Chapter 6

After tucking the signed agreement in her bag, Anise raised a glass and downed it in one gulp.

She drank glass after glass to a point where her stomach was beginning to churn, and she was feeling nauseous.

After she forced herself to finish the last glass, she staggered to her feet to go to the washroom, but Arthur's friends stopped her.

“Arthur, Clarice just lost again! She chose to play truth or dare this time, and the dare she drew was to kiss a random single man in this room for three minutes!”

Upon hearing this, Arthur barely hesitated in pulling Clarice into his arms. He began to make out with her right there.

Both of them were going at it passionately that everyone else in the room couldn’t help but scream and cheer excitedly.

When Anise watched the way the two were entangled in a fit of passion, she felt a bittersweet, pricking sensation in the depths of her heart.

Even when they were finished kissing, Arthur still looked like he was ready for more. Clarice’s cheeks were flushed red, which provoked Arthur’s friend to jest.

“That doesn’t count! The card she drew says she has to kiss a single man, and you’re her boyfriend, that’s cheating! It doesn’t count!”

Arthur’s smile dropped in an instant.

“She is my woman. Are you suggesting that she should kiss someone else?”

Upon realizing that they had offended him, they quickly brushed it off by pulling Anise to their side.

“Of course, we wouldn’t even think of doing that, but don’t worry, we have a backup! We can just have the secretary standing in instead!”

The color was drained out of Anise’s complexion in an instant.

She instinctively turned to Arthur. He turned oddly stoic and shot down the idea.

“She only agreed to the drinking part. Kissing wasn’t part of the agreement.”

His friends exchanged coy glances before bursting into laughter.

“You don’t have the final say in this. If you offer her some more money, there is no way she would refuse. Besides, don’t you remember how obedient she is to you? Do you remember the last time we went racing, and we said that whoever does not have a female companion in the car with them has to give away a yacht? All it took for her to get into the car with you was for you to shoot her a look! If she’s willing to risk her life for you, what’s a kiss then?”

Clarice’s eyes reddened instantly upon hearing this. She recoiled and shrugged Arthur’s hand away.

“Didn’t you tell me you had no feelings for her? Why did you bring her along to the races with you? If you like her so much, you should start dating her instead! Don’t worry about me, I’ll find someone else to kiss!”

With that, she stormed out.

Arthur began to panic. He reached for the card in his wallet, tossed it at Anise, and bolted out of the room with one last remark.

“There’s a million dollars in the card. That’s how much I’m paying you to stand in for Clarice and let them kiss you for three minutes.”

Anise felt as if her heart was ripped out of her chest as he watched him leave.

She never agreed to this part of the deal and wanted to leave, but Arthur’s friends had pinned her down.

They brought in a stray dog out of nowhere and seized it by its jaw to pull its tongue out. They proceeded to force Anise to kiss the creature while degrading her.

“Clarice has been telling us what kind of woman you are. She says you even have your pictures in bed leaked and spread all over the company? How dare a promiscuous, dirty woman like you try to seduce Arthur!”

“As if anyone would ever want to kiss you! We’re going to catch a disease just by touching your saliva! Someone like you is only fit to kiss dogs. You can’t find a better match than a dirty woman like you and a dog!”

Tears streamed incessantly down Anise’s face. She was humiliated and repulsed to the point of nausea.

At last, she threw up a mouthful of bile mixed with blood all over the floor.

She was completely exhausted by the end of it. Her eyes were hollow, and her body gave out.

When the group left amidst laughter and more mockery, there was only a single thought in her mind.

She was going to cut off all ties with Arthur for good and would never return.