Arriving at the Anderson family's old mansion, Julie noticed the unusual number of cars parked in the mansion's parking lot but didn't think much about it. Considering that the old Brian Anderson woke up today, many people must have paid a visit when they got the news.

She followed Dylan to the main building hand in hand, and her heart skipped a beat when she locked eyes with Jimmy, standing by the doorway.

On the other hand, Jimmy had a flat expression and merely smiled at Dylan. "Mr. Anderson." He nodded.

Julie's heart raced, and her palms began to sweat. She had seldom seen Jimmy without his boss. If he was here, what were the odds that Kelvin wasn't? Nada.

Suddenly, the noise in the hall died away, and everyone's gaze was drawn to the top of the stairs. Her eyes widened as the man she dreaded to see descended the staircase.

Kelvin was a charismatic man. His presence alone could sweep anyone off their feet. Women were breathless, while men were raring with ambition. They crowded around him when he stepped into the hall, hoping to get acquainted. However, Julie felt otherwise. She desperately prayed not to be recognized by Kelvin, particularly now that she was dressed as a country bumpkin.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for Julie. Dylan quickly let go of her hand and straightened up. He turned to face the man and respectfully called, "Uncle."

Julie sharply panned her gaze to Dylan, stupefied. She felt like her soul had escaped to outer space when she heard him.

Kelvin moved indifferently through the crowd, approaching the young couple. An unknown pressure tortured Julie's chest as she watched him come. Each stride he took squeezed her heart tighter, and cold chills profusely trailed down her spine.

Julie, cornered and petrified, could only droop her head and hope for the ground to split up and devour her right now.

Kelvin stood before the two with one hand in his pocket and faintly smiled. He neither looked nor intended to talk with the two men, but the girl beside Dylan piqued his interest.

"Who is she?" he asked, pinning his gaze at Julie, who shrunk behind Dylan.

"Right, you've only recently arrived home and haven't met her yet," Dylan said, putting his arm around Julie's shoulder, hugging her close.

"Uncle, meet my girlfriend, Julie," he introduced and smiled brightly.

"Julie," Kelvin muttered in repeat.

They fell silent for a little moment. Dylan detected something dim about that second, but he tried to ignore it. Not wanting to irritate Kelvin, he looked at his girlfriend and gently squeezed her shoulder.

"Julie, babe. Say hi to my uncle, Mr. Williams," he said.

Julie snapped out of it and nodded slowly. Clutching the sides of her trousers, she mumbled in hesitation before uttering a quiet, feeble greeting, "Hello, uncle."

"Julie," Kelvin mused on her name and said, "It's not an awful name."

Afterward, he averted his gaze and walked away.

Dylan gulped. He was briefly startled, but he quickly recovered.

"Take care, uncle. Julie and I will pay you some other time," he said politely, but Kelvin ignored him.

The young man felt embarrassed. It was rare for him to see his uncle, yet he failed to leave a good impression. Not to mention, people were looking their way with Julie quivering like a mouse.

He felt annoyed, but thinking of his Grandpa, Dylan just let it slide.

"Julie, let's go upstairs."

Julie pulled herself together and fixed her appearance. In the meantime, she flushed Kelvin off her mind. She had to deal with why she came here first.

As they headed to Brian Anderson's room, she recalled how kind and loving Grandpa he was. Brian was extremely kind to her, and Julie wished she didn't miss the chance to meet him when he was without ailments.

A wave of pressure swept her way as she entered the room. Inside were Dylan's parents, Lisa and Harry Anderson, standing beside old Brian's bed. While Harry kept a neutral look, Lisa couldn't contain her scowl. Only his Grandpa, lying sick on the bed, smiled at her.

The old guy beckoned Julie to come closer, making Lisa even more irritated, and begrudgingly stepped aside.

"Hello, Grandpa. How are you feeling?" Julie asked and smiled as she sat on a chair beside him.

Brian's face instantly brightened. "Good," he replied, seemingly a whisper.

The old Anderson had a lot of questions for Julie, and she patiently responded to all queries. It was the least she could do for someone who had always been good to her.

After their conversation, Brian waved for his assistant to come and had her hand a red money envelope to Julie.

"Don't be reluctant to spend it. Buy yourself some pretty dresses," Brian said.

Julie squeezed the red envelope. She nodded in response, feeling like she was about to cry.

"When Grandpa gets better, I'll ensure you and Dylan get engaged. Only when Grandpa sees you two get married will I be able to depart this world in peace," the old man said.

Julie smiled sympathetically and gently shook her head. "Grandpa, don't say stuff like that. You're going to live a long life."

Guilt had consumed Julie's conscience. Sadness swept across her heart as she realized she couldn't grant his request. Marriage was impossible between Dylan and her.

From the start, she was doomed to fail this old man's good intentions.

