembling slightly. Her heart completely sank. She found it hard to breathe once more.

All of this–pushing her into water, fever, the swapping of medicine–was all part of their revenge plan.

Jason fed her that so-called medicine was just so that she could suffer even more.

Not long after, Jason called her.

"Where are you? Why are you not at home?" Jason said in a low voice, with a faint hint of panic.

Ivy took a deep breath to try to sound calm. "My fever got too high. I'm at the hospital."

There was a brief pause before Jason said, "I'll come right over."

"There's no need," Ivy interjected right away. "I just need to be on drips for one more day, and I can be discharged. I realized you've been really busy recently. You don't have to worry."

There was a silence on the other end of the phone, then Jason asked, "Did you look at your phone?"

So that was why he was calling her. He was worried she had seen those messages.

Ivy lied, "No. The doctor said that my fever was so high that I was almost dead. I didn't have the time to look at my phone."

Silence came once more.

Jason then said, sounding ambiguous at that, "I'm here with you. Everything will be fine."

Ivy tightened her grip on her phone. Her heart turned ice cold.

He said that he was with her, yet he was the sole cause of her misery!

Ivy got discharged from the hospital. She had just exited the hospital, about to call a taxi, when a group of men rushed up from behind her and covered her mouth.

Before she could resist, she lost consciousness.

When he came around once more, Ivy realized that she was lying in a dimly lit hotel room. Her limbs were tied.

A few thugs were around her, smiling at her lewdly.

"You're up. Don't worry. We'll properly spoil you." One of the thugs reached out to try to take her clothes off.

"Who are you? Let go! Let me go!" Ivy resisted with all her might, but she was weak from her recovery. She was not their match.

She tried throwing things, kicking them, and yelling loudly, but it was all in vain.

The men had almost stripped her completely. She was in despair, and tears kept falling uncontrollably.

Right at that moment, the door was kicked open.

"Get back, you thugs!" Jason snarled with fury.

The thugs were frightened by Jason's air of authority, and they quickly fled the scene.

Ivy curled up in bed, shivering with trauma. She looked up at Jason. For the first time, she saw panic and concern in his eyes.

"Ivy…" Jason quickly walked over to her. He reached out, rather shakily, to hold her, yet. However, Ivy, like a traumatized little animal, retreated and cowered frantically. Her eyes filled with fear.

Jason's hand froze mid-air. His eyes gleamed with pain.

Before Ivy could say something, she saw black and passed out once more.

Some time later, Ivy came around, feeling groggy. She heard people talking in the hospital room. Their voices were in whispers, but she could hear the anger in them.

"Why didn't you tell me about this revenge plan?" said Jason.

"I thought you wanted to quickly finish the ninety-nine rounds of revenge so you could finally be with Felicity? We noticed that you were busy, so we didn't want to trouble you. We decided to help you do it," said one of his friends nonchalantly.

"I didn't ask you to find people to assault her!" Jason raised his voice, his anger nearly overflowing.

His friends jumped. They said in disbelief, "Hold up. So, what if she was? I thought we had decided from the beginning that the plan would be ruthless? Why are you getting so worked up?"

Jason said nothing. Instead, he kicked the coffee table over with a violent crash.

Why was he so worked up? Even he himself did not know the answer to that.

All these years, Ivy had been pursuing him like a beam of sunlight–bright and relentless.

He remembered the day he agreed to be with her. She had stood there in disbelief before breaking into tears of joy. He had never seen anyone look that happy.

It was a sharp contrast to how she lay there like a withered rose at this moment, drained of all life.

He did not understand why it bothered him so much. He did not want to see her like that. When she looked at him so helplessly, his heart ached a little.

Seeing him remain silent, the group slowly pieced something together.

One of them spoke cautiously, disbelief creeping into his voice, "Jason, don't tell me that after all these years, you've fallen for her?"

Silence hung thickly in the hospital room.

Jason, who was rebuking the culprits a moment ago, stiffened. His mind replayed the last sentence.

"Don't tell me that after all these years, you've fallen for her?"

Fallen for Ivy? Impossible!

He rejected the thought instantly, almost violently, like denying it hard enough would erase the strange flicker in his chest.

He had always liked Felicity. Who the hell was Ivy? He just needed her for one thing, and that was to rain his vengeance upon.

That being said… Why would he be so furious when he saw those thugs trying to press themselves on her, if that were truly the case?

He had never been so angry and impulsive before, not even when other men tried to flirt with Felicity.

The room was in pin-drop silence once more.

Jason's friends looked at each other as if they were reassured. One of them patted Jason's shoulder, saying in relief, "You should've told us sooner. You scared us, man. We really thought you caught feelings and ruined the whole revenge game for yourself. That wouldn’t be worth it! If Felicity found out, she'd cry her eyes out."

Jason suppressed the strange emotions bubbling in him. He said icily, "I'll never fall for Ivy. Not in this lifetime."

His friends fell into ease with that, saying with a smile, "Alright, alright. She's probably coming around soon. We should go."

Once everyone left, Jason slowly walked over to the bed to look at Ivy in her sleep. Her face was pale, her brows a little furrowed. She did not look like she was sleeping well.

