"Did you circle it because you thought I'd forget?" said Lucian lazily from behind me, which made me jump. I accidentally drew a stroke on the calendar.

He came up to me and hugged me from behind, rubbing his cheeks against mine.

"The graduation ball is an important event. How could I forget about it? My first dance will surely be yours. I even prepared a huge surprise for you."

I broke off from his embrace and smiled a little. "I prepared a surprise for you, too."

Lucian did not notice my out-of-the-ordinary reaction. He patted me and said dotingly, "You and I think so much alike! By the way, will your brother come to your graduation ball?"

My heart skipped a beat.

As I gripped the corner of the table, I looked up and asked him calmly, "Do you want me to invite him? I thought you didn't like him?"

Lucian lowered his gaze to look at me with a complex emotion in his eyes. "He and I have been fighting each other for so many years. I don't want to accept defeat, but I have no choice. I've fallen for you."

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, worried that tears might fall. Lucian was still lying to me. He only wanted Aaron there so he could play our intimate videos!

He seemed to be in a good mood. He hugged me around the waist as his hands wandered to my breasts. The atmosphere started to turn steamy.

I decided to give Lucian another chance.

"Must we record today?" I asked, my voice shaky. "I don't like it. I don't want to do it."

Lucian was a little stunned. He asked in confusion, "What happened? You always let me do it. You know that this is just a little kink of mine. Can't you let me have this? Don't worry, I won't let anyone see the videos."

Lucian was downright persuasive, sounding very much promising.

This was his go-to tactic; he would coax me softly with that voice of his. He even swore to God he would be punished if he ever betrayed me.

This was why I always caved into his requests.

Lucian thought that I would agree as before. He lowered his head and tried to kiss me, but I moved aside.

"I'm not feeling well today. Let's not do it."

He did not press on the matter and merely shrugged. "Okay, then rest well. I'm going to take a shower."

Hearing the sounds of the shower in the bathroom, I secretly picked up Lucian's phone. I was so nervous, my heart was pounding hard.

I tried entering his phone by keying in the passcode. After three failed attempts, I no longer dared to try.

I placed the phone back with trembling fingers, feeling helpless. I forced myself to stay calm.

The next morning, I started packing up the things I wanted to throw out.

When Lucian woke up, he asked in confusion, "Why are you throwing them out? I thought you liked our matching couple things?"

I continued packing without looking up. "I just don't like it anymore."

Lucian shrugged. "I told you before it's childish."

I no longer replied in the coquettish voice I usually did. I merely said, "We won't use them anymore."

However, Lucian was in a rush to head out, so he did not hear what I said.

After he left, I spent half a day clearing things out. Looking at the rather empty room, my heart ached.

Right at this moment, I received a message on my phone.

[This is Wendy Kensington, Lucian's fiancee. Let's meet this afternoon at 2 at Cafe Luna.]

I entered the cafe and looked around, immediately noticing her.

She was in an expensive dress, looking regal.

I sat down opposite her as she started, though with a tinge of annoyance, "I'm Lucian's fiancee, Wendy Kensington."

I nodded. "You've mentioned in your message. What's up?"

Wendy did not expect this reaction from me. She furrowed her brows. "You're his girlfriend. Aren't you surprised to find out he has a fiancee?"

I smirked self-deprecatingly. Ever since I found out that everything from Lucian was just a lie, I had given up on him. Any other information would just make me loathe him more.

I was no longer surprised at the things he did.

When she did not get the reaction she wanted, she hissed through gritted teeth, "Lucian and I have been promised to each other through a marriage of family alliance. We'll have our engagement party soon. No matter who you are, Lucian will break up with you. I'd advise you to leave him on your own. You'll save everyone the trouble."

I did not take the bait of Wendy's provocations. "When are you announcing the date of your engagement party?" I calmly asked.

Wendy looked mildly baffled. Then, she raised her chin and said smugly, "It'll be the beginning of next month. It'll depend on Lucian."

The beginning of next month was the graduation ball. It seemed like Lucian had planned everything. He intended to play our intimate videos at the graduation ball and dump me. Then, he would get engaged to Wendy.

A cruel man, no doubt about it.

I snickered. "If you're here to humiliate me, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Just a piece of advice, though: Lucian doesn't love anyone but himself. It's one thing to have a marriage of convenience. If you really fall in love with him, you'd lose."

Wendy's expression instantly turned ugly. I was just about to get up when she picked up her cup of coffee and splashed the coffee on me.

"How could you say that about Lucian?!"

I never expected that Wendy would get physical. I was caught off guard, drenched in coffee.

