Chapter 2

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.