Ever since childhood, Emma Parker had drawn the wrong kind of attention because of her overly striking figure. Girls isolated her. Men harassed her.

Even Ryan Cooper, the boy who had grown up beside her, treated her like someone whose devotion could be mocked and taken for granted.

Just to be with him, she had finally gathered the courage to walk into a breast reduction clinic.

And there, she met Daniel Bennett. The cold, untouchable doctor everyone in Riverton whispered about.

He was the first man who had ever looked at her without judgment in his eyes.

"Your boyfriend's beauty standards aren't a medical diagnosis."

He taught her how to stop shrinking herself for other people. When Ryan's friends sneered at her and humiliated her, Daniel stood between her and every cruel word.

When a perverted doctor tried to assault her, he arrived just in time and pulled her into his arms.

For the first time in her life, Emma stopped living under the weight of other people's stares.

Only after watching her grow brighter, more confident, more dazzling by the day, did Ryan realize what he had lost.

Regret consumed him. He begged her to look back at him one more time.

But Daniel merely pulled the girl in his arms closer, his gaze turning cold.

"Too late. She's mine."

......

"Dear Ms. Emma Parker, your breast reduction surgery appointment has been successfully registered. Please arrive before Friday for your pre-op examination."

I stared at the bizarre text message and let out a helpless laugh. Ads really had gotten terrifyingly accurate these days.

I was about to delete it when Ryan's hesitant expression suddenly flashed through my mind.

"Emma, the future daughter-in-law of the Cooper family is supposed to look elegant, not provocative. Tone it down a little."

I lowered my eyes. It had only been a simple dress, yet my curves made it look far more alluring than it was meant to.

After that day, I shoved every fitted piece of clothing I owned into the very bottom drawer.

I stared at the address in the message for a long time before finally making up my mind.

At the hospital, I stood nervously outside the breast surgery consultation room.

"Next patient, Emma Parker."

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, only to freeze on the spot.

The doctor inside was a man.

A mask covered the lower half of his face, leaving only a pair of sharp, piercing eyes exposed.

For one brief second, I wanted to turn around and run.

Then he looked up, glanced at me standing stiffly in the doorway, and frowned. "Are you coming in or not?"

Pinned beneath that gaze, I had nowhere to escape. I could only force myself to walk in and sit down.

"How old are you?" He rested his pen against the medical chart and finally lifted his eyes to meet mine.

Maybe it was the way his eyes had lingered on my chest earlier, or maybe my brain had completely stopped working from nerves.

Heat rushed straight to my face. "E..."

My voice came out tiny and strained. By the time I finished speaking, even my ears were burning.

Then his gaze dropped briefly to my chest before he said hoarsely, "I was asking your age."

I froze. My mind exploded into static as embarrassment crashed over me so hard I nearly fled the room on the spot.

"I... I'm twenty-three."

"Too young." He seemed to notice my embarrassment, his brows drawing together slightly. "Do you personally think you need surgery, or did someone tell you that you do?"

I lowered my head. "My boyfriend thinks... I'm too noticeable..."

The man's deep voice cut me off before I could finish. "Your boyfriend's beauty standards aren't a medical diagnosis."

I froze.

In all these years, no one had ever said something like that to me before.

Everyone thought my figure meant I was "too flashy" or "too seductive," as if my body itself were some kind of mistake that needed correcting.

And this stranger, this doctor I'd never met before, told me in the calmest tone imaginable—there was nothing wrong with me.

He didn't offer any exaggerated comfort after that. He simply slid the consent form toward me and carefully explained every surgical risk, the recovery process, and the possible complications.

"I'm giving you seven days to think about it." He closed the folder. "If you still want the surgery after seven days, I'll arrange the best surgical team for you."

I hadn't expected a doctor to talk me out of surgery.

And yet, something inside my chest loosened anyway, like someone had finally undone a button that had been fastened too tightly for far too long.

By the time I walked out of the hospital, the evening breeze felt warm and gentle against my skin.

I took a deep breath.

My phone vibrated. A message from Ryan popped up. "Come out. Same place."

The "same place" was the bar on West Street.

When I arrived, seven or eight people were already crowded into the booth, all of them Ryan's friends.

Smoke curled through the air while deafening music pounded against the walls.

Vanessa Miller, Ryan's so-called "best buddy," sat right beside him. Her makeup was flawless as she waved at me with a bright smile. "Emma's here! Come sit with us!"

I forced out a smile and slipped into the seat furthest in the corner.

Vanessa eagerly poured me a drink and handed over the glass, only to yank it back right before it touched my fingers.