The hot coffee trickled down my hair and face, staining my clothes. I grabbed Wendy by the wrist, wanting to teach her a lesson, when right at this moment, someone kicked the cafe door open.

"Stop right there!" Lucian barked.

I did not know who he was calling out to. I turned around to see him entering with a few of his friends, striding over, looking extremely intimidating.

Lucian took off his shirt and put it around me, asking me softly if I was alright.

Wendy was so furious that she stomped her feet. "I'm your fiancee! How could you protect her instead!"

Lucian ignored her and continued to coax me, "Nina, go to the car. I'll handle this and be right over."

I held back my urge to hit Wendy and headed to the car. After all, Lucian and his friends were there, and I definitely could not overpower them.

Soon after, Lucian came out of the cafe. When he got in the car, he tenderly applied ointment to my burns.

"Nina, don't get me wrong. Wendy's engagement with me was arranged by our families. I only found out about it just now. When I heard that she came looking for you or trouble, I immediately came over."

He added, "I adore you, dearly. I'll never marry her."

His explanation was a little comical. I never knew what a great actor Lucian was.

Nonetheless, I did not want to alarm him, so I nodded silently as if I accepted his explanation.

Lucian looked at me. He hesitated a little, as if he wanted to say something further, but in the end, he quietly started the car.

Silence hung thick in the car. I closed my eyes as my mind was in a mess.

Suddenly, the sharp screech of brakes tore through the air. I suddenly opened my eyes to see our car in the opposite lane and a truck coming toward us!

My eyes widened in horror.

Lucian turned over and hugged me tightly in his arms.

With a loud thunderous crash, our car flipped over. The world spun in a blur. The last thing I felt was warm blood before everything turned into darkness.

When I came around, I was lying on a bed in the hospital. Lucian was sitting by the side of the bed with a thick five o'clock shadow on his face. He seemed to have stayed awake the entire night.

He was delighted to see me waking up.

"Nina, you're up! Oh, thank goodness." Lucian was so excited that he clasped my hand and cried.

I remembered Lucian protecting me before I passed out. That… touched my heart.

I opened my mouth and said hoarsely, "How are you feeling? Are you hurt?"

Lucian ruffled my hair. "I'm fine. The airbag protected us. You were out for some time, and I was getting a little worried."

Then, he stood up and said, "Don't move. I'll go get the doctor." He left quickly.

I looked at him leaving and sighed. No matter what, Lucian saved my life once again.

I was still going to break up with him, but perhaps, I would not tell my father or Aaron about him.

At that moment, my phone vibrated. I picked it up to see that Wendy had sent me an audio recording.

The recording was a little distorted, but I could still recognize the conversation. It was the conversation between Wendy and Lucian at the cafe after I left.

One of Lucian's friends said to Wendy, "Ms. Kensington, we've told you. Lucian is only with Nina because of his plans for revenge. He's pretending to love her to seek revenge on his archnemesis, Aaron North.

"Since you two already have an arrangement, Lucian won't go back on his word. He will marry you. Can you not meddle in our plans?"

Wendy said haughtily, "Lucian, are they right? You don't like Nina Etienne at all? You're just seeking revenge?"

Another friend immediately added, "Of course. How could he possibly like his archnemesis' younger sister? He's recorded hundreds of X-rated videos with her just so he could show them off during graduation. How could his family let him marry such a loose woman?"

Wendy interrupted them. "Shut up, all of you! I want Lucian to tell me himself that he doesn't like Nina at all."

Lucian responded with a low grunt. "Hmm."

Wendy chuckled. "But I'm still worried. We're about to get married, but here you are, all lovey-dovey with another woman. I'll only believe you if you pretend you have lost control of your car brakes, and you'll swerve to the passenger's side in a car crash."

Lucian was silent for a long time before saying, "Okay."

The recording stopped.

My hands trembled violently. Lucian… had set up the accident.

I closed my eyes as sadness, despair, and all other emotions flooded me. How much longer was Lucian planning to torture me? Why would he not let me go?

I remembered when the accident was about to happen, he had indeed swerved so that the passenger seat was the one facing the crash, but right before the crash, he turned and protected me.

I did not understand. If he sought vengeance, would he not be happier if I was seriously injured?

Why did he protect me?

I no longer wanted to think about it. I dialed Aaron. "I'll agree to meet this man that our family has arranged for me to marry."

"Nina, are you really willing to come back to meet him? What about that boyfriend of yours, the one you're madly in love with?"

I replied softly, "I don't like him anymore. I won't like him ever again."