His finger subconsciously touched her on the face. The moment he touched her, he instantly pulled back as if his fingers were burned.

He turned to head to the window. He lit a cigarette and took a huge puff, trying to use nicotine to calm his buzzing mind.

When Ivy woke up, Jason was the only one in the room. He sat down next to her with a glass of water in his hand.

When he saw her coming around, he asked softly, "How are you feeling? Do you still feel unwell?"

Ivy did not answer. She merely looked away, avoiding his gaze.

For the next few days, Jason stayed in the hospital to look after Ivy. He would occasionally head out to answer a call, but whenever he returned, there would always be a subtle hint of tenderness on his face.

Ivy knew he was probably comforting Felicity.

Ivy came to the realization that Jason had always been this way, even when they were together. He would often head out to answer a call, always saying that it was something important.

Ivy had never once thought much about it. It was not until this moment that she realized that Felicity had always been at the other end of the line.

The doctor came to change her wound dressing.

Ivy looked up to see a young, handsome doctor and was taken aback. She asked, "You weren't my previous doctor, were you?"

The doctor smiled and replied gently, "That was my teacher. I'm just an intern under his wing. He has to make the rounds today, so I'll be helping you change your dressing."

Ivy nodded and said nothing else.

The young doctor was gentle, yet he was always blushing a little. Before he left, he hesitated for a while before asking, "Can I… ask for your contact?"

That caught Ivy by sheer surprise.

Before she could answer, Jason entered. He swept the young doctor an icy look and said warningly, "She has a boyfriend. Can't you see? Flirting with the patients–are you trying to get fired?"

Utterly terrified by Jason's presence, the young doctor nervously apologized and left the room.

Jason walked over to Ivy and grunted, sounding somewhat unhappily, "If you ever meet people like him again in the future, just say that you have a boyfriend. How hard is it to say that?"

Ivy looked at him, finding his words ironic. He said that he would never fall for her in this lifetime, so why was he being so possessive?"

…

A few days after she got discharged, Jason suddenly suggested that they attend a class reunion party together.

Ivy knew that Jason never bothered with such events, yet he was the one who suggested it. Clearly, something was up.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the venue, Ivy immediately spotted Felicity. Jason pretended to keep a distance from Felicity, as if he did not wish to have any contact with her.

However, one could not truly hide their true feelings.

Halfway through, Ivy excused herself to the ladies' room. When she returned, she noticed that the group was in a game of truth or dare.

Felicity had lost, so she was asked to answer a private question. Felicity, feeling flustered, was about to open her mouth when Jason snatched the car from her and said icily, "I'll take the punishment on her behalf."

The question on the card was, [Who is your sexual fantasy? Say the initials of their names.]

Everyone started chiming in. "Even though this question is rather private, it's nothing to Jason! He has a girlfriend! He'll surely mention his girlfriend!"

Jason was silent for a while before calmly saying, "F. S."

Ivy's heart sank. Her fingers trembled.

F, S.

Felicity Shaw.

She could no longer bear to watch.

She left the venue and texted Jason, [I'm unwell. I'll head back home.]

Ivy was standing by the side of the road, about to hail a taxi, when a familiar voice rang out from behind her.

"Ivy!"

Startled, Ivy turned around and saw Jason quickly approaching her.

"Why are you here?" Ivy asked.

Jason's brows were furrowed. Worry gleamed in his eyes. "You said you were unwell, right? Where do you feel unwell? I'll take you to the hospital."

Ivy looked at him as mixed emotions bubbled up in her. She shook her head, saying calmly, "I'm fine. I'm just a little light-headed. Are you not playing with them?"

"You're my girlfriend. If you say that you're not feeling well and you're leaving, why should I still stay there?" Jason reached out to touch her forehead as if checking if she was having a fever.

Ivy looked at him, a little confused. Was the whole reason he wanted to come out tonight not just to see Felicity? Why did he run out of the party just because of her message?

Ivy did not bother to pester; there was no reason to. A moment ago, her parents had just sent her a message saying that the paperwork was more or less done.

She would leave in two days, away from everything.

Jason was relieved to find that she was not having a fever. He no longer pursued the matter further, merely saying, "Let's go. We'll go home."

…

In the middle of the night, Ivy stirred in her sleep. She could hear voices coming from the balcony.

She opened her eyes and gently walked over to the balcony. She realized that Jason was smoking on the balcony.

His phone was on loudspeaker mode, placed on the railings. Although the volume was soft, going in closer, Ivy could hear the other end of the line.

"Jason, we've come up with a ruthless one for the ninety-ninth round of revenge! Two days later will be your anniversary, right? Just tell Ivy that you're preparing a surprise for her. Then, you'll blindfold her and lead her to my abandoned mansion.

"After that, you'll find an excuse to leave. Once you leave, we'll set the outside on fire and lock the door! We'll trap her in the fire! How does that sound?"

"She'll surely be in despair and try to break down the door!"

"Yes! Let her have the taste of despair!"

A burst of laughter came from the other end of the line. Everyone seemed to think that it was a great idea.

Just the thought of that scenario made Jason's veins pop. He said with a hint of anger, "No. I don't agree with this."