Romance

Sophie stumbled in, smelling entirely of alcohol, and collapsed on the sofa. She placed a leg on one of the armrests.

"Oh. You're here to meet your girlfriend. I was wondering why you sneaked off before we were done drinking. 

"Anyway, I already drank up all the beer you left behind. Hurry up and come give me a nice massage to thank me!"

As he looked at Sophie, who was drooling as she began snoring on our couch, the annoyance in Anderson's eyes faded and was replaced with a helpless sort of tenderness.

He sighed and said, "Yvonne, maybe you need to calm down. Let's talk again tomorrow."

He approached Sophie and picked her up with ease, carrying her into the guest room as if he had done it plenty of times.

After I packed up my things and was about to leave, I got another message from Sophie. I played the voice message and heard two familiar voices.

"So, Andy, am I tighter than your fianceé?" All that she got in return was a low, uncontrollable groan from Anderson.

My brain whirred and shut down, leaving me completely frozen in place. I stayed unmoving as more and more hideously lewd noises came from my phone. I felt like I had just been punched in the gut.

I was shocked. He had just begged me not to leave him. He had even proposed. And yet, behind my back, he was sleeping with another woman.

I wasn't going to forgive him or Sophie, who had constantly been mocking me. The moment I got home, my butler, Zachary Newton, looked shocked to see me.

"Zachary, find everything you can about Sophie Lane and print it out for me. Also, help me find ten tattoo artists. While you're at it, cut off all of the financial support we're currently providing for the Graham family."

The next day, I enjoyed my breakfast while flipping through the information that Zachary had printed out for me. Apart from the documents, Sophie had been delivered to my doorstep tied up with a stinky sock shoved into her mouth.

There wasn't that much information on her. I was done after a few pages.

Sophie turned out to be a poor university student whom Anderson was funding. She'd eventually gotten a special invitation to work for Graham Group.

These past three years, Anderson had been introducing Sophie to every decent connection he had in the industry as his "female best friend."

He had even started the "Sophie Foundation" to help pave her way for the future. I guess he was trying to sneak Sophie into the upper-class community. 

I scoffed. That was up to me to decide. After breakfast, I looked at Sophie mildly. She glared back at me with a venomous stare.

Zachary approached her and took the dirty sock out of her mouth.

"Yvonne! Once Andy finds out that you've kidnapped me, he won't let you get away with it! Do you really think you're the same heiress from three years ago?"

I looked at her plainly. I couldn't figure out what Anderson liked about her.

"My full name is actually Yvonne Zane Sherman. My middle name was given to me by the Mortner family."

Sophie paused, not knowing what I was trying to say.

"After all, the richest man in Jeanton, Zayn Mortner, is my grandfather."

Sophie froze. Suddenly, her face turned pale as if she had finally realized something. "I-Impossible!"

I chuckled lightly. "I guess you've finally connected the dots."

"Ms. Sherman, the tattoo artists are here." I looked at the 15 or so tattoo artists behind Zachary and pointed at Sophie, who was still kneeling on the ground.

"Since she likes tattoos so much, give her all the tattoos you can fit on her."

Sophie's eyes filled with terror as my bodyguards approached and held her down firmly. The tattooists approached and began to tattoo words like "Slut," "No. 1 Best Bed-Hopper," "Anderson was Here," and "For Public Use."

Sophie started off screaming and cursing, but eventually began pleading and crying for mercy. At some point, she finally passed out. After all the tattoos were done, Anderson finally burst through the door.

His eyes widened in shock and rage as he stared at Sophie, who was almost completely naked and covered in tattoos.

"Yvonne! What the hell are you doing? When did you become so cruel? She's still young! 

"How is she going to live like this? You just ruined her life!"

I looked at him as he stood in front of her, protecting her as he would have protected me three years ago. Coldly, I replied, "Anderson, I gave you a second chance."

"Yvonne, my mom was right. You don't deserve to become my wife. Since you've already become so heartless and cruel, I don't have to worry about breaking our promises anymore. 

"Let's call off our engagement. I'll marry Sophie. You forced me to do this."

I couldn't stop my eyes from filling up with tears at the sight of Anderson standing in front of Sophie with that anxious, sorrowful expression on his face. How could someone change so much in such a short amount of time?

"Yvonne, if you think you can act so ruthlessly because of the Sherman family, then I have no reason to keep the Shermans afloat."

I couldn't believe my ears. He was willing to make the Sherman family disappear because of Sophie. Was that all just to get revenge for Sophie?

Did he really think the Graham family had become all-powerful?