"Silly girl." Brian chuckled, looking at her with slightly misty eyes.

His warm gaze then turned sharp as he faced Dylan and his parents.

"You all should treat Julie well. If someone bullies her, I swear I'll break his legs!" The old guy warned.

Dylan nodded and swore that he would always be good to Julie, and both of his parents promised to treat Julie well.

Brian smiled with satisfaction and chatted with Julie for a while before he drifted off to sleep again, exhausted.

Once they left the old mansion, Dylan sent Julie back to her dorm and left in a hurry on the pretext of having something to do.

Whatever urgent thing it was that he had to do this late at night, Julie didn't care. A lot happened this day, and her head hurt from trying to process them. So she called it a night and went upstairs. But just before getting to her floor, her phone rang.

Julie glanced at the number, looked around, then picked it up. "Jimmy?"

"Miss Jones, the car's downstairs. Mr. Williams is waiting for you," he responded.

Julie paused heavily before responding, "Okay."

She slowly went back down, unknowingly tightening her grip on her phone. She headed around the block and looked for the car.

Under the moonlight, Kelvin's silver-grey Bentley shone with a cold light, and for a moment, Julie did not dare to come closer.

But she had no way of turning back now that things had come to this. She bit her lip and gathered up her courage to walk over.

Jimmy opened the car door for her, and Julie obediently slid into the car and sat down next to Kelvin. The assistant gave the two privacy and walked ten steps away for a smoke.

Inside the car, the two bathed in heavy silence. It wasn't that Julie didn't know what to say. She was unsure how to begin since Kelvin remained only still, and his intense gaze made her uncomfortable.

On the flip side, Kelvin was studying her from head to toe. She still wore the same ruffled collar, white shirt, jeans, and white sneakers he saw her in earlier in the day. Her long hair was soft and straight, with fringes softly laid over her eyebrows and without makeup. She looked very young, like a high school student.

Kelvin looked at her coldly for a while before he spoke, "Babe."

His voice was slightly deep, like a gentle feather brushing Julie's heart. She shuddered, then lowered her head and softly nodded.

"Is that how Dylan usually calls you?" He vaguely asked.

"Sometimes." Her voice came out faint yet loud due to the silence enveloping them.

"In bed?" Kelvin flatly asked.

Julie couldn't pick out any emotion from Kelvin's voice, but she felt pinches around her heart. She darted a glance at him, wanting to say something but couldn't make a sentence. In the end, she drooped back without answering.

A cold smirk curved on his lips. This girl wasn't bad at pretending to be innocent. Was this how she made his stupid nephew fall for her? Perhaps.

Kelvin gently grabbed her jaw and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Was that on purpose?" he asked, laced with mockery.

Julie frowned in confusion and stuttered, "W...What?"

Kelvin looked at her as if watching a performance.

"Did you hit on me on purpose?" he coldly asked, almost like a growl.

Julie shook her head vigorously, anxious to cry.

"No, I wasn't. I didn't know you and Dylan were closely related. I swear!" she frantically replied.

If she knew, she would rather be dead than hit on him.

Seeing how panic-stricken she was, convinced Kelvin that she was not lying.

"You're his girlfriend, huh?" he said, letting her go.

Julie looked outside the window, blinking her reddened eyes away.

"Yes," she replied, shaken.

"Were the Andersons lacking wealth that they would let their youngest son's girlfriend sell herself for money?" Kelvin huffed.

Julie flushed in shame. Kelvin's words were awful, but what she did was something she wasn't proud of doing either.

She gritted in silence, unable to talk back.

Hearing nothing from her, Kelvin dismissively canceled his question. "Forget it. I'm not interested."

"S...sorry..." Julie quavered.

"I'll disappear from your life and won't cause any trouble in the future—" she added, but Kelvin cut her off.

"Trouble?" Kelvin slightly raised his eyebrows.

"You're Dylan's... uncle," Julie cautiously clarified.

Kelvin felt agitated hearing her mention 'uncle' so naively.

Panning his gaze to the front, he loosened his tie in frustration.

"So what?" he callously remarked.

Julie held not much weight in his heart. Why would he care about a mindless nephew?

"A-Anyway, I will disappear later. I promise..." she swore yet again.

"You were bold when you first climbed into my bed. Why are you afraid now?" Kelvin sneered.

"Dressing so pure next to Dylan and slutty in front of me...."

A cynical laugh escaped his mouth.

"So, which one are you?" he mockingly asked, leaning toward her.

"Babe?" Kelvin whispered quite menacingly.

Julie shuddered. Her name rolled off his tongue terrifyingly yet still sounded electrifying in her ears. Thankfully, she had long hair that could hide her redness, or she wouldn't be able to live past this embarrassment.

She retreated awkwardly, but Kelvin pressed her further onto the seat.