"Oh my God, how could I forget?" She slapped her forehead dramatically. "Emma, you booked breast reduction surgery, right? You're not supposed to drink before surgery, are you?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was perfectly calculated so everyone at the table could hear it.

Every single gaze turned toward me at once. Toward my chest.

"Holy shit, Emma, you're seriously getting a reduction?" one of the guys blurted out with a whistle. He grinned shamelessly. "Ryan, you idiot, and here I thought you had taste. Those are amazing..."

The entire booth erupted into knowing laughter.

Vanessa hurriedly waved her hands. "Stop it, stop it. You're going to embarrass Emma."

She sounded like she was trying to help. But the smug curve tugging at the corner of her lips made it obvious she was enjoying every second of this.

The color slowly drained from my face.

And finally, it hit me. That surgery text had never been an advertisement at all.

Vanessa had used my name to book the appointment.

I turned to look at Ryan.

Holding his glass, his gaze flickered for a brief moment before he looked away and took a sip of his drink.

He didn't say a single word.

I stood up and grabbed my bag.

"I'm leaving."

I tried to keep my voice steady, but the hand clutching my bag strap had already started trembling.

Ryan frowned and reached out to stop me. "Emma, what are you doing? It was just a joke. Do you really have to react like this?"

"I don't think it's funny." I looked at him with reddened eyes, though my voice stayed stiff and cold.

It was the first time I had ever openly talked back to Ryan in front of other people.

Ever since the day he pulled me out of the river after I nearly drowned at eight years old, I had convinced myself he was the one.

I listened to everything he said. Even when he treated me badly, I never argued.

When he told me to dress more modestly, I quietly changed my clothes.

When he called me fat, I starved myself to lose weight.

The people around him mocked me as his pathetic lapdog, and I pretended not to hear it.

But right then, those teasing stares pierced into my skin like needles. And the person I trusted most chose silence.

Ryan's expression darkened. He wasn't used to me speaking to him like this, especially not in front of his friends.

"What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?"

In the tense silence, Vanessa suddenly stepped forward and hooked an arm around mine. "Emma, don't be mad. Everyone's just joking around because they care about you!"

Then she turned toward the others with a helpless smile. "This is my fault. I should've remembered Emma's sensitive and not teased her like that."

Just like that, with a few casual sentences, the problem became me being too sensitive to take a joke.

I stayed silent. Because at moments like this, no matter what I said, it would only become more proof that I "couldn't take a joke."

But Vanessa clearly had no intention of letting me off the hook. She casually draped an arm over my shoulder and shot the group a playful look.

"Honestly though, Emma's figure really is kind of irresistible. Can't exactly blame men for liking it. Ryan lost the game earlier and still hasn't done his punishment yet, right? How about we make Emma go get the number of the hottest guy in the bar? We'll just count that as Ryan's punishment."

Instinctively, I responded, "I'm not doing it."

The words had barely left my mouth when someone suddenly shoved my shoulder.

I stumbled backward, crashing straight into a solid chest. Warm breath surrounded me instantly.

Startled, I spun around in panic.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to..."

My voice fell, but the angry reaction I expected never came.

"Her figure really is beautiful."

The man's voice drifted down from above me.

"Healthy. Balanced. Perfect, honestly."

I looked up.

The man had sharply defined features, and his deep-set eyes carried a cool restraint completely out of place in a noisy bar like this.

I stared blankly for several seconds before finally matching the face in front of me with those cold, distant eyes from the consultation room earlier that afternoon.

It was the doctor.

Vanessa had been waiting for a spectacle this whole time. She had probably already planned out how to humiliate me even further after I got scolded.

But now, not only had this striking, impossibly refined man shown no disgust toward me, he had openly complimented my body in front of everyone. The smile on Vanessa's face froze instantly.

It took me a full three seconds to recover my voice.

"Thank you." I wasn't even sure which sentence I was thanking him for.

A faint flicker of disappointment passed through Daniel's eyes before his expression returned to the same composed restraint he wore back in the clinic.

He didn't respond to my thanks. After a brief pause, he said, "If you'd like, you can come by the hospital for a complimentary personal styling and wardrobe consultation. It's one of our additional services."

I looked up at him.

"Your cosmetic surgery hospital offers that too?"

Daniel replied calmly, "Occasionally. Depends on the director's mood."

"Then please thank your director for me." I said it sincerely.

Daniel paused briefly, the corner of his lips shifting almost imperceptibly. "The director says you're welcome."

I blinked. Only then did realization finally dawn on me.

He was the director.