Anderson bent down and picked Sophie up, who was still whimpering and sniffling. He turned to leave when he bumped into the man who had just hurried in through the door.

"Mr. Graham, our shareholders have all pulled out. Our partners have surrounded our building and are demanding that we cancel their contracts!"

The cozy, warm home that I had personally decorated three years ago had become completely unrecognizable. The pale yellow curtains were now a dark blue.

I couldn't find a single one of the ornaments that I had painstakingly hand-picked. Even the large LCD television that I had seen as an essential part of a cozy home life had been replaced with a projector and a screen.

Before I could step into my now-unfamiliar home, Anderson's mother, Julia, called me.

"Julia!" I said with a bright smile as I answered the call. "Julia, I was planning on visiting you tomorrow."

Before I left the country, Julia treated me better than anyone, apart from my own parents. However, she said coldly to me, "Yvonne, you should break up with Anderson."

My smile froze on my face as my expression changed to one of disbelief. "W-What?"

"The Graham family can't afford to have a daughter-in-law who could drop dead at any moment."

At my silence, Julia simply continued, "Plenty of people are clambering over themselves to marry you. Why not let Andy go?"

My smile was still stuck on my face, but my eyes were already filled with tears. Her words stabbed through my chest like sharp knives.

I wanted to know if Julia was simply saying what Anderson already had on his mind. Before I could call him, I got a text from an unsaved number.

I clicked on it to see a screenshot of Sophie's Instagram story. The caption read, "This punk is trying to beg for my forgiveness."

The story itself was a picture of Anderson on one knee in front of Sophie. He was carefully slipping a ten-carat pink diamond ring onto her finger. Next to them, a set of jewelry worth billions of dollars was on full display.

My blood ran cold. At that very moment, I felt like nothing was worth it anymore. I forwarded the message to Anderson along with a voice message. 

"Is this your way of settling things?"

After a long bout of silence, I wiped away the tears that had already cooled down on my cheeks. Anderson's voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

He rushed toward me with a panicked expression. He reached out and pulled me into his embrace. 

"Yvonne, hear me out. It was just a joke. It was a punishment for losing a game. Sophie will move out tomorrow, okay? As for my mom… Well, she's just worried about your health. I'll talk to her."

He then lifted my hand up with his lips pressed into a thin line. He took an aluminium can ring out of his pocket and sincerely slipped it onto my ring finger.

"Yvonne, remember our ring pull promise? I'm not a man who'll go back on my word. I said I'll marry you, and that was a promise."

Back then, the Graham family was nothing in Jeanton. They were barely even considered tycoons at the time.

Anderson had always been self-conscious in front of me. He always said that his only goal was to reach the top of the ladder so he could finally be a proper match for me.

At the time, I had chuckled and snuggled further into his embrace. "As long as you're sincere, I'll marry you even if you propose with a ring pull."

However, he had said to me, "Yvonne, you deserve only the best. I'll buy the most expensive ring and give you the world's most extravagant proposal."

I couldn't stop thinking of Sophie's Instagram story. I looked down at the ring pull on my finger and couldn't hold back the scoff that slipped out.

"Is the Sherman family really only worth this much in your eyes? Or has your promise always been worth only a single ring pull?"

Now, Anderson was powerful enough that no one dared to humiliate or insult him. My words made his expression darken. 

He had clearly lost his patience. He massaged his brow in annoyance. "Yvonne, when did you become so materialistic?"

I tossed the ring pull into the trash can along with any remaining feelings I still had for Anderson. 

"Anderson…"

"Andy, I'm here! Time to kiss my feet!" My voice rang out at the same time as Sophie's did.

Sophie stumbled in, smelling entirely of alcohol, and collapsed on the sofa. She placed a leg on one of the armrests.

"Oh. You're here to meet your girlfriend. I was wondering why you sneaked off before we were done drinking. 

"Anyway, I already drank up all the beer you left behind. Hurry up and come give me a nice massage to thank me!"

As he looked at Sophie, who was drooling as she began snoring on our couch, the annoyance in Anderson's eyes faded and was replaced with a helpless sort of tenderness.

He sighed and said, "Yvonne, maybe you need to calm down. Let's talk again tomorrow."

He approached Sophie and picked her up with ease, carrying her into the guest room as if he had done it plenty of times.

After I packed up my things and was about to leave, I got another message from Sophie. I played the voice message and heard two familiar voices.

"So, Andy, am I tighter than your fianceé?" All that she got in return was a low, uncontrollable groan from Anderson.

My brain whirr

Chapter 3