"Are you pretending to be naive or..." he trailed off purposely and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Pretending to be slutty?" he continued, letting out an incredulous chuckle upon seeing her red as a tomato.

Julie wanted to deny everything. She hated pretending to be pure, but Dylan's grandfather liked her that way, and Dylan and all of the Andersons drove her into the act. As for being promiscuous, she noticed how Kelvin was staring at a particularly hot woman the day they first met and only assumed that he was into that type.

Perhaps in that sense, she and Kelvin were alike. She jumped the gun at the first sign of opportunity she saw to get by.

While Julie was musing about how to answer, Kelvin moved away, nonchalantly fixing his coat, and frigidly said, "I'm warning you. Don't bite off more than you can chew."

He delivered that so casually that it sounded a bit like concern. But Julie knew him better, and she heard the dark connotations of his words loud and clear.

"Don't mess with me, Julie."

With her hand clenched tightly into a fist, she subtly took a deep breath and slowly held her head high.

"I'll keep that in mind," she dryly replied.

"Also, I'm not interested in my nephew's woman," he added impenitently.

Julie looked at the man beside her snappily and stiffened upon seeing his frigid countenance. Kelvin was looking far ahead and giving her the cold shoulder.

She knew this wasn't the right time for spacing out, but many things had jumbled on her mind. Still, she understood what he meant. Irritatingly so.

She looked away and swallowed hard before nodding slowly,

"Yeah, I got it."

Julie waited for a moment, but he didn't say anything else. She opened the door and got out of the car as though nothing had happened.

When Jimmy saw her, he smothered his cigarette on a pocket ashtray and asked, "Miss Jones. Are you going back now?"

But Julie just walked past him toward her dormitory. A little lost in her thoughts.

Jimmy watched her get further away and got into the car, confused. He didn't want to pry into their business, but tonight he somehow risked asking, "Is Miss Jones alright, Sir?"

He glimpsed at his boss in the rearview mirror and found him looking at the window, following the direction Julie went.

"Drive." Kelvin only flatly ordered.

With that, Jimmy said no more and started the car.

As they drove past her, Kelvin caught a glimpse of her figure before disappearing into the building.

'She was so slim, and her waist was so thin,' thought Kelvin, reflecting a bit on his previous actions.

Perhaps he had been too harsh on her, but Julie withstood it all despite that.

"She's quite gifted. What a pity," Kelvin mumbled and then averted his gaze.

Jimmy glanced at him through the rearview mirror, reading his mood. After a pause, Kelvin gave another order.

"Delete all of her contacts."

It was subtle, but Jimmy flinched in surprise. Julie, after all, was the partner Kelvin was most fond of, or at least that was Jimmy thought.

Jimmy didn't overthink it and just nodded.

"Yes, Sir."

When he stopped the car, he quickly deleted all of Julie's contacts, including her phone number.

Meanwhile, Julie stormed into her dorm room, walking straight to the window and shut the blinds. She dug into her drawer, pulled out a notebook, and then flopped onto her bed. Her roommates had already turned the night in, but her little ruckus woke Leah up.

"Julie?" Leah asked.

Julie jerked and quickly glanced at her roommate. Leah was peeking at her under her sleep mask, concerned.

"What's got into you?" Leah asked again. "You looked mad as a bull," she added.

Julie faintly smiled and gently shook her head. "Nothing. I just took a jog on my way back. Sorry for waking you up," she reasoned.

Leah stared at her for a second and covered her eyes back. "Alright, have a good night."

"Yeah, good night."

Julie then exhaled deeply. She briefly looked at the window and flipped through the pages of her notebook, counting all the money she had earned.

The money given by Kelvin and Dylan's grandpa should be enough for a while.

However, she had one problem looming before her. Breaking up with Kelvin meant that a large amount of her income would be gone. She had to think of other ways fast to keep a living.

Julie closed her notebook and crashed onto her bed, looking at the ceiling with tired eyes.

'Tomorrow's the fifth day of the month. It's visitation day again.' She wearily sighed. Whenever Julie thought of it, her body turned numb.

Erin Lewis, her biological mother, was an extremely disturbed person. Julie had her currently receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital. But that cost her a lot.

Her mother frequently suffered from severe manic episodes, and she'd beat people up on top of smashing things and cussing, making it hard for the hospital staff to take care of her.

And last month, Julie wasn't left unscathed. Even now, she could still feel a tinge of pain in her forearm after Erin dislocated it. If it wasn't for the timely arrival of hospital security, Julie feared Erin would have beaten her to death at that time.

Still, Julie couldn't leave her mother alone despite Erin causing her trouble endlessly. She could only hope Erin would tone down a bit.

A heavy sigh escaped Julie as she closed her eyes and drifted asleep.