Daniel Bennett. The sole heir to the Bennett Group, the most prominent family conglomerate in Riverton.

And not far away, back at the booth, Ryan stared at us with an expression so ugly it seemed barely contained.

Ryan slammed his glass down onto the table with a sharp crack. Without even sparing me a glance, he stood up, grabbed his jacket, and walked straight out.

The atmosphere around the table instantly turned cold. Everyone exchanged awkward looks before hurriedly getting up to follow after him.

As Vanessa left, she glanced back at me, her eyes filled with poorly hidden satisfaction.

In the past, anytime Ryan got upset and stormed off, I would chase after him within three minutes and apologize, whether I had done anything wrong or not.

But this time, I didn't follow.

Daniel remained where he was, watching me stand abandoned in the middle of the deafening bar.

"Do you need me to drive you home?"

I shook my head and forced out a smile. "No, thank you."

I lowered my head and walked out of the bar alone, my shadow stretched long and thin beneath the neon lights.

Daniel watched from behind for a long time. Only after my figure disappeared around the corner did he finally look away, a faint crease lingering between his brows.

The next day was the two families' usual dinner gathering.

My father and the Cooper family went way back. More accurately, ours depended on theirs for business.

The Parker family's construction supply company had managed to establish itself in Riverton largely because of the Cooper family's engineering contracts and business connections.

By the time I arrived, Ryan was already seated beside the head of the table.

He didn't look at me.

At dinner, glasses clinked endlessly while my father continued flattering the Cooper family with practiced enthusiasm.

Once the atmosphere warmed up, my mother smilingly brought up my marriage with Ryan.

"A talented young man like Ryan taking an interest in Emma is truly her blessing. Emma's grown up now too, so I think getting married sooner rather than later would be—"

Before she could finish, Ryan suddenly set down his fork and knife and spoke casually.

"Margaret, I think it's still too early to talk about marriage. Emma doesn't seem very eager anyway. I saw her chatting pretty happily with some guy at a bar yesterday."

His voice wasn't loud, but every person at the table heard him clearly. One by one, dissatisfied and questioning looks landed on me.

My grip around the fork and knife tightened so hard my fingertips turned pale.

"The Cooper family has high standards for a future daughter-in-law. Emma's still immature. We can talk about marriage after she learns how to behave herself and settles down a bit."

My mother's face instantly darkened.

"Emma! Is what Ryan said true?"

"Mom, it's not like that—"

"You're a young woman! Hanging around bars and approaching strange men? Do you have any sense of shame at all?"

My mother's voice turned sharp enough to cut through the room.

"Ryan being willing to associate with you is already a blessing, and this is how you act?"

My father said nothing. But the disappointment in his eyes suffocated me far more than any scolding could have.

When I walked out of the restaurant, Riverton's sky looked dull and overcast, like a giant iron lid pressing down overhead.

I didn't know how long I wandered before finally looking up and realizing I was standing in front of Serenity Medical Group's glass entrance.

I pushed the door open and walked inside.

The receptionist informed me that Daniel wasn't there that day and arranged for another male doctor to see me instead.

When the consultation room door closed behind me, I didn't think much of it.

The doctor flipped through my appointment form and smiled. "Breast reduction surgery? Let's start with a basic physical examination."

He stood up and walked behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

Then that hand slowly slid downward along the line of my shoulder.

My entire body stiffened instantly as I jerked away. "What are you doing?"

The smile on the doctor's face didn't change, but his grip tightened. His other hand locked around my wrist. "Relax. Just cooperate with the examination..."

My mind went blank in that instant.

"No—" The word caught in my throat.

Then, with a deafening bang, the door was kicked open from outside and slammed violently against the wall.

Daniel stood in the doorway, an icy fury radiating from him so intensely it made the entire room feel colder.

His eyes swept across the scene once. Then he strode forward in three quick steps, yanked the doctor away from me, and threw him hard onto the floor.

"Notify administration immediately. Suspend all of this man's medical credentials."

His voice was terrifyingly calm, devoid of any unnecessary emotion as he pulled out his phone and called the police.

Curled up in the corner, I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, trembling uncontrollably.

And beneath the fear, something even darker surged up like a tidal wave. Self-loathing.

Was it because my body was too attention-grabbing?

Was it because I shouldn't have worn that outfit today?

"If I'd gotten the surgery earlier... maybe this never would've—"

Before I could finish speaking, Daniel cut me off.

"This was not your fault." He crouched down in front of me, his voice low and unwavering. "What someone wears or what they look like is never a reason for them to be violated."